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jt512
Apr 14, 2002, 9:04 PM
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Rappelling off a leaver biner is the usual way to descend from a sport climb you can't complete. However, it is often possible to rappel without leaving a biner behind. The method is often called the Texas Rope Trick.
WARNING:[font=+1] THE FOLLOWING TECHNIQUE IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS. IT INVOLVES RIGGING A COMPLEX RAPPEL AND THEN RAPPING OFF A SINGLE BOLT, A PRACTICE THAT MANY CONSIDER UNACCEPTABLE. IF THE BOLT FAILS YOU WILL BE SERIOUSLY INJURED OR KILLED.
The Texas Rope Trick
The Texas Rope Trick requires that you be no higher than one-third a rope length from the ground. In other words, if your rope is 60 m long, you must be bailing from a bolt no higher than 20 m. For this illustration, let's assume that you are exactly 20 m off the ground and that your rope is 60 m long.
1. Inspect the bolt thoroughly. Your life is going to depend on it.
2. Anchor directly into the bolt using a quickdraw and call "off belay."
3. Thread a sewn runner through the bolt hanger.
4. Gather up a bight of rope and feed it through the two loops of the runner.
5. Continue feeding rope through the runner until the bight just touches the ground. In this example, you are 20 m from the ground, so when the bight just hits the ground, the other end of the rope will just be touching the ground as well.
6. Untie from the rope.
7. Tie a figure-8-on-a-bight near the end of the rope and attach the bight to one loop of the runner, the loop that is on the same side of the runner as the bar tack (the stiched part of the runner). Use a locker or two non-lockers with gates opposed. The rope, thus, runs from the ground, though the two loops of the sling, back down to the ground, and back up again, where it is attached to one loop of the sling.
8. Rappel down the two strands of the rope that run through the sling.
9. Once you're on the ground, pull on the middle strand of the rope to pull the rope out of the sling.
10. The rope is now just attached to the sling on one side of the hanger. Pull the rope to retrieve it and the sling!
A_ B
| | | Rope runs thru 2 loops of sling at A
| | |
| | | Rope attached to 1 loop of sling at B
| | |
| | | Rap down left two lines
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| | | Pull middle line to clear rope from
| | | slings
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¯ Then pull rope to retrieve sling!
[ This Message was edited by: jt512 on 2002-04-14 14:10 ]
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jgorris
Apr 14, 2002, 9:39 PM
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Good. I've used this technique and also of course, the longer variation which lets you get down from half the rope length but does not retrieve the sling (safely).
Of course, it is possible to down climb a route without leaving anything, also. Downclimbing might seem scarey, but rapping off a single point is, in my opinion, more risky and it's a head trip also.
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maculated
Apr 14, 2002, 9:58 PM
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Hmmm, my partner and I devised this method on our own one time, pretty nice to see that's an acceptable practice. ::thumbs up::
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miagi
Apr 15, 2002, 12:59 AM
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Very well described JT. I completely understood your directions. I might try at at lower level if the bolts around my area are still in good shape from the winter.
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jt512
Apr 15, 2002, 3:00 AM
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Quote: Migai: I might try at at lower level if the bolts around my area are still in good shape from the winter.
Those don't sound like the kind of bolts you want to be bailing from, Miagi.
-Jay
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beyond_gravity
Apr 15, 2002, 4:11 AM
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I use a quicklink. $1.50 bail
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sistersboulderingarea
Apr 15, 2002, 6:47 AM
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what about a piece of tied webbing and a rapel ring? thats only what 3 bucks??
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crux_clipper
Apr 15, 2002, 12:16 PM
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I work at a hardware shop, and a snap link for chains is about 6 bucks. Cheaper then a $15+ biner left behind. Plus not as expensive to replace.
$30+ v $12
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mountainrat
Apr 15, 2002, 1:05 PM
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J.T.- sweet description, man.
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jt512
Apr 15, 2002, 5:31 PM
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Several people have suggested leaving hardware store hardware or slings behind on bolts. Leaving behind anything other than a biner is frowned upon in many sport climbing areas. The next climber up the route is going to have to remove what you leave behind. A biner is quick to remove, a screw link is not, and although you had to bail, having to clean that quicklink might ruin the next climber's on-sight. Besides, don't buy leaver biners, collect them off routes.
-Jay
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treyr
Apr 16, 2002, 12:25 AM
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Yeah I also use a quicklink!
Trob
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wallhammer
Apr 16, 2002, 1:17 AM
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"Besides, don't buy leaver biners, collect them off routes."
leaver biners of questional origin? collect them, but dont use them for for something your life depends upon.
