You're at the top of an 80-meter vertical cliff, and you need to reach the ground safely. The rope you have with you is a 60-meter rope. There's a fixed anchor at the top of the cliff, and another one at mid-height, 40 meters above the ground. You also have a backpack with things that a normal climber might bring with them: a bunch of gear (though not enough to string together to get any meaningful extra length out of a rope), a water bottle, a knife, some matches...stuff like that. How can you get to the ground safely?
A few things to keep in mind: - This part of the cliff has no cracks or holds, so it's impossible to downclimb or put any gear in. - You can leave as much equipment on the wall as you need to; you don't need to make sure it all gets down with you. - No whippers necessary.
I've heard some wacky silly answers to this riddle (like de-sheathing the rope and separating the inner strands), but there's one answer that's logical, safe, and requires nothing ridiculous. It's not a trick question. But feel free to share any ridiculous answers you can think of!
Seth Cohen wrote: You're at the top of an 80-meter vertical cliff, and you need to reach the ground safely. The rope you have with you is a 60-meter rope. There's a fixed anchor at the top of the cliff, and another one at mid-height, 40 meters above the ground. You also have a backpack with things that a normal climber might bring with them: a bunch of gear (though not enough to string together to get any meaningful extra length out of a rope), a water bottle, a knife, some matches...stuff like that. How can you get to the ground safely?
A few things to keep in mind: - This part of the cliff has no cracks or holds, so it's impossible to downclimb or put any gear in. - You can leave as much equipment on the wall as you need to; you don't need to make sure it all gets down with you. - No whippers necessary.
I've heard some wacky silly answers to this riddle (like de-sheathing the rope and separating the inner strands), but there's one answer that's logical, safe, and requires nothing ridiculous. It's not a trick question. But feel free to share any ridiculous answers you can think of!
Well I got up there somehow, so somewhere there's a walk-off, or a climbing face that takes gear a bit more often than every 40 meters. I'd walk-off, down climb, or rap that. And do better research on the descent next time.
Rappel down like normal, rope stretch should be enough to reach the next anchor and ground. 60m -> 30x30m when setup to rappel -> 30% stretch gives 9m -> so 1m short of the 40m middle anchor but should be reachable.
At worst you put some biners at the bottom of the rappel rope and do some reaching from there to reach it.
Just crowd source to MP, or, get someone to fly a drone up and scout for a route off, see if a drone can carry in a latte while it's there anyway? Tie a note to the crag dog and send them for help? Toss a chicken over the side? ....if all else fails, steal Seth's crap to add to mine?
Tie one end of the 20m to the top anchor and rap to the other end, where you have already put a figure 8 and a locker.
Use that locker as an anchor point to rap the remaining 20m as a standard rap with your 40m rope.
Single rope rap to the ground with your 40m rope tied to the midpoint anchor.
At least that's the mathematical answer. In the real world I'd just use a biner block single strand rap and use everything else I had to extend the pull strand as needed (entire rack should do it, but also shoe laces, belt, backpack, helmet, clothing, etc)
If you've got gear, all you need is 20 meters strung together. Two cordelettes and a handful of shoulder length slings is all you need. Biner block at 40m and rap down. Connect everything you've got to the other end as you rap by. Rinse and repeat. If you don't have enough shit you didn't climb up and should get down the way you came up.
Your pants and shirt could probably get you an extra 8 feet or so. A set of nuts hitched together is probably 8 feet too. Cams can be strung together if they are c4s with the lobe holes - each cam is more than a foot with the racking biner. Chalk bag string and prussiks work too. Your pack is another few feet.
Tie one end of the 20m to the top anchor and rap to the other end, where you have already put a figure 8 and a locker.
Use that locker as an anchor point to rap the remaining 20m as a standard rap with your 40m rope.
Single rope rap to the ground with your 40m rope tied to the midpoint anchor.
At least that's the mathematical answer. In the real world I'd just use a biner block single strand rap and use everything else I had to extend the pull strand as needed (entire rack should do it, but also shoe laces, belt, backpack, helmet, clothing, etc)
I know alot of you are just putting joke post but am I the only one who has done a 40m rappel on a single 60m rope?
Also how are you cutting the rope? Rubbing it on a rock cause noone I know climbs with a knife.
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