Esoteric testing dept.
Yesterday I did some very informal testing with a long rack. The goal was to ascertain the ease of descending loaded rope.
Equipment:
– Prototype Petzl rack with 19 mm dia. solid aluminum bars and frame length of 15″
– Homemade rack with 3/4″ SMC tubular SS bars and frame length of 20.5″
– 160 lbs of elevator weights attached to doubled 8 mm rope with a SHUNT. Rope was new kernmantle NFPA escape rope with nylon core and polyester sheath.
What I did:
Descended 15′ with Petzl rack (4 bars engaged) Descended 15′ with homemade rack (4 bars engaged) Descended 15′ with homemade rack (5 bars engaged)
All descents were smooth and easily controlled.
Not sure if there is any general interest in this, but thought I’d throw it up anyway. Maybe you will enjoy trying to understand the muddy-sounding commentary in the video? Below are links to the video and some photos.
hank
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http://home.comcast.net/~symetrie/LRACK/LONGRACK_VID.mov – Video of short descent
http://home.comcast.net/~symetrie/LRACK/RACK_TEST_015.jpg – Photo of weight setup
http://home.comcast.net/~symetrie/LRACK/RACK_TEST_017.jpg – Photo of weight setup with rack