Rope length measurement tool for belaying - do you like that

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Messages 1 - 34 of total 34 in this topic

gerardvanlaar

Boulder climber

San Francisco

Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 11, 2014 - 12:00am PT

Hi all,

I'm a sport climber and have an idea of a device to measure the amount of rope given out by the belayer, so that they know how much rope is available. It would be mostly for more novice climbers, who don't know the area well or are not yet great in estimating the length of a route.

-A midway point on the rope does the job, but you might miss it.
-The tope book should tell you, but it would be good to know how much rope is left in case you're zig-zagging or are in unknown territory.
-Bi-pattered ropes are great, but not many people seem to use them, and you can't see it in the dark.

Would you like such a device or you wouldn't want it?

Thanks,

Gerard

Edge

Trad climber

Boulder, CO

Feb 11, 2014 - 12:11am PT

Only if it had a siren and flashing red lights that read "Yer gonna die!!!" when you hit halfway.

RyanD

climber

Squamish

Feb 11, 2014 - 12:15am PT

If you are a sport climber then why does it say boulder climber by your avatar?

Brian in SLC

Social climber

Salt Lake City, UT

Feb 11, 2014 - 12:33am PT

Putting a knot in the rope is easy, quick and pretty darn affordable.

limpingcrab

Trad climber

the middle of CA

Feb 11, 2014 - 12:47am PT

I might have liked that back when I started climbing. How much rope is left? Less than last time you asked!

Would it work both ways, taking up and giving out slack?

I guess It would be nice to give one of these to my wife or other friends I con into belaying.

I don't really understand the use for sport climbing, but maybe trad when you're trying to figure out where to build an anchor.

crunch

Social climber

Feb 11, 2014 - 01:10am PT

How would it know the length of the rope that it's starting with?

50m? 60? 70m?

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Feb 11, 2014 - 01:19am PT

the belayer could just tie in to their end, which prevents the worst accident contingency...

other wise, you could practice estimating how much rope you have... when I stack the rope I usually do it the same way, with a regular pattern... when I'm asked "HOW MUCH ROPE?!" I can usually estimate by counting loops and multiplying by the loop length.

but that's me... I also climb with 80m ropes, the usual answer is "YOU'VE GOT PLENTY!"

nature

climber

Boulder, CO

Feb 11, 2014 - 01:57am PT

Mungeclimber

Trad climber

Nothing creative to say

Feb 11, 2014 - 02:09am PT

I can't even post after that.

mcreel

climber

Barcelona

Feb 11, 2014 - 02:34am PT

An electronic c*#k ring?! I can imagine it, like one of those GPS units that talks to you:

"You now have 4.5" of 'rope' out"
"You have 5" of 'rope' out"
(partner) "Hey, you told me your 'rope' was 8"!"
"You now have 3" of 'rope' out, the sheath is worn, and your dry treatment is failing"

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Feb 11, 2014 - 02:35am PT

What a bunch of Luddites.

apogee

climber

Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy

Feb 11, 2014 - 02:36am PT

Rong has spoken.

Therefore, this thread has officially gone to sh#t.

Braunini

Big Wall climber

cupertino

Feb 11, 2014 - 02:49am PT

Rong has spoken.

Therefore, this thread has officially gone to sh#t.

Ron is retarded, but you have some serious issues dude.

namaste

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Feb 11, 2014 - 03:00am PT

I agree with Ron on this...

....whatever else, he's been climbing for a long time and has that experience to share.

At some point you've climbed long enough to know how much rope is left by looking at the rope (and also knowing the climbs).

John M

climber

Feb 11, 2014 - 03:06am PT

Locker is right, no extra devices. Instead, incorporate a rolling measuring instrument in your belay device that dings when it gets to the half way point. Or dings at whatever measurement you want.

fake LOCKER beat me to it.

but has he copy righted it???? bwhahahaha..

Big Mike

Trad climber

Feb 11, 2014 - 04:05am PT

It will have a digital readout on your google belay glasses!!

Patrick Sawyer

climber

Originally California now Ireland

Feb 11, 2014 - 07:52am PT

Ron is retarded, but you have some serious issues dude.

For once I agree with you Braunini, bringing petty posts about somebody in a thread like this is worst than my off topic postings. ;-)

Anyway, to the OP, IMO no need for such a device if you learn how to climb properly and gain experience. But if you design and produce one and NooBs are gonna buy it, fair play to you, gotta make money somehow, ask Gary Dahl, he made some millions off the Pet Rock.

drljefe

climber

El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson

Feb 11, 2014 - 08:12am PT

Siri knows. Ask her.

thedogfather

Trad climber

Somewhere near Red Rocks

Feb 11, 2014 - 09:28am PT

It should be required equipment for guidebook writers. It's funny to read two guidebooks with widely different pitch lengths. Important information when you want to combine pitches.