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jt512
Apr 16, 2002, 2:15 AM
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Ok, Wallhammer, I'll take all of yours.
First of all, tests have shown that if there is no visible damage to a carabiner, then it's still strong. The invisible microcrack concern has not held up to lab testing.
Secondly, even if you are concerned about invisible weakening, you're only weighting the biner with slightly more than body weight when you rappel. If there is no visible damage, the biner will certainly be good for that. That's why there is this pool of ancient leaver biners. They get transfered from climber to climber for years. Too bad they don't come with log books. Some probably have some pretty interesting histories.
-Jay
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wallhammer
Apr 16, 2002, 3:41 AM
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ya, you are probably right. i get too safety conscience sometimes. all i can think about when i see one carabiner left on rap station is that it was left because it was just used with a funkness device to pull a string of pins. of course the person leaving it had to have confidence in it. anyway, i think i will keep my plundered biners for...... using with my funkness devise!!!!
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artm
Apr 16, 2002, 3:12 PM
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Over the last month my Pardner and I have collected a total of 5 Leaver biners and (tah dah) 3 entire quickdraws.
Why the hell someone would bail off an entire quickdraw I don't know.
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jt512
Apr 16, 2002, 7:10 PM
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My partner and I got 9 leaver biners, including one new HMS locker, off a single route over the course of last season. Unfortunately, we never redpointed the route, but apparently, we were doing better on it than many.
-Jay
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climber1
Apr 16, 2002, 7:29 PM
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when it comes to descending safely, I don't mind leaving a sling or biner. I agree, why would one leave a qdraw?
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cdb1386
Apr 16, 2002, 8:46 PM
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Are you sure those draws weren't from someone working the route?
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psullivan
Apr 16, 2002, 10:39 PM
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Regarding Jays comment "First of all, tests have shown that if there is no visible damage to a carabiner, then it's still strong. The invisible microcrack concern has not held up to lab testing."
Just wanted to let you know that this is not entirely true. Check out: http://outside.away.com/outside/gear/200204/200204_rocket_science_1.adp
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pirateclimber
Apr 16, 2002, 11:12 PM
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Ahh, wall booty! It's good to see our friends in the "Gear Retrieval" industry are doing well.
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verticallaw
Apr 16, 2002, 11:24 PM
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Thats an interesting article but I still am sketchy about found biners. I am also anal about leaving biners. I have driven 3 hours and rapped a route at 1:30 in the morning to retrive my draws that my partner forgot to clean. Draws are to damed precious to leave. I go with the quick link trick. (by the way it was a set of 10 draws and not just 1 or 2)
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artm
Apr 16, 2002, 11:39 PM
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J-lo and Sumo's booty retrieval service
you leave em we retrieve em...
never leave a man behind that's our motto.
Now if we could just get that fixed nut out of spider line our lives would be complete.
Point of fact we found em on Trad routes not Sport routes, people don't usually "work" a trad route.
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jt512
Apr 16, 2002, 11:48 PM
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Quote:
Regarding Jays comment "First of all, tests have shown that if there is no visible damage to a carabiner, then it's still strong. The invisible microcrack concern has not held up to lab testing."
Just wanted to let you know that this is not entirely true. Check out: http://outside.away.com/outside/gear/200204/200204_rocket_science_1.adp
This test showed that when carabiners are pulled to failure, they doesn't noticeably deform before breaking. I'm not sure how applicable that is to found carabiners. I've never heard of a carabiner breaking that was loaded with its gate closed along its major axis, and few climbers retire carabiners after they've held a fall, so apparently, carabiners continue to be strong after holding falls. The question used to be, though, are they still strong after having been dropped, or can they be weakened by invisible stress fractures.
In the tests I was referring to, carabiners were dropped from a known height and then pulled to failure, and it was found that they still failed above their rated strength.
-Jay
[ This Message was edited by: jt512 on 2002-04-16 16:50 ]
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artm
Apr 17, 2002, 12:24 AM
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo
I just realized that Jay's trick means fewer leaver biners!
Jay you @#$%&!!!$$%@ thanks a lot man.
Actually it's pretty cool and I intend to use it.
Not that I ever bail off routes mind you, but sometimes when it starts getting dark and you feel the call of nature etc. etc....
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beyond_gravity
Apr 17, 2002, 4:25 AM
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Are you willing to trust the the quickdraw wont unclip, and going into the process of technical rope work to save yourself a $1.50 that a quicklink would cost? I get mine for free of the school vollyball nets
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