telemarker Posted January 24, 2013 Posted January 24, 2013 Specifically, those of you who do it on a regular basis, I have a few questions: 1) At what point in the pitch approximately do normally you start getting rope slippage through your device due to the weight of the rope? 2) How do you manage that from building up too much slack in your system? I've read several suggestions, and none seem too inspiring. E.g., anchoring the rope off mid-pitch with a prusik, or using rubber bands to anchor the rope mid-pitch... 3) Did you modify your gri gri to feed automatically? Thanks in advance for any insights into tried and true methods you have used or use frequently! John Quote
ivan Posted January 24, 2013 Posted January 24, 2013 1) a little past half-way (the steeper the pitch, the sooner it becomes an issue) 2) if it's super-steep, who cares? a long fall through space is the same as a short one. i've used the rubber-band technique and didn't find it sketchy, but then you don't usually fall that much while aiding anyhow, no? 3) no - i'm used to cursing at the goddamn thing the whole time Quote
billcoe Posted January 24, 2013 Posted January 24, 2013 Specifically, those of you who do it on a regular basis, I have a few questions: 1) At what point in the pitch approximately do normally you start getting rope slippage through your device due to the weight of the rope? 2) How do you manage that from building up too much slack in your system? I've read several suggestions, and none seem too inspiring. E.g., anchoring the rope off mid-pitch with a prusik, or using rubber bands to anchor the rope mid-pitch... 3) Did you modify your gri gri to feed automatically? Thanks in advance for any insights into tried and true methods you have used or use frequently! John I dislike roped soloing, really hate it. But I love climbing so I do it on rare occasions. I'd rather Free solo, boulder, or top rope solo or stay at home and pleasure myself most days if I'm alone though. I've pretty much adopted Josesphs exact method with the Eddy. He's super savy on systems and safety, and he solos a lot. Why (re)invent the wheel. As he points out, rope diameter choice is critical, and even then it will occasionally lock up at the worst friggan times leaving you grasping for the FR$$%@ing thing mid move. The rubber bands work good, or at a good spot (ie, easy climbing with good pro above) a quick clove hitch on a piece. I used it on a ground up solo first ascent of The Old Witch, pretty much thinking that an accidental but unavoidable loose rock kicked off would likely kill a belayer, but only chop my rope. It wasn't a false belief as it turned out, for although I got up with some small crap coming off as I stepped on it, I was on the ground out there 3 or 4 ascents later when Plaidman on lead kicked off a toaster that slammed into the dirt and almost took out his dog on the ground 350 feet below. There was a whole lot of Monkey Fucking going on as you can see from all the crap hanging off me in the top photo. I use a Cilogear pack I have to stuff the rope in, Graham makes them so that the tops come clean off so the rope feeds better and there's a place to clip the rope so stays in position and it guides smooth, 1 less thing to Monkey Fuck with I guess. Don't have real clear shots of the system, JH has some closups that are the same so you can get the details. On the Witch, the pinnacle my right foot is on, I tried to push that off, when it stayed I slipped a runner on it for pro. It would have been the mother of all trundles, being almost as large as a railcar. About 5 months before I'd gotten trapped solo mid cliff elsewhere yarding a desk sized rock that really went crazy, did the unexpected and swung uphill and pinned me to the wall. All I could think of as I looked out (stuck), full on Aron Ralson style, out of cell range, having told NO one where I was in an area that was off the charts and secret at the time, was that the crows would be appreciative for the gift of the dinner. Really. Anyway, I really didn't want a person under me for this trip. Here's some shots of that time. For soloing freeclimbs, JH has it dialed. Quote
denalidave Posted January 24, 2013 Posted January 24, 2013 What I do... I second Bill's recommendation. The Eddy is far better at feeding than the gri. (IMO) Quote
telemarker Posted January 24, 2013 Author Posted January 24, 2013 What I do... Excellent tutorial Joseph! Thanks for the link. In your system, is it cumbersome to always carry the rope on your back vs. leaving the coil at the anchor? Also, why the A5 rope bag in your pack? Why not just flake the rope out directly in your pack? Quote
