Braking krabs

[r_walklate@hotmail.com]

What do people prefer and where do they prefer to have them?

 

[Pete K]

For use with a Stop I have a compact HMS krab on the D ring immediatly right (as you look down) of the Stop. I use a compact HMS as it does the job of breaking, can be an emergancy or convenience descender with an Italian Hitch and also serves as a belay krab for lifelining.
It is alloy for weight saving and I've been using it for 5 years (incuding through CIC assessment) with no major wear grooves so I don't feel the need to spend a lot on a purpose made one-trick bit of kit or a heavy steel krab. If everything on your rig can have an alternate use then you can get yourself out of all sorts of trouble.

 

[Blakethwaite]

Whatever happens to be at hand when sorting kit out. Don't really find that any one krab is better or worse than another.

Apart from those pointy things (handy?) which are a positive menace.

 

[pwhole]

I love my Handy, and wouldn't cave without it, especially on long drops on thin rope. You can pretty much lock off with it, just by jamming the rope up it tightly, and it's very hard-wearing. I know some find it snatchy sometimes, but just reverse it and use the big end if that's the case...

 

[ianball11]

If you have a krab for braking on the d-maillon, have you experienced the topof the Stop getting caught inside the karabiner when you first weight it?

 

[Blakethwaite]

If you have a krab for braking on the d-maillon, have you experienced the topof the Stop getting caught inside the karabiner when you first weight it?

No, not a problem I've ever suffered.

 

[ianball11]

Never been a big issue but is listed in the Stop instructions as a do not do graphic in section 7

http://www.petzl.com/files/all/technical-notice/Sport/D09-STOP.pdf

 

[Blakethwaite]

I can't see anything there which suggests a Stop is unsuitable for use as an impromptu entrenching tool...

 

[paul]

I've been using a Raumer Handy for several years, on the right of my Petzl Simple descender on the central maillon of my harness.

 

[Mike Hopley]

If you have a krab for braking on the d-maillon, have you experienced the top of the Stop getting caught inside the karabiner when you first weight it?

Yes I have, occasionally. It could also happen if a rebelay failed below you (see discussion in Alpine Caving Techniques).

I use a Petzl Freino. If I were using a conventional braking krab, it would go on my harness maillon, to the right of my descender (as seen by me, wearing it).

 

[SamT]

+1 for a handy.  I find it useful, (dont think I'd part with cash for one, found mine years ago) else
I'd follow Pete's lead with the small alloy screw gate)  . Come to think of it, I've two pears, one on each gear loop, so I'd use one of them, need be.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

 

[Alex]

My handy has been hung up for a while, I must admit once I got used to thin ropes a couple of years ago I found I did not need it anymore.

 

[blackshiver]

Sam T - "Come to think of it, I've two pears, one on each gear loop, so I'd use one of them, need be"

Why would you hang pears on your harness? If it's a Petzl I could sort of understand it of you hung Onions off it.

 

[damian]

If you have a krab for braking on the d-maillon, have you experienced the topof the Stop getting caught inside the karabiner when you first weight it?

Think you'll find the problem is not so much when you first weight it (when you've got your cowstail clipped in anyway and can deal with it) but when a rebelay below you fails and the weight of the person below pulls the top of the descender down and into the krab.

 

[damian]

I have used a Handy since they first came out and love it. I use it on 8-11mm rope, including with a pretend casualty hanging from me, and find it brilliant. I do have to say, though, that most people I lend one to don't agree.

 

[ianball11]

If you have a krab for braking on the d-maillon, have you experienced the topof the Stop getting caught inside the karabiner when you first weight it?

Think you'll find the problem is not so much when you first weight it (when you've got your cowstail clipped in anyway and can deal with it) but when a rebelay below you fails and the weight of the person below pulls the top of the descender down and into the krab.

Its happened to me but I really can't remember why, but being at a pitch head, was not a drama,just a bother.

Does it getting caught mean your body is in the way of the handle stopping the autolock fully taking hold, which when you aren't expecting it, can be a bit nervy?

 

[Mike Hopley]

Does it getting caught mean your body is in the way of the handle stopping the autolock fully taking hold, which when you aren't expecting it, can be a bit nervy?

No, the problem is different. Here's what can happen:

A rebelay fails below you, under the weight of another caver; your rope is now suddenly weighted with (say) 80 kg, which forces the top of your descender into the braking krab. For the moment you are safe, because the heavy weight on the rope stops you from moving (like a bottom belay).

But then the other caver finishes abseiling and gets off the rope. Your descender remains jammed in your braking krab, in a sideways or upside down position, which greatly reduces the friction, and also disables the auto-lock on a Stop. You have a very fast abseil.

 

[ianball11]

So it does diasable the autolock 

 

[Mike Hopley]

So it does diasable the autolock 

Yes, just for a different reason.

 

[pwhole]

Another good reason for using a Handy - the hole is way too small to get a Stop stuck in it.