13 replies to this topic

[Ted]

Thank you for the willingness to help with this project and describing your climbing experience. As there is no "certification" for climbing, here is what LBNM staff stated would be required of those entering the chimneys and the actual rock removal:

For projects taking place in monument caves that involve vertical work,
participants need to have skills and experience with SRT. SRT stands for
single rope techniques. This is not the same as rock climbing. We use
static rope, not dynamic, as there would be no free climbing involved. A
belay can be used but is not generally necessary with vertical caving
because climbers are not in a position to take a fall since it is a fixed
line. Anyone doing rope work needs to be rappelling with a rack or bobbin
style descender (i.e., no ATCs or Figure-8s) and use mechanical ascenders
for climbing up the fixed line. Participants need to be capable of
performing a change-over on rope. Someone involved with the project would
need to be experienced with rigging and able to safely rig the main line
with primary and backup anchors. For this particular project, a haul
system with progress capture would need to be rigged. We have the in-house
expertise for all of this, but if you were to work on this project, we
would need to know that your group has this level of experience, as our
staff would not be able to be present at all times to oversee the technical
portions.

Also, a little bit more on the timeline of this potential project. For those of you that think government bureaucracies exist only to drive people crazy, there are even more requirements for government workers (trust me on this). This project needs to meet compliance requirements and be justified as a restoration project before we can proceed. This process will be handled by the LBNM staff. Frankly, they already had a job to do before I approached them with this, so this is not their priority. So it won't be happening this calendar year for sure. Admittedly, I didn't realize this much effort would be necessary to set up this project. To this end, we are proceeding with efforts to get this project going, but LBNM staff is aware that we will be open to other suggested projects that may be of higher priority to them or require less regulatory effort or needed skills.

I will let you know of any developments as they come in. Thanks again.

[DirtyDog]

Thanks for the update Ted, and your work on this project. We'll get something figured out.

[Nimbl Vehicles]

I climb stairs does that count???

[marc]

I climb stairs does that count???

No ... You fall down Stairs, fall into fire-pits etc, etc.