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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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I think I don’t like the looks of that thing. Too many opportunities for stuff to go wrong.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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no facebookie, but aren't there many lower-tech/cost suicide rap options?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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First he has the instructions strapped to his arm, then he doesn't, then he does again. I'm confused.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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that is not a strap holding instruction book to his wrist, that is the Beal Instructioner. sheesh.
perhaps they combined it with the Escaper for a disappear/reappear promotion?
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clockclimb
Trad climber
Orem, Utah
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Last fall before the Escaper was available some of the videos were so detailed it was easy to see exactly how the Escaper is built. I went home and sewed up five of them! I like to hand sew some of my own gear using heavy dyneema thread. Mine are exactly the same as Beal's other than my bungee cord setup is slightly different. My bungee setup is strong enough to lift the weight of a 10mm 70m rope. I have since purchased a Beal Escaper. Their bungee setup does not lift as much weight which makes me think you may have to flick the rope to relieve the weight. I haven't tried the Beal version on a climb yet.
Mine work great! I haven't tried them wet or icy yet. I have used them 17 times doing full 60m to 70m rappels. It pulls down everytime. I have had it hang up twice after it dropped to the base of the rappel. I had to scramble up fourth class territory to retrieve it from either jumbled rocks or cracks.
It does hang up somewhat easier than a double rope rappel. It hangs up a lot thess than anticipated however. I love it! Just make sure you know how to lead a stuck rope placing gear and belayed by both the top rope and the bottom rope tied off to your partner or anchor. You can use a prusik to accomplish this just be sure it won't slip and burn through!
I would only recommend the Escaper to experienced climbers who have done a lot of rappeling.
The link below has my photos referenced below. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/113218858/beal-escaper-thoughts?page=3
In the second photo the top follow-through knot is Beal's method to connect the climbing rope to the Escaper. I use the triple sheet bend shown below. It is a lot smaller profile knot but goodness you had better know what you are doing! I had to put kevlar stitches into the dyneema where the knot is so it would have sufficient friction to work. Without the kevlar the climbing rope would incrementally slip through the knot every time I bounced my weight on the climbing rope. At the same time the knot in the dyneema would cinch down so tightly it was impossible to untie. (don't worry that is a just a raggedy rope end cleaned off a cliff - not a rope I'm climbing on)
To rappel from a tree you must use a sling and thread the escaper through that (no carabiner needed). When I did it I wrapped a runner around the tree and ran the Escaper through the open ends. The sling was retrieved by having a long cord tied to the sling that pulled it off the tree after the Escaper rope had pulled free of the sling. The setup is show in the bottom photo. The water bottle is the tree. The Escaper has just disengaged and is ready to come down. The climbing rope is out of sight on the right hand side of the frame. The green cord needs to be twice as long as shown. At least least as long as the Escaper rope (purple in this case)
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Its a very clever idea to explore as a last resort, but there's a whole lot that can go wrong when you have extra cords and crap + having to do multiple tugs on varying ropes with the anchor point out of sight. There's only a small demographic that would have use for such a device.
They are demonstrating this on a nice round rap ring that is free hanging. In a real scenario - weird anchors or rocks and ledges or bushes adding friction - I'm guessing there's a very high likelyhood of a stuck rope or failure to get the Dyneema to release...all that providing the person setting it up didn't botch the tension on the thread-through and fall to their death.
Edits:
@Murf and Tom yup- the guy raps with a backup knot that conveniently disappears later. Second Edit: I guess the manual recommends the backup while the first climber descends- only the last guy removes it.
@ D2R2- French braid/Ghost knot/macrame knot (aka MDK- Maidy's Death Knot) you only get half the rope length. Still a good knot to know for the O-fvck scenario.
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Don Paul
Social climber
Denver CO
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May 22, 2018 - 01:29pm PT
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Testing Beal's Controversial Escaper Rappel Device
This detachable anchor system makes a bold yet unnerving promise to deliver full-length, single-rope rappels. Is it the holy grail for rappelling or an accident waiting to happen?
