Falls In Via Ferratas
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- čas přidán 23. 08. 2024
- During the mountain guides’ training seminar held on 21 October 2017, we tested and demonstrated various on via ferratas using different equipment.
We used an 87-kg wooden block, and the tests were carried out at the Mojstrana Via Ferrata. The anchors were 2.5 meters apart, and the block was thrown from a height of approximately 1 meter above the upper anchor. The length of the falls was therefore approximately 4.5 meters. This is a reasonable fall length, which can be expected on modern via ferratas.
The Mojstrana Via Ferrata is constructed according to the French system, which, compared with other systems, exhibits the lowest forces during a fall. The manner in which falls are held in various systems is illustrated in the images shown below.
The first test was carried out using an accessory cord with a diameter of 6 mm. A single strand of cord was used, with a figure-of- eight knot tied at both ends. The cord was attached to the cable using a locking carabiner, and the wooden block was attached using a girth hitch (this attachment was used in all of the tests). As expected, the accessory cord broke.
The second test was carried out using a sewn nylon sling (length = 120 cm). The nylon sling also broke during the fall.
We used a single climbing rope for the third test. It held, but we were left to wonder what would happen to the climber in such a case. Last year, the forces which occur during such falls were measured in a lab and they are way too high for any healthy human body to handle. In theory, the maximum impact force shouldn’t exceed 6 kN, whereas it probably came close to 22 kN during the fall caught by a single climbing rope.
The fourth test was carried out using a Singing Rock Tofana II via ferrata set. It handled the test without any problems. Since the energy absorber hadn’t completely torn, we repeated the test. Even after the second fall, some of the sewn webbing energy absorber still remained intact. This means that the via ferrata set successfully held two falls. But you should bear in mind that a via ferrata set becomes unsafe at the slightest tearing of the energy absorber and should be replaced immediately. Still, our tests have
shown that a climber would still be able to safely reach the top of the via ferrata using a via ferrata set with a torn energy absorber. The equipment for these types of activities is constantly being revised and improved and all new via ferrata sets come with recommended user weights. If you weigh less than 50
kg or more than 80 kg, you should make sure that the set is still safe to use, as it might not properly absorb the impact force.
Our final test was carried out using Singing Rock’s Phario Palm, which is this company’s most advanced model. It can be used by users weighing from 40 kg to 120 kg. We decreased the weight of the wooden block to 40 kg and the energy absorber still did its job and started to tear, dissipating the energy and dramatically decreasing the impact force of the fall, which should never exceed 6 kN. The energy absorber won’t function properly if you are too light and it doesn’t start to tear (considerably increasing the impact force), or if you are too heavy and it tears completely before the energy is properly dissipated (again resulting in a considerably higher impact force).
You can watch all of these tests in a short video we’ve filmed on location.
Mitja Šorn, Mountain guide IFMGA/UIAGM
Couldn't resist, sorry Matt and Hugo.
yep
Me too...
Me too
🤣🤣🤣
Ikr!?
Think of the via ferrata equipment like an airbag. It's a once use piece of equipment there to save your life. Think of climbing ropes like a seat-belt. Will restrain you a number of times during heavy breaking, but eventually will wear out. Just don't fall on a via ferrata route!
Nice field test. We are sharing...
Thank you for sharing...
The way this chunk of wood fell indicates that a human falling in a likewise fashion would turn upside down and meet rock with his head. Helmet or not your neck is guaranteed to enter your chest. So kind of pointless cheering about how the line unwound... You should therefore test with a crash dummy, not with a log, and record points of impact and measure forces in those spots.
its not about saving your head its to keep your back from snapping
The advice is, don't fall.
So these sets make sense but are also kind of pointless??is it not safer to attach your self with a shorter climbing rope or anchor rope and the Ferrata set? Yes it’s more time consuming but….?
This doesnt work often manuevering around the hill and would only "work" in horizontal climbs. Once you start climbing vertical you need a Via Ferrata kit because if you fall a combined 3+ meters down and get abruptly stopped by your short rope your back is gonna be broken.
this video is important but could be very much informative if better
if you fell, how do you regain your lost position? or you just have to wait for someone to help. you get up?
If you fall, the situation is tricky. The lanyards are one use only, you can't fall again. It's even trickier if you fall on a traverse because you could just end up hanging in incredible exposure with no obvious route to climb back up to the cable. So, either the party needs a spare lanyard or a rope and friction device. Someone would have to come and get you, rope you up to a ledge and then give you a new lanyard. The funny thing about Via Ferrata is that is both much easier than sport or trad climbing but also much scarier in many ways. Most climbers have fallen tens or hundreds or imes and you learn to trust the rope and your belayer, but how can you ever know that a Via Ferrata lanyard will hold you? So in the back of your mind, whilst up thousands of feet is always the idea that if I fall not only would it be a shitty high drop, there is a chance the lanyard breaks and I fall forever. Kind of crystallises the brain to not falling!
1st rule Never climb alone; 2nd rule Know your abilities... If you fall and you are alone and climb is over your alilities call rescue team!
@@obscurelines if it breaks, the company producing it will have a very big problem.
@@jana31415 The company would have to recall all its products of this model. It happened in 2012, after one person died in Austria. This accident made several other companies recall their products too, because they realized that they had the same issue.
@@jana31415 even bigger problem for the person it failed on lol