JosephH

I go twin when it gets down to dicking around with cord that can easily become unmanageable in any wind at all - definitely the way to at places like Red Rocks. Mammut Twilight 7.5mm ultra-lightweight Twin rope But if you're going to go that route, I definitely would NOT skip the backup knot and biner in the rope / cord setup.

From the Energy Insider Newsletter: Bird Deaths Haunt Wind Energy - Interior Dept. puts forth plan Ken Silverstein | Apr 02, 2012 Environmentalists are facing a conundrum: To fight green energy projects that they see as detrimental to their cause or to work with the developers and the authorities to minimize damages. The U.S. Department of Interior has made some suggestions that it thinks will help alleviate bird deaths associated with wind energy. The Obama administration has placed a high value on wind energy, as well as other sustainable fuels. But it has run into conflicts when it has tried to permit such projects that affect rare birds and other wildlife. Through this latest initiative, the administration is working with all stakeholders to locate from the start those places in which there would be potentially deal-killing conflicts. Bird and wildlife advocates are split. Most are satisfied with the proposals that have been in the making for three years, noting that their interests will get a seat at the table as the rules progress further. The rest are dissatisfied that the issuance is only “voluntary,” meaning that the litigation will still flow. Among the groups that discussed the matter with officials from the federal government are the National Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy and the Defenders of Wildlife. “These first-ever federal guidelines are a game-changer and a big win for both wildlife and clean energy,” says David Yarnold, chief executive of the Audubon society. “By collaborating with conservationists instead of slugging it out, the wind power industry gains vital support to expand and create jobs, and wildlife gets the protection crucial for survival.” The guidelines, which have taken effect, provide a structured and scientific approach for developers and the associated regulators to find viable wind sites, according to the Interior Department. Their mutual goal is to assess, mitigate and monitor any adverse effects wind power projects might have on wildlife and their habitat. The agency is emphasizing the voluntary rules do not encroach on the federal laws that now exists: Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. The American Wind Energy Association says that it has 47,000 megawatts of installed capacity. Public comments it has filed with the Interior Department say that its members have surpassed the requirements under current law, all to minimize the effect its turbines have on birds and their habitat. “The industry is not interested in, and has never asked for, a free pass when it comes to wildlife,” says the document. “In fact, it has taken quite the opposite tack.” The wind group has said, in previous filings, that less than 1 percent of all human-caused eagle deaths are the result of wind turbines. More than half of all accidents involving birds, generally, are because they fly into power lines. One news story cites a 2008 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stat that 440,000 bird deaths occur each year because of wind farms -- something that wind energy advocates say is inflated and difficult to calculate. Where’s all this playing out? Conservation groups have told California authorities that a proposed wind project there by NextEra Energy would kill off rare birds, including Golden Eagles and California condors. They want the turbines to be relocated and have filed a legal challenge asking for an environmental review. Among the things they are asking for are radars that would be able to detect such rare species before they would collide with the massive turbines. The wildlife advocates say that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agrees with it that avian fatalities are a real concern with this NextEra proposal. “There’s plenty of room in the state for both wind projects and the California condor to thrive,” says Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “But if condors and wind turbines are going to coexist, those turbines need to be sited carefully and measures have to be taken to minimize the risk that condors will be killed. Unfortunately, this project fails to do that.” Relocating a massive wind or solar project is not that simple, however. Such facilities are typically built on the outskirts where large plots of land exists and where the wind and the sun can be easily captured. Wind speeds need to average 14.7 miles per hour as well as be able to interconnect with transmission systems. Solar regions, meanwhile, must have abundant sunshine and also have the same ability to connect with the transmission grid. Green energy faces a number obstacles, not the least of which is coming from their own quarters. The Interior Department’s proposal seeks to minimize the conflict and if it is effective, it will be a positive step forward for wind and solar power.

That is very cool...

