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Posted

Flukes can be set with one hand.

 

If you can place a fluke with one hand, you can certainly place a picket - much more versatile than a fluke.

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

I have actually experimented with the knot system on a relatively dry glacier. There was little snow left at the time, but the first butterfly knot -- about a meter from the falling climber -- caught the fall nine out of ten times. Other climbers on the rope team didn't even have to self-arrest.

 

With a spare prussik and good knowledge of how to use prussiks, it is not that difficult to extract oneself in this situation. The difficulty comes when a climber has to extract his or her partner. With a solid understanding of crevasse rescue this isn't all that hard either... If you know how to put together a good hauling system, the ability to pass a knot within the system isn't that big of a deal. Of course practice makes perfect. If you play with this system a bit, you might find that you like it.

 

As far as the knots getting caught up on things, the difficulty tends to come more in the actual climbing than in a rescue. The worst situation for knots tends to be when there are a lot of penitentes on the glacier.

 

I personally don't mind the periodic knot getting caught on the ice. The extra peice of mind that the knots provide are worth it.

 

Jason

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