Informal introductions, which confirm my suspicion that with 7 people in a room at MIT there is enough expertise to solve pretty much any problem.
Problem overview: might the natural frequencies of carabiner gates and ropesj match under certain circumstances that would cause the carabiner gate to be open during fall arrest? Many tangents were touched on.
A quick stab at an analytic, 8.03 model for the fundamental frequency of a tensioned rope. (Written solution, a .pdf derivation similar to that done in class)