When it comes to belaying we'll have to agree to disagree on this point - its a zero defect activity and if you can't deliver that you shouldn't be doing it. "Strange twists in the rope" - hmmm, anticipatory management of the loose rope feed is a fundamental belaying skill, you should be able to manage sorting out any twists or even actual knots in the feed rope without jeapordizing your leader. Ditto for bee stings and dog attacks short of the dog having teeth piercing your jugular. Rockfall and heart attacks are another matter. If you have a heart condition or plan a route of dubious rock quality where you as a belayer can't position to protect yourself from rockfall then, sure, I might consider an autoblocker (there are no belay devices that 'auto-lock'). Short of that I personally wouldn't use one and I own three, but all for various soloing scenarios. And I did fairly recently and in excruciating pain pass out in moments while belaying with an ATC yet still managed to lock it off hard, move my hand near the device, clamp down on the rope, drop down on my knees, and made sure I fell forward onto it - each step done consciously and by design as soon as I had an inkling. I was out cold, but still locked off with my hand on the rope underneath me and my partner had to wait for some folks rapping nearby to come relieve me of the belay so he could come back down. I've similarly had friends badly hurt by rockfall while belaying FFA attempts on El Cap and still sticking to their guns. So yeah, you could play 'what if' and hedge every possible bet, but that's not why or how I climb. That all said, I'd probably used one if I climbed sport or employed sport tactics while trad climbing, but I don't do the former and the latter is inadvisible and unwise at best.

I'm glad this accident wasn't worse and, while I laud you for your empathy, understanding and loyalty to your friends, in the end looking at the facts it's difficult if not impossible to escape the conclusion this was a failed belay. And I don't mean that judgmentally in any way either, but rather from an objective technical assessment of the facts as conveyed here. Hell, for what it's worth, it sounds like your friend did way above-average for their experience level in attempting to re-engage the belay - most never even attempt it once it initially gets away from them. And without a doubt shit does happen, but shit happening is exactly what a competent, experienced, on-point belayer has to be anticipating second-by-second, move-by-move. From the moment you lift a foot off the ground until you return to it, your belayer has to be constantly evaluating their stance in terms of body position, balance, bracing, and adjustment options, and running through worst-case scenario reactions. And I don't really view this as an ATC vs. grigri deal as I don't believe it's possible to offload personal responsibility for belaying onto a device of any design or manufacture. You're either on it, or you're not - and if you're not, no device is going to make up for that failing and thinking that it can or will just opens the door to a steady, incremental erosion of the attention to detail necessary for competent belaying. And the reality that for every autoblocking 'save' after a belayer injury or failed stance there are dozens, if not hundreds, of dropped climbers with the same devices paints a more complete picture of their true strengths and weaknesses. And skipping the whole moaning sport vs. trad hanging argument, this accident does highlight the fact there are simply no belaying 'rest periods', 'timeouts', or 'holidays' once a leader is off the ground; whether your leader is climbing, hanging or lowering, as their belayer you are still accountable for the resilience of your stance both during any of those modalities and for standing your ground in face of a catastrophic failure in the process. Where 'sport vs. trad' can play into this sort of thing is that if you do much trad then sooner or later a gear is going to blow on your leader and you learn to be even more en garde rather than less when someone is actually weighting a piece. With the reliability of bolts in gyms and most sport venues it's just hard not to fall prey to the all-to-human tendency to rest, slack or be distracted if only for a second or two. The problem is, as was the case here, under the right circumstances a single second is all it takes to make the difference between a catch and failed stance or belay. Doubly so, if you are belaying on other than level ground where it can be quite difficult to 'rest' - counterbalanced against a hanging climber - in such a manner that your own stance won't be compromised in the event of gear failure. Again I'm glad you and your friend weren't hurt any worse than you were. Sure sounds like you have the right attitude going on and now have a couple of tough object lessons to back it up. Any time you live through one of those you really can't complain too much and you clearly aren't from your posts here. P.S. Please do let us know what the details on the sling are at some point - it would be helpful to know given how unusual an incident this was.

