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2 ropes hanging off Taipan Wall - RETURNED THANKS!

ajlowndes

17-May-2010
11:01:40 AM

Hi guys...

Yesterday (Sunday) my friend and I made an epic.... EPIC... day of ascending Taipan wall (Grampians), got to the top completely exhausted and walked along to the belay station at the left hand end, tied two ropes together and abseiled down just as it was getting dark. I arrived at the bottom and tugged on the rope that we had to pull - but the rope jammed in something at the top edge and after all amount of tugging pulling, shaking, walking out/along the cliff (and yelling frustrated words into the night), finally gave up. I had rope ascending gear but by then it was 7.30 at night (we had no light) and ascending 45m on a rope that is jammed in god-knows-what at the top and could slip at any moment isn't really how I wanted to continue into the night. Unfortunately everybody in my party had work today (Monday) so we had to leave the ropes and return to Melbourne. I don't have a car so can't return today. Otherwise I will go back next weekend and maybe they will still be hanging there.

One rope is a MUMC club rope - green 10mm, 60m and the other belongs to me - a purple Beal 9.4mm 60m which I would really like back. The purple (thinner) rope is going through the bolt anchors at the top so the green one is the one you pull because the knot is on that side. The guide book says watch for rope jamming and we did but at the top it seriously doesn't look like something that would jam so I honestly don't know what happened.

If you are in the Grampians in the Mt Staypleton area and make around to the belay ledge at the top (I don't recommend rope ascending - a walk might be easier/safer since no-one knows what the situation is at the top) and get the ropes off please call or message me - a slab of beer/wine will be offered. Also if you take a picture of the situation at the top so we know what happened and can learn from it that would be awesome.

Thanks for any help

Aaron 0424 38 38 31

(edit: changed the time we decided to give up - it wasn't as late as I thought, but still very dark - we faffed around and left grampians at 9.30)

(edit2: changed the title from "please return!" to "RETURNED THANKS!")


nmonteith

17-May-2010
11:21:42 AM

Welcome to the club! I've had ropes stuck there on several occasions. The easiest way of accessing the top anchors for a retrieval mission is to either solo (or lead) up the Mission Over Tokyo Gunigalg Gully Connection - grade 8 (route #1 on this topo)

See guide here
http://www.climb.org.au/index.php?page_id=10&action=area&area_id=98

One Day Hero

17-May-2010
11:32:03 AM

.....or, prussick the ropes. Wrap BOTH ropes with BOTH prussicks and you will avoid dying a horrible death. If you practise in the gym a bit during this week, I reckon 45m of prussicking should go in <20 minutes, which is much quicker than you're going to locate and execute the scramble.

When you rap off again, pull the knot over the edge as you go and be double-extra sure that the ropes don't cross between the anchor and the lip......also, thread the skinny rope and pull the fat one

ajlowndes

17-May-2010
12:16:28 PM

Hey thanks for the suggestions fellas, yeah I did thread the thinner rope so it would be easier to pull down. unfortunately didn't help. I like nmonteith's suggestion of climbing the 8 at the LH end of the wall - I will do that next weekend if the ropes are still there. Not sure if the ropes were twisted (we couldn't see that far in the night) but we tried for ages testing shockwaves up green/down purple and didn't feel any so I really don't think they are twisted. And yes I have a plan when I get up there next to pull the knot well past the edge and abseil down, use prussicks to transfer the belay to below the knot and continue down, then the pull *should* be easy. Here's hoping.


ajfclark

17-May-2010
12:21:41 PM

On 17/05/2010 AaronLowndes wrote:
>And yes I have a plan when I get up there next to pull the knot well past the edge and abseil down, use prussicks to transfer the belay to below the knot and continue down, then the pull *should* be easy.

Wouldn't it be easier to let one rope slide through the belay device but not the other, thus keeping the knot directly above the belay device until you're over the edge and then letting both ropes slide and abseiling as usual?


IdratherbeclimbingM9

17-May-2010
12:28:25 PM

That would also work, ... unless the abseil was a full ropelength and then you'd have probs at the bottom.

ajlowndes

17-May-2010
12:28:58 PM

On 17/05/2010 ajfclark wrote:
>Wouldn't it be easier to let one rope slide through the belay device but
>not the other, thus keeping the knot directly above the belay device until
>you're over the edge and then letting both ropes slide and abseiling as
>usual?

good point

ajlowndes

17-May-2010
12:31:41 PM

On 17/05/2010 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>That would also work, ... unless the abseil was a full ropelength and then
>you'd have probs at the bottom.

no it is a 45m abseil and using 2 X 60m ropes, so there is a good 15m of purple (threaded) rope coiled on the ground to get me over the edge. plus stretch. and from the bolts to the offending edge is maybe 1m so it will be fine


wallwombat

17-May-2010
12:45:50 PM

Having a small head torch with you is a good idea when climbing anything that is multipitch.

