12/05/2012
Rock Climbing Safety Considerations
I’m writing this article for
beginning outdoor programmers in the field of rock climbing. Some parts of this
article can also be used for just strictly outdoor programmers in any field.
You can show this article to people who are interested in trying this sport out
or you can use this information on your behalf. The choice is yours.
Rock climbing is a relatively
safe sport, mainly due to technology, and of course when done correctly. There
are accidents that you hear about every now and then, but if you follow some
simple guidelines you can control this danger or minimize those risks.
The first on the list to
remaining safe on the wall and what I think is most important, is pre checking
all the gear for the trip and making sure you have all the gear required for
the trip. Even the most experienced guides in the world could have a fatal
accident due to poor quality gear or overused gear, or simply forgetting their
gear. The rule of thumb here is, if there is any question that you need to
replace the gear. Replace it! It's not worth someone’s life, or someone getting
injured, due to poor management of your gear. Inspect all the gear carefully
and make sure everything is in working order. Especially our climbing ropes,
climbing ropes can wear out quicker than most any other gear and should be
inspected thoroughly, according to a Rock and Ice article I read, there hasn’t
been a single recorded instance of a rope breaking just for being old. The best
way to check if your rope needs to be shaved a few meters or replaced, is to
run the full rope length through your fingers pinching every few inches feeling
for soft spots, you can tell you need to retire the rope if at the soft spot
you can pinch the rope all the way together.
Make sure you check all the gear
thoroughly. Carabiners need to be checked as well, are the baskets of the
carabiners grooved from being overused? Will the rope cut if you run it over
that groove fast enough? Are your harnesses in good working order? How do your
slings and dogbones look? Is your belay device in good shape? The Outdoor
safety institute recommends you toss helmets/textile products away after 10
years. How do your helmets look? These are the things you need to be looking
for and inspecting after each trip.
I found a really good website http://www.petzl.com/us/ppe-checking
This is a website with instructions and the standards for safety checking gear.
The second on the list is really
important. That is, know what you are doing as a climbing guide. Climbing is a
dangerous sport, you cannot guarantee everyone’s safety although you’ll
minimize the risks greatly by being certified or just have the knowledge
already on how to safely build anchors, tie knots correctly, do buddy checks,
go over climbing commands, know how to rescue someone off the wall if something
tragic happens, be certified in cpr and first aid, setting up for rappel. You
need to be able to do these things on demand.
I’d like to talk a little about
the history of safety on rock climbing. While I was in Joshua Tree, California
I had the privilege of hanging out for a bit with the most accomplished free
soloist of our time, Alex Honnold. At the local event called climbers coffee in
the morning I asked him a little bit about how and why some of the legendary
free soloists in the past didn’t use gear and why they’d mainly top rope some
of these climbs before attempting to free solo them, mind you free soloing
means no gear at all, no rope, no belayer. He told me “Well there wasn’t any
gear back then, like they have nowadays, you couldn’t bring up a set of cams or
nuts with you on the climb, so they’d just run it out.” To me that tells a lot
about how far technology has come in making our sport much safer. Just in the
last decade or so climbers are now able to bring up gear and place it whenever
they want, we will fall as far as we placed our last piece instead of decking.
Apply or analyze some of the
things I’ve talked about in this article, and add them to your own curriculum.
Be safe out there, and most importantly have fun!
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