Monday, March 10, 2014

Umbilicals?

Umbilicals to use or not to use that is the question. Some climbers use them often some never. I use them for almost all of my leading on ice. When I switched from my 1st gen cobras to the newer ones I had been climbing with leashes for awhile. So going leash less took a little bit of getting used to. The next two seasons I climbed without umbilicals I always thought they might be a nice thing to have. Most climbers even if they don't climb with umbilicals do in alpine environments but some don't even on the biggest objectives. After getting use to them they are just part of my system. Although I have never dropped a tool while climbing ice with the umbilical it is not something I have to think about. Now I know that they are not rated or meant to hold a fall. This season while climbing out at Banks I took my first ever fall while ice climbing. I was placing a screw after climbing thru a extremely wet crux. My left foot blew out on some crappy chandeliers and once that happened my left hand slid out my tool and I was falling. But instead of falling all the way past my last screw which was quite a ways down and to my left. I realized I had only fell a few feet and that my umbilicals had caught me! I was then able to pull back up finish off the screw and finsh up the climb. I had both tools placed good something I always do while placing a screw. After an event like this I thought a lot about what lead to this event. I was climbing threw a section of wet central Washington chandelier ice what should I have done that would of prevented this and what did I do wrong and can take away from this. First and foremost I never viewed umbilicals as a fall safety device. Only as a device to help keep me from accidentally dropping an ice tool. I should have climbed to a better stance my left foot was not placed in that great of ice and my body was overhanging my feet. All I had to do to fix that was climb up one more move. It was extremely wet that day my leather glove were soaked and slippery. When I'm hanging in an ice tool I always try to keep my hand relaxed so as to only hang on just enough. This way I'm conserving energy. With the combo of the wet gloves minimal grip and barn door kinda move my body did once my foot blew out I slipped and fell. What did I learn from this I should have had a better stance and foot placement. I should have climbed up just a move or two and the ice would have been better. I'm not going to climb ice that is so dripping/raining when you try to look up you can't see. Some water is one thing but I'm over full on rainfest. If it is wet at an acceptable level I will now on climb with a glove with a grippy synthetic palm and fingers not leather. I will admit that I was very happy that my umbilicals caught me. So I'm going to keep climbing with my umbilicals but I'm not counting on them as a fall back up plan skill and knowledge are what I need to really on for that.