More on clipping

The posts on clipping and falling distances have generated a lot of email. Some graph paper will help in working the various clipping situations; we're all conditioned to think of the fall distance as twice the amount of rope above the last piece, but when clipping overhead the fall distance isn't twice the amount of rope above the last piece... Ulimately a fall while clipping is roughly equal to twice the distance between the two pieces, regardless of where the climber falls off while clipping. Diagrams drawn to scale will help sort this out. My friend Bill B sent the following in, good points also--it's not just starting point of the fall that matters, but also how belayers deal with over-head clips:

"I would consider a couple other factors here; 1. the climber will most always pull thru more rope than he/she needs, 2. the belayer will most always chuck out more slack than the climber will take (this is quickly adjusted for, but after the clip is made). Fall at the wrong moment before making the clip and the fall will certainly be longer than if you clipped at the waist. " -Bill B.

Understanding the physics allows us to make better decisions about difficult clips. I've seen a few accidents recently that just didn't have to happen, and a couple of other very close calls, I don't think enough climbers have thought this through carefully.

-WG

Aweberg wins Banff Festival Award

Finally back at home after the film festival and participating in the film maker's seminar. The festival went really well, good fun, and the latest film we made, Aweberg, won a special jury award. The award reads, "This short film represents in a microcosm the spectacular, the audacious, and the pure play that is at the essence of mountain sports." Thanks very much to the Banff Festival Jury for that, and thanks to everyone who worked on the film as well, it was a pleasure. I just accepted the award--any award for a film is definitely for everyone on the trip, a film doesn't happen without a lot of people working really hard. Thanks. (A few people wrote asking if they could buy Aweberg--you can buy a pre-commercial DVD here).

The day we showed the film at Banff drew over 500 people, the biggest day-time show of the festival.

I saw a lot of great films at the festival and laid the kindling for several new film projects. The creative buzz is great.

I also took part in the film maker's seminar, an excellent four-day seminar with Richard Else and Keith Partridge, two of the UK's best film makers. They had some great insights on how to make better films, and the collection of seminar attendees was also very qualified. I learned a lot both from the Brits and the other people in the seminar, very worth the time although I'm now behind as usual on the mass of email etc...

Best,

wg