Lead falls in climbing gyms - how much forces does it generate? Climbing Science!

Do you want to see some climbing science? Check out us whipping with some dinos on this episode of How Not to Climb. Hi, I'm Ryan Jinks, and we are going to do some climbing science here at Pipeworks Climbing Gym in Sacramento. We have three dynamometers that we are going to put on the climber, the belayer, and the bolt that we whip on. So I've asked numerous people how much force is created on at any point during a whipper, a climbing whipper. So we've done science here on How Not to Highline before about highlines and the forces that are on them. And we have learned, if you have followed along at all, and if you haven't, make sure you hit that subscribe button, that highlines are about two to six kilonewtons when we whip. Big highlines start at a high kilonewtons, four or five kilonewtons, but barely go up when we whip. Small highlines barely start at anything, but spike because there's not as much webbing to absorb it. So we're gonna take some about 20-foot whippers here at Pipeworks, and we are going to record everything with different weights, different people, switching the belayer and the climber. So let's get started. Hello, I'm Ryan Kowalski, and I weigh 160 pounds. What's it read, TJ? Is it backwards? It's taking some time. I'm TJ Gillick, and I weigh 167 pounds. I'm Mike Melner, and I weigh 175 pounds. Hi, I'm Mike Melner 2.0, and I weigh 191 pounds. With your weight belt. We needed a heavier guy, and Mel lost weight. So thanks, thanks Mel. I wanna make a special thank you to Pipeworks Climbing Gym for allowing us to come in here after hours. If you're in the Sacramento area, be sure to hit them up. There's a lot of awesome people here. I met TJ, Mel, and Ryan all here at Pipeworks. What's the plan, Mel? Okay, so the plan is I'm gonna take this dynamometer all the way up to the fourth quick draw. I'm gonna clip it in, clip the rope in, go to the top, touch the top, and then fall. Awesome, how are you gonna stay safe? Well, we've got a couple different things going on here. So we've got a figure eight tied to our other dynamometer, which is attached to my harness, and then I took that tail and we tied directly in, so. We do human testing, but we do it as safe as we can. This, you guys, is a Line Scale 2. It's new, it's awesome. I think it's four or 500 bucks. It goes up to 30 kilonewtons compared to the Rock Exotica Enforcer. This is only, I mean, this is great because it has swivels, but only goes up to 20 kilonewtons, which for me, when I'm doing tests, is not high enough. But I like this one a lot because it's got big eyes for when we use it for high lines and stuff, and it can feel pretty secure. Soft shackles are really bomber, and this is double-wrapped, way stronger than the harness, but we still back it up. Go to linegrip.com in order to pick up one of these. All right, so what are you gonna do, Ryan? So I'll be doing a leap belay. I have ATC with my carabiner right into the top of the demometer, which then goes into the soft shackle, which is then backed up by the sling in case anything were to happen. Awesome. You look like you've done this before, Ryan. No, this is the first time. Sick. Do you have bad eyesight that you need those special glasses? Oh, they zoom in for me, and they do all the work. Do they hold the rope? Ha ha ha, sick. Just really trying not to kick you in the face. Hey, Mel, what'd you get? 1.78 kilonewtons. 1.78. All right, go up there and read that dyno for us. All right. 0.99. Oh, you got less than he did. Yeah. Sick. What's it say, Mel? 3.54 kilonewtons. 3.54, wow. All right, so Mel's gonna do a short fall that doesn't lift Ryan up nearly as much. Yeah, that was smaller for sure. What's your dyno say, Mel? 1.26. 1.26, okay. So what's the dyno read? 72, 0.72. 0.72. 2.88 kilonewtons. 2.88 on the smaller fall, cool. Hey, if you like what's going on here, make sure you hit that like button, and don't forget to subscribe because that really helps us out do more projects like this. And if you want to help support this channel, nobody sponsors it, but I did start a coffee business with my friends. Go to brewjuno.com. We make super high-grade specialty coffee, convenient. All right, guys, you ready? Ready. How much do you weigh again, TJ? I weigh 167. And? All right, so pretty even. Let's find out how much this generates. TJ, while you rest there, how much does the dyno read? And the quick draw. 1.28. 1.28, which is a combination of both of your guys' weight. Yeah, roughly 300 pounds. Nice. Okay, so we'll find out what it is when you fall now. We're science! All right. What's it read? 2.14. 0.85. Awesome. 3.72. Wow. Now what's it read? 1. What'd you get? 0.77. 