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Recovering from a screw up on rappel


catbirdseat

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To Get this back on track:

 

I'm a big proponent of rappelling on an extension. In other words rappelling with a sling girth hitched through my harness, with the rap device about two feet away. The reason I like this is because of the diversity it offers. I'm not going to go into all the benefits, but I will go into the one that fits here. The following requires rappelling on a reverso.

 

If I get to a problematic rope end or some other need to ascend the rope, I simply clip the fin of the reverso on my extension to my belay loop. I then automatically have a ratchet with which I can ascend the rope. If this takes place on in a hanging position, I have to add a prusik to do this and to ascend the rope. If there is a stance of any sort, I can create the ratchet by unweighting the rope. I can then quickly ascend the rope by pushing the ratchet up and standing on stances. Even on the tiniest of stances I can do this. The result is an extremly effective means of climbing back up the rope and fixing the snafu.

 

Good stuff! Time to go climbing now.

 

Jason

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on a slab just about any rap device will "rachet" as you climb the rope and pull through the rope. wave.gif

 

The big difference being that the reverso will automatically lock you off, whereas most other devices don't have this option. This is particularly nice if you have to use both hands to deal with whatever problem has arisen. Tying off, using a autoblock, or whatever else you come up with, I still think the set-up I described above is the best option.

 

Jason

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ok jason, but using your system don't you have to put the prusik or autoblock on above the device which is already extended above your harness? it sounds like a little bit of a clusterfuck. i mean i have climbed 20m up a slab in the past just pulling rope thru my atc because i was too lazy to walk back around to the top...its not like it is all that hard. i can see on vertical walls how the ratchet would help but it also seems kinda tricky to set up if you are already dangling in space and with a prussik and rap device both a few feet above your waist sounds even worse. confused.gif

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