Weirdness
Weirdness
A bunch of us were at the Zoo on Saturday clibming all day and I witnessed something unbelieveable. Something that an engineer and a math god could not understand or put together how this occured. We were climbing Geezers Go Sport (I recommend this route to everyone, its awesome) and hung the draws and were letting others take a stab at it. Well our buddy Joel is leading it and gets over the bulge, clips the bolt before the crux, and crusies through it to the jug way out right. We as he begins to climb to the next bolt he hears somthing not of the norm. He looks back at the last bolt to realize that the quickdraw had popped off the bolt. Somehow he stayed calm downclimbbed alil and put another draw on. So the quickdraw that popped off was dangling on the lower bolt now. Hmmm we say? So he continues to the top, loweres off, and we are all like what in the hell happened there. He didn't kick the draw as he climbed above, and the draw was perfectly hanging off the bolt, so my question is has anyone else seen this and if so can you explain this "Weirdness"?
Who Me? I gotta hitch hike god damn 18 miles to get a god damn beer......that's bullshit.
Stewy911,
Never witnessed anything quite like that, but I did however witness a miracle this weekend...........My climbing partner (who will remain unnamed) Lowered off sick puppies at Sky Bridge with what appeared to be a combination of a "slip knot" and "granny knot." I think he may have been hungover and thought he was tying his shoes instead of cleaning an anchor.....Ever heard of anything like this happening Stewy911???
Never witnessed anything quite like that, but I did however witness a miracle this weekend...........My climbing partner (who will remain unnamed) Lowered off sick puppies at Sky Bridge with what appeared to be a combination of a "slip knot" and "granny knot." I think he may have been hungover and thought he was tying his shoes instead of cleaning an anchor.....Ever heard of anything like this happening Stewy911???
I was one of the people climbing with stewy911, and it was a little weird. But I think that we came up with a pretty good explanation of what happened.
As Joel climbed above the bolt, the bolt side biner on the draw rotated so that the spine of the biner was up, and the gate was facing down on the bolt. Then the dogbone moved slightly left over the gate. As Joel climbed up the rope pulled a little on the quickdraw causing the dogbone to pull the gate open, while at the same time the biner rotated about 50 degrees clockwise causing the biner to fall off the bolt. So if the biner had not been a keylock biner this probably would not have happened.
This may not be what happened, but this is the only feasible explanation I can come up with. So feel free to throw out another hypothesis.
I am also curious if anybody else has seen this happen
before.
As Joel climbed above the bolt, the bolt side biner on the draw rotated so that the spine of the biner was up, and the gate was facing down on the bolt. Then the dogbone moved slightly left over the gate. As Joel climbed up the rope pulled a little on the quickdraw causing the dogbone to pull the gate open, while at the same time the biner rotated about 50 degrees clockwise causing the biner to fall off the bolt. So if the biner had not been a keylock biner this probably would not have happened.
This may not be what happened, but this is the only feasible explanation I can come up with. So feel free to throw out another hypothesis.
I am also curious if anybody else has seen this happen
before.
I most often happens when the top biner is clipped with the gate facing the the head of the bolt. Sometimes when it is clipped like this and the climber moves above the bolt, the rope will pull (rotate) the draw around. As the draw rotates around the gate comes in contact with the bolt head, pushing the gate open, a little more rotation and the biner unclips itself right from the bolt. A diagram would work really well to explain this 
ain't no blood in my body, it's liquid soul in my veins... - Roots Manuva
Stewy, I teach climbing classes on a regular basis and this is something that I have been able to make happen on the ground while messing with a quickdraw on a bolt hanger.
If you have the gate of the biner on the bolt hanger facing away from the bolt, and you were to climb in that same direction with enough drag for the rope to move the draw up it could continue up and force the gate open against the bolt hanger.
I would say the moon and the stars would have to be aligned just right, along with holding your mouth just so, for this to occur.
If you have the gate of the biner on the bolt hanger facing away from the bolt, and you were to climb in that same direction with enough drag for the rope to move the draw up it could continue up and force the gate open against the bolt hanger.
I would say the moon and the stars would have to be aligned just right, along with holding your mouth just so, for this to occur.
Oh man, he is messing that up. However, he is missing his left leg so that way would probably be harder for him. SCIN, just before spraying some beta for a climber doing a route the WRONG way.
Yep, a really easy way to see this kinda thing in action is with ice screws - you rack them on a biner, and by rotating them just so, you can pop one off easy. Also why you don't ever want to use a bent gate on the bolt side, is it makes this way easier to happen.
"There is no secret ingredient"
Po, the kung fu panda
Po, the kung fu panda
if he clipped the bolt so that the gate was facing the direction he was climbing it is possible for the gate to rub on the rock, open up and twist in the direction he was climbing, and thereby coming unclipped. That is why it is always a good idea to orient the top and bottom biner's on quickdraws so that both gates are facing opposite the direction of the way the climber is going. I haven't actually gotten this to happen, but have seen how it could easily happen.
I have a picture somewhere of what I am talking about.
http://www.redriverclimbing.com/album_p ... ic_id=1768
I have a picture somewhere of what I am talking about.
http://www.redriverclimbing.com/album_p ... ic_id=1768
"But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?" – Lord Byron
I have had that happen to me. It is more common with ring-style glue-ins, but it can still happen on Metolius hangers. If the biner on the hanger is elevated to the point that the gate is in contact with the hanger and is then pushed horizontally, the gate can be forced open. Try it sometime with a small loop of rope and a biner. Kinda scary!
I was working Churning in the wake at Smith, which has ring-style hangers. I did the route after some work and as usual took a victory whipper front the anchors. While waiting to be lowered, I noticed that the draw below the one I'm hanging from had come off as well as the third draw down.
I was working Churning in the wake at Smith, which has ring-style hangers. I did the route after some work and as usual took a victory whipper front the anchors. While waiting to be lowered, I noticed that the draw below the one I'm hanging from had come off as well as the third draw down.