Vertical caving terminology and methods > Rigging methods and equipment
Where the rigging has been done without enough slack. Most often, this is done in an attempt to rig a pitch with a rope that is too short, but can also happen if the rigger uses a descender that needs less rope than the descenders used by others, and misjudges how much slack they need. This makes rebelay loops too short to use conveniently, so that in order to disconnect a short cows tail from the rebelay, the caver has to connect an ascender (the top jammer if using the frog system) to one of the ropes, and stand in its footloop. In extreme cases, the next caver might not be able to connect their descender to the rope for the hang above the rebelay, or might not be able to lock it off. Traverse lines might have some of their anchors omitted, so that the rope between the remaining anchors does not provide enough support. The rigger needs to progress further along the traverse beyond the last anchor that they are connected to, so there is more chance that something will go wrong (such as a cows tail being loaded badly on a hanger, and opening its carabiner, resulting in a fall - something that certain South Wales cavers are very familiar with). Traverse lines might be pulled so tight that the rope between anchors is essentially the same as a Tyrolean traverse, which increases the stress on the rope if someone were to fall on it. This is generally considered to be a very poor rigging style, but is sometimes done intentionally on expeditions, where tackle is limited.
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