Beal Escaper.. thoughts?

20 kN wrote:

You're assuming the gumbies who use this thing thinking it will save them the need to trail a second rope will have considered the engineering principles behind how it works. Half the gumbies out there dont even understand that you need to keep a hand on the brake side of the ATC, you really think they are going to understand that keeping the rope weighted is critical in the use of this device? If so, you have far more faith in the blind than you should.

Ha.  I love the internet.  I expect more from you Mr 20k.  I don't assume anything regarding other people's brain.  

But, the use of this device will require a high level of presents.  And, in this day and age, a large percentage of the accidents are merely mental mistake in basic situations, such as dropping your partner.  Situational awareness is probably the number one way to live or die in climbing, as HealyJ tends to affirm, not some added backup, secondary, redundancy, tripled up safety that turns your brain off.

The obvious solution to all of your concerns is to just wear the HanSolo Airbag Pack while using this device.  Redundancy achieved.

Fuck that thing and how it works. Give me something that doesn't release when you know...Bounce on the fucking rope while rappelling. 

I saw one of these in person today at OR and got PTSD just looking at it. 

I asked the rep, "It's just for emergencies, right?" He said no, it's for regular use. Granted, he was a Liberty Mountain (distributor) rep, not a Beal employee.

Five not-so-hard tugs released the hitch (and my sphincter).

Not to worry though, there's this great aftermarket mod you can purchase that makes the Escaper totally safe. They call it a "tag line."

Given the average competence level of new climbers entering the outdoors -- mentorless and straight outta gym-pton, beeyotch --  this device is an accident waiting to happen.

I test drove the Escaper at the OR show with Frederic Beal. I'm going to buy one and cautiously put it to use. I think it's a viable new tool for going lighter and faster. 

The pros:

1. Climb lighter and (hopefully) faster - no need to bring a tag line. 
2. Escape unforeseen events - like running into two parties waiting for the Harding Slot on Astroman. We had done the route before, and thought we'd go light and fast with one rope (dumb move). After a few hours watching the lack of progress in the slot, we knew we had to bail. Retreating required a lot of lowering, down-leading and a profanity laced hike down without headlamps (dumb move #2) An Escaper would have had us down in the bar before dark.
3. Fewer belay stations: there's been an increase in routes being developed with belays every 30-35 meters so they can be climbed and descended with a single 70m rope. The Escaper makes this practice unnecessary. Pitches and raps can be full length.

The cons: 

1. The Escaper requires compatible belay stations. Single point rap stations are best. Trees will not work, unless you sacrifice a runner to create a single point anchor. 
2. One more thing to carry. But the Escaper weighs next to nothing and comes with a stuff sack about the size of a large candy bar.
3. Experience required - no way would I recommend the Escaper for anyone but advanced climbers with good judgement.

To be clear, even after 35+ years of multi-pitch climbing, rappelling is still my least favorite part of any route. But with a stopper knot on the Escaper, everyone but the last in the party raps on a fixed single line. The last person down just has to ensure a constant weight is applied - stopping and unweighting to free a snagged rope could begin the "escaping" process.  

Anonymous wrote:

Hopefully any snags have been addressed by the first and subsequent raps enough so that the last down can make a smooth rap with little to no stops. How often is that the case, though? 

99.9% of the time I rappel 

@drewford, good point on the first rappeller straightening out the line while being backed up by a stopper knot. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts -- please do keep us updated.

Still looks hella scary, though. I'd need to secure an underwear prodeal with Ex Officio. Imagine using this thing on the Washer Woman freehanging rap ...

I played around with this at OR as well and I would totally use it as a backup/for emergencies. There are much better ways to do everyday rappinig though. The rep I talked to said it locks around 20lbf which really isn't that much so I wouldn't be too worried about a bouncy rappel making it release. Stopping on ledges as you rap could be problematic...

Anonymous wrote:

 Not the best product demonstration, if you ask me 

Yeah, the video left much to be desired. They should've set up the demo at OR a bit higher and had the rep demonstrate it.

Fritz N. wrote:

@drewford, good point on the first rappeller straightening out the line while being backed up by a stopper knot. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts -- please do keep us updated.

