That moment my climbing rope got pinched in a crack

I was up in a big red oak in Austin last Tuesday, doing a takedown on a limb that had some rot. Mid-cut, my rope slipped into a tight bark inclusion and jammed solid. I couldn't move up or down, had to hang there for 20 minutes while my groundie ran to get a second rope to free me. Has anyone else had a rope get wedged like that on a routine climb?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_lane21d ago

Oh man, was this on a spar or the trunk? That bark inclusion sounds like a total nightmare honestly. I've had a rope pinch in a crotch before but never that deep, it's scary how fast it can lock up on you. Twenty minutes hanging there would have me rethinking my gear setup for sure, you must have been cursing up a storm. Did your groundie at least have the second rope ready quick or was it a scramble?

clairer7921d ago

I get where you're coming from but I actually see it different. That "nightmare" bark inclusion situation... to me it's not a gear problem at all. You were stuck for 20 minutes because of where you set your line, not because of what rope or harness you had on. I've had pinches happen on both cheap and expensive setups and the gear didn't matter one bit. It was always my choice of placement or the way I loaded the branch that did it. Second rope ready or not doesn't really fix the core issue either. What's more useful is learning to read those hidden inclusions better ahead of time and knowing when to just set a redirect instead of going straight through a sketchy crotch.