The conditions would need to be defined more. Blanket statements like
this always concern me. Tell me more about what you intend to do with
it.
So, to minimally define some conditions and my respective answer/
opinion:
Are they good for vertical drops over a 100 feet?
I would be looking for a different device. Will they work? Yes. Are
they the best for the job? No. As Fofo said figure 8 descenders (eight
plate) tend to twist the rope. The longer the drop the more twist you
are going to get.
Are they good for drops under a 100 feet?
They can be. I would not take an eight plate specifically to do the
one nuisance drop between several bigger drops. If the vertical
section is one 50 footer right at the beginning or middle of my trip
and then I am taking my vert gear off for the rest of the trip, then
yes an eight plate might be a good idea. Its small, light weight, and
effective for these kind of jobs.
Are they good for vertical through trips where I am rappelling double
ropes and pulling them behind me?
I would say this is an excellent application for them. There are other
devices that will do this job also but an eight plate would work well
also.
Are they good for low angle slopes that require a rope but are not
pure vertical?
Absolutely. Another thing about an eight plate is they do not provide
just a whole lot of friction. So feeding rope into it when minimal
friction is needed is an attribute of the eight plate (but is also a
down fall).
Are they good for those trips were I am going to be taking a lot of
heavy stuff with me?
I might be looking for a different device. As stated above they don't
provide just a whole lot of friction. More specifically you cannot
vary the friction much on the fly. If you are accustom to rappelling
with it and now you add a lot of extra weight, be careful. You can
double wrap them but now you are stuck with a lot of friction and
potently have increased your rope twist issue.
Are they good for dirty gritty caves (oh, wait isn't that most of
them)? Maybe better defined as: Are they good for use with dirty
gritty ropes?
Probably not the best choice. Again, will it physically work? Yes. But
there are probably better devices out there. I have seen quite a few
eight plates with the anodizing wore through were the rope rubs. I
have even seen one where it was close to wearing all the way through
to the other side. It doesn't take much to wear one like that. Dirty
rope is hard on almost all gear that will be used in conjunction with
it.
I could probably go on for some time defining conditions and giving an
opinion. But I am sure you all have better things to do today.
Stay Safe,
DJ Walker
DJ Walker
PO Box 90146
Austin, TX 78709
512-751-6010
[email protected]
On Jun 11, 2009, at 8:24 AM, Fofo wrote:
Hey, Lyndon.
It sounds like he is talking about the descender, not the knot.
The problem with the figure 8 descender is that it twists the rope.
Since caving rope is a bunch of parallel fibers encased in a sheath,
going through the figure 8 will impart a twist on these and in the
end (after repeated use with a figure of 8) you end up with a rope
that kinks by itself.
It is a compact and lightweight descender, convenient for nuisance
drops, on short pieces of rope for which you don't care much.
- Fofo
Lyndon Tiu wrote, on 11/6/09 6:12:
On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:04:44 -0500 [email protected] wrote:
Everybody else appeared to use a rock-climbers tiny Figure-8. ( I
think most caver's would agree that this
type of Figure-8 is not proper vertical equipment for caving. )
Can someone on this list knowledgeable with vertical caving please
explain to me why so?
Thanks.
--
Lyndon Tiu
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