Abeiling hire

acurno

Hi guys,
I'm going abseiling for the 2nd time ever down in Killarney this weekend as part of an adventure race. However I need abseiling equipment as part of one of the stages and I'm not too pushed on spending over €100 for equipment when I may never abseil again. Does anyone know any shops in or around Dublin or Kerry that hire this equipment out? Or would one know where I could buy the full equipment cheap or second hand?

Thanks
Alan

BeardyGit

Don't know of anyone hiring out equipment like that to be honest.

You might be better off speaking with the organisers of the race to find out if they'll have a pool of equipment available, or if they could put you in touch with someone who'll be staffing the abseil station. The staff will (hopefully! :eek:) be climbers and may have some loaner gear to let you use it for the price of a couple of pints....

Failing that, buy the gear and sell it on for a bit of a loss. As long as it's clean, genuinely not abused and very new, you should sell it easy enough. Keep all tags, receipts and the net bag a harness would come with, and you'll maybe get away with a 25% loss - Probably what you'd pay for rental anyway. In fact, depending on what you buy (size/brand etc), I might make you an offer myself, but no promises.

Just a thought....

acurno

Thanks for that Gil_Dub I'll probably end up buying new anyway. Hopefully I won't make too much of a loss when I'm selling it on. Who knows, I might get the abseiling bug!! I'll keep you in mind if I'm looking for a buyer!

Evil Phil

Does it have to be an abseil rope? You can still abseil on a climbing rope, which is dynamic i.e. its strechy, and it would have greater resale value. Lots of climbers in the country but not a whole lot of abseilers.

Ferror

Evil Phil wrote:

Does it have to be an abseil rope? You can still abseil on a climbing rope, which is dynamic i.e. its strechy, and it would have greater resale value. Lots of climbers in the country but not a whole lot of abseilers.

Well i doubt the organisers would be letting people rig themselves? - could be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing :eek: (setting anchors, load balancing etc...)

Surely there'd be a rope already set up at a pitch, meaning that a fig 8 decender, crab and climbing harness would be all that's needed. (useful to have a helmet too btw)

Even a munter/'italian' hitch on a hms crab and a borrowed harness would do. - pretty cheap and you can use it as a keyring after (get someone to check the knot before you go though!)

http://www.chockstone.org/TechTips/MunterHitch.htm

Happy racing.

Roen

I doubt if anyone would insure a shop to hire out abseil gear, and for the same reasons I would never hire gear for use in a situation like that. It may be superficially fine but who's to say what condition it could be in?

Evil Phil

Ferror wrote:

Well i doubt the organisers would be letting people rig themselves? - could be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing :eek: (setting anchors, load balancing etc...)

Yeah but the OP did say that they need to provide their own rope.

BeardyGit

Just a quick recommendation - The Black Diamond Alpine Bod harness is highly regarded by a few climbers I know. It's minimalistic (without lots of padding etc) and would be a good second/wall harness for many....Good resale prospects

Gil

Evil Phil

On that note the Beal Joker is a great rope, 9.1mm makes it nice and light and it's a good all round rope. Get two and tie them together for extra abseiling length. There for you could get two 60m ropes, say in Yellow and Fuschia so you can differentiate between strands (very important when abseiling). Better get golden dry as well. Keeps them nice an dry so they won't freeze on me *ahem* you.

Ferror

I think a dynamic climbing rope wouldn't really be ideal for your needs, for resale you've got a bigger market alright, but for actually being used to absail/prussik up you really should be opting for static rope (Low Stretch Rope)

Something like Edelrid Superstatic 10mm would do a good job of it.

It helps if you wet the rope before you absail down (avoid friction burning the sheath with a hot descender) also keep in mind that the rope shrinks about 4% when it dries again though.

Hope that helps.

Evil Phil

Ferror wrote:

I think a dynamic climbing rope wouldn't really be ideal for your needs, for resale you've got a bigger market alright, but for actually being used to absail/prussik up you really should be opting for static rope (Low Stretch Rope)

Prussiks and ascenders/descenders work fine on dynamic ropes. Ask any climber.

Ferror

Evil Phil wrote:

Prussiks and ascenders/descenders work fine on dynamic ropes. Ask any climber.

Of course, i've used both, but dynamic rope is a massive compromise on the speed and effectiveness of ascenders/descenders compaired to static - so damn bouncy, ask any rope rescuer/canyoner/caver :P

Meh! Let the op decide

acurno

There was actually no need to provide the rope that was already there at the cliff. Ended up buying the helmet, harness, karibiner and figure of 8 down in Killarney, cost me quite a bit, and the abseil only took 5 mins! Brother had to buy the full gear as well seeing as it was a team race.

Some abseil though, 100m drop from Hags Tooth in the Macgillycuddy reeks if anyone knows it. Stopped half way to have a look down and was blown away!

2 sets in perfect condition if wants to make an offer. Only used once!!

Evil Phil

What type of harness?

Ferror

Great to hear you didn't have to rig your own rope, as i thought, that'd be leaving the race organisers open for some serious lawsuits!

Interested in the harness also, and the carabiner if it's a keylock hms. (big pear shaped one)

Any details would be much appreciated

Glad you liked the trip down

BeardyGit

Well, I'd be interested in the whole set (Including helmet etc), depending on what brands and model kit you bought. As with buying any climbing kit effectively second-hand, I'd like to see it first of course. What bits and pieces specifically did you buy?

I'd pay 75% of the purchase price of the kit, assuming you can include the receipt. Let me know, and maybe PM me with your number if that sounds good to you so we can arrange to meet up.

Cheers,

Gil

Evil Phil

Oh fúck what have I started?

Right, sorry if I'm causing confusion. Selling your kit in this thread is fine acurno but could you please put an ad up on Adverts.ie and link to it from here? Just so we're all sticking to the forum charter.

ta
E.P.

BeardyGit

Oh, yeah, forgot about that Phil

Please don't ban me.

acurno

Sorry about that! First time poster error!

Link is here:

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=24412

Have a look and give me a shout if you want any more info.

Cheers guys!

acurno

Just found the receipt. Actually got a discount on the purchase so i've lowered the asking price on adverts.
let me know your interest!

BeardyGit

AJ,

I can't login to adverts.ie from work (I use a HTTPS proxy to bypass our firewall) but wanted to get back to you on this kit.

The harness you bought is actually for adventure racing/XC-skiing type activities, but it's not really suitable for climbing I'm afraid. It doesn't have the gear loops for carrying equipment, and the leg loops aren't adjustable nor does it have a sufficient 'tie-in' on the front so suit running a belay....

That said, they're nice harnesses and you shouldn't have any trouble selling them on ebay....

Now, the helmets, 8's and crabs...I'd be interested in those. I'll offer €120 if you can deliver them to me, and include the receipt. I think that's fair? I'll duplicate the offer over on adverts.ie as soon as I get access to login from home. (hope you don't mind Phil) That leaves you two harnesses to sell seperately....

Thanks,

Gil

Evil Phil

I'll allow offers in this thread for the gear, so that's cool Gil_Dub.

BeardyGit

Evil Phil wrote:

I'll allow offers in this thread for the gear, so that's cool Gil_Dub.

Just to let everyone know that Alan and myself finally managed to meet up to complete the deal. Sound man and the gear's in cracking condition, just as described. If anyone's looking for a nice harness, for indoor climbing wall use or adventure racing, give him a shout - He has a figure 8 and crab to spare too....

Cheers Alan,

Gil