Still looks hella scary, though. I'd need to secure an underwear prodeal with Ex Officio. Imagine using this thing on the Washer Woman freehanging rap ...

Yes. There's no guarantee that wind won't blow the rope around a corner or something. If my partner goes down first (on the stopper knot) I will probably ask them to anchor the end before I slide down.  

If it only takes 20lbf to lock it, I wonder if it will be difficult to unlock it in some situations with the full weight of a 70 m rope and some rope drag.  

Greg D wrote:

If it only takes 20lbf to lock it, I wonder if it will be difficult to unlock it in some situations with the full weight of a 70 m rope and sone rope drag.  

I had that same thought. If you were bailing fast with a long rope or two ropes tied together for a 120m rap (with knot passing), the weight might be too much to actually free it. Maybe you could just whip it back and forth to release it?

I played around with it at OR and was terrified at first. I even told the rep I wouldnt use it.  After some good thought, I think I will end up buying it.  Emergency rapping after getting stuck behind slow parties would be key.  Of course I will set it up in a controlled environment first to see the potential problems mentioned above. Great job BEAL on coming up with something new, innovative, and not just worried about gumbies making stupid mistakes.  

Another thing that makes me nervous is the thought of getting the Escaper stuck after pulling. How often have you gotten a nice silky-smooth rope caught around a tree or a rock horn? Feels like the Escaper would be substantially more likely to catch on those same features... and given its knots and floppy coil of dyneema it would be a lot less likely to release once caught. I find this thing conceptually brilliant but practically terrifying, especially when used in the alpine emergency descent scenario they seem to be solving for.

A company like Beal... surely ran this through their battery of lawyers first...last thing a rope company needs, is a new product that kills the user.  That cord... represents my life!  Company reputation can be crucial in this segment of our sport.  Consider CCH's demise, and that was just the trad community.  I'll probably get one... carry for trad mulitipitch work...

Emmett Lyman wrote:

Another thing that makes me nervous is the thought of getting the Escaper stuck after pulling. How often have you gotten a nice silky-smooth rope caught around a tree or a rock horn? Feels like the Escaper would be substantially more likely to catch on those same features... and given its knots and floppy coil of dyneema it would be a lot less likely to release once caught. I find this thing conceptually brilliant but practically terrifying, especially when used in the alpine emergency descent scenario they seem to be solving for.

This. Looks like a crack catcher for sure.

  This would be awesome for backcountry routes when you are going to carry that tag line for a couple days or more to use it for only a few raps. Also for snow and ice where snagged ropes are much less likely. First one to rap down could throw in a few pieces of pro to prevent the 120 meter whipper in the the case of failure.  Retrieval is the big issue if it snags, with a double rope you have half the rope at your feet when the rope comes off the anchor. With this your only sane choice seems to be rope solo lead technique to try and climb up. I'd like one but would want to know the pulls are pretty clean before committing to the route. 

In the clip, she does say that it's designed for winter conditions but I'd want to see test results in various wet and icy situations before I'd trust it. So far, all the clips I've seen were indoor demonstrations. I suspect that for the product to work, you need just the right hitch material, and hoop diameter and angle in relation to the type of rope that must be threaded through it. This is probably why they provide a kit that includes the rope rather than providing just the hitch and hitch-spreading bar to be clipped and threaded through the user's own rope. Also it's hard to tell on the video clips but is that blue rope extra-elastic?

I'm wondering if wetting+freezing might fuse the hitch to the rope, preventing release (and on ice climbs, you might start getting wetting+freezing the minute you install the rappel, even if you've kept the Escaper dry up to that point).

In the opposite scenario, I'd definitely want to see tests showing that threading an already icy blue rope through the hitch (eg on a second rappel) would not prevent it from grabbing properly (ie the hitch would not let the rope slip under steady tension and you would not need fewer tugs to release the system).

I think most of us would prefer to see a real world application of the device.  Could be reassuring to see a split screen shot showing the anchor and a user at the base using a full rope length, in order to show the complete rope retrieval process.  I'm concerned that rope drag down low angle slab could neutralize the Escapers release process.  Go further, and show the entire rap process.  This trade show demo is a good introduction, just needs more.  Which, I'm comfortable we'll get  closer to their release date.

I am going to buy the hell out of this once its out. I'm excited.