Rope Wrench Failure

P

PrimeApe

Anyone see the photo that Marc Powell put up on Facebook? His Rope Wrench got bent while climbing on it. Looks like it lost the pin on one cheek plate and side loaded. Strange thing is, Marc says it was the version with the key chain ring keeper for the upper pin. It bent it pretty bad. He's ok thank god. My concern is that this tool is labeled as not life support. It was obviously supporting something to bend it the way it did. Kevin should ask to get the tool back and take a good look at it. He may want to rethink that label.
 
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Its labelled as not life support specifically because if it does fail, you don't fall to the dirt, your hitch simply locks up and you wont be able to descend. Contrast this to your hitch failing, in which case you would fall. To call something life support simply means that if it fails, you fall, bottom line.
 
Right on Muggs. Im happy someone didn't blow this completely out of hand by not understanding simple labeling.

From what everyone has been warned, by people who haven't climbed on a rope wrench, will tell you that if it fails, you die!

I am in no way trying to play down what happened to Marc but its nice to see that the rope wrench and his hitch worked exactly like it should have.
 
Muggs is correct.
It is clear that the pin disengaged and the plate was bent by only one side getting leveraged by the pin. Yes the rope wrench does see quite a bit of weight during usage. It must be strong but that does not mean it is life support. I would climb on a wooden rope wrench any day of the week..

It is labeled non life support and will remain a non life support item as long as I have anything to do with it. anything less would only encourage sloppy hitches in my opinion. Marc heeded the instruction manual and was using "a hitch that grabs every single time".
Aside from the wrench outright spontaneously combusting or the pin falling out, the wrench might be restricted by something from engaging. it might not be engaged at all. These are all reasons that the wrench cannot be a life support item.

I have failed several wooden wrenches and so have a few others. Derrick Martin failed a wooden wrench I carefully crafted for him his second day using it.

I have also spent hours descending at a good rate of speed with a pair of scissors cutting my tether as I go. I have seen no risk of my hitting the ground as long as I have a nice grabbing hitch. If you don't know how to tie a good grabbing hitch... you should not be climbing.

This is the first pin disengagement that I have heard of. I do condone the usage of quick release pins though and use them myself although they are sold without pins. When the ZK-1 was first designed, I was not super stoked on either the expense of the quick release pins or their failproofness.

I personally prefer the Slic pin because it is not reliant on tiny little balls and a button that is liable to jam open, but I found those much later than the zk-1s had been on the market. Some people have trouble operating the slic pins and prefer the more user friendly ball locks.

This is a warning to those that might be tempted to tie fast "caressing" hitches though, or hitches that you need to Caress to engage.

But in response to the original post, the Rope Wrench is NOT a life support tool.
 
I just saw this pic today on facebook.
The ease of the quick pin is quite nice especially if you are wearing gloves. I have always paid close attention on something like this possibly happening redirecting through branch unions. But to be honest I’m always watching my movement during this operation and still have full confidence in the zk-1 with a good hitch.
 
Kevin, maybe now the ISA TCC tech guys will believe us when they hear about this story and they'll realize that the RW is just as safe as Ddrt for climbing.

This may be the best advertisement for the RW in retrospect.
 
I think this is more of a climber failure than a RW failure IMO. Sorry no offence to Mark as he is a stand up guy and a hell of a climber. Sometimes we may lapse in our inspection of our equipment DURING the climb. If a branch opens a rope snap, do we blame the snap. We should have been inspecting our gear as we go. If a biner does not close all the way (a lube issue), do we blame the biner, no we notice the problem and fix it. At the very most if the pin didnt engage properly (button poping out after installation or encountering a branch) it should still be checked, the same as our biners, snaps, ropes, swivels, and everything else we use. Continual inspection of our equipment durning a climb should be top of mind, insuring that this type of thing doesn't happen.
 
I've posted a few more pictures on Facebook of the pin and the wrench.

Honestly this is my fault. As mentioned above I did not inspect my pin regularly and it probably somehow wiggled out. Had I used the slick pin I don't think this would have happened as easily.

The rope wrench didn't even slide down the rope. It stayed right where it was supposed to and even the pin stayed in the wrench. I didnt fall an inch. My hitch locked up and that was that.

For reference. I was climbing on the new England ascent line with a 30" ice eye n eye prusik that had been grizzly spliced and I was climbing on a vt knot with 4 wraps and 2 helix. I hated the ice line so much back in the day but for some reason it does an amazing job as a hitch cord for srt climbing with the rope wrench
 
My thinking is he called for a figure 8 took a footlock loosened the VT ( yetch ) and rappelled down. Just maybe. That's what I would do if my wrench failed. Might just start carrying the 8 when wrenching by myself when not at work.
 
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Might just start carrying the 8 when wrenching by myself when not at work.

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Swing, actually anyone who climbs SRT should always carry an 8 or other form of lowering device while climbing. This will actaully be written in the new TCIA BMP SRT Manual.
 
Yeah Chris gotcha, only been using SRT off an on since January. But now that this has occurred it has clicked the light bulb. The munter is always a last resort. Good thread.
 
Actually I ascended to a branch, lanyard in and installed my unicender which I would love to tell you that I brought with me because you always need to be prepared with a back up but I did not. My brother tied it on my line and I climbed the rest of the tree with that
 
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