Trace (rope)

“ On all smooth snow and ice slopes, unless we are moving short-roped over safe and fairly even glacier, the rope-lengths between us should be allowed to ‘travel’ lightly on the surface. This lightens the draw of a heavy rope carried on the waist or hand, and avoids the strain upon the balance. Too much travelling rope is a drag; too little tightens on us like a brake. The hand must get to know by feel when there is just enough down to let it travel lightly and freely. ”

“ CORDAGE, BLOCKS, TACKLE, GINS, SHEARS, ETC.
Q. Define yarn, strands, jaws of rope, short- and long-jawed rope, guys, spun-yarn, marlin, standing rigging, running rigging, and a bight.
A. Yarn are called threads of hemp or other fibrous material which compose a rope.
Strand is a number of yarns twisted together.
Jaws of rope are the interstices between the strands of rope.
Short-jawed rope is a rope tightly laid up together.
Long-jawed rope is a rope loosely laid up together.
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Guys are stationary ropes to hold spars, such as pry-poles, shears, etc., from falling. ”

“ In view of the fact that we were all novices at rope-climbing, each of us submitted, before starting, to having a leather thong tied under the arms, and made fast to the sliding cylinder, so that if loss of nerve or other cause had made us let go we should not have fallen into the river, but hung limply on the rope until rescued. ”

“ The strain of the rope round one’s waist, threatening to effect a complete change in one’s internal anatomy, a vague clawing at air with one’s hands and an equally vague searching for foot-hold with the nether limbs as you dangle in space at the end of a forty-foot rope with precipices and snow slopes of over a thousand feet below, have a chastening influence on the most seasoned mountaineer, and, however exhilarating the experience may be, it is always with feelings of supreme satisfaction, and almost of devout thankfulness, that he once more comes to close grips with mother earth. ”

“ Having nothing on but shirt, trowsers, and hat, the common sea-rig of warm weather, I had no stripping to do, and began my descent, by taking hold of the rope in each hand, and slipping down, sometimes with hands and feet round the rope, and sometimes breasting off with one hand and foot against the precipice, and holding on to the rope with the other. ”

“ In his very earliest days man must have had something to serve for cords or lines,—strips of hide or of bark, pliant reeds and rushes, withes of tough woods, fibrous roots, hair of animals,—then, as the need arose for longer, larger and stronger lines, it was met, as human ingenuity developed, by twisting a number of some of these elements together and forming a rope or cord. ”

“ On ice, if the rope is retained, as it will be on exacting slopes by all parties without claws and by many parties with claws, it is worn in its normal fashion, with the waist-knot under the left shoulder and on the side towards or away from the slope according to the direction of the zigzag. One hand, generally the right, holds a short length of slack, as a precaution against jerk and to leave a margin for a longer or shorter stride in our own or our front man’s advance. The rope should never be quite taut. ”

“ Three ropes laid up left-handed form what is known as a cable-laid rope; four-stranded ropes are laid round a heart. Ropes are sometimes laid left-handed, but if the strands are to be laid left-handed the yarns are laid right-handed. If the parts of hemp, etc., be twisted more than is necessary to hold them together, strength is lost. Upon following the course of a yarn in a rope it will be found that, by this alternate laying, it runs nearly straight with the direction of the rope’s length. ”

“ These threads are colorless, are perfect in their qualities of straightness, strength, and levelness. This rope, passing as it does through all places, suffers strange accidents. Very often a thread is caught and becomes attached, or perhaps is only violently pulled away from its even way. ”

“ In the figure referred to the coils of rope, by which the weight is supported, are represented by the lines a, b, c, &c. a is the line of traction commonly called the fall, which passes over and under the proper grooves, until it is fastened to the upper frame just above n. In practice, however, the grooves are not arithmetical proportionals ”

“ A common rope is stretched upon two pair of crossed spars, about twenty feet distant, and four-
PASTIME. 101
teen feet from the ground. A man piies six water- pots upon his head, and thus accoutred, ascends the rope by means of the spars, or of a sloping cord on the outside of them; the rope is not quite tight, but left with a slack of about three feet; he then, with a balance pole in his hand, walks backward and forward, and swings the rope to its extent without letting a single pot fall. ”

“ The rope above the line WX balances over the pulley, and so does that below the line YZ. The rope in the tube between these lines is lifted by the water, while the rope on the other side of the pulley between these lines is pulled downward by gravity. ”

“ The best rope is that with the red thread through it, Beale's Alpine rope: 15 or 20 yards are sufficient for two climbers, 30 yards for three, and so on. Wet rope ought to dry slowly and never on rock under a hot sun. ”

“ The last ten feet are the danger, for the short, swinging loose end may at any second jam or catch round the taut rope in its dance. To break any slight friction or hitch, and give the end of the rope a springing release from its belay, these last few feet should be rushed with a sharp continuous pull by two or more of the party, who must then look out for their heads! ”

“ The free end of the rope forms a noose above the ring of fibres, which tightens when the animal first attempts to lift his leg and holds down the funnel of ribs. The more the poor animal jumps about, the faster is the hold of the twisted snare. ”

“ The 'Saddle Rock' must either be swarmed up or circumvented by stretching round its left side; for both experiments a rope is needed, and both are a trifle delicate. This time the rope went round; and the thread which disappeared past the smooth slippery face, out over the ghastly precipice, that fell down sheer into Pamplemousses, was not inviting. To get round you have to sidle up to the base of the rock, holding the tightly stretched rope level with your head, and push on your feet inch by inch till your toes rest on the outermost knob of rock. ”

“ At the point where the rope passes under the platform a small roller is located, one on each side, to prevent the abrasion of the rope as it is drawn backward or forward. The rope may be caused to move under the platform by irregularities in the load or by one sheave taking up the rope faster than the other ”

