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Riska
Trad climber
CA
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I have used Soloist over span of 2 decades and it was a nightmare, felt like a was climbing with crotch getting stuck in a crack- it took me all afternoon to do Corrugation Corner 5.7 at Lovers on its retirement outing. . I upgraded to Silent Partner, which was merely a heavier nightmare. They belong in the tar pit with hexes, tricams and bongs.
My best outings were with old school knots. Can’t wait to hear if the new gadgets have promise.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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AE wrote: However, NEVER use anything without a backup knot minimum, and a loop to the waist better.
As benthic mentions below, backup knots don't really work with backpack systems and, while I use them aid soloing with an unmodded grigri, I've never used them or found them necessary in free lead rope soloing with the rope in a backpack with either a modded grigri or the Eddy.
benthic wrote: I use the GriGri+ for free...Colin Haley uses GriGri and backpack for his alpine solos, and if it feeds fast enough for him, it's plenty fast for me.
The rope runs the wrong way through the grigri for rope soloing so can't quite fathom continuing to use it after the Eddy came out let alone trying to use it for fast alpine - but it's definitely a to each his own deal and everyone needs to sort out and dial in a system that works for them.
the fet wrote: If the device only has one biner hole use a steel locker. Much stronger when cross loaded (that's the usual failure mode) than aluminum. (edit: quicklink idea above is probably even better since it's multi-directional)
Yeah, I used a CE-rated mallion rapide with the grigri, but with the Eddy's clamshell design I just back up a regular locker with a short 8mm sling on a separate small locker:
BeeTee wrote: ....plus you get to admire your work by seconding on a toprope...
Yeah, cleaning your own pro is a benefit of seconding all the pitches normally which is what I do and my placement skills evolved dramatically after the first couple of years of rope soloing constantly swearing at the as#@&%e who did the placements. So much so that I got to the point I where basically never 'set' passive pro but rather learned to rely on the geometry of the placements instead.
...70 meter rope...
A 70m won't fit in my backpack and I wouldn't want the additional weight.
...do shorter pitches...
Hmm, I do the opposite running pitches together whenever I can...
Again, for free lead rope soloing:
 '75-'92 I used knots (Bastille Crack was my first rope solo)
'92-'04 Tab-Modded grigri
'04-Pres Eddy (did a 40th-anniversary rope solo of the Bastille Crack in '15)
Easily have in a thousand or two trad multipitch pitches in by each of the three methods and generally can do multipitch routes 1/4 to a 1/3 faster rope soloing than climbing with an efficient partner.
Due to all that history and mileage, I have my system completely dialed in and am as comfortable (or more comfortable) rope soloing as I am climbing with a partner. Here are a couple of routes I rope solo fairly regularly: Wushu Roof is a single-pitch route I rope solo multiple times each spring getting back in shape waiting for our main climbing crag to open in July and did it again this past Sunday (this pic is from a go of it with a partner).
And I do this route fairly often once our main crag opens:
As I said, definitely up for evaluating the Revo, but it would have to significantly out-perform the Eddy for me to switch given I have everything so dialed in.
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perswig
climber
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They belong in the tar pit with hexes, tricams and bongs.
Hey, now! Let's not get hasty...
Dale
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Jun 11, 2018 - 11:23am PT
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I call rope soloing "The State of the Too Scared To Fall"
I have done a fair amount of climbing with a Silent Partner and I can say this stuff is a pain in the ass but better than not climbing at all.
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benthic
Trad climber
Cambridge, MA
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Jun 11, 2018 - 06:08pm PT
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The rope runs the wrong way through the grigri for rope soloing so can't quite fathom continuing to use it after the Eddy came out let alone trying to use it for fast alpine - but it's definitely a to each his own deal and everyone needs to sort out and dial in a system that works for them.
I flip the GriGri around so that the fixed end feeds out the bottom and the free end feeds over my shoulder from the backpack.
I also use a skinny rope (~9mm) which feeds pretty easily but still locks up fine, at least with the GriGri+. If I have more than ~100ft of rope out without much drag, the device sometimes auto-feeds due to rope weight; but at about 150ft it starts to lock itself up and require manual tending again.
Would love to try the Eddy some time, but haven't bought one because inevitably I'd find myself without it on days my partner bails or runs out of psyche :)
As a side note, the lack of rope drag when rope soloing is really nice.... I carry mostly quickdraws, and only need to extend placements if there's a sharp roof / edge I want to avoid.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Jul 10, 2018 - 01:25pm PT
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Looks like the new and improved Revo is shipping, Backcountry just billed my credit card for my back order.
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jeff constine
Trad climber
Ao Namao
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Jul 10, 2018 - 03:42pm PT
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R/solo with selfie stick.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jul 10, 2018 - 03:55pm PT
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"I'm looking at rope solo free climbing, not aid climbing. Thanks for clarifying!"
Bloody 'ell, thank goodness. I was about to write a tome. Whew.
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