Banquo

climber

Amerricka

Feb 11, 2014 - 10:14am PT

Like Ed, I look at the rope and estimate how much is in a loop and then count how many loops there are. Very precise. So the leader calls down and asks how much rope. I figure each loop is 5' long so 10' per loop. 4 loops means 40' so I tell him 30'. He knows I always underestimate for safety's sake and assumes he has 50'. After a few minutes we start to simulclimb. Next pitch when I think there is 50' left I tell him 25 to compensate because I hate simulclimbing. He stops to drill from an awful stance for fear he won't make the next gear placement. And so it goes.

Elcapinyoazz

Social climber

Joshua Tree

Feb 11, 2014 - 10:45am PT

Two things:

1. There is already a vast improvement on a middle mark, that is pretty much impossible to miss: the bi-color/bipattern. There are also ropes with about foot wide marking at the middle and at ~10m from each end.

2. That's not Locker. That L0cker. with a zero. An imposter.

Ihateplastic

Trad climber

It ain't El Cap, Oregon

Feb 11, 2014 - 01:10pm PT

Just solo. Then you don't have these problems.

Jon Beck

Trad climber

Oceanside

Feb 11, 2014 - 01:14pm PT

RFID tags embedded in the core with a sensor on the belay device. The sensor is linked by blue tooth to your smart phone, and the leaders phone. A sexy voice tells you how much rope is left. Hell I am even going to link the data to the internet so the whole world knows where you are on the sharp end. Your GPS has already figured out what climb you are on. As you climb it tells you what gear to place and where to place it.

Not really that far off in the future

WBraun

climber

Feb 11, 2014 - 01:16pm PT

Jon Beck = designer winner

NutAgain!

Trad climber

South Pasadena, CA

Feb 11, 2014 - 01:39pm PT

But what about those ropes where I left the tail hanging out the trunk and didn't notice until we got to Oakdale? Chop 10 meters off one end, now that RFID middle mark means the whole rope is toast. Same with bi-color ropes.

Just need a die/marker that doesn't cause the rope to break down when you mark it.

Elcapinyoazz

Social climber

Joshua Tree

Feb 11, 2014 - 01:54pm PT

Solid evidence that you are too dumb to live and should be culled from the gene pool, lest you pollute it by reproducing. Taking the chop in that case is a feature, not a bug.

pell

Trad climber

Sunnyvale

Feb 11, 2014 - 01:59pm PT

This device is called Sharpie Rub-A-Dub Laundry pen. Mark your rope every 10 feet and that'is it.

Jon Beck

Trad climber

Oceanside

Feb 11, 2014 - 02:13pm PT

technology is an amazing thing. Someone might figure out how to tell the software that a noob chopped the rope. RFID tags can be reprogrammed. That small RFID tag holds 32 bits of data that can be read by the sensor. You could simplify the system by just embedding a tiny ball bearing and sensing that passing the belay device

couchmaster

climber

pdx

Feb 11, 2014 - 03:17pm PT

In answer to the original question...tape measure. Heh. Actually, Metolius use to put remarkable little tufts in their ropes to mark the middle and close to the ends. Even in the dark you could "feel" where you were. Folks complained about mistaking the 30 feet from the end with the middle. It might behoove you to make a mark with a rope marker 30' from the end. When I remark my middles I make it BIG...like 3 inches or more, so a single band for an end, where you have a lot of time to look for it as you pay rope out, might be a good idea for you. Most of us just shake the rope out, decide what the real length is and deduct 3 feet off that as we yell it up.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/858395/middle-mark

grover

climber

Northern Mexico

Feb 11, 2014 - 11:46pm PT

This is what we use at our local crag.
http://www.erinrope.com/counters.html

The extra 6 pounds is well worth it.

Ed Hartouni

Trad climber

Livermore, CA

Feb 12, 2014 - 12:16pm PT

I used to think that marking the rope near the ends was a good idea until I witnessed a party rapping off of Jorge's Crack at the Pinnacles. I forget what we were on, but the ropes from that party were lowered, one end on the ground, the other was high above; no knots tied in the rope ends. The party at the anchors couldn't see the ground, one of the party was rapping and came over the lip. I called up to point out that the rope end wasn't on the ground. She got excited and retreated back to the anchors.

They sorted it out and she came down, quite flustered and thanked me, said her Dad, which was her partner, had been climbing for a long time and never had had an accident. She trusted him completely. But they had mistaken the end mark of the rope for the middle mark.

Since then I've been unhappy with end marks that look like middle marks... and they all do in some condition or another.

Maybe manufactures could go to tri-color or quad-color ropes? I have a uni-color 80m rope, I usually smudge a middle mark in with my Blue Water rope pen. So far I haven't broken a rope.

Ihateplastic

Trad climber

It ain't El Cap, Oregon

Feb 12, 2014 - 03:51pm PT

"But what about those ropes where I left the tail hanging out the trunk and didn't notice until we got to Oakdale? Chop 10 meters off one end, now that RFID middle mark means the whole rope is toast. Same with bi-color ropes.

Simple solution... chop 10m off the other end and the center is, again, the center.

Do I win, Werner?