Rigging Work

Simes

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Does anyone use any form of "Fall Arrest" device when working up the rig?
I am thinking of things like the Petzl "GriGri" or the Ascenders marketed by in pairs Navimo.

I am thinking about using a couple of the Petzle Ascenders clipped into a safety line and lead to my harness via a lanyard. This should offer me a safety line this is quick and easy to use as well as providing me with a well tried and tested piece of equipment.

Better than the rolling hitches I have been using in the past.

Any one got a better / safer idea?

Simes
 
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Graham_Wright

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We recommend a Petzl Ascendeur in association with a MastaClimba.

It has vicious teeth but if you are using it for fall arrest, that should be a one time experience!

A Grigri is not ideal. One of my staff likes it for doing single handed MastaClimba ascents but I find it slips. Another candidate is a Petzl Shunt. Both this and the Grigri need slack in the rope which may or not be a problem.

Do remember to bring down whatever you choose as you go as it is embarrassing to end up hanging from it! (I speak from experience;- wife has to winch me up to gain some slack to release it!).

Nice to hear someone at least uses a safety line/harness. Not an activity to be macho about.
 

V1701

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The one time so far I went up my mast I just used a safety line, the same one I clip on to a jackstay with. I've seen someone trying to climb the mast with a GriGri and a load of other climbing gear. He'd spent a small fortune and was having a real struggle with it all. I think I'm going to go for either one of these or fit mast steps...
 

jdc

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Ascenders

I do use an ascender in two ways.

1. If with a someone else. I set up a line fairly taught, and use one ascender on it attached to my harness by a short strop. Then my partner winches me up on another halyard. The ascender is thus a back-up, although I usually try to haul myself up a bit to ease the load on the wincher.

2. When alone. Use 2 acenders (or just one for the harness as for 1. above and a French prussik for the feet). Now it's the primary system while ascending and the back-up is a second (slack this time) rope through the belay plate attached to the harness. Coming back down the functions are reversed: the ascender is the back-up (ie if let go of, it jams) and the foot loop dispensed with. The formerly back-up rope is the one controlling the descent just as when abseiling. The big problem which I've not solved is I've too few hands: one to guide oneself down (this may be at sea), one to hold the ascender in the jaws open mode and one to control the abseil... It's thus a slow and jerky process. The temptation is to unclip the ascender, but then it's no longer fail-safe.
 

Simes

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Hmm, perhaps I should have mentioned that we have rat line up the mast so the Ascender / GriGri is just as a fall arrest device as I will be standing on the Ratines.
It is nice to know that a good number of folk are using safety lines though.

Thanks

Simes
 

Ruffles

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Does anyone use any form of "Fall Arrest" device when working up the rig?
I'd be wary of impact loading anything up a mast. Nothing up there is designed to absorb the energy of a fall.
I use a couple of ascenders but try to keep my weight on them. If I'm dangling for a while I'll back it up with a prussik on another halyard - or even round the mast itself.
 

prv

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Hmm, perhaps I should have mentioned that we have rat line up the mast so the Ascender / GriGri is just as a fall arrest device as I will be standing on the Ratines.

Yep, that makes a big difference! :)

You might be interested to know that on square riggers, the usual thing is not to be clipped on at all while ascending ratlines. Only on yards, jacob's ladders, and when working in a static position elsewhere are you required to clip on on Stavros (you can of course clip on anywhere as a matter of choice if feeling exposed).

I suppose most of our ratlines are a lot bigger and more stable than yours.

Pete
 

Orla

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A couple of points:-

A Gri Gri is a belay device and should only be used as such, so it is fine as a back up device if somebody is taking in slack rope as you climb.

A Jummar is a rope climbing device and definatly not to be used as a back up, in a fall situation FF1 the jummar will rip the sheath and travel a considerable distance down the rope, you would probably hit the deck before it was of any use to you.

A better device for a back up would be a Petzl Shunt, attach it to your harness via a short length of dynamic rope (NOT static) you will need one karabiner to link the rope to the shunt.
As you climb you push the shunt ahead of you on the back up rope, try keeping the shunt at head height all the time, if your loaded rope snaps you transfer onto you back up rope.

In the climbing world (industrial) we work with fall factors.
Rough idea, average man on rope, rope snaps he would transfer onto his back up rope if the device is used correctly and lose very little height with minimum impact on the back up rope.
FF1 could be described as a man falling 1m onto his back up device/rope the impact on the back up device would be in the region of 750kg (huge) shunt will slip down the rope but eventually stop.

FF2 could be described as a man falling 2m onto his back up device/rope the impact on the back up device would be in the region of 1500kg (bigger huge) shunt will slip down the rope but eventually stop.

A Jummar used in any of the above situations would rip the rope and the climber would hit the deck.

All the kit mention above is very good stuff but people need to be shown the correct use of them and the does & dont's.
Used correctly, brilliant
Used wrongly, Fatal
 

afterpegassus

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Ascenders such as the Petzl are intended to take passive loads only and should not be shock loaded so do not use as fall arrest for the reasons given by Lord McD. People who suggest otherwise are dangerous and should be shot.
Remember also that once your fall has been arrested, you have to get back down. Personally, I use a set of webbing steps hauled up the mast track and a Petzl Stop that I just happened to have, but whatever device you select, it should be releasable under load - devices with toothed cams are not.
Fall factors are merely an indication of the severity of a fall and are a function of the amount of rope in the system and the length of the fall.
 

prv

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According to Eric Newby in The Last Grain Race the ratlines were often rotten so they climbed the vertical line!

Ratlines these days will be hemp-look synthetics, so that problem no longer exists, but we still teach people to hold the vertical shrouds and not the ratlines. The vertical parts are holding the mast up, so however tiny the chance of the horizontals coming loose may be, the chance of the verticals letting you down is even smaller!

It also stops someone treading on your hands.

Pete
 
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