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I'm a rock climber, not a tower climber, but I've been on climbs that are >1k feet above the deck. For me (and I gather most climbers), just hanging off an anch
by necubi 2y ago
I'm a rock climber, not a tower climber, but I've been on climbs that are >1k feet above the deck. For me (and I gather most climbers), just hanging off an anchor at 1000 feet doesn't feel particularly scary. You're firmly attached to the rock with gear that you (hopefully) trust. For a tower, I'd expect it to feel even safer since the gear will be far more solid than some cams[0] jammed in a crack.
I (along with most climbers) still feel fear though! But it's specifically fear of _falling_ rather than just fear of being high up. In climbing, that comes when you _lead_ past your point of protection (where your rope is attached to the rock), creating the possibility of falling >2x that distance. In big wall climbing you might climb 10-50 feet before placing protection, so you are risking a potentially very big fall.
In tower climbing falls aren't possible (unless you screw up the system), because you are always clipped into at least one point of protection. I'd imagine that it feels more grueling than terrifying for most people comfortable with the heights.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring-loaded_camming_device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring-loaded_camming_device
- WalterBright 2y agoHaving worked on airplane design, I would never want to trust my life to a single piece of equipment - a single rope, a single clip, a single anchor point. I'd want a backup. It's hard to tell if those are fine, or one tug away from failure.
- necubi 2y agoIn climbing, most of our gear is redundant. Anchors are built from at least two pieces (but ideally more), our harnesses have two tie-in points, and modern belay devices rely on both a camming mechanism and a brake hand. But there are still single points of failure. In particular, the rope. It’s not practical to bring up two full strength (single) ropes on climbs. Failures are very rare but do happen—generally because a rope is cut by a sharp rock. Climbing is inherently dangerous, but accidents related to gear failure are extremely rare. The most common cause of death is human error (particularly on repels), followed by environmental factors like rock fall.
- WalterBright 2y agoThanks for the info. I do realize that weight would make some redundancies impractical. There's a saying, though, among engineers - they can fix anything but the nut behind the wheel!
- AdamN 2y agoDo they make 'double' rope? I know there is the internal structure and the external protection but I'm thinking something more like two independent internal structures such that if one fails the other can still handle load, and just as importantly it's obvious when the rope is in this state so nobody starts with it that way - it's only as the last line of defense.
- necubi 2y agoI don't know of anything quite like what you're describing, but there are "half" or "twin" ropes, which are meant to be used as a pair. They're each thinner and lighter than ropes rated as "single" ropes, but together are considered as strong.
- amatecha 2y agoI was thinking the same about rock climbing vs tower climbing -- I don't find rock climbing very scary because I'm always on a rope. In the YT video above[0] though, that guy doesn't appear to be tied into anything, except a carabiner he momentarily attaches once or twice for a rest and then takes back off when he resumes!! Incomprehensible! I'd be petrified :O [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42603235 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42603235