How to retrieve a stuck rope?

Placing a cam? Slotting a nut? Slinging a tree?
MacGyver
Posts: 81
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:29 pm

Post by MacGyver »

Ascentionist wrote:But what if they become self-tying after you buy them.

Darn sneaky ropes!
Then purge the evil with fire, or find an old priest and a young priest.
"Oh, everything's too damned expensive these days. This bible cost 15 bucks! And talk about a preachy book! Everybody's a sinner! Except this guy." - Homer Simpson
Shamis
Posts: 1343
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:11 pm

Post by Shamis »

MacGyver wrote:
Ascentionist wrote:But what if they become self-tying after you buy them.

Darn sneaky ropes!
Then purge the evil with fire, or find an old priest and a young priest.
You mean an old priest and a young boy?
User avatar
ynot
Posts: 6432
Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2002 1:02 am

Post by ynot »

Story time: I was at the Dome with a couple other friends and we cleaned Private Duty nurses or one next to it. Sure enough they couldn't pull the rope. I was putting away my rack and told them Just wait till I'm done and I'll pull it. I put the end around behind my hip like a hip belay and ran backwards down slope. It came tight and then broke free sending me rolling over backwards through the rhodos.I scraped a boulder too. I still have the scar on my waist but the rope came unstuck.
"Everyone should have a plan for the zombie apocolipse" Courtney
User avatar
der uber
Posts: 1044
Joined: Sat Apr 29, 2006 2:42 am

Post by der uber »

MacGyver, I figured you'd offer up something that would involve common household items, like a paperclip, a credit card, and a pair of sun glasses.



* edited becus I cant spel well
MacGyver
Posts: 81
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:29 pm

Post by MacGyver »

Momentary laps in focus, sorry it won't happen again.
"Oh, everything's too damned expensive these days. This bible cost 15 bucks! And talk about a preachy book! Everybody's a sinner! Except this guy." - Homer Simpson
KD
Posts: 3155
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:21 am

Post by KD »

I would go home and look up on here what to do then go back and get it unstuck. That's how I do everything really though :)
ewaaser
Posts: 84
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2004 5:21 pm

Post by ewaaser »

Had this happen 1400 feet up in Red Rocks a few weeks ago. Pulling the rope after the first of 12 consecutive rappels and it got stuck solid in a crack. No amount of flipping, see-sawing, grunting or cursing would move it.

Put a prussic around the rope and attach to belay loop (or you can use a gri-gri for this....just be sure you thread it properly). Second just keeps you on belay, or you can tie that end into anchor. Climb up, moving the prussic (or gri-gri, or ATC guide in autolock mode) up the rope with you and put gear in below the prussic as you go up. You're now protected as in a lead climb. Get it unstuck and downclimb with second pulling in rope and keeping you on belay as you climb down. If downclimbing won't work, sacrifice 2 or 3 nuts for a rappel anchor.

If you really can't climb the rock back up (ie., overhang), well,,,, you're kinda screwed. At some point there, you make a decision on just how "stuck" that rope is and if it will hold as you jug up it until you get some gear in somewhere. Absolutely not recommended until all other options, including spending the night on the rock, are extinguished. And if you do this, build one heck of an anchor to attach to. Prayer is also useful in this event.......
Shamis
Posts: 1343
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:11 pm

Post by Shamis »

ewaaser wrote:Had this happen 1400 feet up in Red Rocks a few weeks ago. Pulling the rope after the first of 12 consecutive rappels and it got stuck solid in a crack. No amount of flipping, see-sawing, grunting or cursing would move it.

Put a prussic around the rope and attach to belay loop (or you can use a gri-gri for this....just be sure you thread it properly). Second just keeps you on belay, or you can tie that end into anchor. Climb up, moving the prussic (or gri-gri, or ATC guide in autolock mode) up the rope with you and put gear in below the prussic as you go up. You're now protected as in a lead climb. Get it unstuck and downclimb with second pulling in rope and keeping you on belay as you climb down. If downclimbing won't work, sacrifice 2 or 3 nuts for a rappel anchor.

If you really can't climb the rock back up (ie., overhang), well,,,, you're kinda screwed. At some point there, you make a decision on just how "stuck" that rope is and if it will hold as you jug up it until you get some gear in somewhere. Absolutely not recommended until all other options, including spending the night on the rock, are extinguished. And if you do this, build one heck of an anchor to attach to. Prayer is also useful in this event.......
That's the answer I came up with. its a bitch, but it gets you home alive.
Post Reply