tiblocs???

[Goldman]

What do you cc'ers think about tiblocs as a substitute for prussiks in glacier travel equipment-z drag set-up?

[Paul_detrick]

Just got done doing a cervase training workshop, and used both setups, and the tiblocs work fine, this was at a firestation so we were able to climb up high enought for a good test. The tibloc slides great up the rope for a fast ascent, when you unload them they become free from the rope and could even slide them back down, which I thought was kool, nothing to open or f@#k with just easy working. I would like to try them on a icyie rope to see how they perform.

[Figger_Eight]

I've used both on wet ropes and for me the tiblocs were easier to use because they release faster. The only problem is the teeth can chew up your ropes pretty bad.

[Dru]

its harder to open a beer with a prussik.

[Matt]

When you drop a prussik it doesn't matter, but if you drop one of your Tiblocs you'll be pissed at losing a $20 piece of gear that you don't use that much.

[IceIceBaby]

For the weight and efficiency…I will say go for it.

When you need it, it worth it cost, weight and function in gold. I love mine. Get couple of them and keep it in your pack also tie a keeper leash to them and minimize the chances of dropping them

[arlen]

They're very handy, and their jingling makes a nice harmony with the hexes. They do require almost as much care and fiddling as a prusik, though. In a rescue class, during a descent of a rope, I watched one chew its way through about six inches of sheath because it wasn't quite fully engaged.

[iain]

Why the hell do they cost $20?

 

I know some cavers have filed the teeth a bit to make it easier on their ropes.

[Lambone]

Maybe someone should have told that climber that ti-blocks are not made for descending

[iain]

They are if you rig them upside down.

[IceIceBaby]

quote:

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Originally posted by iain:

They are if you rig them upside down.

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Haaa then what the point of heaving them if they rig that way is that for hauling or rescue?

 

[ 06-24-2002, 01:27 PM: Message edited by: IceIceBaby ]

[Lambone]

uhhhh...yeah

[Dru]

antigravity?

[iain]

quote:

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Originally posted by IceIceBaby:

is that for hauling or rescue?

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Certainly for rescue. Rigging a tiblock that way makes it an ideal rescue-creation device.

[JayB]

FWIW, I've had the misfortune of ascending stuck ropes* (they were still running through the anchor, thankfully) after a rappell on two occaisons and having the ti-blocs around made the process much less of an ordeal. It was also quite a bit faster (3 or four times as fast) than using prusiks, which I appreciated since we were bailing because of the incoming lightning...I hesitated a bit to fork over the $40 for the pair in the store, but I would have paid several times that amount to get my hands on them in the midst of that storm.

 

Bottom line: The ti-blocs are expensive, but easily worth the money, given the number of applications they have as ascenders, self rescue devices, back-ups for simul-climbing, etc.

 

*Any official protocol to follow when this happens? In my case the rope was still threaded through the slings, so I could just ascend both ropes, pull the knot out of the constriction, rap back to the ledge, and head down - but what if you've pulled down so much rope that you've only got one end left? This happened to a couple of friends of mine on Hallets and their solution was to cut the rope that they had been able to pull down, rap of of this piece, and leave a fortune's worth of gear on the way down in a series of 5 50' rappels. Thankfully they had a knife. I heard a story of a couple of guys who had to endure a lightning storm on Cynical Pinnacle while they struggled to cut their rope with their nut tool...I'd be interested in hearing about any other means of getting oneself out of this situation...

[Dru]

quote:

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Originally posted by JayB:

FWIW, I've had the misfortune of ascending stuck ropes ... I'd be interested in hearing about any other means of getting oneself out of this situation...

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[JayB]

I should have known that was coming...

[IceIceBaby]

quote:

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Originally posted by JayB:

I should have known that was coming...

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Beware the sprayer wrath of Dru

[Matt]

quote:

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Originally posted by JayB:

I heard a story of a couple of guys who had to endure a lightning storm on Cynical Pinnacle while they struggled to cut their rope with their nut tool...I'd be interested in hearing about any other means of getting oneself out of this situation...

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While leading the Standard Route on CP I was horrified to see someone's rope stuck far in the back of the crack. Not just a little piece, but maybe 30 feet!!!! That's why they now have rap stations out in the middle of the blank face so you don't have to rap the route.

