Hi, Brian.
Actually, you can lock a normal, non-eared figure 8 too. I think I found
the method in a French book, but I'm not positive on this, but it is
something that pretty much every time I do it someone says "Whoa, you
can lock a figure of 8?"
There are several reasons why I would prefer another descender for
vertical caving, but Geary already outlined in a great post the pros and
cons, so... what he said. :)
- Fofo
Brian Riordan wrote, on 11/6/09 6:35:
Why would this be improper specifically for vertical caving? The
figure 8 will twist any rope. The only reason I can think of that any
caver would think it "improper" is because you can't lock it off. But
you can lock off a rescue figure 8... You also lock off Petzl's
"Pirana", which is very similar.
Figure 8:
http://s7ondemand1.scene7.com/is/image/MoosejawMB/10085396x1014941_zm?$product150$
Rescue 8: http://wesspur.com/images/product/300800-500.gif
Pirana: http://wesspur.com/images/product/d05-500.gif
Any thoughts?
-B
On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 8:24 AM, Fofo<gonza...@msu.edu> wrote:
Hey, Lyndon.
It sounds like he is talking about the descender, not the knot.
The problem with the figure 8 descender is that it twists the rope. Since
caving rope is a bunch of parallel fibers encased in a sheath, going through
the figure 8 will impart a twist on these and in the end (after repeated use
with a figure of 8) you end up with a rope that kinks by itself.
It is a compact and lightweight descender, convenient for nuisance drops, on
short pieces of rope for which you don't care much.
- Fofo
Lyndon Tiu wrote, on 11/6/09 6:12:
On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:04:44 -0500 dlocklea...@gmail.com wrote:
Everybody else appeared to use a rock-climbers tiny Figure-8. ( I
think most caver's would agree that this
type of Figure-8 is not proper vertical equipment for caving. )
Can someone on this list knowledgeable with vertical caving please explain
to me why so?
Thanks.
--
Lyndon Tiu
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