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        riddles >> general problem-solving / chatting / whatever >> Im Stumped
        
(Message started by: Rice21 on Mar 29^th, 2007, 2:03pm)

Title: Im Stumped
Post by Rice21 on Mar 29^th, 2007, 2:03pm

You're in a cave and the only way out is via a 60' drop.

In your possession you have a torch and a knife (these are the only things that you have and they let you see what your doing and you can cut the ropes).

There are two ropes suspended above you that are both 40' long each, which go from the top of the cave to the bottom. These ropes are too far away from each other to meet.

Being human, the most you can drop is 10'.

How can you escape?

Title: Re: Im Stumped
Post by towr on Mar 29^th, 2007, 2:09pm

Sounds a bit like the gold rope puzzle.. Except that the ropes are too far apart.
If you had something at least as heavy as the rope, I could thing of something..

Title: Re: Im Stumped
Post by pex on Mar 29^th, 2007, 2:26pm

Does "too far to meet" imply that you cannot [hide]reach the other one after climbing one of the ropes[/hide]? If not, the easy solution is to [hide]climb to the top of one rope, cut the other, go 30' down along the rope, and cut the rope at the point where you are hanging (thus making a 10' drop). You now have a 40' and a 10' rope, which I assume you can join to form a 50' rope. Attach it somewhere, climb down the rope, and jump the last 10' down.[/hide]

Title: Re: Im Stumped
Post by azalia on Mar 29^th, 2007, 6:33pm

[hide][If you are dextrous enough to hold on to the rope while tying a knot then you can climb one rope about 30 feet, cut the rope and tie a loop knot in the upper part, double up your cut rope through the hole, climb down holding both ends. The bottm will be about 15 feet off the ground. But hanging from it, your body length will make the drop less then 10 feet. Let go of one end to drop and pull down the cut rope. Tie that to the end of the other rope. Climb to the top and cut it just low enough to leave enough to tie another loop knot. Double up the 70 feet of rope and you can climb down to 5 feet from the ground. Pull the rope out of the loop and you've now got 70 feet of rope to escape with. [/hide]

Title: Re: Im Stumped
Post by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on Mar 29^th, 2007, 10:24pm

[hide]Grab the first rope, cut it lengthwise or unravel the rope until you have two ends of approximately 25 feet below a stronger part of about 15 feet. Then cut one 25 foot section off, tie it below the other, and shimmy down, easy as pie.[/hide]

Title: Re: Im Stumped
Post by tiber13 on Apr 22^nd, 2007, 1:13pm

cut ne of the roaps, the pull the other up, and tie the cut roap 'bout 20- feat on the uncut one, then climb down.

Title: Re: Im Stumped
Post by BNC on Apr 22^nd, 2007, 11:01pm

Climb the first rope 20' up, cut it there while holding to the top of the rope. Make a loop in the upper rope's bottom end. Thread the bottom (cut) 20' of rope through the loop. Climb down on this double rope until it ends 10' from the ground. Jump with the 20' of rope with you.

Tie this 20' rope to the other rope to get 60' rope.

Climb the 60' rope till the top. Cut it there, leaving just enough rope to hold on top while making a loop at to top. Thread the cut (almost) 60' rope through this loop, climd down this double rope until it ends 10' from the ground. Jump with the rope.

You now have about 60' of rope to climb down with, which gives you 10' spare to acount for the length of rope used for knots and loops.