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so why again do we leave so much fixed gear? are climbers really that lazy?

rhetorical..I know the answer.

What was the thickness of the severed rope?

DITTO @ the LODE a year ago.

DriskellHR wrote:About 10 yrs ago while clmbing at torrent I witnessed a kid fall on one of the 10's and he rope was severed by the draw. It did not cut all the way through, he had like 3 strands of the core left holding him. Newer rope, experianced climber...... crazy shit does happen.

I have John's rope, and will be sending it to the manufacturer asap. I will get some pictures of the rope and try to post them as the analysis continues. The damage to it is quite impressive, in a terrifying way. It was a 9.8mm rope. I can also assure you that it severed - well it looks more like an explosion - and that it happened after falling on the first bolt. I think the fact that so many of us are/were skeptical that this could happen shows us 1) we don't yet know all of the potential things that can go wrong in climbing, and 2) how much blind trust we put in climbing equipment.

oh yeah...it was almost a brand new rope.

I think we give people too much credit for having common sense and the ability to properly evaluate there situation. There are countless sharp biners like this one in question at every sport climbing area in the world.

Take 2 seconds to take a look at the gear before you clip it. If you can't figure out how to do that or how to by pass questionable gear on a SPORT route, you need to seriously question if you should engage in this activity.

If none of that makes sense, ask someone that seems to know what they are talking about. Its much easier to ask a simple question than to perform a rescue.

Ah . . . the knife sharp edge on the biner due to its cross-sectional shape and a first-bolt fall as two coincident factors in the incident producing a clean cut make sense. The rope should have very little movement through the biner at the first bolt because there is not much rope paid out to spread the force of the fall via dynamic elongation. The other incidents that people are talking about apparently occurred with more rope out (mine definitely) and this resulted in the rope getting skinned instead of severed cleanly by the sharp biners.

heacocis wrote: - and that it happened after falling on the first bolt.

Anecdotal report last weekend from a climber at Drive By who said it happened to him on Fifty Words. If you talk to people you start to realize how common this really is.

Hard to believe that such a sharp angle is grooved into those carabiners until you see it... a pretty scary sight when you're up on a climb and find one of those waiting for you.

REMOVE them when you FIND them, people.... because who knows how much longer people will keep clippin' em.

This is a discussion that hasn't really taken place at the Red until now..... 'bout time!

Thanks for the report, Rick

I'm not sure why anyone has trouble believing a sharp edged worn biner with a static belay (assuming more of a static belay was given considering proximity to ground) and large fall factor wouldn't sever a rope. The biner in the picture is clearly sharp and a fairly large factor fall factor is in effect considering the amount of rope out that close to the ground is very low. Add a heavy climber to the equation and all of the little things that can go wrong with the system add up to 1 very big consequence.