Reversino

REVERSINO

Belay device and descender for small diameter ropes

Version of the REVERSO for small diameter twin or half ropes from 7,5 mm to 8,2 mm.

REVERSO^®

Belay device and descender

Belay device for the leader or the second, descender. For use with single or double ropes.

Multipurpose device: belaying the leader, one or two seconds, or as a descender.

Attachment point for direct attachment to belay (for belaying one or two seconds in self-braking mode).

Separation of ropes for easier clipping of alternate points and avoids crossing of the ropes when rappelling.

Grooved spacers allow excellent control of the rope for rappelling and lowering.

Does not twist the ropes.

Grigri: Autolocking belay device

GRIGRI^®

Self-braking belay device

Device for belaying a leader or a second and for single rope descents.

Self-braking system: if the rope suddenly comes under tension (e.g. in a fall), the cam pivots to pinch the rope, thus helping the belayer stop the climber's fall.

Usage is similar to that of conventional belay devices:

giving/taking slack is done by using both hands to slide the rope through the device,

falls are held by holding the free end of the rope,

for lowering and rappelling, the rate of descent is controlled by the hand holding the free end of the rope (the rope is released with the handle).

Dean Potter: Delicate Arch

What did Dean Potter do on Delicate Arch, and how did he do it?
Those questions have percolated in the climbing world since May 7, when Potter—a 34-year-old professional climber who splits his time between Moab, Utah, and Yosemite National Park—scampered to the top of Delicate Arch, a fragile landmark in southern Utah's Arches National Park. Potter's climb touched off a storm that has led to condemnation from close friends and mentors, virulent criticism from many climbers, and strict new climbing regulations in the park itself. What has remained a mystery, though, is exactly how Potter conducted the climb, and whether it was quite as delicate as many believe. As Outside has learned, it wasn't, and there's even a chance Potter did permanent damage to Delicate Arch's famously soft sandstone.

Delicate Arch, a marquee rock formation in Utah's Arches National Park. (Steve Howe)

Potter is best known for risking do-or-die routes with no protective gear to catch a fall. And if you saw the footage he released to TV newspeople immediately after the Delicate Arch climb, you saw a bare-chested daredevil going up one side alone with only a chalk bag dangling from his capri-style pants. Potter says his ascent—a "free solo," in climber lingo—was a legal, ethical, leave-no-trace effort and that he did nothing more than blow "a little dust off" the smallest handholds. His wife, 33-year-old pro climber Steph Davis Potter, told at least one colleague that the climb was "a beautiful ascent in the purest of style."

That may depend on how you define "purest." Extensive interviews—with Potter, two friends who helped him video the climb, an Outside editor who was present for the latter portion of the episode, Arches officials, climbers, supporters, and critics—paint a different picture. Though Potter did free-solo Delicate Arch (as many as six times), he rehearsed the moves first, with protection from a top rope draped over the formation. Two men who accompanied him during the adventure—Brad Lynch, 35, and Eric Perlman, 55—ascended fixed ropes to the top. At least one of them captured Potter’s moves on video. Some of that footage was included in a trailer for Potter's new movie, tentatively titled Aerialist, which aired before audiences at last weekend's Telluride Mountainfilm festival. Outside saw a copy of the trailer, and it leaves no doubt Potter wasn't by himself atop the arch. One shot is taken from directly overhead while he's making an ascent.

