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On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 09:55:35AM -0600, Steve Moulding wrote:
> >>  This is BY FAR the craziest thing I've ever seen anybody
> >> do.  I urge
> >> caution... firm seating with something to hold on to... if
> >> you have the
> >> slightest problem with heights.  Good luck taking this
> >> little stroll through
> >> some very scenic terrain.  There are some placesI was just
> >> not meant to see
> >> in person, and this is definately one of them.
> 
> 
> Here is the Wikipedia take on this.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caminito_del_Rey

FWIW the photo on that page of the man walking across the beam while the
women takes a photo shows a common and potentially deadly mistake. In
that exact circumstance shown in the photo, you'll likely get away with
it, but someone simply imitating what he's doing will likely end up
dead the first time they fall.

That red nylon strap he's using to clip into the wire is static, and
doesn't stretch very much, in comparison to dynamic climbing rope. If he
falls he'll fall about half the length of the webbing strap, maybe a
little more, which is known as a factor 0.5 fall. He's also actually
using two straps, which makes things even worse as the stiffness of the
system is doubled. If he falls right now, he'll recieve a hell of a
jolt, probably not enough to break the webbing or caribiners, but enough
to injure himself a bit and risk pulling out whatever is anchoring that
steel cable. Of course, change the conditions a bit, say by having him a
little higher, or the wire sag a bit more, and have only one webbing
strap attached, and you're getting pretty close to snapping something,
or just killing yourself due to the fall force.

Another way to make this marginal setup deadly would be to substitute a
dyneema sling for the nylon one. While nylon does stretch a fair bit,
even so called "static" nylon, dyneema and other advanced, and
lightweight, synthetic fibers basically don't. Most of them have *less*
stretch than steel! They are also very common due to their incredible
strength to weight ratios, more popular with climbers than nylon slings
actually. With such a non-elastic sling you *will* end up either
directly killing yourself due to the force, or breaking hardware, in
even just a factor 1 fall. This is a *very* common mistake.


What he should be using is a proper Via Ferrata setup with some sort of
energy absorber in the system. Essentially the energy absorber either
tears in a controlled way, or forces a rope through a convoluted path
turning the kinetic energy into heat. Standard climbing rope is ok as
well, as it is designed to stretch, but you would have to use twin ropes
designed to be used together, otherwise the system wouldn't stretch
enough.

Helmets would be smart too. Say he does fall, and knock himself out.  If
he isn't rescued in about 5 minutes, or less, he'll die due to harness
hang syndrome, where essentially blood pools in the legs of a immobile
person and the rest of your body is starved for oxygen. (much more
complex actually, but you get the idea) He's got at least two well
equipped buddies with him, which helps, but it's a big risk. Besides,
he's on a cliff face, and rock fall kills more climbers than anything
else.

- -- 
http://petertodd.org 'peter'[:-1]@petertodd.org 
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