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NZcaver wrote:Marlatt wrote:After dropping the pit, we discovered that the core was blown out through the side of the mantle a foot or so from the end of the rope!
Cool! Good thing it was only the last foot of the rope. I suspect the rope impacted something sharp-ish at high speed, then? Anybody take photos of the rope?
KENTO wrote:tl;dr
OpenTrackRacer wrote:Well, we're not in caves but we deploy our ropes by tossing the bag down the shaft or winze almost all the time. The exception is when there are many visible obstructions and we're worried about the rope going the wrong way or being snagged if we have to pull it back up without descending all the way down.
Here's 100M of PMI 11mm Pit Rope heading down the hole...
<image deleted to save bandwidth, scroll back for great picture>
We haven't had any issues or noticeable rope damage yet. YMMV.
Mike
Stridergdm wrote:OMG, YOU'RE GOING TO DIE! I READ THAT SOMEWHERE ON-LINE!
Throw the rope
Down the Shaft
As we ply our caving craft..
Crystal canyon,
[something, something..]
Take me down,
Caving roads.....
shibumi wrote:So y'all do what you want because you will anyway
shibumi wrote:I hesitate wading into this discussion because of the egos involved, but what the hell, apparently my ego is huge too.
I will occasionally throw a rope down a pit. Usually short pits (50' or less give or take) and usually where I can see the rope going down as it's falling. I also usually throw the first 20-30' of the rope down most pits I'm rigging to get enough weight to readily lower the rest, and in both instances I am holding the rest of the rope so I can get a feel for what it's doing. Lowering gives me a good feel for what's going on with the rope as it's deploying, and I've occasionally avoided problems because of this method.
I never throw the entire rope down larger pits, and I don't care to be the first person on the rope when someone has. I also teach my students to lower ropes down drops. I sort of look at throwing the entire rope as one of those Hollywood things, it makes for a great visual but really serves very little purpose. Yes, there's rapid deployment of the rope, but I will counter that with the potential for spending more time dealing with tangled rope and the distant possibility of rope damage. I won't claim that damage is something I worry about, but I can't also claim it doesn't happen as I've seen it too.
I've also occasionally rappelled on the rope coming out of the bag, but I've now been on two rescues because of this technique, one from someone short roping the pit without a stopper knot, and once because a mouse had made a nest in the bag and chewed through the rope (in many places). About the only time I will rappel out of the bag is if I had stuffed it recently.
So y'all do what you want because you will anyway
Phil Winkler wrote:Throw the rope
Down the Shaft
As we ply our caving craft..
Crystal canyon,
[something, something..]
Take me down,
Caving roads.....
I think those were words from the song Caving Roads (to the tune Country Roads by John Denver) done by Cricket Haygood back in the early 80s. I recall hearing her sing it around a campfire at Cumberland State Park during the HG annual outing there.
Marlatt wrote:NZcaver wrote:Marlatt wrote:After dropping the pit, we discovered that the core was blown out through the side of the mantle a foot or so from the end of the rope!
Cool! Good thing it was only the last foot of the rope. I suspect the rope impacted something sharp-ish at high speed, then? Anybody take photos of the rope?
Sorry - i don't think anyone took a picture of it, unfortunately. But I'm pretty sure the rope didn't hit anything sharp. The drop at Guaguas is completely free after the first ~10ft, and the landing is pretty soft (mostly dirt and wild rhododendrons, I think). Its been some years, though.
swm
Crockett wrote:Marlatt wrote:After dropping the pit, we discovered that the core was blown out through the side of the mantle a foot or so from the end of the rope!
[...]
Sorry - i don't think anyone took a picture of it, unfortunately. But I'm pretty sure the rope didn't hit anything sharp. The drop at Guaguas is completely free after the first ~10ft, and the landing is pretty soft (mostly dirt and wild rhododendrons, I think). Its been some years, though.
swm
I was in that pit when this happened or when the exact same thing happened (maybe it happens a lot?). The rope made a disturbing zipping noise as nylon rubbed nylon all the way down. The bottom end of the rope rubbed for 700 feet. I don't remember the year but a photo was taken that week that made the cover of the Members Manual. I think Gordon Birkheimer took the photo.
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