I have spent some time at Spanset in Middlewich over the last couple of months, doing my IRATA L1 and a few other bits. Some of you will perhaps know that Spanset have been particularly friendly to cavers, donating large amounts of new rope to expedition groups and competition winners on places like UKCaving forum. …
Continue reading Tutor XG rope test – Thanks to Spanset
Tag:rope
More force testing on 5:1 systems
This post follows up on some initial testing done on 5:1 mechanical advantage systems used to tension tyrolean crossings done a few months ago. I suggest anyone who has not read that report catch up with it here before reading on as I don’t explain everything again here. For this batch of testing I used …
Continue reading More force testing on 5:1 systems
Review – Petzl Club, semi-static rope
I had an email about a month ago from Shaun at Hitch n Hike. He’d been sent a 70m sample rope from Petzl to evaluate and once it came out of the box and he saw the colour, he knew who to call. This rope was a 70m coil, sold in an un-shrunk condition. Rather …
Continue reading Review – Petzl Club, semi-static rope
Can you cut rope with a household jet washer?
After the last blog post where I tried to compare washing a caving rope in a washing machine to jet washing I thought I’d try to see how much damage I could do to a rope with a jet washer. This photo was from the previous test where I exposed the rope to a full …
Continue reading Can you cut rope with a household jet washer?
Thoughts on jet washing caving ropes
I thought I’d ponder a little bit about the ‘myth’ of jet washers and caving ropes. I say myth because it appears that there is no real test data out there in the caving community. Recent caving forum discussions about jet washing happened to coincide with an associate company requesting we don’t use jet washers …
Continue reading Thoughts on jet washing caving ropes
Gleistein GeoStatic NE 9mm rope – 18 months use
It’s now March 2014, about a year and a half after I bought my first length of the Gleistein Geostatic 9mm rope. The 31m length I bought was soaked at home and measured to 32m, no doubt down to Shaun at Hitch N Hike’s generous measuring style! I labelled it up as a 30m and …
Continue reading Gleistein GeoStatic NE 9mm rope – 18 months use
Conclusions on the use of the BotB
So, the footage has circulated, tests have been done and reports and statements have been published. Where are we on BotBs? I echo the BCA advice that the BotB is safe to use provided that a cowstail is always clipped into both loops. I will continue to use the knot in my range of personal …
Continue reading Conclusions on the use of the BotB
2nd round of testing on the Bowline-on-the-Bight knot
Thinking that 2 heads were better than one I set out today with a good friend and colleague, Jez Parr. Jez in another CIC holder with many years of experience. He was also my mentor through the CIC scheme and the ideal person to bounce ideas off. Our first stop was local gear shop and …
Continue reading 2nd round of testing on the Bowline-on-the-Bight knot
Testing a method of failure with a Bowline-on-the-Bight knot
A recent video clip has come to light on UKCaving Forum from the French Caving School which identifies a method of failure for the Bowline-on-the-Bight knot. The School’s film shows a failure that could lead to serious injury or even death when clipped into only one arm of the Y-hang. I have not seen or …
Continue reading Testing a method of failure with a Bowline-on-the-Bight knot
First Look at Gleistein GeoStatic NE 9mm semi-static rope
Here is a quick set of initial observations on Gleistein GeoStatic NE semi-static rope. A full write up will follow in the future. So, a few weeks ago I was chatting to a caving friend of mine who has turned outdoor gear importer/supplier and was told about a new type of semi-static rope available in …
Continue reading First Look at Gleistein GeoStatic NE 9mm semi-static rope