howNOTtoHighline

You won't believe how strong micro stoppers are! Climbing nuts tested in real rock

Climbing nuts tested to destruction in real rock. Watch us do our first tests of passive climbing protection in some bomber granite. We tested a Black Diamond Micro Stopper, some BD stoppers and an older Wild country nut. Let us know if you want to see more tests of passive climbing protection.   Check out this video where we broke nuts in the cam crusher adapter in our Slacksnap machine.  https://youtu.be/ksZ5t9L...

Shawn Snyder Speaks Out!

Thank you Ryan Sheridan for facilitating this meeting with Shawn Snyder and myself to discuss our view points on bolting.  Thank you Shawn Snyder for meeting me so we can understand each other better and hopefully build a better bolting world because of it.    The Bolting Bible that was created from all my research to be a better bolter because Shawn gave me sh*t for my Rostrum bolts.  It's free and you can find that at 2021-08-28 18:24:57 +0000 UTC View Post

Break Testing Knots - Zeppelin & Figure 8 & Alpine Butterfly & Reever & Bowline & Double Fisherman

We broke 6 knots end to end and in a bend (a loop).  40 samples total.  Let us know on our discord page for our new series of How Knot to Tie Ropes on format and the testing you want to see.  https://discord.com/invite/Ja2gYHhxYE We tested a 7mm Edelweiss rope (http://www.edelweiss-ropes.com/en/cordelette-7mm.ht...

How NOT to Cook on El Capitan - Big wall climbing food tips

We think we are funny by bringing a BBQ and watermelon and a whole bunch of food up El Capitan that we didn't need.  We also do give helpful tips marked by the youtube chapters.  Think of things that will last, have variety, plan for easy meals (cooking and cleaning up).  It was rad meeting Brittany Goris (https://www.instagram.com/gorisb/) while she was projecting Salathe and then hearing shortly later ...

NO CHARGE: The Highliner: A Film. With Director Interview

---------I debated charging Patrons for this type of episode.  It took a bit of work but is experimental and doesn't fall into our break test or fancy project category.  I appreciate your donations to this channel and don't want to abuse the per episode "charge for this post" button.------

https://JOSIAHVELASQUEZ.com/ made a film called "The Highliner" sharing the story of my friend Michael Melner (Mel) who c...

MBS (Minimum Breaking Strength) on Climbing Gear is a Myth

MBS or minimum breaking strength is great for comparing one product to another and I appreciate having standards on life supporting gear, BUT to boil down a piece of gear to only 1 single number doesn’t tell the whole story and we discuss gear, their ratings and value and limits of backyard science.    

MBS is Minimum Breaking Strength and usually printed or stamped onto most gear and is 3 break tests calculated with a 3-sigma rating means that 99.9% of the products are...

NO CHARGE: Drop tower is up and rebranding to HowNOT2.org

I don't charge patrons for these update videos.......

I work on stuff you don’t see for 6 months, so here is a monday update to bring you on the journey!  Here are the topics!  

Drop tower looks great.  It’s a journey, not a destination.  

Load cell is being worked on.  The electricity is fine, looking at all possibilities of interference.  Go to discord to join the conversation about it 2021-08-09 14:28:43 +0000 UTC View Post

Rated maillon rapide aluminum vs steel quicklinks. Can we use these climbing and slacklining?

Brent Roth gave me a maillon rapide aluminum quicklink rated for 25kn MBS that could make missions easier if weight matters.  These are 3x lighter than steel at 48grams vs 137grams.  It broke WAY higher than MBS at 53kn and the steel maillon rapide  broke at 65kn.  Why not use these if they are so strong???  

Keep your eye out for the How NOT to Canyon playlist coming soon.  

We crossloaded quicklinks that all were rated for 10kn regardless of size in...

How strong are CAMP Tricams? We tested them in real rock

CAMP Tricams are either active or passive protection while rock climbing.  We test them in both uses in real rock and we found the noses would bust off since that is a lot of force focused on one single point.  We did another episode in our lab at https://youtu.be/ksZ5t9LUaNc?t=593 and found the rolled pin in the back to be quite strong.    Thank you Carl Mitchell for donating the tricams teste...

Climbing pro made from knots??? Textile passive protection tested!

We finally tested soft nuts! We only tested this because you, our audience asked.  And asked! And asked! This is easily our most requested test.   Jenny Fischer (@jenny.lemmonpie) agreed to share some of her footage of placing and climbing on textile protection in the Czech Republic. For more cool content check out her Instagram. (https://www.instagram.com/jenny.lemonpie)  If we get enough re...

