Mountain Impulse wrote:Questions. How many people used your set up? How long was the rap? You obviously rapped on two strands. That sounds like a very bulky munter on that 'biner! How smoothly did the munter feed on the way down?
Assume you didn't have a rap ring so you threaded the webbing thru your anchor sling. How was the pull when you retrieved your webbing after the rap?
Re the dulfersitz. It's definitely only for low angle terrain.
Yesterday I was the only one who used the set-up. It was surprisingly smooth. The carabiner got warm, but then my atc gets warm. I was initially afraid it would be too smooth, as the webbing is quite slick.
I had a quicklink on the sling, and the pull was extremely easy. If I were not sick, I would have tried a ring, a smaller quicklink, then nothing; but alas, I was pretty exhausted after my short hike, 700' gain, and 2 raps.
The webbing didn't significantly twist, which surprised me; but because that carabiner design is so extreme, the 10/16 (but not the 9/16") webbing slightly warped; I don't know exactly how to explain it, but because the tubular webbing sides are not attached in the middle, one side moved slightly relative to the other, so there was a slight ripple noticeable after 2 raps.
On weight: for use as a handline, 13.5 mm (~9/16") and 15 mm tubular webbing are actually lighter than the same length 8mm rope -- at least according to my postal scale and the published weights per foot. Of course, webbing in no substitute for rope in many technical situations. But a 50' coil of this 13.5 mm weighs 6 oz, and handlines are really fast for setup. This is purely static stuff, with a rating of 4200 lbs and 2600 lbs breaking strength. (Sorry for the unit confusion; I wanted to make the comparison with rope a little easier, and Blue Water is going through a unit crisis.)
Again, this was just a test for a "what-if." I've seen where people with all the right gear... rapped off iffy anchors (some canyons in Death Valley... hmmm). So, there are times when things are not ideal, and I'd like to be prepared for such times. I'm not a climber, nor do I play one on TV.
Thanks again for all the probing comments.