Day 44
- Kathleen Clemens
- Feb 13, 2014
- 2 min read
Today’s First:
Climb Rope with an Ascender – After a quick how-to by master tree climber Kylo, felt ready and had a ton of fun.. Thanks Ky 🙂 The Rob Hill Campground was the perfect location and the sun came out just in time for our escapade. (By far the best coffee break this month, again..what you can do in your spare time is quite remarkable. Away from the screen, off the chair..into the world! Have fun.)
Set up by Ky:
first cast nylon rope over tree with fishing pole, with something light on the end. second, get climbing rope hooked in and pull back over from opposite end of nylon line. anchor rope.
KY IN ACTION!
GEAR: Climbing Rope, Fishing Pole, Nylon Rope,
You: Harness, Grigri, Carabiner, Ascender, Aider, Helmet (just in case ;)).
History:
Jumars and Jugging: The first ascenders in common use were Swiss-made Jumars. These paired ascenders, first introduced to America in Yosemite Valley, became a useful climbing tool for climbing big walls using the Yosemite method. Back in the 1970s, all ascenders used in America were simply called jumars and the technique for ascending a fixed rope was called jumaring, which was later bastardized to “jugging,” a term still used by climbers when referring to ascending a rope with ascenders.
Climbing Rope: Two Types (we went with Dynamic since it’s a bit more fun and weren’t going to loading the line too long)
Dynamic: The rope is designed to stretch at a designated percentage given a static load of a designated weight (i.e. 6.5% stretch on static load of 80Kg). The reason these ropes are designed to stretch is to minimize and absorb some of the impact of a fall – imagine taking a 20′ fall w/ no stretch, you could snap your back in two! These ropes are used in any/all lead climbing to protect the climber by absorbing the impact of a large fall. This is the standard in rock climbing. These ropes can be used for rappelling, top-roping and hauling gear like it’s cousin, the static rope, but understand that these practices will put more wear and tear on the ropes and cause them to wear out faster.Static: Static lines are the opposite of dynamic ropes and market their ability to NOT stretch under load. These are primarily used for rappelling, top-roping and hauling gear, however should NEVER be used for lead climbing
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