Dean Potter's approximate route up Delicate Arch's east side. On the upper left is the area where groove marks are visible in the sandstone. (Steve Howe)

As of midweek, Park Service investigators declined to say whether they had found signs of damage to the arch. But a photographer dispatched by Outside—who used a telephoto lens to take pictures of the area directly above Potter's route—identified three distinct grooves worn by rope into the sandstone. (Each appears to be roughly a fourth of an inch deep and several inches long and is invisible to the naked eye from ground level.) In addition, Jason Keith, a Moab-based policy director with the Access Fund, a climber-advocacy group, says that, out of curiosity, he examined the arch in mid-May with a spotting scope and saw as many as five additional grooves that are visible on a different spot near the summit.
Arches officials have decided Potter's climb was not illegal, due to vaguely worded regulations that have since been made crystal clear to prohibit any more arch climbs. But according to Karen McKinlay-Jones, the park's acting chief ranger, officials are looking for damage to Delicate Arch with "a priority over everything except life and limb." (She wouldn't comment further on how they're investigating.) The park's superintendent, Laura Joss, adds, "If there is damage to Delicate Arch, that is of grave concern to us."
Rick Ridgeway, vice president of communications at Patagonia—one of Potter's main sponsors—says the company is "adamantly opposed" to acts that damage any natural setting and that it would likely reevaluate its relationship with Potter, one of Patagonia's top-ten paid athletes, if it turns out his climb damaged the formation. In any event, Ridgeway says it's now incumbent upon Potter to come clean about exactly what he did. "To say that he was just there to commune with nature is half the story," he says. "It's time to be frank."
Potter insists the climb left no trace. "The marks up there are not mine, absolutely, and I know for a fact that other people have been up there," he says. "So it's crystal clear: When we were doing this arch climb it was in all of our minds that the super priority was to be careful of the rock: Don't harm the rock, move slowly, don't do anything at all if you are going to harm the rock. I'm so in tune with rocks and nature. On any rock around the world, if I hurt the rock, I feel like I'm hurting myself."
Malcolm Daly, the 51-year-old founder of climbing-gear company Trango and a friend of Potter's, says any potential damage to the arch is a "tragedy." But another issue for him, he says, is one of profound disappointment, and it cuts deeper than a rope groove. After first supporting Potter and getting roasted for it on climbing Web sites like Mountain Project (http://www.mountainproject.com/), Daly has now become a critic.
"There are many people who think Dean just walked up there and climbed it," Daly says. "I wanted to think that, because I have all this respect for him and this spiritual context under which he says he climbs. And I think other people want to believe that. That's why I feel so hurt. He did rehearse it. It was for a photo shoot. It was a communal effort by a group of people, and there is damage to the arch. It takes all the polish off the diamond."

Dan Osman : Rope failure analysis

The following article is courtesy of Wikipedia...

Dan Osman (February 11, 1963 - November 23, 1998) was an extreme sport practitioner, known for the dangerous sports of "free-soloing" (rock climbing without ropes or other safety gear) and "controlled free-falling" (falling several hundred feet from a cliff while relying on a safety rope), for which his record was over 1200 feet. He was known for living a bohemian lifestyle, rarely working, and living in a treehouse for months at a time. He was the star of several rock climbing videos, which brought free-soloing to a wider audience.
He died November 23, 1998 at the age of 35 after his rope cut while performing a controlled free-fall jump from the Leaning Tower rock formation in Yosemite National Park. The exact cause of the failure is unknown, but a change in jump site selection which caused a rigging entanglement is most likely. He is survived by his daughter Emma Osman.

