Fishermans knot.

Originally Posted by Grais

Hey guys, about the Moxham type rope grabs, there is one for sale here in Canada, the comPANY I work for at the moment, has several fliplines with a adjuster that looks just like the one pictured except for the part that attached to the D rings, this is where it gets scary.
Too attach to the D ring, there is a little clevis type attachment, that is basically a j, that hooks to the D, with a 'split gate' to prevent it slipping off. The gate is split in two, and the SAFETY is that you are only able to unattach if you press down both halves of the gate at the same time.
I climbed one tree with one one day as my gear was at the truck so I used my groundies belt, as I was sitting getting my rope sorted(tying in) I noticed my rope was lying on top of the gate and had opened it slightly. looking at it I could see all I would have had to do was unweight the line and it would pop out, so I tried it and sure as shit it popped right off my belt.
Tied in and came down. Told the groundie about it, and if it was my belt I would leave that POS line in the dumpster. he just kinda looked at me with a vague look, and shrugged his shoulders.
Needless to say I told everyone about the issues and several of the guys have been able to reproduce the same thing, these gates could be opened by a stick, rope, 'biner bumping into it, practically anything is able to dislodge this saftey system.
Now I use my own fliplines, have for a while, but a lot of the new guys are handed these POS to climb with. Last week the foreman whipped out three brand new ones, with the cracking price tag of 300.00 each(for a 12 ft steel core flip with 'death' adjuster).
I practically pissed myself. I couldnt believe for one the money he had wasted, and the fact that he had completely ignored the issue, handing rank amateurs a steelcore that is more unsafe than anything I have ever seen.
Right there I showed them all how the POS can come unconnected, and again the Foreman was like,
'OK well as long as everyone knows about it, we should be OK'.
I told him right there I would never climb a tree with one, and I suggested that the rest of them do the same, its their life tho, I can't make them smart.
This week I will try to get a picture of their scary as hell system and post it here for all to see.
Please fi your climbing in Canada, or anywhere on one of these 'split gate' safety systems, check it out thoroughly, and if you can in any way get it to 'accidentally' open, throw it away for your own, and any others after you, safety.Again I will try to get some pics this week so all can be sure of what I am referring to.
The ones pictured are exactly the same, but they have the standard hole on the grab, that you can connect with a shackle or a 'biner, very safe and bullet proof.

Stay safe gang,
-Grais