Watch how this woman attaches her 'biners to the safety cable: one from the top, one from the bottom. She is by no means a regular rock climber (more like whatever adventure sports are available wherever she and her husband are traveling), and elsewhere in the video both she and her husband (also not a regular rock climber) attach the 'biners both from the top.
Is there a best practice when attaching carabiners to a safety line (viz, both from the top, both from the bottom, or one each)? Or is this just evidence of a casual tourist figuring it out as they go along?
The video shows them doing a Via Ferrata (Italian for “iron path”). This can be thought of as “simulated rock climbing”, in that it presents the exposure and intimidation of real rock climbing with little to none of the danger (provided you can adhere to very simple safety principles).
A VF harness has two safety lanyards, which attach to a safety cable with two locking (i.e. spring-loaded gate) carabiners. Most of the time, both lanyards are attached; when you reach an anchor point, you remove and re-attach one at a time, so there is never any time when you are not protected by the safety cable.
Good locking carabiners (like those in the video) are extremely resistant to accidentally releasing. Attaching them so that the gates face opposite directions adds a tiny measure of additional security.
In that instance it doesn’t matter that much but it is the better way to do it. Generally with one 'biner it’s whatever is most convenient. You’ll often see folks attach a 'biner in one orientation and then flip it over so the gate is oriented in a better way.
With actual doubled 'biners, not what’s seen in the video, opposite and opposed is the rule.
The last orientation here is the most dangerous since both gates can be opened at the same time, on the same side, and in the same way.
Doing it the way she did won’t allow both gates to be opened at the same time, on the same side, and in the same way. (It’s really the .)
I think the idea is that a fall on a via ferrata is supposed to be super dangerous compared to a fall during normal mountain climbing. The principle is that in normal climbing, the worst-case scenario is supposed to be something like the lead climber falling a certain distance plus that length below the anchor, i.e. a maximum “fall factor” of 2. Pretty bad, but sliding down a via ferrata and being jerked to a halt by that short lanyard can generate a much worse fall. There are supposed to be energy absorbing/elastic lanyards, but it’s not like nobody ever died.
In regular climbing you are also supposed to stay clipped into the rope (And, more precisely, it should be tied to your harness using a figure-eight knot (easy for you and your partner to check))
Yes: These are required for safety during a fall, and you can see them at use in the OP’s video.
True - but it seems that vie ferrate have a generally good safety record. There are two in Ouray CO, which in a couple of years have accumulated well over 20,000 visits, with no serious incidents and just a few minor ones.
And the rope is supposed to be well anchored to the rock. Sometimes it is (though rarely as well as is the case for the typical VF safety cable).
You also have a much higher chance of hitting the rock/ladder rungs/cable if falling on a via ferrata route (than roped rock climbing), even if you don’t fall very far.
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(And, more precisely, it should be tied to your harness using a figure-eight knot (easy for you and your partner to check))