Anchor point snapped

[Josephine Hedger]

Sorry to hear your bad news Drew, thats nasty! Hope your back climbing soon. Like you said, something to learn from, but sounds like everything was right, just one of those things!?

 

Take it easy.

[Gorkde]

Glad to hear you are ok!

 

I got 2 questions. Maybe I am wrong, so please correct me if:

 

1.

You said you did choose SRT cause it does less movement. Why?

Each time I did compare it I clearly saw much more movement in the rope and of the rope at the branch with SRT. This is why I personally do not like SRT at all.

 

2.

You know the forces in SRT on the anchor (if you throw the rope over tie anchor and tie one end away from the anchor) are doubled right?

So a anchor that would have been ok could have broken exactly cause you did choose that method.

You get doubled force anyway and if you load dynamic force (movement) I assume it quadruples right (not sure)? Therefore even much larger movement with DRT should have put less load on the anchor than small ones with SRT if I understood your description correctly.

 

(Do not want to blame you, just like to mention/discuss cause that is the reason I personally do feel unsecure using SRT what causes me to avoid it).

[DrewB]

hey bro, its cool to have the discussion!

Weve done some dyno tests on anchors showing how much force is created by footlocking and it gets pretty high due to the nature of the technique and srt (Handled,cest,foot ascender) was way less movement. Hopefully we will get to do them again and this time video it all, getting hold of the portable dynometer is the hassle.

I totally agree that more force is created by tieing off at the base of the tree and thgis is why i will always try and anchor to another tree to lower the angles-from memory i think 120 degrees lessens the load to 0x.(the angles chart is up somewhere to confirm.correct this) I also like having the rope running through lots of minor limbs as this also spreads the load over more branches. Obviously it wasnt the case this time as it snapped!!

One thing is that it was a decent limb that i would of anchored to once i got to the top and would of 'probably' broke during the climb anyway, so my fault for choosing an unsuitable anchor but thats all easy in hindsight. I do think that SRT opens up a whole new kettle of 'potential' problems and hazards that have to be assessed before use and so correct training is vital.

The other reason for choosing SRT ascent is that its bloody hot here at the moment and so the efficiiency of this technique whilst doing multiple trees per day makes up for the limitations it causes.

Real good points you make though bro:001_smile:

[TreeSoloution]

Gees man, nasty fall. Heal soon

[Dean Lofthouse]

thgis is why i will always try and anchor to another tree to lower the angles-from memory i think 120 degrees lessens the load to 0x.(the angles chart is up somewhere to confirm.correct this)

 

Trouble is when you open up the angle with one leg of the rope vertical you are putting vector forces, or sideways forces on the anchor which can be bad unless it's a bomb proof anchor

[D Mc]

You said you did choose SRT cause it does less movement. Why?

Each time I did compare it I clearly saw much more movement in the rope and of the rope at the branch with SRT. This is why I personally do not like SRT at all. ).

 

It depends on the type of SRT. A sit-stand setup can indeed develop a lot of bounce but a rope-walker setup is generally very smooth.

 

Dave

[DrewB]

tree Frog/Rope walker is what i use.

[DrewB]

Trouble is when you open up the angle with one leg of the rope vertical you are putting vector forces, or sideways forces on the anchor which can be bad unless it's a bomb proof anchor

 

it all gets a bit tricky especially once you try and work it out including the smaller limbs your running over as well............

[Gorkde]

It depends on the type of SRT. A sit-stand setup can indeed develop a lot of bounce but a rope-walker setup is generally very smooth.

 

Dave

 

Ah ok, I supposed you used the sit/stand method. This did produce lots of force in my tests. Maybe the other methods are better then.