Releasable Rigging - does it have a place in caving?

[wyandottecaver]

Your right Andy.

[Anonymous_Coward]

:doh:
Your right Andy.

I ain't sayin' you can't do it that way, I'm just sayin'....

A while back, Clem Akins published a small article in the NSS News about this too. I think it's a great idea, although we usually do the locked Munter, or perhaps use a tree as a belay spool (in an emergency). And of course a locked rack is often used as the anchor for vertical practice.

NZ, could you point me to Clem's article as in when it came out? I don't remember seeing that but I would like to read it.

Good point about the releasable tensionless hitch and rack-releasable practice ropes. For some reason I was thinking of those in a separate category, but they are really all just releasable anchors. The eight just has my attention because it can be pulled down, and is lighter and smaller than a rack. (want to use my rack for rappelling, after all) I like the fact that the contingency 8 is a block and a lowering device in one unit. Definitely a cool trick I learned from the canyon crowd.

[hunter]

Todd, unless I misunderstand you (and please correct me if I do), your idea actually requires THREE times as much rope as the pitch depth. If you're at the bottom, you can't lower the guy who gets stuck near the top unless you have another entire pitch length of rope on the bottom to lower with. In our 100' pit/200' rope example, you would need to tie another 100 footer on the former main line in order to still have some rope in your belay device when the patient reaches the bottom.

Unless I'm missing something you just tie the two ends of the rope together creating a loop which you can lower until the knot hits the anchor which should be sufficient. Not only that but an evil and tricky individual could subtly fool a newbie into climbing twice as much rope by lowering them a bit as they climb.

[NZcaver]

NZ, could you point me to Clem's article as in when it came out? I don't remember seeing that but I would like to read it.

"Self Rescue 101: Avoiding a Callout" - NSS News, September 2006, pages 4-6.

The KIP online archive hasn't caught up with 2006 yet, but if you can't find your own hard copy let me know.

[Anonymous_Coward]

NZ, thanks for the reference.

James, that is a good idea and is so crazy it just might work! So Todd, it looks like you were right after all. You can provide contingency lower for the last person down. Of course, if your ropes aren't much longer than the drop length, you are going to be operating that lower from inside the bottom of a waterfall!