I specifically bought my current chalkbag because it has a small zipper pocket that I can stash a small head torch in.


ajfclark

17-May-2010
1:55:54 PM

On 17/05/2010 wallwombat wrote:
>I specifically bought my current chalkbag because it has a small zipper pocket that I can stash a small head torch in.

Those little pockets rule. I keep a small bottle of sunscreen in mine.

spicelab

17-May-2010
4:04:10 PM

Some friends of mine are staying there this week - I've passed on the details.


Eduardo Slabofvic

17-May-2010
4:19:10 PM

What sort of knot did you use to tie the two ropes together?

ajlowndes

17-May-2010
7:01:22 PM

On 17/05/2010 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>What sort of knot did you use to tie the two ropes together?

I have had a lot of discussion in the last few years on which knot to use, and I've tried all I know of at one time or another. Until now I haven't really had reason to prefer one over another.

This time unfortunately I decided to be extra safe and used a re-threaded figure-8 with the tails tied tidily into fisherman knots a lot like you use on a harness (if you haven't been "enlightened" by the wonderfulness that is the the double-bowline).

In hind-sight (wonderful thing that, always 20/20) I would've used a simple overhand knot so a twist of the rope might let it slide over the edge. I'll probably use that next time a guidebook says watch for snags.

I think double fisherman would've caught just the same as the knot that is currently caught up there.

17-May-2010
7:10:02 PM

good to hear of more epics on taipan! seventh pillar i presume. how was it?

did you check the ACA guide beforehand? (which says: "make sure to test-pull the ropes before the last person comes down because the ropes regularly get jammed on this abseil. Hint: the last person should step to abseiler's left to avoid laying the ropes in the offending groove on the lip.")

the groove in question is quite small, but if you're sitting there on top watching what the ropes do while the first person down on the ground test-pulls the rope,s it's quite obvious what the problem is, and how to avoid it. if it's still light that is.

PS we had the exact same dusk descent after 7th pillar, and also got the ropes jammed. we had the luxury of coming back the next morning, and towed the ropes about 20m away from the crag, then hooked up both our bodyweights onto the rope, and did a synchronised leap into midair off a boulder... each leap moved it about 30cms - 2 passive bodyweights were not enough. hard work but easier than topping out somehow. Yes on a rough/sharp edge this might trash the ropes but it didn't hurt our ropes at all. TR here: http://www.chockstone.org/forum/Forum.asp?Action=Display&ForumID=2&MessageID=1043 )

ajlowndes

17-May-2010
7:36:37 PM

oh wow, if I read your story correctly, pulling the knot below the lip won't help me at all if the rope still gets caught in some sort of sharp groove (which we didn't see)?
That would explain why when we pulled on the purple rope we couldnt' budge it - we expected it to move for 1m or so until the knot moves back up and hits the bolts, but it didn't budge.


IdratherbeclimbingM9

17-May-2010
7:38:07 PM

What is the anchor?
If it is bolts, can they be repositioned appropriately?
Yeah, yeah, anathema to some, but practicality sometimes has a place?
Heh, heh, heh.

ajlowndes

17-May-2010
7:48:04 PM

yeah two bolts, roughly 30cm apart, level. 1m above the offending lip, ~0.7m back from the edge (so you have a nice ledge to stand on to put yourself on belay etc).

ajlowndes

17-May-2010
7:53:48 PM

On 17/05/2010 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>What is the anchor?
>If it is bolts, can they be repositioned appropriately?
>Yeah, yeah, anathema to some, but practicality sometimes has a place?
>Heh, heh, heh.

My flatmate suggested taking a hilti gun up and "modifying" the offending groove. I've always been staunchly against rock modification but I am so pissed at leaving ropes behind (which I haven't had to do in 14 years of climbing) that I might be persuaded to look the other way in this particular situation...

PS not taking responsibility if someone decides to do it! But if it is discussed through the proper channels and agreed upon then I would support it.

climber72

17-May-2010
9:45:35 PM

On 17/05/2010 AaronLowndes wrote:
>
>My flatmate suggested taking a hilti gun up and "modifying" the offending groove.
>
>But if it is discussed through the proper channels and agreed upon then I would support it.

Ohhhhhh.......No..........Here we go!!

ajlowndes

17-May-2010
9:57:32 PM

On 17/05/2010 climber72 wrote:
>Ohhhhhh.......No..........Here we go!!

Well of course not an actual hilti gun - that would be a little overkill and would just make a mess. Generally to clarify: I would support action that provides a more permanent solution to this problem since it seems to have happened a lot before.

There are 29 messages in this topic.