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Severely damaged rope due to fall. 9-Oct-2006 At 3:11:00 PM dino

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I was climbing last Friday at the South Esk near Launceston at an area called Aclai Del Lei. I was leading a grade 20 trad route. It was mainly a jam crack but involved moving on to some face holds and tricky crux move left to regain crack.At this point I attempted to place a small cam but had already used it below, I then attempted to place a nut but was starting to get pumped and dropped it (the nuts). With no other option I took what i thought was a fairly controlled fall of several metres onto a solid nut placement below. All went well until I looked up at my rope after the fall and noticed that my rope was severely damaged. All the outer sheath was cut and some of the core was damaged.But when I looked at the edge that the rope had run across I am absolutely amazed that it did not cut the rope completely.

I think in hindsight that a bit more thought on my part about extending slings on runners and better overall rope management may have helped.But i think ultimately it was due to how I fell,dragging the rope over the edge.As another fall later at the same point did not have the same result.

Always learning, and no I did'nt manage to lead the route. It must be said that my partner at the time (a seasoned veteran) had a nervous moment at the same point on the route