donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 10, 2013 - 10:05am PT
|
I have mucked my way through numerous epics in the mountains. Difficult retreats with multiple single anchor rappels placed in icy cracks. There have also been thousands of more routine rappels spread out over the last 47 years, and, thankfully, I'm still here to right this report.
Last Monday, January 8th, I had just finished a run of the mill 5.9 warmup climb ( Cul de sac Crack) with Phoenix climber Nestor Garcia. Nestor had done the climb a year ago. The rap station was a single 8 ft. section of old 1 inch tubular webbing wrapped around a block. I inspected the entire length of sling for any cuts and dings. Finding none I put on a leaver biner and prepared to rappel. I then noticed a single 6 ft. section of newer 9/16 th inch webbing hanging down to the right with a loop in the end. I saw that a knot had been tied in the end and jammed into a friable sandstone crack....not very confidence building. At the last minute I put a carabiner in the loop and the rope through it as a backup. I still had confidence in the old webbing, I had read a report that old 1 inch slings had been tested and still had 1,000 plus pounds tensile strength. Consequently I had the knotted sling as a loose backup.
I leaned back to rap and found myself flying through space for six or seven feet and hanging from the single strand of knotted webbing. The main sling offered no resistance, it parted like it was composed of warm butter. Hanging from the knotted sling, I got a hand jam, placed a red camalot and all was well.
Moral of the story NEVER assume that an older sling is good even after careful inspection.
Nestor suggested that I celebrate Jan. 8th as my new birthday.
|
|
Dave Kos
Trad climber
Temecula
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:08am PT
|
Scary stuff. I probably would not have given that first sling a second thought.
Glad you are OK.
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:08am PT
|
Happy birthday!!
|
|
Matt's
climber
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:09am PT
|
lucky... to my gumby eyes that piece of webbing looks very old/very UV-damaged...
|
|
Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:10am PT
|
Wow Jim. Glad your still here! I hate trusting old tat.. This is where chains come in really handy...
|
|
Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:10am PT
|
Whoah, glad your still alive and kickin Donini!
|
|
eKat
Trad climber
Less than a second shy of 49 minutes
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:13am PT
|
Frikk-a-zee!
HapBirDayJim!
DAMN!
oxoxoxo
Kath
|
|
Ron Anderson
Trad climber
Soon to be Nipple suckling Liberal
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:15am PT
|
Happy B-day or was it D day!
|
|
survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:17am PT
|
Great news Jim, since I still haven't gotten my turn at the Donini trough.
Everyone is different.
I too have rapped off of single items too many times to count. But I have also left many many dollars of slings behind because I got a feeling about what was in front of me, in so many configurations.
As I have gotten older and more cautious, and a few bucks worth of gear is no longer worth my life, I have taken to leaving something extra if I got "the vibe".
Seems I've been making the right choice.
BTW, Jan 8th is my 21 yr old daughters birthday, as well as Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Stephen Hawking, Robbie Krieger, James Longstreet, Bill Graham, etc. so yeah, you can share it with a smile!
|
|
klk
Trad climber
cali
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:19am PT
|
scary.
be brutal to get the chop on a roadside crag in sunny weather because the rap tat failed.
glad yr ok
|
|
nature
climber
Boulder, CO
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:20am PT
|
knot a BLUE camalot? Curious.
Happy Birthday.
yikes... epic...
|
|
ground_up
Trad climber
mt. hood /baja
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:23am PT
|
Jim ....if it can happen to you , it can happen to
anyone ..glad ya came out ok
|
|
Dave Kos
Trad climber
Temecula
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:24am PT
|
I do always carry a couple of tied, shoulder-length, one-inch slings when climbing trad.
I go out of my way to buy a neutral tan color, which seems to be harder to find these days.
|
|
Evel
Trad climber
Nedsterdam CO
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:25am PT
|
Glad you're still with us Jim! Happy Re-Birthday!
|
|
Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:25am PT
|
How does it feel to start living your second life? ... or maybe it's the third or forth, maybe even the ninth?
|
|
mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:25am PT
|
Jim, we are very, very happy to see your report. Mostly because it means you are here, with us, to report.
There but for the grace of God (if there is one) go any of us.
Happy birthday.
|
|
coz
Mountain climber
Northern surly
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:31am PT
|
Happy B. Day, Jim.
I was born on the Jan 6th, maybe that's why we fight like dogs. Kidding LOL.
Anyway, that webbing you posted is old and frayed, it's no surprise to me it busted, we use to break that stuff in the Valley all the time, testing.
What I teach my students; is look at webbing like a pair of jeans, if it's a brand new pair it looks strong and solid and if it's old and faded it will tear when you try to sit down.
I know your from the old school, and I climbed with Werner enough to say I've rap of a lot of bad crap, but as I tell my students, what's a piece of webbing cost compared with your life.
Glad you survived,
|
|
Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:33am PT
|
so good to hear this turned out OK!
when we go on our obscure romps through Yosemite we take and replace all slings, independent of the condition of the existing slings, and usually with dated slings...
now we'll have a new "verb" to add to "doing a John Long check" at the gym (to make sure everyone finishes their knot, and all that) to "doing a Jim Donini" for replacing existing webbing...
|
|
Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:33am PT
|
There's a statistical relationship between the number of close calls you have, and the number of real accidents. The close call should be a reminder of the danger of what you're doing.
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2013 - 10:34am PT
|
Scary sh#t. Good thing you listened to that hunch about clipping the worthless-looking backup.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!