On Aug 22, 2005, at 10:15 PM, Trevor Boicey wrote:
> Rock climbing is a hugely popular hobby around here. Might be
> around there too.
>
> You can probably buy industrial safety equipment as well, made
> specifically for that job, but the climbing stuff works as well.
> When climbing you "fall" every day if you are pushing your limits,
> so the protection works.
>
> Just a harness that goes on you, and then a rope, and then a
> gizmo that attaches to your harness. As you climb, you pull the
> slack through, but if you suddenly fall, it snaps onto the rope and
> holds you. You can also let yourself down in a controlled manner
> with a small brake on the rope.
The gizmo is the belay device. They can be very cheap if you don't
mind holding the rope yourself, or more expensive if they lock down
automatically. If I were going to be trying to do some kind of work
while I was hanging there I'd want it to be automatic.
> Unsure how much it might cost you to get started. The rope is
> expensive because it has some "give" to it. You are supposed to
> throw the rope away if you take a good fall with it.
That's true, but you shouldn't ever take a "good fall" top-roping.
The big falls happen when you are lead-climbing. You set an anchor
point, then climb up past it. If you fall you fall twice the
distance between you and the anchor point. Sometimes one or more
anchor can come free, and you fall much farther. This is how the big
falls can happen. Those are the ones that you're supposed to scrap
your rope after.
> --
> Trevor Boicey, P. Eng.
> Ottawa, Canada, tboicey@brit.ca
> ICQ #17432933 http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
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