Skip to main content
added 1 character in body
Source Link
Separatrix
  • 8.1k
  • 20
  • 38

I am sure there is no simple formula to add everything up as the load of a high factor fall is not increasing linearly. There have been experiments conducted by Pit Schubert in which he tested a rope with repeated falls on factor 0.35-0.45 on a rope rated to 5 falls with an 80 kilo mass. (Basically the norm just with a low fall factor)

He reports that the rope lasted for more than 2 days of fall testing and broke after 220 falls. However, it was already stiff to unusability after 80 falls.
(Source: Pit Schubert, Sicherheit und Risiko in Fels und Eis, page 64)

What does this mean?

  1. The fall factor is relatively high for sports climbing falls. A factor of 0.4 would be a 4m fall from 10m heighheight into a quick-draw at 8m. Your typical fall (especially at the gym) will likely be much smaller.
  2. The rope was fixed which means the fall was held completely static. In practice (belaying off the harness) there is always a dynamic catch, even with static devices like the GriGri. Loads in practice will be even lower.
  3. With the rope being fixed, there is always the same part of the rope in the carabiner that holds the fall. In practice, this would be distributed over a bigger part of the rope.
  4. As in all testing, this was performed using a metal weight to simulate the climber. A human climber's body will absorb some of the impact, therefore lowering the impact on the rope.

Conclusion
In practice, you will get a lot more than the 220 falls measured. Therefore, it should be impossible to break a rope simply by falling onto it, no matter how often you do. Check your equipment before climbing on it and if in doubt retire.
Retire the rope when it gets too stiff for comfortable handling, or if it reaches the maximum life span given by the manufacturer.

I am sure there is no simple formula to add everything up as the load of a high factor fall is not increasing linearly. There have been experiments conducted by Pit Schubert in which he tested a rope with repeated falls on factor 0.35-0.45 on a rope rated to 5 falls with an 80 kilo mass. (Basically the norm just with a low fall factor)

He reports that the rope lasted for more than 2 days of fall testing and broke after 220 falls. However, it was already stiff to unusability after 80 falls.
(Source: Pit Schubert, Sicherheit und Risiko in Fels und Eis, page 64)

What does this mean?

  1. The fall factor is relatively high for sports climbing falls. A factor of 0.4 would be a 4m fall from 10m heigh into a quick-draw at 8m. Your typical fall (especially at the gym) will likely be much smaller.
  2. The rope was fixed which means the fall was held completely static. In practice (belaying off the harness) there is always a dynamic catch, even with static devices like the GriGri. Loads in practice will be even lower.
  3. With the rope being fixed, there is always the same part of the rope in the carabiner that holds the fall. In practice, this would be distributed over a bigger part of the rope.
  4. As in all testing, this was performed using a metal weight to simulate the climber. A human climber's body will absorb some of the impact, therefore lowering the impact on the rope.

Conclusion
In practice, you will get a lot more than the 220 falls measured. Therefore, it should be impossible to break a rope simply by falling onto it, no matter how often you do. Check your equipment before climbing on it and if in doubt retire.
Retire the rope when it gets too stiff for comfortable handling, or if it reaches the maximum life span given by the manufacturer.

I am sure there is no simple formula to add everything up as the load of a high factor fall is not increasing linearly. There have been experiments conducted by Pit Schubert in which he tested a rope with repeated falls on factor 0.35-0.45 on a rope rated to 5 falls with an 80 kilo mass. (Basically the norm just with a low fall factor)

He reports that the rope lasted for more than 2 days of fall testing and broke after 220 falls. However, it was already stiff to unusability after 80 falls.
(Source: Pit Schubert, Sicherheit und Risiko in Fels und Eis, page 64)

What does this mean?

  1. The fall factor is relatively high for sports climbing falls. A factor of 0.4 would be a 4m fall from 10m height into a quick-draw at 8m. Your typical fall (especially at the gym) will likely be much smaller.
  2. The rope was fixed which means the fall was held completely static. In practice (belaying off the harness) there is always a dynamic catch, even with static devices like the GriGri. Loads in practice will be even lower.
  3. With the rope being fixed, there is always the same part of the rope in the carabiner that holds the fall. In practice, this would be distributed over a bigger part of the rope.
  4. As in all testing, this was performed using a metal weight to simulate the climber. A human climber's body will absorb some of the impact, therefore lowering the impact on the rope.

Conclusion
In practice, you will get a lot more than the 220 falls measured. Therefore, it should be impossible to break a rope simply by falling onto it, no matter how often you do. Check your equipment before climbing on it and if in doubt retire.
Retire the rope when it gets too stiff for comfortable handling, or if it reaches the maximum life span given by the manufacturer.

Spelling and grammar
Source Link
Toby Speight
  • 4.8k
  • 23
  • 43

I am sure there is no simple formula to add everything up as the load of a high factor fall is not increasing linearly. There have been experiments conducted by Pit Schubert in which he tested a rope with repeated falls on factor 0.35-0.45 on a rope rated to 5 falls with an 80 kilo mass. (Basically the norm just with a low fall factor)

He reports that the rope lasted for more than 2 days of fall testing and broke after 220 falls. However, it was already stiff to unusability after 80 falls.
(Source: Pit Schubert: Sicherheit und Risiko, Sicherheit und Risiko in Fels und Eis, page 64)

What does this mean?

