Make 1975 "Let's Be Kind to Electron Ladders
Year"
The major cause of wear and damage to electron ladders is caused by bad belaying techniques. With every 50 ladder worth, over £20 and with many man hours spent in its construction, a couple of minutes spent in sorting out the belaying position can usually eliminate the pain felt by the ladder. A typical case of cruelty is depicted in the following example.
The missing link in this example is, as you have already guessed, a krab, an effective pain killer in this situation.
A further case of horrid cruelty is depicted below. (Those persons of a nervous disposition are advised not to look at point A). This type of cruelty is on the increase due to the increased use of bolts as belay points.
The answer to this type of cruelty is the use of the club's new spreader belays. Short 12 long belays as sketched below. Please use to combat pain.
Some of the worst cases of cruelty are at first not very obvious, it is only when one is 6 or 10' down a pitch does one encounter the problems. As your eyeballs stare at the sight of all ones weight being loaded onto one wire of the ladder or the weight being held by a single rung of the ladder; which is usually at a drunken angle. Do not proceed with this cruelty, please ascend and re-adjust your set. Finally, on arriving at the bottom of your correctly rigged ladder, please either roll up any surplus ladder or pull it out of the line of fire of falling stones. You Know It Makes Sense
The ladders
with their new C links are looking forward to a pleasant year in 75.