Aid question

[bcollins]

When working a vertical or slightly overhanging crack, I'm frustrated by not being able to climb higher than my fifi. What about placing an intermediate piece and clippin to your chest harness? Seems like I'm placing a TON of gear to get up corners, overhangs, etc. Any thoughts or tips?

Barry

[chris]

I don't think placing intermediate pieces will be any faster, and will still require a ton of gear.

I've been using adjustable daisies for the past two years, and you can do some intense high stepping by having your fifi/daisy pulling up while your feet are pushing down. Middendorf wrote about having two fifis - one short, one long (like 3-6 inches out), for opposing tension highsteps - back before the times of adjustable daisies.

Metolius makes an adjustable daisie (am I spelling this right?) with webbing and a beefy buckle system. I use pair of autolocking Kong devices from Pagan Mountaineering in Moab that requires 8mm cord purchased seperately.

[slothrop]

Couldn't you also hook your fifi into a loop on your regular ol' daisy for opposition when top-stepping?

[EWolfe]

FiFi says NO!

 

[chris]

Couldn't you also hook your fifi into a loop on your regular ol' daisy for opposition when top-stepping?

I imagine so, though I think you'd have to be mindful of the daisy's direction of pull on the biner.

I have to say, I learned to aid climb with adjustable daisies. Since then I've tried not using them from time to time, and found that adjustable daisy are much more useful.

[slothrop]

I imagine so, though I think you'd have to be mindful of the daisy's direction of pull on the biner.

 

Why? You can't possibly generate enough force with body tension to do anything to a carabiner. Even if you could, the daisy loop or fifi sling would break first, anyway.

 

Adjustable daisies are probably more convenient for top-stepping, but there's no reason you can't use a regular daisy + fifi to do the same thing.

[fenderfour]

I think the concern lies in pulling the piece not breaking anything.

[tyree]

use ajustable dasies, they are grreat for tensioning off of your top step and save tons of time. i think the metolius ones are pretty pinner. i use yates, they use a beefier webbing. fish also makes replacement straps for thiers but good luck getting them if you need anything from them within a month.

[catbirdseat]

I think the concern lies in pulling the piece not breaking anything.

How are you going to pull a piece if your weight is on it via your feet?

[fenderfour]

The operative terms are "slightly overhanging" and "clipping the chest harness"

[bcollins]

I do currently use adjustable daisies (metolius, which can be a pain in the ass.....especially one-handed). I suppose I'm not working the tensioning technique well enough to keep my center of gravity over my feet. Need to work on that.

 

Also CBS, I find that pulling a piece upwards, even slightly, increases your chances of popping it, especially small gear that's in a shallow placement.

[catbirdseat]

I can see that, especially as your feet pushing against the rock can generate additional outward force.

[telemarker]

You'd have to put a lot of outward and upward pressure to pop a piece, probably very difficult to impossible on vert to overhanging ground.

 

Tensionins off a fi-fi from the penultimate step is much quicker than adjustable daisies. Don't waste time struggling to your top step unless absolutely necessary.