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vector
Feb 16, 2007, 12:41 AM
Post #1 of 6
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Registered: Jul 13, 2004
Posts: 88
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Last year, some of us were talking about practicing catching a FF2 fall, so that we would know what catching a high FF really felt like. Although there are some people I would volunteer to be the faller during the practice, the idea was to use sandbags or something heavy tied to a retired rope. Well, the idea never came to fruition. Has anyone ever tried this?
One obvious concern in rope burn, which could be prevented by belay gloves, although I don't normally belay with gloves.
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rgold
Feb 17, 2007, 5:33 AM
Post #2 of 6
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Registered: Dec 3, 2002
Posts: 1804
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I've come close. It was many years ago (about 45 but who's counting). It was common practice then for all climbers to practice dynamic belays. We had a set-up at the stands in Stagg Field at the University of Chicago (Stagg Field is long gone, having been replaced by a library.) The belayer was on a catwalk, the weight was hoisted up above the belayer and dropped. We never did a factor 2 fall; the railing of the catwalk would have been in the way. The belay rope went through a runner on a beam and on up to the weight. All our practice falls had fall factors greater than one, and the biggest were around 1.5. Hip belays were used. We wore gloves and padded our hips with a canvas climbing pack.
The impacts were intense. If you've only caught the usual leader falls on sport routes or well-protected trad, you have absolutely no idea how much force is involved. Everyone who tried dropped the weight all the way the ground several times before getting the hang of stopping it.
If you are going to do this, a few recommendations.
(1) Under no circumstances should you use a climber to take such a fall. There's a decent chance, even with modern belay gear, that they'll be dropped.
(2) The belayer's anchor must be bombproof beyond question. They will be jerked violently in the direction of the runner, perhaps even inverted. The anchor better not fail.
(3) The runner better not fail either, especially if your set-up, like ours, might become dangerous in a factor-2 fall.
(4) Gloves are absolutely essential. I'd say that crippling rope burns are possible without them. Stop one or two of big practice falls and you'll never belay a leader without gloves again.
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notapplicable
Feb 17, 2007, 4:24 PM
Post #3 of 6
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Registered: Aug 31, 2006
Posts: 17771
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If you have a place in mind for staging the practice falls and actualy want to give it a try let me know. I'll be more than happy to ride to DC and abuse some old gear.
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fearlessclimber
Feb 17, 2007, 5:58 PM
Post #4 of 6
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Registered: Oct 27, 2005
Posts: 474
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we have done this many times in the gym, about a 40 foot fall, fall factor is about 1.4 and theres a lot of force i must say, we do it in a lead arch so hitting the wall is out of the question
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asclepius
Feb 17, 2007, 8:11 PM
Post #6 of 6
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Registered: Apr 20, 2006
Posts: 61
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I once took a ff2, or 1.99 ice climbing. Two pitches up, starting the third which was a piller. I was swinging easily to save energy and time, when at right at the top of the cone (where I planned to put a screw) a foot crumbled out.
Fell directly onto a 3 screw hanging belay, the catch was now worse than any other.
My belayer only said, "when I saw you peel I just leaned into the anchor and prayed."
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