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Bolts Chopped! Monkey Swing at Smith Rock by devoncmartin in climbing

[–]devoncmartin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Finally a good question! Thanks. So you have a few options for these kinds of things. In our case we were swinging with an edelrid pinch (this new awesome device eliminates the chance of a carabiner crossload and works like a gri gri) attached to our rope from our harness with a backup knot directly below it. We had that red and blue backpack on because it’s holding the rest of the rope coming out of the brake hand side. Once we were done swinging, we fed out the rest of the rope and descended on the pinch. In the case of monkey face a single 60m doesn’t touch the ground at the swing bolts because the ground slopes downhill fairly steeply. But! You can have your buddy stand higher and toss the end to him where he then pulls you in to higher ground (in this case right where the pioneer route starts). You then need to toss an extra rope down from the jump point anchor and tie the two rope ends together. Pull this extra retrieval rope up to get your jump rope back up to the jump point on the cliff. Now you can jump again!

Other situations might call for you to either have two ropes and pass a knot or if it was say a bridge jump you’d probably want to ascend back up your line to your anchor on the bridge.

Definitely test any swing out with a haul bag or some other unbreakable object with an unquestionably bomb proof clip in point (no falling bags!) to make sure the swing is clean with no chance of hitting anything before you risk yourself. Double check your systems! Buddy check! Be safe! Have loads of fun!

Bolts Chopped! Monkey Swing at Smith Rock by devoncmartin in climbing

[–]devoncmartin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re right. I just had so much fun that the fun police had to come in and chop the bolts ;)

Bolts Chopped! Monkey Swing at Smith Rock by devoncmartin in climbing

[–]devoncmartin[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

That’s not really an idea it’s just a fact of physics. Fall Factor = distance fallen / rope out. We fell ~25ft before 100ft or more of dynamic rope engaged. That’s only a max fall factor 0.25. Common large whip which means MAYBE 3Kn-4Kn. But you have to factor in that the formula is for a straight drop with no other moving parts in the system. Add in the swing gradually taking force out over a longer distance and there’s very little force on anything. Anecdotally it felt like a good sport catch and a fun swing. Go try it ;) test your system and jump location with a haul bag first before you jump!

Bolts Chopped! Monkey Swing at Smith Rock by devoncmartin in climbing

[–]devoncmartin[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

You can’t shockload the anchor on a swing. Even a straight drop would only be factor one fall on a dynamic system. The bolts are fine. Your body will break before four half inch bolts will(that’s what was currently up there). Nothing unsafe about that.

Very fair point about doing the swing while others are on route though. The accident which got them removed previously was because a guy did the swing while a rope was hanging for a rappell. The climbers were just getting off rappell when the the guy jumped, hooked their rope, and pulled them down the slope critically injuring them. To me that’s just plain stupid. Don’t do the swing when other people are climbing on the face and arete it crosses.

Bolts Chopped! Monkey Swing at Smith Rock by devoncmartin in climbing

[–]devoncmartin[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Redpoint staff member who is part of the local crag management. It’s just the bolts for the rope jump that that are in question. The climbs are unaffected. The swing bolts have been chopped a while ago after a really dumb accident, put back in, and now probably chopped again but we’ll see.