Oh god, that just happened to my rope...

Wanted to ask about punctures into the rope. This has been on my mind for awhile and I got a lil reminder last night.

Last Night, nowhere within reason of a water source, throw my ropes for TR, twenty feet of each end land in a tree/bush at the base of a climb, pull them, one comes down, the other give it a big tug, pops down, has a little leaflet stuck in it, for some unknown reason I take a closer look. Somebody's fishing lure is completely in my rope. We decided to push it through, thankfully it was a small single hook, 16-18g ish someone has a multi tool so we snipped it and pulled back through. Scenario #1

Scenario #2, I rack my ice screws on my harness hanger forward, so teeth back. Twice while on rappel I have looked and found an ice screw whose tooth is completely buried into my rope. As the rope feeds up (relative since i'm descending) if it merely rubs the screw, the sheath is liable to snag and then the tooth will go straight in. If unseen at first this can stop your rappel and I can't imagine it can be too good for the rope.

Also known of a climber sewing floss into his sheath for a middle mark...

Let me know your thoughts, experiences, tricks, rope inspection diligence...

Sharp pointy things tend to part the fibers rather than cut them, if that's any reassurance.

John Wilder wrote:#2...yeah, i'd think that maybe having your ice screw covers might be a good idea for descending, although it seems to me that the rope should really be well below you- not sure why it would be anywhere near your gear loops.

You obviously don't ice climb much - nobody racks their ice screws in covers (or carries the covers on a climb), unless you're a total noob.

To the OP - are you talking about the braking strand touching the screws or the rope above the belay device? Either way sound a bit implausible. I can see the braking strand touching the screws, which happens, but never to the point of a screw digging into the rope to arrest the rappel. Maybe you need to get ice clippers and rack your screws towards the back of the harness. Or rack all your screws on the back on a biner or on the other side of the braking hand before rappels?

My setup:
Petzl Corax Harness (clipper slot between gear loops)
Ice Clipper w/ ~6 screws
24" Extended Sling Rappel
24" Looped Prussik on Leg Loop

I'm talking about brake strands

It's only happened to me twice in two years, but conceivably without great care it will happen again. I try to hold the rope out (sideways more) but this is outside of your arms natural resting position and obviously certain rappels call for some monkeying around where your primary concern is elsewhere.

But most importantly i'm telling you, if you run a rappel rope across your screws, they will one day grab it. Your sheath is bound to have some imperfection where your razor sharp screw decides to go down and in instead of over. It wont lock you off and brake you, but it will cause enough to make you look and catch it in there.

I have used the floss trick. The idea is to aim shallow, so you are missing the core. A blunt needle probably isn't a bad idea. I would do it again if needed (dark-colored rope with no middle mark). The floss only held up "ok."

Tom Sherman wrote:Blah, Blah, Blah But most importantly i'm telling you, if you run a rappel rope across your screws, they will one day grab it. Your sheath is bound to have some imperfection where your razor sharp screw decides to go down and in instead of over. It wont lock you off and brake you, but it will cause enough to make you look and catch it in there.

OR you can take two seconds before you rappel and rack your screws one the OPPOSITE side from your brake hand AND . . . Problem fixed

Jeff J wrote: OR you can take two seconds before you rappel and rack your screws one the OPPOSITE side from your brake hand AND . . . Problem fixed

Maybe i'm out of line here but the caps, i'm understanding to be intentional flaming... Have you ever seen anyone doing the thing which you just mentioned?

CORRECTION: I'm carrying clippers on both sides (12) screws in total.

And just in case this is needed, even if i'm carrying 8 screws I'm going to rack them evenly on each side.

For the positive posters here, thanks and noted, going to check Freedom Hills tonight, and JSH what a story!

rack the screws pointing towards the back of your harness. (Works with BD screws and ice clippers very well)

Also, I have marked the middle of my rope with thread before. Check out the monster rope marker: backcountry.com/metolius-mo…

Since you extend the rappel, you may consider attaching the "third hand" to the belay loop. It improves your control over where the rope falls. Keep the "third hand" short and it won't catch in the rappel device.

FWIW the guides I hang with suggest not putting the autoblock on the leg loop, but rather on the belay loop. Something about body twists not causing it to release. Plus leg loops with speed buckles can potentially get released by the autoblock biner (in theory anyway).

I've usually got the rope running down between my legs while rapelling, instead of off to one side. That way I can manage the rope and auto-block with both hands, without it being awkward for the hand reaching across my body. I have only been ice climbing for three seasons, but this hasn't happened to me. I typically have my screws racked evenly.

I'm not sure how I'd feel if I looked down and saw something impaled through the sheath. :X

You can also try to always lead at least the last pitch and have the second deal wtih the screws touching the rope (making sure you rappel first).

On a serious note though, I think if you clip your tools over your screws I think they will prevent the rope touching the screws, no? If I'm following a route, I always end with more screws racked on my right (dominant) side, so my harness shifts under the weight and all the screws end up in the back.

This has never happened to me or anyone I know. Do I need to sharpen my screws?

I am not trying to flame here I was trying to add emphasis.
I was giving a solution, if you don't want that one I have two others to considder.
1. Give some of your screws to your climbing buddy if you have too many to rack on one side.
2. Extend your rappel device with a sling and run the rope between you legs instead of by your side.

nicelegs wrote:This has never happened to me or anyone I know. Do I need to sharpen my screws?

You probably need new screws. Are they also homemade out of Russian rockette building material?

Back to the topic of pointy things and rope, if it was an issue they wouldn't be able to do sewn eye loops like this:

doligo wrote: You probably need new screws. Are they also homemade out of Russian rockette building material?

He needs to stop using Bermuda Bamboo