Middle mark with chalk for multiple rappels

I always appreciate picking up little tricks off of here and wanted to share this one that I came up with this last week.

I did a long multipitch climb that required 6 raps to get off of. My rope is quite dirty and the middle mark is hard to see so I pulled both ends through on the first rap and marked the middle with a bunch of chalk, which I always have on me. I had to add a bit more chalk by the fourth to make it nice and dark again and the rain on last rap washed it away. It worked great to save us a bit of time and worry.

Jayson Nissen wrote:I always appreciate picking up little tricks off of here and wanted to share this one that I came up with this last week. I did a long multipitch climb that required 6 raps to get off of. My rope is quite dirty and the middle mark is hard to see so I pulled both ends through on the first rap and marked the middle with a bunch of chalk, which I always have on me. I had to add a bit more chalk by the fourth to make it nice and dark again and the rain on last rap washed it away. It worked great to save us a bit of time and worry.

This is a trick I hope to never use. :)

NICE!

Anything to improve safety during a dark rap.

That works, but you could also tie an overhand knot on a bight in the middle.

Then pray your knot doesn't get stuck in a crack when pulling it.

jon jugenheimer wrote:Then pray your knot doesn't get stuck in a crack when pulling it.

True, but not much different than a double rope rap.

Clean your rope for god's sake.

So, you put a bunch of chalk on the rope. Then pull it and maybe it piles up. Chalk gets on another part of rope.

I'm sure it works fine. But, no thanks.

I fart on the middle of my rope then snuff the rope while I'm feeding through the anchor. I can totally tell when I'm at the middle, even in the dark. The only time it didn't work was when I farted twice. Almost rapped off one of the ends that day!

How the hell do epiphanies like this come to fruition and become threads... For the love of entertainment, thanks for the laugh bro

Andy- Have you ever tied a knot in the middle of your rope while rapping with a single rope?

While a knot would mark the middle, I can't think of any benefits it would have over the chalk, and the risk of the knot getting stuck is a major drawback. It would also take a while to tie unless you tied it on a bight which would introduce both a knot and a loop to get stuck on things.

Though, as perhaps Frank is implying in his cryptic comment, a clean properly marked rope would be the soundest choice.

I've used the chalk trick before, works pretty well. If your middle is marked but faint, do it just a little off from the actual middle marker. This allows you to confirm that the chalked spot is in fact the middle. Other people recommend putting tape on the middle, I've seen tape migrate, so not my thing.

If the rap isn't a rope stretcher, consider learning how many arms lengths is half way when you are coiling. You can find this number by coiling your rope over your shoulders and dividing by two. Approx 22 coils equals the middle for my arm span on a 70m rope. Obviously your mileage my vary

How about just wraping some climbing tape on it. I normally have a small pack with water, tape, phone etc anytime I am doing something over 3 pitches.

I have used counting the arm lengths as well, but in my experience the lengths can be off by a few meters. In this case the ends were within a meter. It helped that the middle mark was visible with the chalk indicating where it was at.

Tape would work well also, but tape in my pack is less handy than my chalk bag.

I do not think that there is any reasonable way by which chalk rubbed into a climbing rope could migrate to another part of the climbing rope in such a way as to confuse me.

Jayson Nissen wrote:Andy- Have you ever tied a knot in the middle of your rope while rapping with a single rope? While a knot would mark the middle, I can't think of any benefits it would have over the chalk, and the risk of the knot getting stuck is a major drawback. It would also take a while to tie unless you tied it on a bight which would introduce both a knot and a loop to get stuck on things. Though, as perhaps Frank is implying in his cryptic comment, a clean properly marked rope would be the soundest choice.

I've never done it to rap, but have marked the middle of many ropes with an overhand while rigging slingshot anchors, managing single-pitch terrain (Sterling ropes with no middle mark). My reasoning is just based on it being similar to the EDK, which I have luckily had success with many times. I think you could make the loop pretty small. But yes of course the solution is to have your middle marked clearly - the chalk trick is a good idea though if you have chalk.

This is a great trick that I have done many times. I've even done it at night instead of using the original black middle marker as the chalk is easier to see. Never have I had the chalk mark move to another part of the rope and if you actually rub the chalk in and try this you'd realize there is no chance of it happening.

I've also used the overhand on a bight trick but only unless there is a zero chance of it getting stuck. This does work well if you are rapping at night without a headlamp though. Not that I'd know anything about that :/

I just slice mine. But not all the way through.

as long as the pulls are clean ... using a biner block can be both faster and "safer", especially if using a grigri

the middle is always marked ... and you only need to worry about tying/untying a knot in one end ...

also if you think about the sequence ... you can feed the dead end through the rings the moment you go down, and then untie the knot on the live end after yr partner is down ... no repulling up of the ropes to untie/retie knots

lastly if you need to reascend the rope, its MUCH easier on a grigri

;)