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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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prod,
buy 2 long ropes (one for lead line and one for haul / backup lead) and run out your ropes to their end. its amazing how many pitches can be combined when you've no rope drag.
the silent partner is a great solo device, for mixed free / aid.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Concur with Mark Hugedong. Get some LONG 5mm prusik loops that you can use to tie Klemheist rebelays - understand how this works, don't increase your fall factors, and practise it a lot as it's difficult to explain, as much an art as a science. Do it right and you will get ZERO abrasion on the rope when you clean/jug the pitch, impossible with a partner.
Don't modify your Grigri for aid climbing.
Practise hauling bags of rocks with a 2:1 so you know you can haul enough food, water and beer to "win by attrition". I see soloists bailing all the time because they weren't able to move as fast as they hoped, and were afraid of running out of supplies. There are any number of ways to set up a 2:1 system wrong, and there is really only one way to make it work right. You really have to practise this - a lot.
Use your rock-filled pig as a "belayer", along with lots of Yates Screamers. In case you haven't figured it out yet, it's quite time-consuming building a [proper] upside-down anchor. It's quite fast and easy with a heavy pig.
Practise setting up your ledge and fly standing in your aiders high above the ground.
If you don't believe the above paragraphs - all you wannabe big wall soloists - mark my words when you reach the base of the wall and can't get your 2:1 hauling system to work because you haven't practised it, or when you are standing in your aiders at two in the morning trying to get your ledge under your rain fly - "I told you so. Dumbass."
Anyway, email me - anyone - for back and forth critique.
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anyuta34
Boulder climber
new york
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Fishy
climber
Zurich, Switzerland
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One related question: what are the most popular methods for dealing with the excess rope during the first half of the pitch?
Backpack? Clips on harness? Rope bag at belay? Rope bag which you tag up and hang on a piece mid-pitch?
Cheers,
Pete.
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426
climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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My first wall & Cap route were solo...not recommended. I think I was mad...
I did however do a lot of what you're doing, janking around local crags, dragging bags, "pretending" they got caught, etc...hope for the best. expect the wurst.
If I was to do it over again, I'd look into far end hauling and a bunch of modern (ptpppppp) ways of doing things...I tended to just muscle through stuff that should have been engineered/finessed
Oh yeah, and think about quinine if you cramp. Nothing like hands cramping so bad you *can't* hold a rappel rope (this was b4 grigri)...
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Fishy,
Yes, rope bag at the belay that you tag up mid-pitch. An advantage here is that the haul line is attached to the rope bag so that you don't have to also drag it up the pitch while you are leading.
Check out my "slippery knot and tagging" vid
http://vimeo.com/14130326
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xtrmecat
Big Wall climber
Kalispell, Montanagonia
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Fishy, Marks idea is something to consider, I have not used it yet, but it has some merit. I use the Fish Snake Charmer. Life has been much easier on solo since that purchase, rope hooks and slings were a disaster in rope management.
One other thing that has been addressed only slightly. Backup knots. To keep from whistling off the end of the line a backup knot is not only prudent, but mandatory. I used to pull up all the slack I would be willing to fall onto, tie a clove, clip it to my belay loop and go. No longer the case. I tie an alpine butterfly and clip it to my belay loop locker. The reason I don't let it hang is several, but keeping it with me keeps it under control, out of the crack, flake, wind, etc., makes for better feeding through the belay device, and on and on.
Burly Bob
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Fishy Pete! How's it goin' in Switzerland, eh? Haven't seen you since you and I and Brenda were starting up Dihedral Wall. When are you coming back to the Captain, man? We should do a route!
Here's the system I use, with a sketch of the Solo Tag Rack:
It's the system that Mark so beautifully describes in his video above.
You can see more pictures and descriptions of it in use on the wall:
http://www.rockclimbing.com/photos/Big_Wall/Dr._Piton_s_Solo_Tag_Rack_Photo_3360.html
http://www.rockclimbing.com/photos/Big_Wall/Solo_Tag_Rack_on_The_Shortest_Straw_13044.html
http://www.rockclimbing.com/photos/Big_Wall/Solo_Tag_Rack_on_Lunar_Eclipse_13043.html
Note: The system you see described was invented by Chongo [so far as aware] and you can read about it in his Complete Book of Big Wall Climbing, which EVERY aspiring El Cap soloist should own. Tell him I sent you.
