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"Scott Hedrick" wrote in message
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"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
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Well, gee, Pat, *I* almost lost it at the Grand Canyon because of a poor
choice in picking the rock to put my weight on.

Don't you just hate it when they start moving?

It was a Wile E. Coyote moment, I tell ya, especially since that same rock
held me fine on the way down.

My wife won't let me climb rocks anymore. Ropes are for pussies.

Nah.. rocks are for pussies. Now, climbing a 220' rope with nothing but you
and the rope... that's the way to go.

(Just did a couple of vertical caves in Georgia the other weekend. Still
both love and get afraid of being on that 11mm. (actually the 10mm was a bit
hairier, made me really think "did I rig this against rubbing well
enough?" )

Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:

Nah.. rocks are for pussies. Now, climbing a 220' rope with nothing but you
and the rope... that's the way to go.


Let me get this straight... you climbed _up_ a 220' foot rope unassisted?
And can see climbing down one, but up one even with the aid of
ascenders, sounds like something that Army Rangers would have trouble with.

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
...


Greg D. Moore (Strider) wrote:

Nah.. rocks are for pussies. Now, climbing a 220' rope with nothing but
you and the rope... that's the way to go.


Let me get this straight... you climbed _up_ a 220' foot rope unassisted?
And can see climbing down one, but up one even with the aid of ascenders,
sounds like something that Army Rangers would have trouble with.

Well I used ascenders but yes. 220 feet of rope. In a gorgeous cave.

I've done at least one deeper cave.

The granddaddy of caves is Golondrinas in terms of single drop, over 1,100
feet.

And I've known a few people who have ascended half-dome.

It's not the ascent that's really a huge problem, that's just a matter of
being in shape.

It's the descent. It's sort of like re-entry.

You can descend quickly, but then have to decelerate more at the bottom, or
go slow the entire way.

Either way your descender will build up heat and if it gets TOO hot, starts
to damage the rope.

On some drops, folks wlil routinely spray water on their descender to keep
the temperature down.

(and then there's the aprophycal stories of folks coating their descent
device with Teflon... keeps the friction down doncha know... and that way
won't damage the rope as much.... If the stories are true (and at least one
decent source indicates they may be true) me thinks the caver sort of missed
the point. ;-)



Pat