Has anyone actually rapped with a dulfersitz?

[mattp]

I'd give the dulfersitz a miss. It sucks for the reasons mentioned above.

 

You can do some reasonably OK rappels on steep but well less than vertical terrain by wrapping the rope around your arms, though. I think we used to call it an "Australian Rappel" but maybe it was a "Military Rappel." Take the rope under both arms and swing your arms around the rope to wrap it around an extra spiral around each arm. Control it with the downhill hand.

 

I've used this technique mostly when gardening or pursuing some other none-climbing activity but occasionally I use it climbing.

[dberdinka]

Here's an interesting bit of climbing history I learned from Michael Stanton.

 

In 1913 Hans Dulfer presumably used the dulfersitz to rap-inspect the 700 meter west face of the Totenkirchl (Death Church) in the Austrian alps prior to his first ascent of the same. A 24-pitch sustained 5.10 originally climbed with a few tension traverses in 7.5 hours!

 

Standards were a bit ah higher in Europe BITD.

[matt_warfield]

Ah Michael Stanton. I met him at a wedding before he went to Germany. Oblivious to the goings on we talked climbing nonstop for a couple of hours. Definitely a student of the art.

Edited April 8, 2013 by matt_warfield

[rob]

DIdnt that Jamus kid dulfersitz off of some rock pile after recording his last will and testament on his phone and killing a rattlesnake or something? Was that his name?

[montypiton]

Dulfer was the first rappel I learned forty-three years ago, and in 1972, it saved my life when the knot on a swiss-seat failed and I detached from my brake setup. Fortunately I had routed the rappel rope from the brake between my legs and then to my brake hand. On a dead-vertical rappel, I stopped myself sitting in a bight of rope, looped the brake rope over my shoulder and completed the rappel as a dulfer. Todd Skinner could have done the same when his harness failed, had he routed the rope between his legs. I have taught rock-climbing for both amateur and professional venues since the seventies, and always insist that my proteges learn the dulfer as an emergency technique. I still frequently use it on winter climbs when I'm in a hurry.

[AlpineK]

I did one dulfersitz at a Mounties climbing class in the 70s, and we did do a short one on a ski traverse a few years back.

 

Don't forget to mention the dulfersitz when a newbie asks you about different methods of rappelling. Just make sure to tell them to wear thick and cheap clothing.