• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Ropeman Safety

Smokingbarrel270 said:
Who's to say the Ropeman is the weakest link? There are so many knots, straps, pieces of equipment that we are trusting our life with. I'm not saying that having a backup isn't smart. I have stopper knots at the end of my ropes for that reason. All I'm saying is that at some point each person has to accept the inherent risk of climbing into a tree.

On a totally unrelated topic I'm thinking of adding a trampoline or a bed of feathers to my pack so in case my gear fails I don't hit the ground. Thoughts?... :tonguewink:
Click to expand...
If those items are all used correctly and specified appropriately there should not be anything weaker than the ropeman-rope connection. That's why we talk about it as the weak link.

Of course you can always screw up elsewhere - but well maintained climbing-appropriate ropes and cords are much stronger, as are well tied, dressed, and tested knots and hitches (possibly more room for user error there).
 
mattsteg said:
If those items are all used correctly and specified appropriately there should not be anything weaker than the ropeman-rope connection. That's why we talk about it as the weak link.
Click to expand...
I wish that was the case but do you know what the rating of your harness is? IF it is tested to the same rating as a climbing harness then it is only tested to 15kn twice before being approved. The ropeman assender is also rated to 15kn but it also rated with 3 sigma which is a more stringent testing persmiter where less test can fall below the testing threshold before being approved.
Also, there was a test done on used climbing harness and the results found that a harness that was several years old failed just below 15kn which make you harness the weakest link after years of use.

Food for thought...
 
Smokingbarrel270 said:
I wish that was the case but do you know what the rating of your harness is? IF it is tested to the same rating as a climbing harness then it is only tested to 15kn twice before being approved. The ropeman assender is also rated to 15kn but it also rated with 3 sigma which is a more stringent testing persmiter where less test can fall below the testing threshold before being approved.
Also, there was a test done on used climbing harness and the results found that a harness that was several years old failed just below 15kn which make you harness the weakest link after years of use.

Food for thought...
Click to expand...
The ropeman will almost certainly cut the rope sheath far before it breaks.
 
mattsteg said:
The ropeman will almost certainly cut the rope sheath far before it breaks.
Click to expand...

Just general questions, not calling anyone out on this.

And if/when it cuts the rope sheath

What happens to the rope core?
How far will the ropeman slide down the rope core?
Will the ropeman cut the rope core?

Will any DIY prusik backup be able to catch and provide true backup on a rope core?

Just questions for those using ropemans.
 
Last edited:
Smokingbarrel270 said:
... The ropeman assender is also rated to 15kn but it also rated with 3 sigma which is a more stringent testing persmiter where less test can fall below the testing threshold before being approved.
...

Food for thought...
Click to expand...

Not being argumentative, but the last I checked, ropeman did not have that 15kN rating. And even if it did, it does not account for the damage it could do to rope.
 
sojourner said:
Not being argumentative, but the last I checked, ropeman did not have that 15kN rating. And even if it did, it does not account for the damage it could do to rope.
Click to expand...
The latest ropemen are rated to not break up to 15kn. I do not believe that their mechanism has shifted though. They have been observed to sever rope sheath as low as 3.5 kn and in some cases sever the rope completely.

Ropeman 1 Failure

I don't wanna stir worms, but I do just want to stick this info out there while I have it. This is a link to the oft-referenced article about how a ropeman 1 fails, and a screenshot of the most relevant page I found. http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/crr_pdf/2001/crr01364.pdf Not saying use it or...
saddlehunter.com
 
Swingin' Free said:
^
This...
Click to expand...
This forum has been and I hope still is better than that.

Yes - people are responsible for their own safety. However - claiming that a given product fails at 3-4x the actual failure load observed in testing is dangerous and needs to be called out.
 
mattsteg said:
If you're fine with a 3.5kn device supporting you - that's fine (it's still almost 800 pounds after all).

If you think that 3.5kn device is a 15kn one - that's not.

If you run around spreading claims that it's good to 15kn and tested to a higher standard than other climbing gear...that's dangerous and has no place here.
Click to expand...
Sounds good dude, I'll leave the testing and rating to the experts... I've got deer to kill.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like much ado about nothing. If it's good enough for climbers and rescue climbers, I think I'm good with them, but that's me. Everyone needs to find their comfort zone and go with that.



Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
PaTrout1 said:
Sounds like much ado about nothing. If it's good enough for climbers and rescue climbers, I think I'm good with them, but that's me. Everyone needs to find their comfort zone and go with that.



Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
The risk there is that they may use it one way (keeping its limits in mind), and then you turn arou d and use it "because these experts do".

He is using the ropeman ascender...for ascending. There's never slack in the line. That's not how we use them (unless you're doing srt/drt/etc with them).

The key consideration in this case - is that he does not ever have slack in his system.

If you use a platform and "pivot" for weakside shots, you have slack in your system. Same for some climbing methods. The specific case where the ropeman 1 does not perform well is in those situations.

Again - it's a fine tool, but when you're using life-support gear In an off-label manner you should have a better rationale than "these other guys use the device as designed".
 
Smokingbarrel270 said:
Who's to say the Ropeman is the weakest link? There are so many knots, straps, pieces of equipment that we are trusting our life with. I'm not saying that having a backup isn't smart. I have stopper knots at the end of my ropes for that reason. All I'm saying is that at some point each person has to accept the inherent risk of climbing into a tree.

On a totally unrelated topic I'm thinking of adding a trampoline or a bed of feathers to my pack so in case my gear fails I don't hit the ground. Thoughts?... :tonguewink:
Click to expand...

The nut at the end of the line is the weakest link


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm using Nutterbusters web bridge and run my tether tag down through my bridge and back up to tie to itself. Just in case the alpin buckle would break...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top