Want to see a "rogue" climbing a 400 foot rockface?

[Aramis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy3SuhEQHVg




warning: low quality video

[Rigon]

Are you posting home movies again?

R-

[Arduin]

Not bad at all! Still not as fast as my rogue wearing leather armor.

I remember something about this guy in the late 90's in California. Can't remember what though.

[serleran]

I remember something about this guy in the late 90's in California. Can't remember what though.

1998, in Yosemite, his rope failed during a controlled free fall and he died...

[Arduin]

I remember something about this guy in the late 90's in California. Can't remember what though.

1998, in Yosemite, his rope failed during a controlled free fall and he died...

That would make the news alright.

[Rotten]

He sure made that climb look easy. Very fearless. Too bad about his death.

[dachda]

I'm thinking less a rogue and more a ranger with his wilderness climb ability, or a barbarian with his deerstalker ability.

But wow, that dude had some supreme confidence in his skills at that point in time. Ironic if his death was from a broken rope and not from when he was soloing as shown in the video.

[dachda]

Here's a clip showing what he was doing when he died. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY6YsM5Rh0Y

He wasn't climbing, but was free rope jumping from 1000 feet up. That's when the rope broke. the video shows how it did it successfully, but he left his ropes on the rock walls for three weeks. when he went to retrieve them, he decided to jump again, and one of the ropes probably worn weak from weather, snapped.

[mmbutter]

From the investigation into his death (specifically the analysis of his climbing ropes):

"For some reason he moved his jump site. In doing so he crossed the ropes (either on the retrieval line or on the main jump line). When he jumped the first knot above the one he was tied in with slid down a section of rope several lengths up. The sheath was heavily melted and removed in several sections on this upper part of the rope. The knot that slid down the rope was melted in multiple locations and was melted nearly completely through, deep inside the knot. This knot was not tight, yet others in the system were (this is the one open question that is unresolved as far as I know). It is my conclusion that Dan's rope was cut by his own rope sliding against itself. Use of a magnifying glass indicated to me that the cut surface was due to sliding action in one direction. There was no evidence of hot cutting with a knife or other type of instrument. I conducted further experiments in my lab to see if tensile overload could have caused this failure. The samples I tested were significantly different in that they were heavily frayed and tattered. My analysis of Dan's ropes in general was that they were in great condition. There was no evidence to me of damage due to previous falls, uv exposure, or weather."

So, it looks like he made a mistake and basically ended up cutting his own rope via friction.

[Arduin]

So, it looks like he made a mistake and basically ended up cutting his own rope via friction.

Two major mistakes. 1) used weathered rope for safety. 2) changed site thus cutting rope as you mentioned.

[mmbutter]

"There was no evidence to me of damage due to previous falls, uv exposure, or weather."

[Arduin]

"There was no evidence to me of damage due to previous falls, uv exposure, or weather."

SOP in climbing. You don't use after months of exposure. And you NEVER use if same line has previously prevented a fall. (see instructions from companies that produce these lines) Unless examined by a materials lab the quote is meaningless too.

[mmbutter]

"There was no evidence to me of damage due to previous falls, uv exposure, or weather."

SOP in climbing. You don't use after months of exposure. And you NEVER use if same line has previously prevented a fall. (see instructions from companies that produce these lines) Unless examined by a materials lab the quote is meaningless too.

That quote was from the scientist in the materials lab that did the analysis of the ropes. Besides, he had successfully used those ropes on the previous day.

[Arduin]

That quote was from the scientist in the materials lab that did the analysis of the ropes. Besides, he had successfully used those ropes on the previous day.

Then he was just in violation of the manufacturers instructions to not EVER reuse a line that had previously been used to stop a fall. And to be suspicious of lines left out in weather for long periods of time.

[Rotten]

The ropes were used 3 weeks before according to the video I watched.

[Andrew]

One way or another my mind is blown from watching the video.