Bizarre Stuck Rope

Lead up on a second rope, thinking maybe somebody didn't untie the 8 before pulling, but ran into this. Came right out, though two dudes on the ground couldn't pull it through. Never seen anything like it

Seen it. Give stuck ropes multiple hard whips, usually works it out in alot of scenarios.

Jumped up and down on the bottom of the rope and couldn't get it to budge. Really thought there was a knot. Luckily had a second rope that day and reled to find this...

I’ve had the rope end wrap around the anchor into a knot during a pull two times. Seems to be more likely to happen with thinner ropes. I also think that if the person pulling ‘whips’ the rope as it gets to the anchor—which seems to be pretty common—this increases the likelihood of such ‘anchor wraps’.

I once had my 9mm rappel rope hang up in the upper anchor chains of the Harry Daley on the Apron (Yosemite).

It was an old rope, and the sheath had shrunk a bit, with a bit of the core visible on the end.

I turned out that those core strands are essentially loops because the ends were melted together.

One or two of these loops had caught on the sharp point of a "smash link" at the anchor.

After that, I realized the risk of having those strands exposed, cut off the 1" and kept my rope ends extra clean.

I don't like tape on the end of the rope, either.

One time a taped rope end got caught in a crack when pulling the rappel rope and benighted us way off the ground at the Turret (Middle Cathedral).

Years ago, we had the rope tip catch in webbing slings at a rap station. Had to reclimb the pitch.

This is what we found after getting a rope stuck while rappelling down to a route.

Other than op's pic, 1 thing these ropes have in common is the presence of the sticker/tab at the end of the rope. Any idea if this stiffer part can contribute to ropes getting stuck?

Jeremy Lwrote:

Other than op's pic, 1 thing these ropes have in common is the presence of the sticker/tab at the end of the rope. Any idea if this stiffer part can contribute to ropes getting stuck?

The ice one is truly bizarre, but all the others involve the rope going thru two jingling points of contact. I would predict that the French style anchor with a single upper point of contact would do this less often- no?

The stiff end probably does contribute, but it's difficult to get the sheath and core cleanly melted without removing some flexibility at the end.

Time after time we depend on a rope pull going the nominal way while there is a huge amount of variance underneath.  I think this set up is streamlined for rappels.

I understand the single-pitch utility of the big hooks in other posts. But they are UUuuugggllly.

i have seen/had this happen a couple times, particularly if it is windy and you pull the side of the rope that is down-wind.  then the free strand immediately wants to get tangled with the pulling strand.

Here's another vote for pulling the rope through slowly.

Gunkiemikewrote:

Here's another vote for pulling the rope through slowly.

Veterans around here also advocate that.

Sometimes, I do give a quick hard tug near release from anchor if there is reason to get it away from the rock and the pull angle is good. 

Fletch PDXwrote:

Lead up on a second rope, thinking maybe somebody didn't untie the 8 before pulling, but ran into this. Came right out, though two dudes on the ground couldn't pull it through. Never seen anything like it

This exact same thing happened to me last weekend at the Gold Wall. Weird

Fletch PDXwrote:

Lead up on a second rope, thinking maybe somebody didn't untie the 8 before pulling, but ran into this. Came right out, though two dudes on the ground couldn't pull it through. Never seen anything like it

Exact thing happened to me in Ten Sleep last summer.

Those are awesome

Wish I had a picture, but I had my rope tie itself into a perfect overhand knot around the chains on the High E rappel a few years ago.