Rope Failure Analysis

Subject: My Dan Osman Rope Failure Analysis
From: Chris Harmston
Newsgroups: rec.climbing
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 12:09:11 -0600
I think it is time I spoke up publicly. I have reviewed Dano's rope in
some detail. My findings and theory support those published by Kevin
Worrall in Climbing (No 183, March 1999, Pg 90).
This statement is mine personally and NOT that of Black Diamond Equipment!
This is obvious as you read below.
Irrelevant Background:
I am a Materials Engineer with BS degrees in Physics and Materials
Engineering and a ME in Materials Engineering (I nearly finished a PhD but
bailed once I learned I did not enjoy being a scientist any longer). I
know lots about atomic layer semiconductor crystal growth. I have been
the Quality Assurance Manager for Black Diamond Equipment for 6 years. My
primary responsibility is the testing and analysis of climbing equipment,
among other stuff. I have been involved in the ASTM climbing and
mountaineering standards development for the last 4 years. I investigate
all accidents I hear of involving equipment failure, whether they are BD's
or not. I review rec.climbing every day looking specifically for posts
related to accidents, gear, misuses of gear, issues about BD, etc. I, and
others at BD, go out of our way on this news group to publish information
above and beyond what is required by the standards that climbing gear is
designed to (see the recent lame thread on "Gear Safety" which I will not
respond to specifically. See Karl Lew's web site. Search under my name
on dejanews for examples). I do not post to this news group as a general
rule unless I think that posts from various people are specifically wrong
or misleading, as is the current case (in fact I try to avoid posting
because of commercial conflict of interest). I respond to individuals on
this news group constantly and my comments to these people come back into
this group (see the current RP thread on soldering cable fatigue). I
respond in detail to individuals who ask me questions, even when they do
not like what BD is about (see recent Camalot threads and failure analysis
associated with this thread).
Even more irrelevant background:
I have been rock climbing since 1981, and am primarily a trad climber. I
am a risk taker because I climb. Climbing IS dangerous and anyone who
thinks otherwise if fooling themselves. Anyone who climbs is a risk taker
in my opinion. I climb 5.12 on any rock type (that I have been on) and
style (except offwidth, so far) and have onsighted up to 12c/d. I climb
WI6 and possibly harder (ice is either hard or easy to me and is my
primary passion). I climb M8. I establish new rock, ice and mixed
routes ground up with and without bolts. I have no aid or alpine
experience. I weight 190 lbs and take upside-down 40 to 60 footers
without my helmet on. I have nearly killed myself several times due to
falling off 5.8. I am a climber, climbing eventually involves falling,
which may very well kill or maim me. Most people, including myself, would
consider me to be reckless because of how I climb. I climb for my own
reasons and no one else's. I don't care what people think about me in
general. Why Dano jumped off cliffs is his own personal choice that
nobody has a right to argue against, even if he had children in my
opinion. I certainly have no right to judge his reasons for doing what he
did. I respect Dano for pushing the limits way way beyond where they had
been previously. I met Dano twice but did not know him. I know many of
his friends.
Relevant Background:
My expertise in the analysis of broken climbing ropes is very limited.
This is due to the fact that climbing ropes very rarely break or cut in
actual use. The only previous experience I have with rope failure
analysis was that of Matt Baxter who died on El Cap several years ago when
his rope was cut by a flake after a carabiner had broken (see dejanews for
more info on this, send a Freedom of Information Request to the NPS-I
recommend you do it for the Dano accident as well and then you can have a
copy of my official report, or look at ANAM). I have also reviewed
several ropes with sheaths shredded due to the open back regular carabiner
gates in minor axis. This lack of experience could indicate that my
findings are incorrect or suspect.
I first became involved in Dano's accident when news of Dano's death
spread across this news group with the associated rumors that the NPS
might have purposely cut his rope. On December 9, 1998 I sent an email to
John Dill (YOSAR director) letting him know of these rumors on this news
group and offered my assistance in the analysis of Dano's equipment. John
responded back that Yosemite Law Enforcement (YLE) was investigating the
accident and that they had to finish their investigation before I might be
able to see the ropes (they too knew of the rumors of murder and were
investigating this as well I suspect). As you all should know Dan's ropes
stayed on the wall for over a month and YLE was unable to recover them.
Given the rumors of tampering by the NPS a climber took matters into his
own hands. He recovered the ropes and sent them directly to BD. As soon
as I received the ropes I contacted YLE because I was in possession of
stolen federal evidence from an active investigation. I was told to
return the ropes immediately and reveal the name of the person who sent me
the ropes. While on the phone with the lead investigator another phone
call came into BD from "someone within YLE" stating that the FBI would be
at BD to arrest me if I did not send the ropes back the next day. I was
freaking out to say the least. Meanwhile I looked at the rope in some
detail. It was melted through. It looked as if there were the
possibility that someone had hot cut the rope. When I called YLE back and
told them this they wanted me to conduct my full investigation and allowed
me to keep the rope for two weeks. No FBI showed up to haul me away.
Analysis:
I only saw the one section of rope that was cut down and contained the
failure point. I did not see the rigging, retrieval rope, or the section
that was attached to Dan directly.
Everything I did was visual examination. I did not untie any knot or
tamper with the rope in any way other than prying the knots to see inside.
With some insight from Doug Heinrich I concluded that the failure of Dan's
rope was not due to tensile overload or from being tampered with. I
strongly believe that Dan did miscalculate on his last jump. 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. I would have
climbed on these ropes without any hesitation had they not been from this
accident. I do not believe that the condition of the ropes had anything
at all to do with the failure of the ropes. Nor do I believe that Dan's
basic shock absorbing setup was incorrect. Crossing the ropes was the
problem.
I was asked by YLE not to make my findings public until they had finished
their criminal investigation. They forced me to tell them who sent me the
rope and they pressed charges against this individual (I will have to live
with the fact that I was unable to keep this information confidential). I
still have not heard back from YLE about closure of this accident and
decided to make my findings public now due to the vast numbers of
misinformed posts relative to this subject. Maybe my analysis will stop
some of the useless bickering many of you are currently engaged in.
Conclusions:
What is to be learned from this accident? NEVER LET NYLON SLIDE AGAINST
NYLON! You should already know this.
I also know that Dano's rigging setup was reviewed by more than a couple
of technically competent people. I also know that he tested it multiple
times. I personally do not think that what Dan was doing (when done
properly as he had done on earlier jumps) was any more dangerous than
modern ice climbers doing hard thin ice routes (like in Maple Canyon and
elsewhere), in fact his setup was most likely safer in my personal
opinion. Dan's death was a tragedy and an accident.
Again, this summary is mine personally and not that of Black Diamond.
Chris Harmston (chrish@bdel.com).
Quality Assurance Manager. Materials Engineer BS, ME.
Black Diamond Equipment Ltd.
2084 East 3900 South, SLC, UT 84124 phone: 801-278-5552
DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise indicated, this correspondence is personal
opinion and NOT an official statement of Black Diamond Equipment Ltd.