“ If there is no corner to help, we must lean the whole weight of our body upon the rope where it runs out to us round the belay on our axe; so crushing the racing rope into the snow and reducing the final tug upon the driven axe shaft. ”

“ The primary object of twisting fibres together in a rope is that by mutual friction they may be held together when a strain is applied to the whole. Hard twisting has the further advantage of compacting the fibres and preventing, to some extent, the penetration of moisture when the ropes are exposed to water; but the yield of rope from a given length of yarn diminishes in proportion to the increase of twist. ”

“ No! they had not availed themselves of that process. Then, with the conviction that an indirect way must exist, we examined the walls a few feet below the pitch, and at last hit upon a way of mounting higher. I was belayed by a rope passing round the upright block already referred to, and proceeded to walk along the horizontal edge of a thin crack on the right wall, leaning across to the other side of the gully for general support on the hands. I had implicit trust in the rope and the man at the other end of it, or the manœuvre would have given me agonies of apprehension. ”

“ We make the distinction between an ‘anchor,’ the loop of inactive rope with which a stationary climber secures himself to a rock point, in order to protect himself and the rest of the party while somebody else is climbing, and a ‘belay,’ which is the rock-and-rope attachment by which the active rope of a moving man is protected while it is running out or being pulled in. ”

“ The rope will now look like Fig. 2. Give the two middle strands, G and H, a lick of tar if the rope is of hemp, and grease if of manilla, and knot them together with an overhand knot, taking care that the knot is so formed as to follow the lay of the rope. Then halve these strands and pass them over one strand and under two. Treat the remaining strands in the same way, after which stretch the rope well and cut off the ends of the strands. A long splice is the neatest way there is of putting two ends of a rope together. ”

“ The rope is a country-made one of unequal thickness, and ragged with loose strands, and has a good deal of stress thrown on it by the swift current which surges against the raft, and swings it from side to side on its passage, and it struck me that a passenger addicted to nerves would find the crossing a rather trying time. ”

“ The right method is to turn sideways to the rock, slightly raise the outside thigh, pass the double rope under it high up between the legs, and grip the farther lengths of rope so passed with the outside hand, palm upwards. The inside hand grasps the tightened ropes above, with bent arm, at about the level of the head. ”

“ If a rope length has been allowed to sag against the rock, it must not be pulled in or jerked free hurriedly, unless we can see that there is nothing it might loosen. Over surface visibly friable or pasturing stray stones the rope must be kept from touching at all—a delicate task in continuous going. ”

“ Thus rope making may be seen to consist in a series of twisting processes, each twist opposite to the former, the rope growing in size and strength at each operation. Horse power or water power was used when the ropes became too large to be made by hand. ”

“ Many times the rope would catch against the rocks and oblige someone to crawl carefully over the horrible precipice to unloosen it, much to the danger of his life. When my husband came up, in passing this place, the rope caught in a place so difficult of access that no one would venture his life to extricate it, for some time. ”

“ A rope running over the spindle is fastened to the skin, while the funnel end of the skin is held up by a second rope, running over a lower spindle, until its mouth is opposite the trough into which the water is to be poured. ”

“ A very common position upon steep rock, where our stance is too narrow to allow of turning sideways or of belaying the rope round the body balanced above the firm outer leg, is to turn face inward, and pass the rope round some belay-point from one hand to the other. The only way to make this sound, that is, to prevent the rope in case of a slip coming upon the rock as upon a direct belay—since the grip of one hand on the active rope must be insufficient to act as an effective spring,—is to give the rope one twist round the forearm of the hand behind the belay. ”

“ Through the hole in the other end a piece of rope eighteen inches long is passed and knotted as in the first end, in such a way that the loose end of the rope, which is to be fastened to the kid's leg, draws away from the stake. ”

“ Binder twine is always given what is known as a right-hand twist, but rope yarns must, for certain kinds of rope, be given a left-hand twist. This is accomplished75 by reversing the direction of the capstans. The flyer carries four grooved wheels—two for the right, the others for the left-hand yarn—and by these the yarn is guided from the capstans to the revolving bobbin.
The spinning room, with its hundreds of flyers, each running in the neighborhood of 1,500 revolutions a minute, speaks eloquently of the years’ changes. ”

“ This rope will act as a drag on the balloon, when, from any of the causes we have referred to, it tends to rise, for, in that case, it will draw up a portion of the rope, and, by thus adding to its weight, will be impeded in its upward course; and, on the other hand, when, from opposite causes, it tends to descend, it will, during every foot of its descent, have its weight, and consequently its descending tendency, diminished, by throwing on the earth the labor of supporting an additional portion of the rope. ”

“ In another second he had the frayed, wet end of rope in his hand.
"That salvaged line!" he said. "Phil, couldn't you see that only her stern line was made fast? I left her half-moored till I came back. That rope was rotten, and it got jammed in here and chafed till it parted." ”

“ The rope must be snatched in as he falls, round the belay or loose in the hands. If the fall is from our own level, or from only diagonally above us, we can tighten the rope at once, and this serves to give a sideways tug to the man falling, which lessens the force of the final jerk as he swings in below us. ”

“ The rope should be examined after every ascent, and at intervals during the day, for bruises or frayed strands. A single frayed strand justifies the cutting or rejecting of the rope. An old rope should never be used. ”

“ They immediately threw a thick rope across the chasm, which was made fast to a neighbouring tree—another rope was fastened within a foot of it—over these, two strong hoops were sent across, connected with each other, and affixed to a strong rope, and by resting the body within these, and holding the ropes by the arms, each individual of the party was dragged in safety to the other side of the rock. ”