idriswilliams said:
It also seems to me that it shows the system of using the long cowstail as a foot jammer safety means that a long cows tail may not be available at a pitch head or rebelay and if the rigging does not allow the easy attachment of the short cowstail then the caver is at risk.
In this unlikely event, you just swap cowstails. Now the short cowstail is on your jammer, and the long cowstail is available.
I've almost never had to do this, though.
The system that most of us use (in the UK) with a separate dynamic safety cord to the foot jammer gives us a cowstail that is free in this situation.
Yes, and that is an advantage of the UK system (or any system with three cowstails).
This can seem like an overwhelming advantage if you were taught in the UK. But it really depends what you're used to! The French (and other Europeans) have been practising SRT safely for a long time.
An occasional accident does not invalidate their approach, especially when the victim was using equipment
and techniques (see below) that are specifically forbidden in French instruction.
We can argue for ever on the snaplink/twistlock/karabiner issue and there are good points on each side, but if the is only one point of attachment trouble seems likely.
The French approach inherently relies on a single point of attachment in specific circumstances.
When practised correctly, this is no more dangerous than using a single point of attachment for abseiling.
(...abseiling is probably the most dangerous part of SRT, but that's another topic.)
So far the discussion has focused on the
equipment of the victim, which was configured incorrectly. Maybe we should think about the victim's
technique too.
When using a jammer for security on a traverse, the long cowstail should be clipped around the rope too -- i.e. the cowstail is clipped into the jammer
and the rope. This ensures the jammer will be loaded correctly in a fall (otherwise it may detach, or at least slide).
We can't know for sure what technique the victim used during her fatal traverse. But the accident report
does include a photo from the previous day, which shows her long cowstail is not clipped to the rope.
So it is likely that the victim made a technique error, in addition to her error configuring the equipment.
If she had clipped the long cowstail into the rope, it would probably have saved her. It is very unlikely that the cowstail would unclip itself from the rope at the same instant as unclipping itself from the footloop carabiner.
You could argue she made a second technique error too. When she failed to reach the next section with her short cowstail, she should have immediately reconnected it, rather than sitting down onto her jammer.