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Video: Climber Cuts Rope in Half on Fall.

Original Post
20 kN · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2009 · Points: 1,346

Below is a video of a climber cutting his his rope on a fall. He was injured, but fortunately the injury was not fatal. The video demonstrates how little it takes to cut a rope under tension.  Stay safe out there.

https://vimeo.com/210809039

Barrett Pauer · · Brevard, NC · Joined Apr 2013 · Points: 775

SCARY

Wiled Horse · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2002 · Points: 3,669

Thats a nightmare come true! Ugh

Phil Lauffen · · Innsbruck, AT · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 3,098

Great... now I never want to climb an arete again. I've always dreaded the possibility but I've pushed it into the back of my mind as an irrational fear. No more...

Sandbagger Vance · · Cincinnati, Ohio · Joined May 2016 · Points: 0

For now on i'm climbing with two ropes... and now that I think of it, two belayers

cyclestupor · · Woodland Park, Colorado · Joined Mar 2015 · Points: 91

That is seriously scary!

Hard to tell from the camera angle, but at the point in time when the sheath gets cut, it doesn't even look like there is much weight on the rope!

Glad the climber is still with us, and I wish him a quick recovery.

llanSan · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2014 · Points: 130

I learn to climb by trial and error (no course introduction or gym learning or similars) long timne ago when trad was first and then sport climbing (this ones where scary since bolts where faaaar apart and there where no cracks beetween to put a piece). and some how made it with just a broken ankle. when i started climbing the popular videos where MASTERS OF STONE 1 & 2. now quality and esthetics in videos is impressive. And when I watch clips of climbing in england i always wonder why they climb with two ropes?.

I never seen climbers with two ropes in real life  (never been in england).

Why they do it ? or why we don´t do it?    

Jordan Whitley · · NC · Joined Mar 2017 · Points: 240

I heard that whoever did the FA on this climb used two ropes and two belayers because of this issue... Not sure if it's true but that was what I heard.

Jplotz · · Cashmere, WA · Joined Sep 2011 · Points: 1,315

Wasn't there a cut resistant rope manufactured at some point in the past?

Jason Todd · · Cody, WY · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 1,114
Jordan Whitley wrote:
ErikaNW · · Golden, CO · Joined Sep 2010 · Points: 410

A climber died on Yellow Spur in 2010 when they took a pendulum fall across a sharp edge that cut their rope. Here is a report that explains how it happened.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/552e8f43e4b07f0b3920027b/t/554fa62de4b0c12e5ca95060/1431283245707/YellowSpur-Investigation-Summary-RMRG.pdf

I actually watched someone setting up what looked to me to be a similar scenario on that climb recently - the rope was running taut over a sharp edge on a horizontal traverse. Had they blown it, the rope would have been under high tension and would have hit that sharp edge. It reminded me of the 2010 accident. I was thinking about how they could have protected it differently to avoid that situation - I'm always trying to learn how to improve my gear for different situations. I climb on doubles almost always - they add a lot of flexibility for protecting wandering lines and are great for long raps 

Fernando Cal · · SLC, UT · Joined Dec 2015 · Points: 25

Wouldn't a soft catch by having the belayer jump some help mitigate this? Similar to when climbing over a roof and climber falls to avoid the edge....crazy sh*t video though!

cyclestupor · · Woodland Park, Colorado · Joined Mar 2015 · Points: 91
Fernando Cal wrote:

Wouldn't a soft catch by having the belayer jump some help mitigate this? Similar to when climbing over a roof and climber falls to avoid the edge....crazy sh*t video though!

If you watch the video closely, it looks to me like the belayer did give somewhat of a soft catch.  Look closely at the rope.... Right before the climber falls, the rope is running straight from the last piece to him, with little or no sag, indicating that the belayer doesn't have much slack out.  As he falls, you can see the length of rope between the climber and the last piece get longer and longer.  I don't think it is all rope stretch either, because he's not that high off the deck, I don't think there is enough rope out to stretch that much.

Of course its all speculation.  

Mark Hudon · · Lives on the road · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 420

I took a big fall on Zodiac a few years ago and seriously core shot the rope. The edge that core shot the rope was as round as your biggest finger, not sharp by any stretch of the imagination. 

sherb · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2012 · Points: 60

Props to the belayer.  Probably minimized the climber's injury by breaking his fall, Rock and Ice Weekend Whipper article reported the climber fell onto the belayer, who suffered a concussion as a result.

Marc801 C · · Sandy, Utah · Joined Feb 2014 · Points: 65

If anyone ever wants to experience how easily a rope under tension can be cut, get an old length of rope and a knife. Anchor the rope and hang on it (with a good, safe landing pad) and drag the knife edge slowly across the rope.....

20 kN · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2009 · Points: 1,346

This video is a good example of why the new Unicore technology is so useful and why it would be nice if all manufacturers started using it.

brian n · · Manchester, WA · Joined Sep 2016 · Points: 87
20 kN wrote:

This video is a good example of why the new Unicore technology is so useful and why it would be nice if all manufacturers started using it.

Agree 100%

Just replaced my old rope with a Unicore one about two weeks ago.

David Morison · · salt lake city, UT · Joined Mar 2015 · Points: 70
Jplotz wrote:

Wasn't there a cut resistant rope manufactured at some point in the past?

The old Edelweiss Stratos :-) each yarn in the core was wrapped it's own little fishing line chinese finger cuff, in the precise technical terminology

Marc801 C · · Sandy, Utah · Joined Feb 2014 · Points: 65
David Morison wrote:

The old Edelweiss Stratos :-) each yarn in the core was wrapped it's own little fishing line chinese finger cuff, in the precise technical terminology

Too bad it was so damned heavy!

J. Albers · · Colorado · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 1,926

I'm seriously baffled that so many people are surprised by that video. Really? "Sharp" edges don't cut ropes, heat does. And if you apply heat to the same spot very quickly, then well, boing. This is why careful bolt placement on an arete is super important. I know that many folks don't think of this often (route developers too unfortunately), but an arete needs to be addressed with a similar amount of care as falling over the edge of a roof. On that note, I always watched with mild surprise at folks free climbing the changing corners pitch on the nose with seeming little regard for the rope running around the corner when the transition into the corner is first made. Always gave me the heebie-jeebies.

20 kN wrote:

This video is a good example of why the new Unicore technology is so useful and why it would be nice if all manufacturers started using it.

I don't think Unicore would have helped much because Unicore just stops the sheath from moving, it does absolutely nothing to protect your rope from heat being applied in the same spot continuously (which is what cuts the rope). Likely false sense of security there. 

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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