moacman
Trad climber
Montuckyian Via Canada Eh!
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Oct 10, 2012 - 10:46pm PT
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Good stuff Tom......Checking in from the Bow Valley and yes it is snowing here in the Great White North...I see that the women are still kicking arse big time.........Thanx for the great report........
Stevo
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Oct 11, 2012 - 04:31am PT
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hey there say, tom, scott, and all...
whewwwwwww... :O
sure am glad he lived through this...
:O
lots of reading and lots to learn, too, for us other folks...
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Oct 11, 2012 - 04:37am PT
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im sorry tom,
for the tersh words i uttered upthread.
mostly just yanking your chain!
your services and your demeanor in
the valley is much appreciated by many.
im just a dumb f*#k with a lotta loose thoughts;
dangerous on the rope too, i guess.
it's funny though.
i spend some time at the heights of dead and living trees,
wielding a power saw and manky belay system.
the tree is swaying all about,
im falling it over my head,
and all sorts of shitty antics attack.
after a day of tree work
i feel very safe and simple on
my rock climb.
ive earned a qualified misunderstanding about
this topic and some others.
once again i was a douche earlier
and i appoligize for my immature show.
i'll bring you a peace-beer sometime this fall.
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Riley Wyna
Trad climber
A crack near you
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Oct 11, 2012 - 04:47am PT
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That will leave some PTSD behind..
I've taken two falls rope soloing with a grigri - can't imagine not tying back up knots.
Glad he is ok..
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Oct 11, 2012 - 08:32am PT
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I get how loops can get caught and such. Still I just cant fathom not being tied in, or at least with a back up knot to a biner. That's too much faith in a gri-gri. Just so you can make a time? Is it worth it?
I solo with a gri-gri. It's caught me safely many times. I have also had it get clusterf*#ked with daisies and fifi hooks that might have prevented it from catching. Bottom line is you need to keep a close eye on it.
I just met Scott for the first time last week. He was really nice, got a humble friendly vibe from him even though I'm just an average gomer. Glad he came through ok.
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Oct 11, 2012 - 10:02am PT
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couchmaster: re soloing with rope stuffed in pack. I've heard of the technique before. Supposed to feed fine. But I don't know, do you guys tie into the end or what? I guess you could put a big bomber monkeys fist knot on the end so it couldn't go thru device. But anyway, what do you do for backup?
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Oct 11, 2012 - 11:14am PT
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Depends if I'm short fixing (yes), or wall soloing (no, continuous loop).
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Oct 11, 2012 - 12:33pm PT
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I prefer a partner.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Oct 11, 2012 - 12:38pm PT
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my partner has dropped
me more times
than my self belay has failed.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Oct 11, 2012 - 12:57pm PT
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You get dropped?
I'm not sure if that sez more about your partner selection or your climbing....
BWA HA HA hahahaaaaaa!!!!
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Oct 11, 2012 - 01:43pm PT
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Buy a silent partner and stuff the rope in a small pack with back up knots tied every so often. It's dead simple to use, no rope drag and no one tells you to hurry up.
Is a couple hundred bucks too much to spend on a system that is designed for rope soloing that works every time?
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Oct 11, 2012 - 01:51pm PT
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I still don't get the "back up knots" thing in the backpack. So the rope goes from you silent partner, up over your shoulder, into the back pack for a ways, then back out of the back pack and to your harness for a clip, then into the backpack again etc. ??? sounds like a clusterf*#k to me. Or only clip the backup one time at the end of the rope (then just onetime the rope has to leave the backpack to clip to your harness???), OR you just put what are essentially jam knots in the rope which is in your backpack, but don't ever actually clip it to your harness. Then if your silent partner (or whatever) fails the knots will jam into the system preventing a free-fall to your death. I know, I need to see it in use, but if someone can spell it out more I'd appreciate it.
tia
personally, I use a silent partner, with one fairly long loop hanging to my backup, then the rest stacked in a rope bucket back at the belay. it works more or less, but the loop does get hung up on sh#t more then one would want. and often enough at just the wrong time. Backpacking the rope sounds like a great idea if I could just figure out how to do it safely.
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moacman
Trad climber
Montuckyian Via Canada Eh!
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Oct 11, 2012 - 06:32pm PT
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I rope solo all the time and lets face it.....soloing is dangerous back up knots or what ever, mother nature also has it's own set of rules. All you can do is just be super aware of your surroundings and situation...........
Stevo
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Oct 11, 2012 - 08:13pm PT
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Rockermike,
The knots I'm referring too are just overhands that I tie and stuff in the pack. When the rope comes out of the pack, over your shoulder you feel the knot. You stop, untie it and carry on. If you do them roughly in the same place every time, (I mark the rope) then you get a feeling when they are coming up. I"m also tied into the end of the tope.
The backup knots aren't tied to you. If the SP failed the knot jams. If everything failed you are still tied in. Hope this helps.
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Oct 12, 2012 - 01:53pm PT
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thanks John, that makes sense to me. I think I'll give it a try. can't imagine a knot working its way through the SP device. As long as the whole device doesn't blow apart for some reason.
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klaus
Big Wall climber
Pacif*#ka
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Oct 12, 2012 - 07:09pm PT
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I first started soloing aid using a clove hitch on two biners as the belay. I actually works quite well and doesn't cost extra for a special "device". I've taken more falls onto this system than any other and it works well. I took a 60 footer on the fa of Pressure Cooker, it locked up perfectly. Back it up with knots, I do 30 feet slack and that's it, not tied to the end.
Then I got the Silent Partner mostly because everyone said it was awesome. It sucked dog balls. Maybe it's ok for free climbing but if you're mostly aiding tenuous terrain it's a scary device. It's heavy, big, clumsy, hooks to everything on your rack, still needs to be backed up, and worst of all, it extends up so far it will smack you in the chest or even jaw when it locks up on a fall. The thing almost killed me so I sold it on Ebay.
Now I use a Grigri and it seems to work well. I tested a retired one doing some tree work using it to catch big limbs a little heavier than a climber and I have never had it fail, and thats a worn out grigri that I retired because it was getting grooves in it from too much sport climbing. I will still use one in the future. I do have to say that I never fell on one while climbing, yet.
I would never use a fifi hook next to it that could possibly jam the device, that seems obvious.
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