Vertical caving terminology and methods > Personal SRT gear
A pulley that is normally attached to the chest harness. The up rope normally passes through it, which forces the chest to remain close to the rope, resulting in an upright stance. This is used for prusiking, and is an essential part of most variations of rope walking, the Mitchell system and the Gossett system variation of the Jumar system, and an optional part of the another prusiking system. It could in theory also be used with the frog system too, but it is awkward to get past rebelays and deviations, so it is almost never used with the frog system. With the Mitchell system, the footloop for the top jammer runs through the chest roller, so the chest roller must have a second pulley for that purpose. With the Gossett system, the footloops for both top jammers run through the chest roller, while the up rope does not, so the chest roller must have a second pulley for that purpose. For rope walking and the Mitchell system, the chest roller should be positioned below the quick attachment safety or top jammer, and above the knee jammer or lower jammer. For the Gossett system, the chest roller should be positioned at waist level below both top jammers, attached to the sit harness. Chest rollers rely on small pulleys to reduce friction, and are prone to becoming clogged with mud, which limits their use in caving. Chest rollers are almost unobtainable in Europe (which is why there is only a stock image of a modern version). Online sales seem not to exist, and the companies that make them seem to do so in very limited production runs, selling directly to groups of interested customers. Presumably within the USA caving communities where they are used, they are only sold on through private channels.
Before chest rollers, the ropes were pulled behind whatever was being used as a chest harness, first proposed by Austrian mountaineer Karl Prusik, published in 1931. After that there were just carabiners, which the ropes ran through, still creating a lot of friction. The first time these were known to be mentioned is in French caver Henry P. Guérin's 1944 book "Spéléologie, manuel technique; Le matériel et son emploi Les explorations", where they were used with the two-knot version of the Gérard Alpine technique, where they were attached to a belay belt instead of a chest harness. These were probably first used with a chest harness at some point during the 1960s, and were still in use by 1967 when the Mitchell system was developed. They continued to be regularly used until chest rollers became more common. After that were pulleys attached to the chest harness. American Keith Wilson created a chest roller (originally called "wheels") in 1969, which was first used with the Mitchell system. Various different designs were then used, often home made. These developed into commercial chest rollers in 1976, with the release of the American BlueWater chest box. The Gossett Ascender Block, intended for either the Gossett system or the Mitchell system, was created in 1977 by American caver Jim Gossett. The single pulley Simmon's Roller, intended for use with rope walking, was created by American cavers Ron Simmons and Ward Foeller in 1979, using the modified case of a Gibbs ascender.
This history section only covers chest rollers. This article also has a detailed history of many of the other devices and techniques that are used for vertical caving.
<< Fall arrester, rope grab (fall arrester), rope clamp (fall arrester), brake-blocker | Footloop >>
This page is not intended to be viewed this way, please load the entire article. This version exists only to make it easier for search engines to understand the contents.