Treetools has a length of Type B Yale Blaze in the showroom kindly donated by Drew Bristow. The sample is the result of an experiment conducted by DB Tree to see what happens when the Frog system is dynamically loaded with 80kgs of weight.
Drew's length of Blaze clearly shows how the Croll's toothed cam tore through the outer sheath to expose the core below. Once the sheath released, the Croll slid down the core until it was arrested when the bunched up sheath jammed the device (we'll touch more on this subject in a future blog).
The graphic exposure of the core got a few local climbers thinking about possible solutions.
As a result Dom Eastwood sent through the video below showing how effective the Uni Core Process can be in this situation. You can read more about the Beal Uni Core Process on the their website.
The Beal process permanently binds the sheath to the core of the rope. In the event of a cut or tear to the sheath, as demonstrated in Drew's experiment, the climber might possibly be able pass by the damaged section of rope (definitely not possible with our sample).
The line used in the Beal tests below is 10.5mm Wall Master VI designed specifically for use on climbing walls. It has a thicker sheath to resist the wear associated with repeated belays and low impact falls.
We accept Wall Master is not an arborist line but the principle remains the same - we'd be keen to hear your comments.
Thanks to Dom Eastwood for supplying this Beal Uni Core link.
