Rope Fast
Inacayal Tanoesoedibjo
Marlow Ropes designed and developed the original Fast Ropes in conjunction with the British Special Forces. Fast-roping is a technique used for quickly descending on a thick, uniquely constructed rope, allowing troops to deploy from a helicopter in places where the aircraft cannot land.
The person holds onto the rope with gloved hands (with or without using their feet) and slides down it. Several people can slide down the same rope simultaneously, provided that there is a gap of about 3 metres (10 ft) between them, so that each one has time to get out of the way when they reach the ground.
Fast roping is quicker than abseiling (rappelling), although more dangerous,[1] particularly if the person is carrying a heavy load, because the rope is not attached to them with a descender. The technique is particularly useful for naval infantry, who can use it to board ships at sea.[2]
The technique was first developed by the UK with British rope manufacturer Marlow Ropes, and first used in combat during the Falklands War. The original rope was made of thick nylon that could be used in a manner akin to a fireman's pole. The special ropes used today are braided (plaited), producing a pattern on the outer circumference that is not smooth and so is easier to grip.[3] Originally, each person would hold the rope for the next person, but this has been phased out.
The rope must be thick, typically 40mm (1.57 in) diameter, to prevent it from being wildly jerked about from the rotor blast of the helicopter. Some types have a weighted core, the ballast helping to combat the blast effect.[4]
Fast-ropers use heat-resistant gloves to protect their hands from the heat of friction while descending. Such gloves are generally not dextrous enough to be useful after the descent has been completed, though specialized gloves have been developed for this purpose. More often, a glove-inside-glove technique is used, with tactical gloves worn inside heavy leather metalworking gloves. After descending the rope, the wearer removes the outer gloves to regain dexterity.[5]
In the U.S. Marine Corps, fast-ropers are trained to control the speed of descent by using their legs and feet in addition to their hands (instructors claim that some Marines have let go of their rope because their gloves became too hot, causing injury).[citation needed] Deployment of around 25 fast-ropers onto a ship can take about 30 seconds.[1]
The British military advises against use of the feet as this can make the descent for following personnel more dangerous: boot polish or the leather of the boot can make the rope extremely slippery.[6]
The Fast Rope Descender is the first device which allows the safe and speedy insertion of SAR teams, operators, and other units needing to descend a fast rope with heavier than normal loads. The FRD maximizes operator safety by providing additional speed control and a fixed attachment to the fast rope, reducing the loss-of-control risks associated with heavy descents. A quick detachment system lets the operator release the rope nearly instantaneously after touch down, allowing them to quickly clear the zone and proceed with the mission. The FRD can attached to heavy items separately, allowing them to be lowered individually from the operators. Items attached separately will maintain their connection to the fast rope until released by a team member, especially useful when inserting heavy items, such as inflatables, into the water.
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Samson Fast rope, manufactured in accordance with MIL-F-44422, is an 8-strand Class I rope suitable for use in Fast Rope Insertion & Extraction (F.R.I.E.S.) as well as other military or defense training applications.
no, it doesn't get anywhere near hot enough to damage the rope. It doesn't even get hot enough to melt dyneema. I don't know whether it wears more on the rope but I would imagine that it would certainly put more wear on carabiners used to rap, especially if you are using a megajul/alpine smart type device to rap.
I don't know who told you this but I am pretty sure the grigri thing is a myth. There is a video where they tested this out by pulling a belay device through a rope with a car, far faster than you are going to physically rappel and they never could do any damage to it. If a normal belay device can only get up to like 135 C in a real world rappel going fast I find it hard to believe a grigri can get up another 85 C and hot enough to melt it.
Summary is they could not get a belay device over 135 C (275 F) in the real world. Nylon melts to liquid at around 460 F, nylon will start or "move" or ooze at around 420 F. Your rope is not going to be hurt by rappelling.
There is confusion about "melting" and glazing on nylon, its certainly easy enough to glaze the top layer of a rope, I see it all the time when testing belay devices. It is the combination of pressure and temperature which is the problem with devices like the GriGri which apply a relatively high pressure on a small area or rope and an extremely well studied phenomenon in engineering where nylon is used as a bearing material which is why the more expensive nylon bushes are filled with other materials. There are tables of the allowable pressures and temperatures available from any good bearing manufacturer or in engineering handbooks.
The glass transition point (which is the technical name for the effect) is much lower than the melting point, for nylon 6-6 around 70C. The effect is most familiar to those who iron their clothes where the polymer chains are heated and aligned by the weight of the iron.
We did a research project on heating in belay devices when abseiling and there are several things to note; it is extremely difficult to accurately measure the temperature at the point of contact which in some devices is very small without embedding thermocouples in the device itself. The stainless steel parts in the GriGri, Cinch etc increase the problem as the rate of conduction away from the contact point is very low causing the main body to be relatively cool but at the actual contact point to be much higher which is even harder to measure. Just measuring the temperature of the entire device is worthless.
I can remember reading a paper on glazing of ropes and that it made no effect but where it was Ive no idea, as you say the sheath is really only there to protect the core. The glazed part seems to dissapear quick enough anyway.
And the bottom line was the strength was more or less unnaffected but the strands became stretchier (probably because the heat had affected the heat-crimp in the rope), they actually took the rope apart and measured the differences between the inner strands nearer and farther from the heat source.
Innovators in the field of rope technology, Marlow Ropes Ltd designed and developed the original Fast Rope in conjunction with the British Special Forces. These ropes are now in use by traditional Special Forces and SWAT teams across the globe.
Marlow have now launched the Fast Rope Rack (FRR) to be used in conjunction with a fast rope and to aid the rapid insertion of units. This innovative British-made device ( European Union registered design no. 004389369-0001) is:
This set consists of: FAST ROPE RACK + LANYARD + QUICK OUT LINK ATTACHMENT
Marlow is a world leader in fast rope and F.R.I.E.S. production. Their products are used by hundreds of operators, armed forces and special teams around the world. Kong is the exclusive importer and distributor of Marlow products in Italy and the only company authorized to provide warranty and inspection on these products.
After nearly two years of planning and testing, Expeditionary Operations Training Group conducted its first week-long fast rope masters course at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, July 11-14.
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