Cavechat.org

GhostCat wrote:ok, what about this one???...........

http://www.onrope1.com/store/index.php?p=product&id=415&parent=8

or this one:
http://www.onrope1.com/store/index.php?p=product&id=35&parent=50

sorry I keep buggin yall but I'm wanting to make my purchase tomorrow (Friday)

Thanks,
GC

Both of these are still use a high attachment point. The OR1 Goliath may still your best bet.

Call Bruce at On Rope 1 and talk to him in person about your needs. Bruce has a short round body type, so he know what does and what does not work.

Tell him I told you to call him.

Thank you ALL for your suggestions.....They were all very helpful.
This is a Great website with lots of great information and helpful people....

TIM....I called and spoke with Bruce....I told him that you told me to call.
Bruce told me to stay away from the frog systems because they are not good for the top heavy people like myself.....I went ahead and ordered the OR1 Endurance on his reccomendation.

Thanks again for everyone's help!!!!!!

GC

CRAP......Now that I have my new harness and Rack I see where the orientation of the rack is perpendicular to my body......I was told (by many of you) that it is better to have the rack oriented parrallel to your body with the bars going right to left.....but thats not the case with my new setup.....

How will this effect me????......

BTW, the harness fits great and feels great......great job by Onrope 1

Does your rack have a straight eye or a 90 degree eye?

Do you connect it to your seat harness maillon (D link) directly, or with a small oval maillon or carabiner?

Racks can be used safely and effectively in either of the orientations you mentioned, but with some associated pros and cons. So don't panic.

Its a Straight eye.....I'm going to connect with a Carabiner attached to harness.....so that turns my rack perpendicular to my body......gggrrrrrr

You use a harness that connects together with a maillon (screw link)? Rigged the way you describe with a straight eye rack, I think that puts the rack bars parallel with your stomach - right?

This should work fine. How long are these rappels you're planning to do, anyway?

NZcaver wrote:You use a harness that connects together with a maillon (screw link)? Rigged the way you describe with a straight eye rack, I think that puts the rack bars parallel with your stomach - right?

I think he might be connecting the maillon to the belay loop. I believe that would twist the rack vertical.

dark_storm83 wrote:I think he might be connecting the maillon to the belay loop. I believe that would twist the rack vertical.

Oh, right. I just noticed GhostCat said his new harness is an OR1 Endurance - a climbing harness.

Well... plenty of cavers happily use their rack in a perpendicular configuration. GhostCat, take a read through Rack eyes and attachment, Rack recommendations, Rappel racks, and Question on long rack orientation.

As an option, you could always get a D or delta maillon and rig it next to the belay loop (attached through both the leg and waist components of the harness), and then attach your rack to that. That should do the job.

Perpendicular is the best orientation for a rack. You can make parallel work, and lots of people do, but the only way to get the full benefit of a rack is in the perpendicular orientation. Here's what OR1 says about it: LINK

Do not connect your rack's biner directly to the waist and leg loops--use the belay loop. As OR1 suggests: LINK

The set up you got from OR1 should work fine. Actually, it's exactly right.

Scott McCrea wrote:Perpendicular is the best orientation for a rack. You can make parallel work, and lots of people do, but the only way to get the full benefit of a rack is in the perpendicular orientation. Here's what OR1 says about it: LINK

Interesting point. However what's "best" for rack orientation is still a debatable topic, regardless of what one rack designer's original intentions were. Micro racks and other standard U-racks, for example, seem to be much more commonly used in the other configuration. Mr Cole was obviously referring to his own legendary rack design in that statement, and the same logic doesn't really apply to U-racks so I guess it's a moot point. (This has been debated at length in other threads on this forum, and is probably getting a little off-topic for this thread. My bad.)

Do not connect your rack's biner directly to the waist and leg loops--use the belay loop. As OR1 suggests: LINK

If you do feel the need to ever "bypass" a belay loop, at least do it with a D/delta maillon - something that will accept multi-directional loading. But on the whole, using the belay loop for its intended purpose should be fine.

The set up you got from OR1 should work fine. Actually, it's exactly right.

Agreed - it should work fine.

Thank folks....that puts my mind at ease....I'll go read the links you posted......
I'm purchasing my helmet next week and then I'm getting on a rope.....Maybe I'll post some PICS of my first time on rope.....or maybe you'll read about me in the newspaper under the obituaries....lol

I guess you can say I'm a bit nervous about my first time on-rope......that, plus I'm a little over 280 lbs and it just doesn't seem natural that someone as big as I am should even be on rope......

If yall want to ease my mind with some reassuring comments please don't let me stop you........

I have a TOP NOTCH trainer who will be training me on rappelling so I have lots of confidence in his knowledge......He is also the safety coordinator for my local grotto so I feel pretty confident......again, its my weight that has me concerned......

Anyway, thanks again for all your input.....

GC

GhostCat wrote:.....again, its my weight that has me concerned......

Don't worry about it, if some extra weight was an issue there'd be a lot more dead cavers / rappellers / climbers. Safety margins are such that a little extra weight is not a concern and is easily handled by the gear.

Many techniques such as pick-offs or tandem climbing put two people on the rope at once with no consequences.

Is it worht the Eztra $10 to buy the Petzel Meteour lll Helmet rather than the Petzel ROC (For caving not climbing)

J-Clark wrote:Is it worht the Eztra $10 to buy the Petzel Meteour lll Helmet rather than the Petzel ROC (For caving not climbing)

the meteour is for climbing only...its not designed for caving

GhostCat wrote:Its a Straight eye.....I'm going to connect with a Carabiner attached to harness.....so that turns my rack perpendicular to my body......gggrrrrrr

Give it a try first. Perpendicular is the orientation I prefer. Lots of people do it.