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warrenw
May 27, 2010, 10:09 PM
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So you know how you go to TR a route? I mean, someone else goes to TR the hard as balls route I just put up for them… Or clean a route the leader was lowered from.
Anyway, you’re using your new dynamic rope. And the route is really long. And then you get spit off at the low V23 crux. And then you hit the ground pretty damn hard due to tons of rope stretch.
So I heard a good way to avoid this is to stretch out your rope in preparation before starting off the ground. The suggestion was to have both the climber and belayer squat down, then stand up and take in rope at the belay device. Repeat a few times, until you don’t come down much when you squat.
It seems like an okay plan. I doubt the rope gets stretched any worse than in a normal toprope fall, right? Would you smack me if you caught me doing this with you new dynamic rope?
Any other obvious ways help the stretch in this situation? This method is annoying because you feel weaksauce having tension at the beginning. That on top of you TRing in the first place. Which I never do. Ever. Nope. I only lead. Always. Yep.
w
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hafilax
May 27, 2010, 10:14 PM
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You'd have to fall on it pretty frequently for that to work since the rope will relax relatively quickly.
Get a static rope if it's really a frequent problem.
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jt512
May 27, 2010, 10:19 PM
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warrenw wrote: So you know how you go to TR a route? I mean, someone else goes to TR the hard as balls route I just put up for them… Or clean a route the leader was lowered from. Anyway, you’re using your new dynamic rope. And the route is really long. And then you get spit off at the low V23 crux. And then you hit the ground pretty damn hard due to tons of rope stretch. So I heard a good way to avoid this is to stretch out your rope in preparation before starting off the ground. The suggestion was to have both the climber and belayer squat down, then stand up and take in rope at the belay device. Repeat a few times, until you don’t come down much when you squat. It seems like an okay plan. I doubt the rope gets stretched any worse than in a normal toprope fall, right? Would you smack me if you caught me doing this with you new dynamic rope?
I would smack you if you didn't. But the climber shouldn't sit down; that's counterproductive. The belayer should jump while pulling in slack. Repeat a few times until there is sufficient tension in the rope.
Jay
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gmggg
May 27, 2010, 10:29 PM
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You should fold your rope in half, run each half through an independent master point, tie in to on side of the doubled rope and have your belayer put both strands through their atc. This will reduce the elongation roughly by half.
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dugl33
May 27, 2010, 10:34 PM
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I've done what you describe and it seems to help. I usually have the climber basically sit down into the rope as I lock off the belay, then when they stand back up I crank in slack. Repeat one or two more times. Its kind of like taking out the working elongation of a rope when jugging -- a little surprising how much it takes.
I had a follower sprain her ankle once when she fell at the bottom of the pitch. With working elongation of 8% or so that's 16 feet of stretch on 60 meters of rope.
No need to feel weaksauce. Smart thing to do.
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summerprophet
May 27, 2010, 10:46 PM
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Leading or Toproping, if the start is that hard, never a bad idea to ask for a spotter.
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bill413
May 27, 2010, 11:21 PM
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summerp is right...
I've found that a portion of the stretch is actually from the anchor, not just the rope. So, the first fall does give you a longer ride than subsequent ones.
Pay attention to the fact that, at 8% elongation, with 150' of rope out (a 75' climb) you will probably fall at least 12 feet. So, getting extra slack out of the system can be pretty important.
(This post was edited by bill413 on May 27, 2010, 11:22 PM)
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gunkiemike
May 27, 2010, 11:26 PM
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If you have extra rope (e.g. 30 ft of tail on the rope you're using), and the belayer is adept at belaying on two strands at once, use the extra rope to belay through a solid piece or two just above the low crux moves. That strand will catch an early fall. The climber can then either untie from it for the rest of the route, or just trail it while they are belayed on the rope in the top anchor.
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warrenw
May 28, 2010, 3:07 PM
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jt512 wrote: I would smack you if you didn't. But the climber shouldn't sit down; that's counterproductive. The belayer should jump while pulling in slack. Repeat a few times until there is sufficient tension in the rope.
Jay, you're consistently hilarious. And that method makes more sense than what I described. Thanks.
The other ideas were... strange... But thanks for the input anyway. Oh, except spotting. That's obviously important to do in many situations.
w
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