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Re: [patto] What knot for escaping a belay with skinny doubles?:
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rgold
Jul 21, 2009, 3:25 PM
Views: 501
Registered: Dec 3, 2002
Posts: 1804
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It'll only be a low fall factor if...its a low fall factor. The leader will be falling further than the rescuer and will be pulling the rescuer off with him if the next piece is below the rescuer. With a static belay, I wouldn't count on a positive outcome in that situation.
Because of this, the rescuer probably won't want to ascend all the way to the leader, but will want to stop with as many pieces between them and the leader as possible and lower from there. Again, this will be far less complex and time-consuming if the rescuer is ascending an unanchored rope.
By the way, if only a single rope is available, the rescuer may face some serious problems getting down themselves if they lower the leader from part way up. The question will be whether or not they can reach the rope running from the leader up to the highest piece. If this isn't going to be reachable from the rescuer's lowering stance (diagonal pitch), then there may be no alternative to ascending all the way to the top anchor.
There's obviously going to be a lot to think about before leaping into action, and of course the rescuer will be feeling a lot of pressure to do something fast. But failing to anticipate the reality of the situation will, at the very best, lead to big delays and of course could be much worse than that. So try to calm down and come up with a solid plan about what to do and how to deal with as many potential surprises as you can anticipate before you take any actions that will be hard to undo later.
I have a sinking feeling that many people are learning "belay escape" as if it was actually a solution to anything, where it is really just a potential first, and quite trivial, step in a very complex process with an enormous number of options, many of which are fraught with great danger. This is not an argument against learning escape techniques. Just be clear that in escaping the belay you've only taken a tiny step in a major journey.
By the way, I have never heard of anyone carrying out a self-rescue of the sort discussed here (hanging unconscious leader more than half-way up the pitch) in real life. I suspect the entire discussion is hypothetical.
(This post was edited by rgold on Jul 21, 2009, 3:51 PM)
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Post edited by rgold
() on Jul 21, 2009, 3:51 PM
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