JosephH Posted January 24, 2013 Posted January 24, 2013 What I do... Excellent tutorial Joseph! Thanks for the link. In your system, is it cumbersome to always carry the rope on your back vs. leaving the coil at the anchor? Also, why the A5 rope bag in your pack? Why not just flake the rope out directly in your pack? No - quite the contrary - I found having the rope hang down just sucked so bad I couldn't deal with it. Also, on winding routes like the SE Corner at Beacon or out in the open in blazing Gorge winds like on 'Free For All', having the rope hanging down is basically ridiculous unless you're interested in a workout of heavy squats while attempting to climb or being stranded by hung up ropes and tangles. As for the A5 rope bag thing, I've always used them and careful stacking the rope before each pitch with short, clean loops is way essential to the whole deal to avoid knotting as the rope feeds out of the pack. And given I've always only used the A5's for my ropes, soloing or not, it's just what evolved, but there is a reason for it. To stack the rope into the A5's I put an extended trad draw around my neck clipping the biners together, I attach the A5 to what then becomes the lower biner as they realign, and then I clip the rope through the higher biner and run it into the bag. What this setup allows me is to rapidly stack the rope into the A5 bag and watch the stacking as I do it if I so feel the need - i.e. I carefully lay the rope in the bag in small loops, avoiding coiling, as I stack back-and-forth around the bag interior and monitor that it's stacking up clean and level as it fills the bag up. I like using the A5's because they hang clean and open with that stacking method where as, if I use just used the pack, it's too bulky and awkward to stack from around my neck. In that case I have to extend the pack down from my anchor and stack into it that way - it takes twice as long as just doing it around my neck and I can't easily monitor and adjust how the stacking is going. So overall using the A5 plays into the fact I like to move fast when roped soloing and with a minimum of dicking around with it all and using the A5 seperate from the pack really contributes to that. Quote
telemarker Posted January 24, 2013 Author Posted January 24, 2013 Thanks for the thorough answer! I wish I could take the Eddy for a test run before dropping $115 on it. Quote
denalidave Posted January 24, 2013 Posted January 24, 2013 Thanks for the thorough answer! I wish I could take the Eddy for a test run before dropping $115 on it. You can borrow mine if you want. Quote
JosephH Posted January 24, 2013 Posted January 24, 2013 Dave, if you're likely to use yours at all then I could send mine, as with the family medical crisis I'm involved with I'm not going to be using mine for awhile. Quote
bwrts Posted February 12, 2013 Posted February 12, 2013 any thoughts or experience on trango cinch as Rope solo device? seems to feed easier and less kinks on rope. Quote
JosephH Posted February 12, 2013 Posted February 12, 2013 Malcolm and Trango have been consistent in expressing a strong opinion folks not rope solo with the Cinch. Quote
billcoe Posted February 12, 2013 Posted February 12, 2013 I may have to revise what I said upthread. I just bought a Yates Kong backup. Had it out the other day for some semi wet and dirty toproping and it kicked ass. Exclusion that they say it will work on a 13mm rope, I had a 12.3mm static and that was too large for smooth, hands off, feeding. On a 10.5 dynamic it was so smooth running up the rope that it was scary. Seems to lock up great too although I was too chickenshit to fall on it and grabbed the rope and cinched it to set it before hanging on the rope to clean some blackberry bushes out. That it will take a Fall factor 2 without chopping the rope didn't much ease my mind as it was new, and plenty of people have been dropped with partners using the "Failsafe" Gri gri and Cinchs. Soloing is much more gear intensive. So I had backup knots, but can see that it may be the best device for rope solo. Leading possibly, toproping certainly. BTW, I own the Grigri, Grigri 2, Cinch, Soloist and a Silent Partner (otherwise best for TR with the exclusion that overhangs and possibly weird body position traverses are out of the question as the device won't lock on an inverted fall), so I've had some experience in hating various equipment:-) It's an industrial safety device they show rigged to the back of a harness on the D ring. Putting it in front off the belay loop seemed to transition well for the thing. The slide knob on the left in the photo is utilized to tighten it up on the rope. One position it rolls up and down freely although you have to grab it and keep it positioned correctly. When you do this: ps, in my mind, the Cinch would have the greatest possibility to put you on the dirt and it would be the worse of all the devices. I'd rather just go old school and use a clove hitch if aid soloing or put a jumar on the rope. There is a good discussion on Supertopo on how the hard core Yosemite guys do TR soloing you might look up. They effectively use 2 Mini Trax's in line. Quote
bwrts Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 just curious. i don't rope solo. partners in crime or bouldering is best. i suppose at times the boulder happened to be really big. Quote
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