 

The last time I got my rope stuck I was able to lead up with the other free rope to the bush that the stuck rope was rapped around and then down climb with both ends. Down climbing is a skill gym climbers often ignore.

[JayB]

quote:

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Originally posted by Matt:

While leading the Standard Route on CP I was horrified to see someone's rope stuck far in the back of the crack. Not just a little piece, but maybe 30 feet!!!! That's why they now have rap stations out in the middle of the blank face so you don't have to rap the route.

 

The last time I got my rope stuck I was able to lead up with the other free rope to the bush that the stuck rope was rapped around and then down climb with both ends. Down climbing is a skill gym climbers often ignore.

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I think that that section of rope is still there -unless it's melted in the Hayman fire - at least it was last summer. From what I remember it was about 30 feet of orangish rope waaaay back in the crack, just above the first belay ledge. Maybe from the Samurai nut tool crew. From what I hear it's been the site of many rappel related epics, all the more puzzling because of the rap-route down the clean granite on the face that you mentioned. Speaking of the face, did you see the bolted route on the face with the homemade hangers? Called "The Abortion" or something like that. Not sure if anyone's ever climbed it - made me nauseous just looking at it.

 

Also, thanks for sharing the info about leading back up to the pro with the remainder of the rope! I hadn't thought of that but hopefully I would have been able to figure something like that out if I had to, but thankfully that's a scenario I haven't encountered yet. Seems like that would be the way to go unless the distance to the upper end of the stuck rope is greater than the amount of free rope that you have available to ascend the crack with (?).

 

Maybe in a situation like that one could anchor the rope at the belay ledge, set pro on the way up, and self-belay with a backed up clove hitch or something...then downclimb(?). Pretty dodgy-stuff, but might be better than the alternative if you're waaaaaaay out there and no one else will be able to help you out. Anyone out there ever had to do anything like that?

[Alpinfox]

I will preface this post by saying "I like my tiblocs a lot!". However, for glacier travel, they have some drawbacks. Prussiks stay put on the rope while you are hiking, so you can have them all hooked up and ready to go should you plunge into the depths of a crevase. Unfortunately, you can't really do that with tiblocs because they work their way down the rope and away from you while you are hiking along. No good. This might not be such a big problem with a large diameter rope (say 11mm), but most people use a thinner rope for glacier travel (mine is 8.8mm). My solution was to keep the tiblocs on my harness and just planned to slap them on the rope should I take a plunge. I think tiblocs are MUCH easier, faster, and more efficient than prussiks for ascending and they decend much easier as well.

 

Cheers,

-Alpinfox

[climbher]

I was participating in a practice crevass rescue session last year when someone using tiblocs to ascend broke the rope with them. The rescue guys from Mt. Hood (Portland Mountain Rescue) only use prussiks for rescues.

[freeclimb9]

quote:

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Originally posted by JayB:

FWIW, I've had the misfortune of ascending stuck ropes* *Any official protocol to follow when this happens? I'd be interested in hearing about any other means of getting oneself out of this situation...

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I wouldn't claim to know any "official protocol". I have unstuck ropes by leading up to the problem by shuffling a prussik (actually a hedden) along while placing gear. The rope in our grasp was anchored. After freeing the rope, I tied in, downclimbed and cleaned the gear while my partner started to belay me down. This has happened to me a few times, and always while rapping less-than-vertical knobby rock. If you get a rope stuck on rock that you can't climb, you'll have to improvise something else.

[JayB]

Thanks for the suggestion. Sounds like that might be the best way to handle that situation.

[Alpinfox]

quote:

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Originally posted by climbher:

I was participating in a practice crevass rescue session last year when someone using tiblocs to ascend broke the rope with them. The rescue guys from Mt. Hood (Portland Mountain Rescue) only use prussiks for rescues.

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The rope "BROKE"!??!? Really? Did the guy fall on the tibloc or something? I don't see how that could happen otherwise.

 

BTW: Just because some rescue team doesn't use a new piece of equipment doesn't mean it isn't any good. Teams, institutions, clubs, etc tend to be pretty conservative and old-fashioned, often to a fault.