Moderator: Tim White
creektrails wrote:Hes very athletic, balanced and a good climber. Hes intellegent and doesnt jump blindly into anything that he deems dangerous.
creektrails wrote:I want to take my son caving but first of all am wondering if he's too young.
creektrails wrote:I just hate devoting 6 to 8 hours in a day to anything that Im doing without involving him.
creektrails wrote:Maybe Im pushing it too quick.
chh wrote:If you're nervous about managing the second belay rope just take along a third and do a bottom belay with someone at the top to make sure the device is threaded correctly. Somewhat standard proceedure for new vertical cavers as I'm sure you're aware and also less complicated. You can also have two ropes and just rappel with/alongside him. This doesn't solve the belay issue (unless you have a third), but it does solve the reassurance issue. You'll just have to judge what he needs more.
You might also consider finding a lip somewhere along a cliff or something, even off a deck or structure, to negotiate before you do it over the pit. Changing over on a free hanging rope is a skill he needs, but it's nothing like negotiating a lip.
creektrails wrote:
excellent suggs. rapelling beside him is a great idea. What about froging beside him on the way up? would roping him to me with a QAS or long pigtail be a bad idea? that would elimanate the need for a belay. But maybe a no no. That lip at 130' is a scary ordeal even for the seasoned.
NZcaver wrote:Assuming one is competent and confident in one's own rigging and rope techniques, the use of a long tether should be simple and non-problematic. We use this all the time when teaching diminishing-loop counterbalance rescue techniques. I often find it convenient to rig a tether with a Prusik hitch for easy length adjustment.
Have fun.
creektrails wrote:great replies and instruction. thanks for the ideas. I for one apprecitate the value of redundancy, especially when taking a young person. So whether we use a belay or a tether i know that it will be of great mental value not only for my son but for his mother who wont be there.
The idea of thinking about the worst case senario is also good. Not only using the backup but having a plan in case the backup is needed.
Now about the spare rope flaked out at the top. Do you mean a third rope? I was thinking that if something happened and the tether was put into use, that I would still have his rope to attach him back onto.
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