Harish Kapadia

Since the time we were introduced to trekking and mountaineering, since the time we became cognizant of mountaineering, the name Harsih Kapadia has become the gold standard. Later we have come across many more stalwarts in this field, but HK is the one we knew since we were a toddler.
The more we know of this gem, the more inclined we get towards it.

click on the link below to know more..
http://www.harishkapadia.com/index.htm

Trekshitiz schedules

Note: The grades and details are as they are put up by the organising, i.e. Trekshitiz group.

SARASGAD - Pali
Date : 28 Jan, 2007
Trek Leader : Ketan Lavalekar
Contact Details : 9819937897
Cost : 200
Grade : Medium
Last Date Of Booking : 15-Jan-2007
Meeting Place :will be decleare later
No. Of Participants : 25
Description :
Includes Sarasgad & Parisar
Notes : Memb- Rs 175Non Memb- Rs 200


TORNA - Pune
Date : 10 - 11 Feb, 2007
Trek Leader : Ganesh Abhyankar
Contact Details : 9833889223
Cost : 375
Grade : Medium
Last Date Of Booking : 31-Jan-2007
Meeting Place : will be declared later
Maximum No. Of Participants : 20
Description :
Trek near Pune
Notes : Memb Rs 350Non Memb Rs 375


ASHERI - Palghar
Date : 11 Mar, 2007
Trek Leader : Sujay Rane
Contact Details : 9819975487
Cost : 175
Grade : Medium
Last Date Of Booking : 28-Feb-2007
Meeting Place : will be decleared later
Maximum No. Of Participants : 25
Description : Trek near Palghar
Notes : Memb- Rs 150Non Memb- Rs 175