However the Slippery Overhand Backup above the fifi is my invention.
Heed the words of 426 - there is the traditional way, and there is The Better Way.
Cheers,
PTPP
Caveat:
Dr. Piton does not purport to teach The Only Way or The Best Way, merely The Better Way, and The Better Way is whatever works best for you, and does not get you killed. There is great potential for death in the above system should you and your Solo Tag Rack suddenly come hurtling down an A4 pitch simultaneously. The Slippery Overhand Backup Knot is currently Big Wall Theory, because I don't know of anyone [yet] who it has saved. Sometimes it is simply better not to fall.
And some ways are emphatically better than others.
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Fishy
climber
Zurich, Switzerland
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Hi Pete - things are going well. Have managed to do a valley trip most years. Was a fun day at the start of the Dibedral!
Next year I may be flying solo and not have much time - was racking the brain for a short wall to solo - am thinking of the WFLT.
Thanks all for the tagging tips, and the video link! I used a related system once on the Prow - my main question was how commonly is it used? I wondered how many people just dispensed with the whole thing and blasted up quick and simple.
And dont forget all you guys - if coming through Switzerland, dont forget to look me up!
Cheers
Pete.
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Stonewalker
Big Wall climber
Smartsville, Ca
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I agree with ditching the modified gri gri. I have soloed with a unmodified grigri many times. The most important thing to remember with any solo belay device is back up knots. I took a huge whipper while solo climbing with a grigri and because of the way I fell against the rock, the gri gri did not lock off. If it wasn't for my back up knot I would have hit more than just my heel on a ledge. Not sure if this has been mentioned but if so it bears repeating. Back up knots!!!!!
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Great to hear from you, Pete - definitely write me when you're coming. WFLT is a great route to solo.
And as Stonewalker writes,
ALWAYS tie a backup knot or you will END UP DEAD!
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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It wouldn't actually be too hard to not deal with the Tag Rack. You would still have the haul line tied into the (top) end of the lead line and as you kept leading, those ropes would feed out of their rope bags and follow you up. You really would ever have to stop and tag.
Modern aid climbing, being what it is and not 50+ pins per pitch like back when I did most of my walls, the rack is lighter and we tend to use less gear (given the ease of back cleaning) and the SuperTopo topos giving you detailed gear recommendations (not like Roper's green Yosemite guide that described the top third of the Muir in one sentence: "follow the corner for the next thousand feet much A2"). You could easily get away with carrying a bunch of gear.
Given that though, it was nice to have extra food, water, clothes and gear ready whenever I wanted them.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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And - I hope - like, a beer too, eh?
You can hang most anything off your Solo Tag Rack.
OH! I almost forgot! Mark's idea using the special fifi with the groove in the top is really cool - check it out.
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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See how any force pulling down will cause the fifi to set even more so onto the anchor. I don't know why anyone would ever use any other type of fifi.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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See? SEE?!
He might be an Old Fart, but he's a SMART one. Damn, that's freakin' brilliant. Is the slot in the fifi too narrow to accept a crab, so you have to use a maillon rapide? Please remind me who makes this fifi? Maybe [when I'm as old as you] I might have to do another solo, to become the Oldest Old Fart to solo El Cap.
Now - has anyone yet been SAVED by the Slippery Overhand Backup Knot? Can someone please go solo a hard route, and then fall off?!
Mark - totally forgot to bring your bitchin' PTPP Blend New Guinea Dark coffee here to Sint Maarten. It's hell, I tell you. Had to contaminate the Folger's with huge doses of Bailey's, available at $13 US a litre...
As you get older, you [hopefully] get smarter. But the Journey from Young Bull to Old Bull is just that, a journey, not a destination. Sometimes we regress....
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Mar 29, 2017 - 08:17pm PT
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some interesting stuff here
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
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Mar 29, 2017 - 08:37pm PT
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I've solo aided with the Rock Exotica Soloist a fair bit and the Kleimheist knots per Hudon are the ticket!
And, of course, doing enough of it to know what does and doesn't work per Werner.
PTPP has cool stuff, too. What a cool thread. There's a lot of great ideas here.
Yes, 2 ladders and less cluster.
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Scole
Trad climber
Zapopan
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Mar 30, 2017 - 11:24am PT
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It's a good thing we didn't know all this stuff BITD. We never would have got up anything from fear.
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