0.77 on the shortfall. 4.6 on the anchor. 3.46. All right, Ryan, what are we doing now? Located directly into the ground, anchored into the ground. Cool, so you're not gonna fly up? I'm not gonna be moving. Which simulates when you're at a hanging belay outside. 321, go! 2.65. 4.52. 1.15. 1.15, sick! Metal 2.0. How much weight are you now? 191 pounds. Awesome. You look like you're ready for battle. Go, go. Go for it, buddy. Oh my God, that's a good point! You got it. You got it, for science. Damn, dude. What's it say? It's not that much more. 4.06. Yeah, well, yeah, Ryan got just sucked up. Hi, I'm Ryan and I'm 158 pounds. So, got the dyno on me. But as you can see right here, we Z-dragged it. And so we're gonna have a lot of friction when I fall. So in theory, this'll feel more like a static catch to me and more like a, like nothing to Ryan. For science. 2.43. Yeah. Yeah, that was scary. It's way easier building. What did you get, Ryan? 0.36. 4.78. Wow, 4.78. Yeah, that static is fun. I didn't feel anything. You didn't feel anything. Now, we're gonna go for the big gusto and drop as far as we can. And so I'm gonna belay Ryan this time and we'll see how it goes. For science. 0.87. On the bigger fall, I got 0.84. Awesome. 2.60. Wow, that was a lot of numbers. But basically, we got some good data as a good starting point for some climbing experiments. You can check out the chart right here and tell me why you think the climber plus the belayer never really added up to the bolt. Leave in the comments below why you think that is. Notice that we did not get five kilonewtons on the bolt at any time, regardless of what kind of experiment we were doing, big falls or even static. It was interesting to see how little force was on the belayer and especially when we did the Z-drag test. Also leave in the comments below what kind of climbing experiments you wanna see. We plan on doing some human testing in the climbing world and kind of get a feel for what kind of forces things see because like our carabiners are rated for 24 kilonewtons, our ropes are rated for falls, even though you'd be shocked how little dynamic ropes break. I prefer to try to stay away from that consumer attitude where it's like someone just hands you something and you take it for granted that it works and you go use it. It's nice when you understand what each thing breaks at, why, and so you can make decisions out in the field because it's your life. This channel really has morphed into learning those forces because we did make a sport out of death triangles. And so it's nice to know that we're not gonna die. Our gear is rated well for what we're doing, but there are limits and it's nice to know what they are and they do have limits in climbing as well. And we plan on pushing them. So leave in the comments below what kind of experiments you wanna see. We hope to do some giant whippers outside. It's gonna be crazy. It's gonna be fun. We'll do them on cams. We'll even break test cams hopefully and make sure you hit the like button. It gives me a lot more muscle when I go ask Black Diamond to please help out with that because nobody sponsors this channel. No, I don't make money on YouTube. And in order to stay independent, we did start making Juno coffee. It's instant coffee that tastes super good because we use premium beans. And also thank you to Lionscale because they, even though we pay for our dinos, they do hook us up with pretty good deals. I really like Andy Redrick who makes these, awesome guy. These are awesome dinos who put a lot of work into designing and making sure they're great. So if you need a dynamometer, if you like doing experiments, go to linegrip.com to get your Lionscale. And a shout out to Pipeworks Climbing Gym for letting us go in there after hours because that audio would have been even worse if other people were there. So go check out our other videos where we break test stuff and do tutorials and stunts and silly things and like, follow, and subscribe so you don't miss any future ones. Cheers. Hey, thanks for watching, but don't be an idiot and try highlining without going with somebody who knows what they're doing the first time you go out. We actually have available now the Highline University International, which is A to Z, everything you need to know before you go highlining. This teaches you how to use a highline that's already rigged. So let's talk about some leash management. That's the H0 course, which is out right now and available at hownottohighline.com. It's over a hundred videos with quizzes, PDFs, illustrations, and it comes with homework and teachers that you submit it to. It's a very interactive online school. So you get to learn in person online.