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Rescued in Blue Mountains May 31, the analysis 23-Jun-2015 At 5:10:00 PM patto

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On 23/06/2015 martym wrote:
>If it's just a case of I weighting the rope to remove a jammed prusik,
>couldn't you wrap a t-shirt around the taut rope & brute-force yourself
>up enough to shake the prusik loose?

Try it at home or in a park off a tree. A taut rope can be very hard to get a purchase on, even some styles 'prussik types' of hitches have difficulty when the rope is taut. Again, some types of prussik hitches can lock off very tightly when loaded. Working them loose takes dexterity and time even when unloaded.

All in all carrying only one item that is usable as a prussik can lead to some big issues, Always have several on you. I've found typical 12mm slings effective as a prussik if you get the wraps right.

All this discussion becomes so much more relevant when canyoning. Try dealing with all these scenarios when you are cold and you fingers are numb. What about if you are in the middle of a torrent of water? I saw one poor girl flip upsidedown in a waterfall and effectively get waterboarded with a heavy flow of water. What are you going to do with stuck prussiks in such circumstances? (Your leg loop prussik is now touching/caught in you belay device.)

This guy was using a prussik type hitch on his leg loop, and he still fell 20m to the ground.