#Karstmas day 9

[sunguramy@flipping.rocks]

#Karstmas day 9

Settle 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) Mitchell
2) Single Bungee Ropewalker
3) Double Bungee Ropewalker

Ropewalkers 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