Bowline on a bight break test

Did a quick test of a bowline on a bight on our slow pull machine with skydiamond webbing from https://spider-slacklines.com/shop/en/highline-webbing/426-sky-diamond-longline-presale-9506919000.html.  It broke as low as 11kn but as high as 17kn and in a weblock it got 20kn and the sewn loop was stronger than the weblock which is rare.  The ...

Petzl Reverso and Black Diamond ATC guide break tests - how strong is that eye?

Bogdan Cardoş asked Petzl how strong the metal eye was on the atc guide since it is a single point of failure.  They replied with "There is no standard requirement to communicate and breaking strength of the attachment point.  The product has been designed to be used as described in the technical instruction.  It is certified according to the EN standards so we don't have to communicate the breaking strength of the Reverso.  Thank you for your TRUST"  Petzl is right,...

Drone blades vs Slackline webbing - Break Tests

Mathias (https://www.instagram.com/mathiasrohdin/) flew his FPV drone for the 2.13 world record Lapporten Project we did with https://www.instagram.com/northernlines_slackline/ and we were wondering if the drone would damage the webbing that our lives depend on if it ran into it.  Martin (2021-07-17 13:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post

What breaks first??? Petzl GriGri or the Ropes? + Beal Birdie Tests!

I thought Petzl GriGri's would break the ropes if pulled hard enough but they slipped, even the 11mm rope.  These were slow pull tests and I'm curious what will happen in future drop tower test of the same thing.  We also tested a Beal Birdie which feels like a hardy steel body but I wasn't that fond of using it when it because it went from locked to open quickly.    

OUR RESULTS:  

*8mm vs GriGri - Slipped at 2.9kn and while holding tail 3.40kn ...

Lapporten Update

We just got back from northern Sweden and arrived in Stockholm. We are working on a trilogy about the project because it was so complex.  We rigged a 2.13km highline and had 4 people send the line and many others cross it.  It really opened my eyes up to the next things that need to be tested and some ideas I could help create for bigger projects.  There were approximately 15 of us and we are getting reports of it being shared in the news all over the world.  There will al...

Delayed Patron Post - Are Dewalt Powers SD6 Bolts Safe for climbing? Spec sheet says 12kn in shear???

Last video delayed being posted here on Patreon after Lapporten world record project.  

We tested 3/8" SD6 plus bolts from Dewalt.   Greg Barnes from the ASCA and Matt Markell sent them to use and said they the specs on the website weren't that high so tested them.  

See the tech spec sheet at http://anchors.dewalt.com/anchors/_do...

Delayed Patron Post - How to be a Professional Slackliner with Marcus Nelson, Aaron Bray, Mia Noblet

Catching up on posting here on Patreon after rigging the Lapporten world record project.  

Pushing the Line cast members Marcus Nelson, Aaron Bray and Mia Noblet share how to charge for slackline gigs, what goes into the business side and negotiations, and to how to value yourself.   Watch Pushing the Line streaming now on Discovery Plus.  https://www.disc...

Delayed Patron Post - Are Dirty Holes Bad For Mechanical Bolts???

Delayed Patron Posting - Couldn't post here while on the mountain while rigging the Lapporten world record project.

We are supposed to clean holes we drill in rock before installing bolts.  We already tested glue in bolts with epoxy and found it to be super strong enough.  Now we are testing mechanical bolts in this video  Results:  Our control and the three dirty holes all snapped the head of the bolt off showing the dust in the hole had no affect on the strength. &...

American Death Triangle is a Myth

If a span is 180 degrees it has infinite force on it.  Even zipline and electric wires have sag in them.  So 170 degrees is 5x the force as what is applied in the middle.  I thought an American Death Triangle put magical amounts of forces on the bolts and anchor material since the top line is 180 degrees.  Come to find out it is not that bad.  If you want to read about the math, check out 2021-06-30 13:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post

NO CHARGE QUICKIE - Will this work? Z drags built into our A frames for giant highlines

Heading to Sweden in 36 hours for the Lapporten project.  Why not squeak out a video.  This is what i'm trying to invent before leaving.  Will it work???  