The events early that August were clearly used as a pretext no differently than WMDs in Iraq and the extended consequences equally unnecessary. I'm not sure the PRVN crews were any more experienced or better than our gun crews at the time. Somewhere I have the only photos ever taken of a PRVN attack during the raid on Haiphong Harbor. We and the Robison had finished our run and had turned back out to sea, but you could see the PRVN's getting closer to the Newport News and Rowan in a strange, lurching staccato visual with each successive flash of 5 and 8 inch guns. Then, by an odd miracle of actual on target shooting by the Rowan (the NN couldn't shoot that low and close) and some form of air support (probably A4's) the PRVN's simply disappeared much to everyone's relief. As I understand it the whole naval op into Haiphong was a diversion while the harbor was mined from the air behind us. Ironically the only ship destroyed by those MK36 mines was the USS Warrington some time later. We were out on the fantail getting high and the Warrington was about a 1/3 of a mile off our stern when suddenly it was enveloped in two enormous walls of water. A pair of connected MK36's had gone off on either side of her. Much to our amazement she was still there when the walls of water collapsed, and seemingly unharmed. The reality was about every metal-to-metal weld on the boat had come undone and she got towed back to Subic Bay and scrapped. [edit: so much for my memory - the Warrington was done in by other mines a month before the raid. Not sure where those mines would have drifted from given we were operating further south at that time and none of the 'harbors' along the coast would have really warranted bothering. All in all it was quite the show regardless.]

Let me fix that for you

Sounds like you've got a bunch of it covered - keep your wits about you, stick close to guys who know what they're doing, and don't defer on things when your gut tells you otherwise. Take care and all the best to you...

Now you're talking...nice speed boost.

I've definitely seen this maxim in action.

Pretty much really only two things to know here: a) some idea as to why the webbing / dogbone broke and b) was it his or was it fixed. Everything else about the incident would appear to speak for itself, however unfortunate. Could have been much, much worse; glad it wasn't.

Nope, first time in a war zone. Excited, yes. Nervous, yes. Still gonna go? Yes. Man, what gruntpltleader said. I gotta say I am definitely not a fan of contractors in war zones or the military outsourcing this way, but it is what it is and sounds like you're headed out. I'd say it's one thing if you can do your job without leaving the base in Kandahar, it's another if you're going to be traveling all over W. Afghanistan to all these various bases. If the latter, you'll want to get as assertive as possible about what form of travel you are talking about - humvee vs MRAPs, super stallions or blackhawks vs old chinooks or other claptrap. Just try to get whatever control you can over when you travel, in what, and with whom. I'd personally take my chances in the air to stay off the roads. And what's happening on the personal armor front? Do you know exactly what you'll be supplied with? I'd really recommend getting a hold of a couple of the guys here like serenity and AK offline who know what the fuck they are talking about and try to separate what you're being told by your company and what you're likely to encounter. Again, please get real assertive and clear about taking care of yourself - we definitely want you back home safe and sound, preferably sooner than later.

It also doesn't hold falls when you're just horizontal, but then again, the Canadian who rope soloed Astroman used one. It really comes down to what you sort out for yourself and have confidence in. Beat me to it, what's a slide aider?

Good point, nice loophole. Who's gonna put this to the test? Yeah, give that a try - if only park rangers were lawyers...

No doubt. I stick with my Mammut 10.2 Supersafe and rebelay as necessary.

It would seem pictures of the gear that broke would be helpful to see and wouldn't be an issue with the victim or family as opposed to pictures of the victim himself. Maybe you could elaborate a bit on the sensitivity issue you think is involved relative to the gear? I'd like to see them (here or on some other thread) to better understand this incident.

I don't think Off White resembles that remark, but who knows, he is gettin' old...

Some of the notable Valley aid soloers - Ammon, Pete, Kate - all just use an unmodified grigri and call it good. The more cautiously inclined go for the SP, but I think it really has more utility free climbing even if it works fine for aid.

Will be interested to hear more details. 1" webbing is pretty tough to break and grounding from a fifth bolt sounds odd as well. Glad to hear it wasn't worse.

Love NC climbing and the locals always were and I suspect still are wildly creative bad asses with an interesting sense of humor.

Yeah, as you say this stuff can take years and climbers nationwide can use every win we can get with the BLM who are everywhere out west. Anything that improves the overall working relationship with the agency is a big deal for everyone.

You can bank money on the fact this poor guy is about to become the tea party's cause célèbre du jour.

Have you been in-country before? Or is this the first time?

In what capacity...? I don't think you'll be going back - we'll be out of there by then.

That's why I structure the executive powers in the post above the way I have - it gives the President enough authority to deal with terrorism and smaller regional conflicts, but puts constraints around it on congressional 'veto', force levels, and time.