绳子和生命

janeclimber

目前有一些不明不白的所谓国产攀登用动力绳的广告出现在其他网站上。可能是本人孤陋寡闻，但是据我所知，世界上正规的攀登用绳都是美国和西欧的少数几个国家生产（法、德、奥地利、瑞士、西班牙）。正规的攀登用绳都必须通过 UIAA 和 CE非常严格地认证。日本人和韩国人都是用欧美出的绳子。日本人算是注重产品质量了，为什么他们自己不做呢？相反的是，为什么中国的这些乡镇企业忽然开始号称做攀登用绳了呢？

目前中国的商业操作没有规范，在牛奶里能掺上三氰胺，那是死了四十多人才暴光的。如果攀登的绳子不好用，估计死了4、5个都不顶用。您愿意做小白鼠您就自愿吧！

世界上最优秀的登山家，波兰人Jerzy Kukuczka就是死于一条来路不明的绳子。他为了省钱，从加德满都的小摊上买了一条来路不明的绳子。

请看灰灰的解释，为什么要用正规的攀登用绳：

"国产绳子好像只经过了拉力断裂测试，CE认证只是针对拉力的，其他系数指标都没有。
厂家所说的：“主绳（动力绳）”和“主绳（静力绳）”其实没有本质上的区别，只是颜色不同而已，只能视为静力绳。

对于攀登绳索，还有很多至关重要的指标，与生命息息相关。比如：冲击力指标、冲坠系数、绳索延展度，以及绳壳滑动量等问题。
在攀登坠落时，绳索对人的冲击拉力不能超过12KN（UIAA标准），否则，绳索虽然不断，但人已经被强大的拉力导致伤亡，所以动力绳的冲击力指标、冲坠系数和延展度非常重要。"

http://www.vboulder.com/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=3021&extra=page%3D1

janeclimber

Todd Skinner死于安全带的吊环断裂（安全带磨损非常严重，早已超过了正常的服役年龄），和绳子没有关系。Todd Skinner 非常扣门，经常用陈旧不堪的装备，省了四十块钱，英年早逝。

Dan Osman最后一次蹦极用的绳子超过700英尺长，绳子没有仔细地盘好，跳跃后有部分绳子互相磨擦生热，导致尼龙绳的熔断（尼龙的熔点220－260C）。

janeclimber

Skinner's Harness shows no signs of contamination

Quoted in full from Jackson Hole Daily

www.jhnewsandguide.com

By Angus M Thuermer Jr.
September 15, 2007

An investigation of the climbing harness that failed and sent Lander, Wyo. climber Todd Skinner plunging to his death in Yosemite National Park last October found no signs of contamination that might have weakened the safety webbing.

The report by Yosemite ranger M. Faherty has been awaited by climbers worldwide who were stunned by the death of Skinner, a well-known pioneer, and the unusual failure of his safety gear. The Jackson Hole News & Guide obtained a copy of the report Friday through the Freedom of Information Act.

Climbers know that a critical part of the nylon webbing harness, a belay loop, broke and caused Skinner, 47, to fall 800 feet from the overhanging wall of Leaning Tower. At the time of his death, Skinner was descending the face after a day of climbing, sliding down a rope using a friction device linked to the belay loop.

Climbers also know that Skinner’s harness was worn, that his climbing partner, James Hewitt, commented on its poor condition, and that Skinner agreed the harness needed replacing.

Skinner was wearing an Arc’Teryx Targa harness. Tests of new belay loops similar to the one on Skinner’s harness, which were conducted by another climbing equipment manufacturer, showed them to be strong enough to hold body weight, even when cut most of the way through.

Climbers wondered whether Skinner’s harness might have been contaminated and weakened by a foreign substance. The Park Service report found no evidence of that.

Faherty wrote in his investigation that he sent the torn belay loop to Rhodia/Nexis Fibers in Switzerland for a chemical analysis. “On 06/15/07, I was notified by Rhodia representative Elman Ernst that ‘apart from the residues of the original spin-finish, no substances could be extracted from [the] analysed part of the loop’. ...” the report says

Also, Faherty’s report discounts the possibility that animals may have gnawed on the harness when it was cached. Skinner left his harness overnight at the base of the climb, stored in a bag. “There was no sign of tampering by animals or people,” Faherty wrote.

The report comes to no conclusion as to why the belay loop broke. Faherty makes several observations, however, that could lead climbers to a conclusion.

Skinner’s partner reiterated in interviews with rangers that he observed the loop “had been about 20 percent worn through three days prior,” to the accident. Faherty wrote that he, too, “also observed that the harness was extremely frayed and worn where the belay loop should run through the ‘swami belt’ and the leg loops.”

“The belay loop appeared worn near where it was torn,” Faherty wrote. “The actual torn section appeared frayed. I could see no fusing of Nylon fibers suggestive of a shock load...”

Faherty also found a sling girth-hitched to the broken belay loop, which Hewitt believed had been in place for some time and prevented the belay loop from rotating and absorbing wear evenly. “Also broken was the keeper strap on the leg loops,” ranger Faherty wrote. Loss of the keeper strap would free the leg loops to saw against belay loop, often in the same spot, given Skinner’s harness set-up.

Those observations support climber Will Gadd’s theory, published in a recent issue of Outside magazine, that the sawing leg loops contributed to the belay loop’s failure.