We have a solution to solve communication problems while on a multi-pitch climb or at your local crag! We need your feedback!

My team and I from my entrepreneurship capstone course have brainstormed a solution to the common issue of not being able to hear your partners commands and effectively communicate with them while climbing. 

We need your feedback to validate our concept. All opinions and criticism is welcome. 

Please take a minute to review a quick informational ad that briefly describes the problem and our solution.

We will have CAD drawings in a few days, so please bear with the current rough drawings for the time being. 

We are also working on implementing features for aid climbing.

Click the link to view the ad. https://goo.gl/forms/65eq6NqQ99gELRHn1

Ah, now the purpose of the "your input is valuable" survey you posted a few weeks ago becomes clear. Why on earth weren't you just up front about this?

BTW, making email a required field is going to limit the responses you get from this survey. Not everyone wants to be put on an email list, and those who do are likely to skew more toward being supporters of your idea. Those who are critical or wouldn't use this device are probably also not going to want to be put on an email list for said device. Just something to think about. 

So it has all of the drawbacks of a radio, but you have to watch it constantly and you can't send more detailed messages than a binary status change?

Hard pass.

CAD device are all swell and inspiring, but, perhaps, you should start with electronic design. Make sure it does not succumb to the line-of-sight issues, has no false negatives in the data transmission. Consider that some people are color blind.

Em Cos wrote:

BTW, making email a required field is going to limit the responses you get from this survey. Not everyone wants to be put on an email list, ....

Wait. People are still using their real email address for things they don't care about?

Get a throwaway address from somewhere or if the site isn't doing any actual checking, just make one up. Here's one: bumblygumby@fimblegrack.com

Sure, but you're still going to lose out on feedback from people who might be willing to click a couple boxes but not willing to type an email address. If your goal is to gather as many opinions as possible, its counter-productive, particularly if you are expecting fake email addresses. 

No one is going to give you their email just cause you make it required. They'll find other ways to opt out, by using a fake email or not giving you feedback at all. Just make it an optional field, problem solved. 

A walkie-talkie does a great job and I will continue to just use that. 

I love your initiative but I would never use this. Your are over complicating things in my opinion. Radios work great and when in doubt you AND your partner should just know the soft skills like rope tugs etc.

I clicked the link... but naturally I skipped all the reading and went straight to the drawings. I can't tell wtf this thing is supposed to do or how its supposed to work... so I didn't answer any of the questions.

cheers!

Edit: Maybe it's a nipple ring? am I close?

There is a lot more than on- and off-belay during multipitch climbing.  On occasion I will bring a walkie talkie if I know the route wanders, or it will be windy, or if there will be logistics.  For example:

- You may need to communicate how much rope is left for the leader to pull up.

- If you need tension/slack for a traversing section of the pitch.

- If there is slack left in the haul line.

- If the pig is free from the belay.

- If the pig gets stuck.

- Etc, etc.

So I "invented" this about 15 years ago when I saw a deaf girl out climbing. I went further than you and took a few trips to Radio Shack to see if I could build one at home. Technology isn't a problem. 

Ultimately, I became a far more experienced climber and realized that there is no need for this.

Consider all the other people you get on walkie talkie, now imagine that but only a little light without nuance. Rope signals work and will continue to work.

This is a stupid idea that I fear will result in casualties when people press the wrong button or misunderstand the signals. 

Putting this on your tie in is a bad idea for sure. Your knot bumps into you, your rack, the rock whatever, and your belayer sees a green light and you are off belay. No thanks. JB

John Barritt wrote:

Putting this on your tie in is a bad idea for sure. Your knot bumps into you, your rack, the rock whatever, and your belayer sees a green light and you are off belay. No thanks. JB

Was just thinking about offwidths/squeeze chimneys...

Todd Anderson wrote:

Was just thinking about offwidths/squeeze chimneys...

 mantels on to ledges

Marc801 C wrote:

Wait. People are still using their real email address for things they don't care about?

Get a throwaway address from somewhere or if the site isn't doing any actual checking, just make one up. Here's one: bumblygumby@fimblegrack.com

Agree. Don't we all have like at least 3 emails?  Our work, true name one; the strange one for secret people to contact, which is full of spam daily to dump; and of course your 'porn' inbox account !     As for communication on the wall, we're already dragging a rope up, how about a looong string or wire with the tin cans on each end to shout out directions through like when we were kids?

Not to mention some of us tie in and clip our belay device to our belay loop and the knot loop both. I need something else right there to fiddle with.... ;)

Em Cos wrote:

BTW, making email a required field is going to limit the responses you get from this survey. Not everyone wants to be put on an email list, and those who do are likely to skew more toward being supporters of your idea. Those who are critical or wouldn't use this device are probably also not going to want to be put on an email list for said device. Just something to think about. 

Exactly. This isn't about collecting feedback, it's about building hype for a product while collecting emails to spam later. It's a classic startup maneuver.

I have another idea.  How about a flare gun that is built into a tube chock?  Green flares mean on-belay, red flares mean off-belay.  Polychromatic "Rainbow" flares mean "even though I haven't moved for the last 20 minutes, everything is fine; I'm just tired and not quite sure where to go from here."

Maybe if we get the engineering just right, the flares could even make the tube chalks usable as rocket-propelled grappling hooks?

A multi-million dollar liability policy might be good, as well.

I could see this being used with a guide that doesn't speak the same language as you, maybe.