If a Bungee jumper mistakenly uses a rope, instead of a Bungee cord, will her head explode,will her feet pop-off, or well she just have a helluva nasty rope burn?
I watched a show on TV in which a guy (all I can remember is his first name was Dan) would tie himself off with a climbing rope, and jump bungee style. The rope had just enough elasticity to slow him down slightly before stopping him.
This guy was an extreme athlete, and holds several “speed climbing” records, where he would climb cliffs without a safety rope, and as he went, he would jump from one small ledge to another, grabbing with just his finger tips, and pulling himself up. Kind of nuts, I know.
He did quite a few jumps with just the rope, and even did one that was something like 150 feet. Unfortunately, he did one jump too many. On his last jump, his rope broke, and he plummeted to the ground.
Incidentally, he did not hook the rope to his feet, but would tie off to a climbing harness, the kind that hooks around your body.
I would dig around the Outside magazine website for the guy that ozone mentioned. It happened a year or two ago and they had at least one story on this death. He wasn’t jumping attached to just one rope though. That rope was attached to other climbing ropes that were strung to other anchors. The idea being that there would be just enough spring to slow him down before the abrupt halt, to keep him from blacking out, while still making it more abrupt than a bunjee jump. I can’t remember whether the rope broke or he misjudged the length of the rope and stretch of the climbing rope he had rigged. In the end he ended up at the bottom of the cliff with his climbing partner who ended up calling his wife. I’ll see if I can dig up either a back issue or find it on their website.
To the OP :
I have bungeed twice, from 18 stories and 24 stories. The answer is simple : How is the cord attached to the person ?
If is the typical ankles, the the weakest point and most vulnerable given that set-up would be those ankles; meaning the feet would be ripped off.
If the cord is tied off around the chest, then I my WAG is that the upper body would be dislocated from the pelvis - i.e. you wouldn’t die, you would just wish you had.
You follow me ?
Gravity is a bitch.
Rope has some ‘give’ in it. Steel cable on the other hand, not too much. Funniest thing, i still haven’t seen how a jumper gets back to the top after they jump. Maybe someone pulls them back up?
It depends on the rope and the way it’s attached. Like said, rope does have some give to it. Still, you would get a hard yank. If you did it just like a bungee jump, you would probably dislocate something, crack some ribs, could conceivably bust your ankles enough to have the rope come off.
The point of bungee cord is it starts stretching early and stretches a lot, thereby slowly breaking your fall, rather than an abrupt halt like falling without a safety line. Typically safety ropes are supposed to be anchored through clips in the wall with a partner on the other end, so the amount you fall isn’t huge, and there is enough give to cushion you somewhat. Of course there is always the possibility of careening into the wall at a fast clip from the fall. Thus the helmets often worn.
One other note, if all that is touching you is steel cable, it could slice right through.
I don’t know enough about the “rope bungee” guy to find a cite, but I saw a program about him too. He used one main rope for the jumps, and didn’t replace it after every jump. The rope that broke had weathered a severe storm, weakening it.
I’m remembering back to the National Geographic article that some credit with starting the bungee jumping fad. There was some tribe out in some jungle (I know - specific, aren’t I?) that did this for a test of manhood or bravery or some such foolishness. They would build a rather tall tower and men would jump off it with ropes they wove themselves from vines tied around their ankles. The goal was to judge it so your body just brushed the ground before the ropes stopped you.
The key in this, again, was that the vine ropes had a certain amount of give in them that the men had to take into account when weaving them.
So in this case, a mistake meant getting smeared all over the ground, though they said that was fairly rare.
Smeghead has it right. According to Bungee jumping history
Actually, there is no gravity. The Earth just sucks.
Here’s a link to a story about Dan Osman, the guy Ozone and funneefarmer were referring to:
http://www.outsidemag.com/magazine/0499/9904terminal.html
(thanks for the hint, funneefarmer. that ‘Outside’ site is pretty cool.)
Dynamic climbing rope is quite elastic - it’s designed to break a fall without causing serious damage to your body and it will do so for a while, depending on age, exposure to UV light, number of falls absorbed, severity of falls etc. If you abseil down a dynamic rope (not a recommended practice, but sometimes you have to improvise) you’ll feel the “bounce” very clearly.
In theory, at least, the rope will safely stop a fall of twice its own length (You fall the distance you’ve climbed, pass your buddy on the way down and end up dangling same distance below him) without causing permanent damage, provided of course you’re wearing a proper harness.
Static rope is not elastic - the proverbial “steel wire” -and will break your fall and probably your back at the same time.
Thanks for the link Myndephuquer. It had been awhile and I was fuzzy on the details.
handy said:
As someone who did the highest bungee in the world (check it out, REALLY!), I can confirm that most modern bungee jumps end in being winched back onto the bridge/building.
Check out the jump site: here’s the 216 meter high Bloukrans Bridge over Storms River, South Africa. Yes, I jumped off it! There’s nothing like reaching 180 km/h in 2 seconds 
Damn, I miss that country…