Experience across a range of industries gives Richard the capacity to tailor workshops to specific environments.This is a really quick look at one of the many ways a tracking skate-block can be built and run. These workshops encourage critical thinking based in an understanding of fundamental principles rather than rote learning. Richard also delivers regular workshops which aim to facilitate learning in a social and practical environment. Through the countless tests that he conducts to generate data that he can then apply to real working situations, his reports detail the methodology and results of each test conducted and he encourages critical assessment.

Climbers, rope technicians, riggers, slackliners, arborists and rescue operators all will find useful information here. Seeing value in ideas being shared across industries, Richard looks at the physics of roped systems and equipment that may be used in a range of situations and industries. He originally created RopeLab to build a greater understanding of the physics of roped systems.

Richard, the founder of RopeLab, aims to promote a better understanding of the fundamental principles underpinning the craft of the rope technician. The skate block that I’ve got set up will be used for raising loads rather than lowering them, so I’ll be using a Skyhook winch to do that work for me. This tension in the track line, as we’ll see when we’re downstairs, can be adjusted mid operation with a CMC MPD. I now have enough free rope to use for the tension track line. I started with one end at the far point, come up to my anchor focal point, back to another anchor point, and then bought that strand forward… all using the same rope. I’ve tried to be very efficient with the rope used in this anchor. In consideration with the anchoring, we’ve used a V-anchor. Because we’ve got so many features with this industrial structure, rather than having a mirrored skate block, I’ve gone with a tension track line with a single skate block, because it is like threading a needle when getting the load up through the aperture, which is opened just outside this gin pole.

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