[I started a new thread about this, not realizing there already was one, so just deleted it along with a couple of comments, sorry about that]
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Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
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May 22, 2018 - 01:47pm PT
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I think the Dead Kennedys said it best, "Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death"
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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May 23, 2018 - 09:53am PT
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I’m thinking about getting one as an alternative to a fiddlesticks, to slow the groove growth around here from pulling rap ropes in canyons.
That's why " bring a 70 meter tag line" argument doesn't work
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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May 29, 2018 - 10:39am PT
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I’m thinking about getting one as an alternative to a fiddlesticks, to slow the groove growth around here from pulling rap ropes in canyons.
I'd say stick with the fiddlestick. At the rate of 12--20 pulls to get a release, there will still be grooving action.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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May 29, 2018 - 10:54am PT
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As DMT suggests, once the rope doesn't come down, yer prolly gonna need a rescue. So bringing this thing into a remote setting as a backup for emergencies sounds a bit to me like choosing which emergency you'll have to be rescued from.
Add to that the fact that emergency descents are perhaps more likely to be on broken ground or other high-friction environments that are more likely to impede releasing and more likely to snag the mess on the end of the rope once the system releases. So I don't think it is a particularly good choice as an emergency backup. The main application would be for well-known established rappel routes on vertical or steeper smooth rock. So basically a convenience item, or an emergency backup for that type of situation.
Another thing about emergency descents is that they are often caused by bad weather. I'd want to know how the system functions with a soaking wet rope before I considered it as an emergency option.
Something else that worries me is the bungie loop that makes the whole thing work. If that loop breaks or fatigues, the releasing mechanism is kaput and yer rope ain't comin' down. This means:
(1) The rappel placement has to be carefully inspected to make sure the bungie loop isn't going to be abraded during the pulling process. There is a protective sheath, but it only shields the bungie when it isn't stretched.
(2) The bungie has to be carefully inspected at each rappel to make sure it isn't stretched-out or compromised.
(3) In case the inspection above reveals a problem, the party had better be carrying a replacement bungie.
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shore i
Trad climber
London
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Jun 10, 2018 - 02:56am PT
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I got an Escaper mainly as an interesting toy and to see if it would be useful on easy routes as I usually use a single rope.
Firstly I have only tried it a few times and on easy ground.
One involved moving initially approx 10 metres down sloping, broken ground. I went back to the anchor to check before going over the edge and found that my weighting and unweighting of the rope, going towards the edge while clipped to my belay plate, must have allowed the device to reach the point of release (where I had tied a stopper knot). If I had attached my belay device near the edge and gone over carefully then it then it should have been fine. Incidentally I tried releasing the rope from the base of the crag with this "high friction environment" at the top and surprisingly it worked OK (17 sharp tugs).
Its worth noting that the instructions are to tie a stopper knot in the Escaper for the first person rappeling which means it is totally secure. The top person checks for slippage during the first rappel and for retrievability (bottom guy pulls) before removing the stopper knot and then rappeling with the now pretested setup. Thus with a party of two the system should be safe, the first guy could have prusikked back up etc if necessary.
One would need to be absolutely confident in the setup to use it on a solo retreat.
The device would also seem to be open to misuse, as are other items of equipment of course, including misthreading in poor light.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jun 10, 2018 - 06:28am PT
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I don't see a lot of use for this in climbing, except as an emergency tool. But in canyoneering, in canyons where the style is to leave no anchors, it's a whole 'Nother situation!
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Michael Browder
Mountain climber
Chamonix, France (Oregon originally)
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Jun 10, 2018 - 01:53pm PT
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It works. It works well.
What a lot of whinging (as usual) from the usual sources.
The Escaper is easy to test and test extensively in a safe controlled environment.
I have done this, have you? If not, why not? Or do you all just prefer the usual totally ignorant B.S.
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Jun 10, 2018 - 04:23pm PT
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^^^^^^
I think that's what makes this device a big problem for me. I have been climbing for 45+ years all over the world and have never had the need to use such a device. I don't want to have to use something that requires a lot of testing to use. I want something that is simple and can be easily used in all situations be it a sunny day, a rain storm or a blizzard. Double ropes have work well for me so I don't see a reason to change. YMMV.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jun 10, 2018 - 08:10pm PT
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What a lot of whinging (as usual) from the usual sources.
Whinging? That's the sound made by a taut rappel line that won't pull down.
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