|
|
|
|
alnilam
Nov 11, 2009, 1:58 AM
Post #1 of 5
(4490 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 3, 2007
Posts: 2
|
Article in R&I - http://www.rockandice.com/...1&type=accidents
June 2, 2009. Female top-roper took a fall off a 50 foot 5.11 (Mr. Slate). She suffered some painful breaks, but is supposedly up an climbing again. Story goes that her double bowline "unravelled" and the mag goes on to place the blame on climbers still choosing double bowline over Trace-8's despite "several [reported] accidents caused when a bowline knot came undone."
Does anyone have further details about what went wrong? I'm guessing that at a certain point (with a dangling, but undamaged rope) there's no evidence of what happened except the recollections of the belayer and climber, and if they didn't recognize a bad tie before the fact then the answer may remain murky. Bad tie of a good knot, bad knot to tie, lack of a backup, or something else? Not really trying to fan the flames of a religious war, but I would like to know if there were details of import left out of the article.
|
|
|
|
|
acorneau
Nov 11, 2009, 2:22 AM
Post #2 of 5
(4478 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Feb 6, 2008
Posts: 2889
|
alnilam wrote: Does anyone have further details about what went wrong?
You could ask Tommy if he has any other info...
http://www.erockonline.com/...index.php?showuser=2
I personally use a Bowline on a bight, which if even half of it comes untied you still have a bowline left over. But then, I always tie a barrel knot to make sure it never comes to that!
|
|
|
|
|
alnilam
Nov 11, 2009, 3:20 AM
Post #3 of 5
(4454 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Jun 3, 2007
Posts: 2
|
I went over to erockonline.com and was surprised that the Austin section of the forum shows no mention of this event. New members seem tightly restricted in their forum, though, so maybe I'm missing something.
In reply to: I personally use a Bowline on a bight...
Without wishing to stray too far off topic [and I'm sure there is another thread somewhere discussing this], but are you re-weaving part of the bowline to accomplish this? The traditional method (http://www.animatedknots.com/bowlinebight/) for tying a bowline on a bight cannot be [easily] done through a belay loop.
|
|
|
|
|
acorneau
Nov 11, 2009, 4:26 AM
Post #4 of 5
(4427 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Feb 6, 2008
Posts: 2889
|
alnilam wrote: ... but are you re-weaving part of the bowline to accomplish this?
Yes. Tie a regular bowline on your harness, then re-thread the end back through your harness and re-weave the bowline. it should look just like a bowline on a bight when you're finished.
The thing is it's a tricky knot for beginners to learn, so I only teach the Fig-8 follow through to my students.
|
|
|
|
|
Lokie
Dec 9, 2009, 6:18 AM
Post #5 of 5
(4131 views)
Shortcut
Registered: Mar 5, 2007
Posts: 19
|
What actually happened was this: the crag was rather busy that afternoon, and the girl was talking to her friends while she was tying in. She didn't finish tying her knot, and because many people don't know what a double-bowline looks like, no one questioned it. Luckily she fell after only 25ft, rather than taking at the top and falling the full 50. She is up and doing well though, climbed with her a couple weeks ago.
|
|
|
|
|
|
