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#Karstmas day 7

General Climbing
  • sunguramy@flipping.rocksS

    day 7

    Sorry for the delay folks, today was quite busy with a callout with the K9 SAR team. Happy ending!

    So this prompted me to write a bit about safety in caving today, in particular with vertical caves (pits). This is quite the famous pit in Alabama, it's on like every top 5 list to visit (best views, best hikes, best waterfalls, best cave...every clickbait list this cave is on). What is unique about it, is that there is a horizontal walk-in entrance as well, where you can get to this view. This is both good...and bad.

    When I started caving many moons ago, this cave was privately owned. So only cavers knew about it, and got permission by directly asking to go. Now, it is owned by a cave conservancy, and is much more open to visitation, just requiring a permit which is free and easy to fill out online. This is good - it lets lots of people enjoy this amazing view you think you'd have to travel far away to see. This is also bad - despite having to check off many things when you get the permit, no one *actually reads*, and as a result...well.

    See that nice round rock middle bottom? We all call that "The Pedestal". You can climb the rock down to it, the slippery wet rock over a 40+ foot drop. You aren't supposed to free-climb here, but *everyone* does for their Instagram photo.

    I'll make this simple: Never be closer than 6 feet (2 meters) from an edge without being tied in to a safety line. If the edge is sloped to the drop-off, that edge starts at the *top of the slope* where if you fell, you could keep rolling. Great rule of thumb for any edge, whether cliff or cave.

    In this case, once you are on the Pedestal, you're okay on a section of it. But if you are climbing the rock up to the right, or wanting to go further down, you need to be tied in. People also like to stand at the pit entrance and lean over to look - there's a small tree on the steep slope they hold onto to do so. Yikes!

    Guess who has personally been on the team, not once, but TWICE, that has bagged & pulled bodies out of this pit? Yeah. Coroners do not rappel into caves, cave rescue takes the body bag in, documents & photographs, and pull it back out. So, be safe please, around edges. Don't turn yourself into chunky jelly.

    It's not worth the photo.

    Now this place has a bunch of signs, but, people do stupid shit they aren't supposed to anyway. So I don't go anymore. Not because of the bodies - I have medical background and am not phased doing that stuff - but because I don't want to *watch* people be stupid. It gives me too much anxiety, and ruins my day. Shame, as it really is gorgeous and it used to be an annual summer trip.

    So. Be smart. Be safe. Pick living to see more wonderful things over a single moment's photo.

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  • sunguramy@flipping.rocksS

    #Karstmas day 9

    General Climbing
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    sunguramy@flipping.rocksS
    #Karstmas day 9Settle in for a technical post about Single Rope Technique! I already talked about the most widely known, and perhaps widely used systems worldwide: the Frog system.Today the subject is *my own invention* of a climbing system, to suit the needs of those with, erm, "chests". As a bonus, it also solves a lot of back pain problems so I've noticed over the decade-plus of showing people this option that many others have adapted it as well (including my own partner!).Where I live and cave a lot, there are deep pits, as you may have figured out. In addition, these pits are well suited to one long rope without rebelays or deviations (sometimes called "alpine style SRT"), since pits here bell out from the top edge meaning quickly you are far from a wall. There's no point in chasing the wall and putting in rebelays, you don't want the rope to touch it anyway! [Some international cavers like to tease cavers here saying we don't SRT, we "IRT" - Indestructible Rope Technique - because of how we just "rig, throw, n go"! But really, our rope just usually doesn't have a chance to touch the rock in the firstplace! ]Why is that important to know? Well, this means that different techniques are developed to make it easier to climb such long stretches in freehanging space. Many systems were invented over the years but the three that stuck around are:1) Mitchell2) Single Bungee Ropewalker3) Double Bungee RopewalkerRopewalkers work as they sound...you literally just take little steps and walk your way right up the rope. You only sit to rest, and many people can "run" up the rope as quickly as they can rappel! We're ignoring poor Mitchell for now, it has a small but fervent user base...smaller that I've converted some diehards to my invented system...Bungee and a Half Ropewalker!I invented the Bungee and a Half Ropewalker back in 2012. As I did longer and longer climbs, I learned by 400 feet my ankle was hurting from how a Single Bungee Ropewalker twist it, getting worse under more rope weight as you get higher. Sadly, Double Bungee Ropewalker was not for me either, as it pulled the chestroller plate over my, erm, "chest" meaning I could not breathe under the pressure. Not to mention the painfulness of it! So I combined elements of both, alleviating both of each system's issues, with my creation, the Bungee and a Half Ropewalker. It was somewhat based on a system Miriam Cuddington had played with (if the last name is familiar, yes, wife of "Vertical Bill" Cuddington who I've mentioned before). One of the really neat things about this system I invented is not only does it have the speed and smoothness of a ropewalker for long climbs, it also has flexibility of use. Because unlike the other ropewalkers, each ascender is easy to use individually, which allows it to excel at "alpine style SRT" as well. It handles rebelays and deviations as smoothly as a frog system can. In the end, all joking aside about preferred systems and techniques, the gear you train with, the system you know inside and out, that's the one that will get you up the rope safely. If you've studied it well, you can handle the obstacles with ease.If you'd like to see a video of how this system works, here is a quick two minute video! https://youtu.be/o57-c_zIkT8#cave #caves #caving #karst #pit #geology #waterfall #adventure #nature #photography #summer #climbing