Inherited some gear

Doc

rappel rack for the biner ... and stitch plate belay device

inspect it all, lube it up and replace the soft goods and slings on the cams/nuts and yr good

;)

edit ... go here to find out exactly what model it is ...

storrick.cnc.net/VerticalDe…

Thanks for the quick responses.

actually the proper term is break bar for the "rappel rack" ... mea culpa ...

;)

From searching the internet the other break bars/rap racks have more than one bar.

http://storrick.cnc.net/VerticalDevicesPage/Rappel/CarabinerBBar.html

;)

Thanks again. Great site. This answered all my questions: storrick.cnc.net/VerticalDe…

The brake bars were an improvement over the carabiner brake rappel. But it was another gadget to carry.

Back in the day, everyone had oval biners, and a brake bar cost less than a dollar. It was a practical way to rappel. Two could be chained in series for single rope descents. If the bar got grooved, it was cheaper to replace than buying a new biner. That's probably an SMC brake bar in the pic; there was another brand that was hollow. That was a real bad idea because if it ever wore through (easy enough to do if the rope is gritty) the resulting sharp edge would damage the rope. We also carried belay plates to belay with. Then we learned about Fig. Eight devices that could descend AND belay and we retired the plates and bars. Then came ATCs...

@Gunkiemike: thanks, I enjoy climbing history, especially when it's well-told.

As folks have said the piece on the left is a Salewa stitch plate. The large slot is for 10-11mm ropes and the smaller for thinner ropes. You could buy also with two large slots. Some also came with a spring as they could bind up against the biner. They can be used for belaying and rappelling. The original ATC and worked much better than the figure-8 as they do nto twist the rope.

storrick.cnc.net/VerticalDe…

The other is a biner brake bar. They are still popular with cavers and others who most make descents. Slightly OT but today most people are screwed if they lose their ATC and can not rappel. A biner break is the simplest way to rap when needed.

Allen Sanderson wrote:Slightly OT but today most people are screwed if they lose their ATC and can not rappel.

Haha you mean like the flatiron video?

Thanks for the reply Allen, everyone has been super helpful.

Now if I could just figure out whats up with the belt.

MHLeitch wrote: Haha you mean like the flatiron video?

Yes, exactly ...

Christopher Allan wrote:Belt: that's an old roofing harness, for roping-up while doing shingle work, or some such. My dad has one, and we once gave it some webbing leg-loops and he belayed me with it. Perhaps a bit sketchy, but definitely a fun memory.

Awesome, thanks for the response. I wasn't planning on using it, it's a little too big for me, but I thought it looked pretty cool.

If the belt has 2 of those elongated D-rings, it's actually a linemans belt, used for climbing telephone poles. A buckstrap would go around the pole and each end of it attaches to one of the D-rings, lean back against that and climb/spike your way up, resetting the buckstrap with each step.