Sgt Dustin Allen died while rock climbing with a friend in Croatia while off duty for the weekend. According to reports, the "Rope Failed."
"The rope just started coming out faster than they could climb down, and they both fell,"
http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/local_n ... morial-Day

I was unable to get more details. Rope usually doesn't fail.

Yep, would love to know the details. That's two rope failures recently. This one and the zip line accident.

It's a shame to hear of this happening...but is it safe to say that the rope really didn't fail? Either he was using a rope that should have been retired, never been put into service, or was being mis-used, or not using the right hardware, or had the rigging put together wrong or something of the sort?

If ropes just randomly failed, I think a lot less people would be rock climbing and tree climbing, etc...

love
nick

I guess I missed this while off in Panama.

Having just read the link that Bama posted I am a bit irritated to find that it is exemplary of one of my pet peeves with current-day news reporting: Not enough details. Give us more details and we will be better able to make informed decisions that could affect our own safety.

For most readers (non-climbers) a more detailed report would not be important, but for those of us who climb it is of more than passing interest.

My immediate questions: Who was the friend, what happened to the friend, and are there more details about the incident that the friend could have shared?

I suppose I should do a bit of research to see if there have been other articles that give the details I would like to have.

My inclination is to ignore the idea that this was rope failure. There must have been contributing factors that go beyond rope failure. I want more details!!!!!

Sounds like there might might have been a missing stopper knot.

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I disagree. It would be foolish to climb knowing your gear could randomly fail at any moment.

Riggers fail. Rigging doesn't.

Love
Nick

I agree with Nick.

It has always been my thought that while using equipment manufactured for the purpose of climbing and made by reputable manufacturers the equipment is no more dangerous than the climber using it, or the rigger rigging it.

My favorite "dead horse" that I like to beat on here is the argument against screwgate carabiners. It is not the carabiner that is dangerous....it is the climber who "forgets" to screw it shut, or who doesn't keep an eye on things while climbing. (I apologize for bringing that old argument back to life but it does serve as a wonderful example of what we are talking about here!)

Use the equipment as it was designed to be used, in the manner outlined by the manufacturer, and the equipment will not let you down.

That goes for ropes as well as hardware.

Not enough information, for sure.

A local girl took a serious fall while rock climbing last year. I called the paper and eventually spoke to the girl to find out what happened.
http://www.oregonlive.com/lake-oswego/i ... _fall.html


More info and better reporting here:
http://portlandtribune.com/wlt/95-news/ ... g-accident

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The fact that you're checking and thinking is what makes climbing safe! That's the "Human Element".
I have faith in my equipment, but, like yourself, I am constantly checking it....mostly, however, to make sure that I'm not doing something wrong.

Not to be argumentive, but I suspect that "true and valid" cases of equipment failure are extremely rare. Note: I did not say "It never happens."

To reiterate: My statements refer to equipment that was manufactured for the purpose of climbing by reputable manufacturers.

Well said, if I fail to inspect my rope and the rope fails it is my fault. Likewise all the components of my climbing system.

I think the biggest unknown is the tree itself not our gear as long we are paying attention to it.
-AJ

Absolutely!

Actually, to claim a rope failure is quite implicative. There are only about three things that can cause a rope to break: one it is overloaded due to shock or misapplication, two, it is allowed to come in contact with very abrasive or sharp objects, or three it is a deteriorated or abused rope.

While it may be correct to describe the outcome of a rope exposed to any of these conditions as a 'rope failure', it is really not a rope failure, it is human error. Just like blaming a car for an accident because someone drove it faster than they could control it.

I mentioned this to Bruce Smith sometime back and his response was, "Ropes don't fail." That's succinct, but what he means is that when ropes are applied correctly and responsibly, they don't mysteriously fail. Ropes fail from overload, abrasion, or sharp surfaces.

Not much more to go on here but there is more details. The survivor also has a blog but does not go into any details on the accident. This link is from the Croatia news translated through Google. It says one fell off a 130 foot cliff and apparently the other guy was roped to him dragging him down too. http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3DAlex%2BJavor%2BCMRS%2Brescue%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1920%26bih%3D1020%26prmd%3Dimvnso&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=hr&twu=1&u=http://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/lijecnici-zadru-drugi-je-alpinist-sada-izvan-zivotne-opasnosti-clanak-411377&usg=ALkJrhgza95z1xcVr37PTNjy-bRU6hKYFQ