  1. The fall factor is relatively high for sports climbing falls. A factor of 0.4 would be a 4m fall from 10m heigh into a quick-draw at 8m. Your typical fall (especially at the gym) will likely be much smaller.
  2. The rope was fixed which means the fall was held completely static. In practice (belaying off the harness) there is always a dynamic catch, even with static devices like the GriGri. Loads in practice will be even lower.
  3. With the rope being fixed, there is always the same part of the rope in the carabiner that holds the fall. In practice, this would be distributed over a bigger part of the rope.
  4. As in all testing, this was performed using a metal weight to simulate the climber. A human climber's body will absorb some of the impact, therefore lowering the impact on the rope.

Conclusion
In practice, you will get a lot more than the 220 falls measured. Therefore, it should be impossible to break a rope simply by falling onto it, no matter how often you do. Check your equipment before climbing on it and if in doubt retire.
Retire the rope when it gets too stiff for comfortable handling, or if it reaches the maximum life span given by the manufacturer.

I am sure there is no simple formula to add everything up as the load of a high factor fall is not increasing linearly. There have been experiments conducted by Pit Schubert in which he tested a rope with repeated falls on factor 0.35-0.45 on a rope rated to 5 falls with an 80 kilo mass. (Basically the norm just with a low fall factor)

He reports that the rope lasted for more than 2 days of fall testing and broke after 220 falls. However, it was already stiff to unusability after 80 falls.
(Source Pit Schubert: Sicherheit und Risiko in Fels und Eis, page 64)

What does this mean?

  1. The fall factor is relatively high for sports climbing falls. A factor of 0.4 would be a 4m fall from 10m heigh into a quick-draw at 8m. Your typical fall (especially at the gym) will likely be much smaller.
  2. The rope was fixed which means the fall was held completely static. In practice (belaying off the harness) there is always a dynamic catch, even with static devices like the GriGri. Loads in practice will be even lower.
  3. With the rope being fixed, there is always the same part of the rope in the carabiner that holds the fall. In practice, this would be distributed over a bigger part of the rope.
  4. As all testing, this was performed using a metal weight to simulate the climber. A human climber's body will absorb some of the impact, therefore lowering the impact on the rope.

Conclusion
In practice, you will get a lot more than the 220 falls measured. Therefore, it should be impossible to break a rope simply by falling onto it, no matter how often you do. Check your equipment before climbing on it and if in doubt retire.
Retire the rope when it gets too stiff for comfortable handling or if it reaches the maximum life span given by the manufacturer.

I am sure there is no simple formula to add everything up as the load of a high factor fall is not increasing linearly. There have been experiments conducted by Pit Schubert in which he tested a rope with repeated falls on factor 0.35-0.45 on a rope rated to 5 falls with an 80 kilo mass. (Basically the norm just with a low fall factor)

He reports that the rope lasted for more than 2 days of fall testing and broke after 220 falls. However, it was already stiff to unusability after 80 falls.
(Source: Pit Schubert, Sicherheit und Risiko in Fels und Eis, page 64)

What does this mean?

  1. The fall factor is relatively high for sports climbing falls. A factor of 0.4 would be a 4m fall from 10m heigh into a quick-draw at 8m. Your typical fall (especially at the gym) will likely be much smaller.
  2. The rope was fixed which means the fall was held completely static. In practice (belaying off the harness) there is always a dynamic catch, even with static devices like the GriGri. Loads in practice will be even lower.
  3. With the rope being fixed, there is always the same part of the rope in the carabiner that holds the fall. In practice, this would be distributed over a bigger part of the rope.
  4. As in all testing, this was performed using a metal weight to simulate the climber. A human climber's body will absorb some of the impact, therefore lowering the impact on the rope.

Conclusion
In practice, you will get a lot more than the 220 falls measured. Therefore, it should be impossible to break a rope simply by falling onto it, no matter how often you do. Check your equipment before climbing on it and if in doubt retire.
Retire the rope when it gets too stiff for comfortable handling, or if it reaches the maximum life span given by the manufacturer.

Source Link
Manziel
  • 7.9k
  • 18
  • 40

I am sure there is no simple formula to add everything up as the load of a high factor fall is not increasing linearly. There have been experiments conducted by Pit Schubert in which he tested a rope with repeated falls on factor 0.35-0.45 on a rope rated to 5 falls with an 80 kilo mass. (Basically the norm just with a low fall factor)

He reports that the rope lasted for more than 2 days of fall testing and broke after 220 falls. However, it was already stiff to unusability after 80 falls.
(Source Pit Schubert: Sicherheit und Risiko in Fels und Eis, page 64)

What does this mean?

  1. The fall factor is relatively high for sports climbing falls. A factor of 0.4 would be a 4m fall from 10m heigh into a quick-draw at 8m. Your typical fall (especially at the gym) will likely be much smaller.
  2. The rope was fixed which means the fall was held completely static. In practice (belaying off the harness) there is always a dynamic catch, even with static devices like the GriGri. Loads in practice will be even lower.
  3. With the rope being fixed, there is always the same part of the rope in the carabiner that holds the fall. In practice, this would be distributed over a bigger part of the rope.
  4. As all testing, this was performed using a metal weight to simulate the climber. A human climber's body will absorb some of the impact, therefore lowering the impact on the rope.

Conclusion
In practice, you will get a lot more than the 220 falls measured. Therefore, it should be impossible to break a rope simply by falling onto it, no matter how often you do. Check your equipment before climbing on it and if in doubt retire.
Retire the rope when it gets too stiff for comfortable handling or if it reaches the maximum life span given by the manufacturer.