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Jumar rigging


underworld

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So I've seen different riggings of jumars (the yellow jumar brand jumars) and am curious as to the reasons. I've seen webbing run from the top down to the bottom and different configurations. John Long 'Big Walls' i think only shows a picture but doesn't say why.

 

reasons, pictures, ideas all welcome Geek_em8.gif

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I think in the old days there was an incident or rumour of an incident of a Jumar frame breaking. So people started tieing the whole unit together with webbing. The Jumars have a cast frame, unlike most other ascenders which are bent up out of plate.

 

other handy reasons for tieing up your Jumars

- look way honed and cool (make sure to pre-wear duct tape so it's not shiny and n00b looking - maybe get dog to chew on it)

- pads handles, makes more comfortable for hands

- the bottom biner hole on the Jumar frame is narrow in diameter, but long through the frame and many modern locking biners don't fit nicely and bind up.

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I think in the old days there was an incident or rumour of an incident of a Jumar frame breaking. So people started tieing the whole unit together with webbing.

 

thought of this too...but if the fram broke and you were tied into the top of it - wouldn't the whole thing invert and go sailing down the rope. with you attached? confused.gif

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If I remember correctly they are cast aluminum. This tends to be brittle and can crack. The original design was not as stout as the ones on the market today. I don't think they were even originally designed for climbing. There have been several fatal accidents due to them breaking. John Dill, director of YOSAR (Yosemite Search and Rescue) has a collection of failed jumars and all kinds of other equipment. There where two places they would fail. One problem was the handle would break and fall off. If that is the only thing your connected to, down you go. The other part that would fail is the metal cup thingy (that is a technical term) that the rope sits in when the cam is engaged. When this came off the cam would have nothing to pinch the rope against and down you go. I don't think the original jumars where painted. You can easily identify the new ones by their yellow paint. Then new ones are built a lot better but a lot of people, my self included, still add some webbing just incase. Just remember to always tie in short especially when traversing.

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Fern is right: climbers began slinging their jumars from the top following stories of accidents with broken frames. I'm not sure it was ever tested how well it would solve the problem in the event of a broken frame, but with the webbing and tape and all I would expect the whole unit to remain upright and function more or less the same if it took a big smash and maybe the frame cracked 'cause I'd expect the tape and webbing to act like a splint.

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CLOGS KICKED ASS! I never had a set but a buddy of mine did. He dropped one off Washington Column just after they stopped making them and couldn't get a replacement. After that we literally got a side by side comparison of a Clog and a Petzel. If someone is now making them again and they are the quality of old, that would be my choice.

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One of the Ellensburg Freds, Stanley or Dunham, I forget which, once back in the day had a pair of homemade Jumars with chromolly frames. They were things of beauty, far superior to the cast frame jobbies, and suprisingly light.

 

I doubt there's been many frame failures (if any) for Jumars used as designed, but there was once a tendency to use them for solo self-belay, the loads involved with which would be excessive. This had a lot less to with suicidal tendencies than it did to do with the fact that such was the best technology available.

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I think in the old days there was an incident or rumour of an incident of a Jumar frame breaking. So people started tieing the whole unit together with webbing. The Jumars have a cast frame, unlike most other ascenders which are bent up out of plate.

 

other handy reasons for tieing up your Jumars

- look way honed and cool (make sure to pre-wear duct tape so it's not shiny and n00b looking - maybe get dog to chew on it)

- pads handles, makes more comfortable for hands

- the bottom biner hole on the Jumar frame is narrow in diameter, but long through the frame and many modern locking biners don't fit nicely and bind up.

 

We used to only do it to the old grey framed jugs. The nwer yellow jugs corrected that problem, but had trouble with the safety latches.

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