➜➜➜Our Stuff! It’s free! ►Bolting Bible is free and at https://www.slackline.com/boltingbible►100% of DONATIONS goes back into the channel.  All of our stuff is free.  2021-06-28 13:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Brazil climbing bolts tested - Grampo P

Hey Brazil, we test 6 Grampo P bolts.  Robelois donated them and Rodrigo Moota told us the welds are unreliable and the carabiners could unclip but they are everywhere in Brazil so lets find out how strong they are. They are installed backwards because the force should not really be applied to the unreliable weld.  Buy better bolts if you are in Brazil at https://www.bonier.com.br/   ➜➜➜SHEAR Test 370...

Triloaded Carabiners

I triloaded carabiners at the steepest angle i could and... you guessed it... it reduced the strength.  Albeit higher than I originally thought.  I believe it's proper term is called biaxial loading but we all throw "triloading" around so often that I am using it here.    Check out  @Hard Is Easy  as he will be going into this more himself!  Results: Lowe...

NO CHARGE QUICKIE - Gripped Climbing Magazine exposed some Newbs

Collin Watt sent me this Gripped Magazine article https://gripped.com/profiles/dangerous-bolts-added-to-yamnuska-removed/.  Newb Alert!  A local offered these guys a lesson just so they don't die because they were using sketch gear.  How would you handle seeing someone spray bolts and using gear that was unsafe???  The 5mm cordelette we tested in this video brok...

John Bacher's favorite bolts tested

We tested Taper Bolts (3/8" x 2 5/8") from https://www.mktfastening.com/sites/default/files/content/downloadable-files/mkt_taper_bolt.pdf.  Greg Barnes from the ASCA sent them to use and said they were John Bacher's favorite bolts.  Thank you Bobby Hutton and Mike Rogers (@wolf_in_the_weeds) for destroying things for science with me.  

In...

Prusik, Auto Blocks, and Klemheist Break Tests

The rule supposedly is that you want a friction hitch to be 3mm smaller than the diameter of rope you are trying to grab and to use 3 wraps.  We did a bunch of tests and here are the numbers:  

4MM PARACORD: *Prusik 3.74kN *Klemheist 3.34kN *Auto Block 3 wraps - slips at 1.34kN, 4 wraps - slips at 5.32kn *Paracord doubled twice 8.90kN *Paracord in a loop 4.06kN  

5MM ACCESSORY CORD: *Prusik 8.16kN and 5.36kn *Klemheist 7kN-ish Slips and locked off and broke at 11.62...

NO CHARGE QUICK EPISODE - 81 to 1 pulleys for break tests in real rock

Here is a quick update episode (no charge to patrons!).  Bobby Hutton and I test our new 81:1 pulley system to make break testing things in real rock real easy.  I got 25kn or 5,600lbf by myself so we are ready to rock!  

➜➜➜Our Stuff! It’s free! ►Bolting Bible is free and at https://www.slackline.com/boltingbible►100% of DONATIONS goes back into the channel.  All of our stuff ...

Huge Zipline with Basejumps - crazy stunts as seen on Pushing the Line on Discovery Plus

Please don’t Zipline!  We glamorize it on a tv show, and we make it look easier to set up than it really was in this episode.  Please don’t try these things on your own!  You can see us ziplining on episode 3 of Pushing the Line streaming now on Discovery Plus.  https://www.discovery.com/videos/pushing-the-line-this-is-highlining-5227100 This is a 700 me...

How to Rig a Rope Swing as seen on Pushing the Line - Discovery Plus

Please don’t rope jump!  But this is HOW if you don’t listen.  I believe it’s better to share safety systems than to withhold it if people are going to do what they are going to do.  If we glamorize it on a tv show, we can at least show what goes into it. Please don’t rope jump!  

You can see us rope jumping on episode 2 of Pushing the Line streaming now on Discovery Plus.  2021-06-09 14:11:29 +0000 UTC View Post

Carabiners Loaded Sideways!?!?

What happens when a carabiner partially goes over an edge?  Clearly it is not good for a carabiner to be loaded sideways so we tested how bad it is.    Check out  @Hard Is Easy  as they will being covering this topic also!  

Results: If it is sticking way up and being leveraged a lot... it breaks around 3kn If it barely pokes up over the edge and is bare...

Canyoneering - Fiddlestick Break Tests

I tried rappelling with Discovering Moab (https://www.basejumpmoab.com/guideservice) where you can find discounts on our shop page (https://www.slackline.com/shop).  

I broke test some fiddlesticks that Scott Koch sent and they bent but broke the dynamic rope at 17.26kn.  The static rope broke the fiddlestick at 13.14kn and...