Fall Factor Discontinuity

Well, I certainly am getting schooled here. Thanks for the thought-provoking information!

Bill, you can still set up something in experimentation. The modeling is just a starting point.

The debate Rich shared is something worth looking into. What would be good to test is the main-line resiliency given different setups.

Another item to try is modeling for oblique angle hits on the anchor, and then drop test whether or not we can/can't maintain an adequate load distribution.

Buff Johnson wrote:Bill, you can still set up something in experimentation. The modeling is just a starting point. The debate Rich shared is something worth looking into. What would be good to test is the main-line resiliency given different setups. Another item to try is modeling for oblique angle hits on the anchor, and then drop test whether or not we can/can't maintain an adequate load distribution.

It's a good reminder. Empirical data sometimes can help quell the hysteria from sparse theoretical data. :-) Unfortunately, I don't have much time for experimentation myself - though will follow along with the reports! Besides climbing, a couple other climbing-related areas are keeping my pretty busy.

Bill

I kinda like this. Usually I’m quite leery of the belayer’s rope-tie-in for the lowered-belayer option because, for every 1m of lowering, you lose 3+ m of rope. If you need to protect a runout right out of the belay, you’re going to need a lot more than 1m of lowering and that could seriously compromise your ability to complete the next pitch. I’m also leery of the fact that the lowered belayer can’t keep an eye on the belay anchor and tweak it if needed. With this set-up, you could have your leader take a pause at a ledge or other rest point as soon as he’s out of the initial danger zone, you’d then lock him off on an MMO and fairly quickly and easily belay yourself back up to the main belay anchor, freeing up the rope and allowing you to resume eyeballing the belay when you can spare a glance from the leader.

As I’ve said before, I consider the lowered-belayer option OK in certain circumstances but I choose other approaches when I can. The option of clipping the first pro of the next pitch at the end of the previous one (recommended by the Petzl Foundation, UIAA & DAV), when it can be done and can be done safely, lets you achieve a high degree of safety for the beginning of the next pitch and belay comfortably from the main belay position (as opposed to hanging below it) while using up rope leftover from the previous pitch instead of rope you may need for the next one.