Basics of soloing

mike gibson wrote: Would you have any more details on what happened to the person in this accident?

With great respect, Brian Delaney (rip)
My own experiences with a near plague-like, level of ground wasps, swarms of yellow jackets that attacked my ankles and legs. Has made me suspect that may have been what precipitated, the cause for the accident but that is complete conjecture.

As to the type of rope,
there is a hybrid -gym- or 'program' rope that has a beefier sheath weave. It holds up better than either. A plain dynamic or a static cord. I have used a chest harness grgri1st gen with back up
Knots on a single cord for climbing on a very similar sounding roadside cliff. As an old dog, it took some time to be comfortable with changing my way of doing things, but I have changed my set up.
The recent concerns, and subsequent addition of a second back up line, and rope capture divice,
when added to the routine offers a second level of safety.
and if you can work it a smoother change over to self lower, ( different from rappelling )

The type of rope, or of static versus dynamic raises the question of chest harness, your weight
as it relates to the stretch-ness of the rope, will you be hanging? Working moves?
Just a few Things to consider.

Jake C wrote:Thanks for all the input, to give you all a bit more info i live in eugene and we have a tiny little crag in town with maybe 25 routes on it. It is 45 ft tall and u can access every anchor from the top. There is no approach as a car just reaches the bottom and often i even bike. I just have an extremely erratic work scheduleand it is often hard to find belayers to crank out laps to hone my crack technique on whenever i choose. Im not planning to do anything incredibly remote or tall. I have two dynamic lines right now hut i was told that for tr soloing a static line is preferred. Does anybody know of any truth to that? Also i will not be climbing in any icy conditions, at the very most a sudden drizzle that oregon loves to thrust upon us.

I see more dynamic rope being used for TR solo than static. You can use either. Static will keep you at a crux if you take a hang, whereas dynamic might lower you a bit; though that's irrelevant on a 45' route. Most importantly to me, dynamic will keep you alive if you screw up and fall with 20' of slack. I certainly wouldn't say that static is "preferred".

To Ted P. - aside from the other problems with a gym device, you lose the ability to hang in place while you're working a crux.

Wouldn't an auto belay then also require a generator to power it? They are not strictly mechanical are they? I have never used one but I always assumed they had some electric component. It's a crazy idea regardless hahaha

Matt Carroll wrote:Wouldn't an auto belay then also require a generator to power it? They are not strictly mechanical are they? I have never used one but I always assumed they had some electric component. It's a crazy idea regardless hahaha

I'm pretty sure it doesn't require electricity as we use one on a zip line at my job and it doesn't use any power. Ridiculous idea regaled, though.

Yeah, no...I've never seen an autobelay with power cords aside from the silly ones at VE that light up and flash if you stray too far. As far as basic functionality, no electricity.

For the record, I wasn't actually suggesting he use an autobelay, lol.

I have tested and perfected this system over hundreds of pitches. It is the best configuration for hands free ascent of a fixed line as well as transitioning to descend under weight. Any descender works. One dynamic rope is all you need; two ropes is inefficient and scoff worthy.

Edit:

JKeller wrote:Could you explain what this setup is or give us a bigger picture to see it up close?

Sequence showing TR solo transition to descent without unweighting the rope.
mountainproject.com/v/11110…
mountainproject.com/v/11214…

Jake-

I live in Corvallis and have been developing a climbing area out near Sweethome. I often TR solo when I can't get a partner. I'd be happy to show you the set up I use.

Two toothed devices with a piece of bungee on the primary so that any fall is very short. I use older dynamic ropes.

Contact me if you want to head out some time. I'll be out at the Garden this weekend.

I started top-rope soloing this year to get more time outside when I can't find partners. I ended up going with a Petzl Microtraxion and Ascension setup and it's worked very well for me. The Microtraxion goes at chest height, clipped to my belay loop via quickdraw and held in the proper position with a sling around my shoulders. The Ascension is held at my waist with a locker and functions as a backup. I do this on a normal dynamic rope, and I haven't had any problem. I might hesitate to use this setup on anything with a chance of inversion as I have not tested it in those circumstances, but I'm not really a strong enough climber to be on those sorts of routes yet.

I'm no expert, but this system has worked for me over dozens of pitches of mostly easier climbing. I also find the ascender handy to have around for other uses and I'm glad I invested in it.

Why do you remove the soloist? Can't you rotate it backwards to disengage it? It would seem to be an additional safety in case you lose control of your descending device.

Michael Schneider wrote: With great respect, Brian Delaney (rip)

I don't believe this accident was a matter of TR soloing per se other than Brian was out TR soloing that day. The accident occurred while in he was transitioning at the top of the route and such points / spans of transitions are very much a commonality in climbing accidents in general.

And a similar accident happened earlier this year on Moonlight Buttress to a climber I was acquainted with and under nearly identical circumstances where the specific details remain unknown.

And really, the same note of caution applies to climbing with partners as well - really pay attention and double / triple check everything at the transitions; they are points of higher risk and you have to step up the risk management and precautions accordingly.

dave higdon wrote:I would strongly urge you to use a dynamic rope vs a static line.

If you do decide to use static, two devices and NO back up knots.

I use dynamic all the time.
For working routes I use a Croll (primary, steel maillon to belay loop) and minitrax (secondary, gridlock biner to belay loop).
If I'm just running laps on something I'll use the minitrax (primary, gridlock biner to belay loop) and a maillon/backup knots (on the rope, basket hitched to tie ins with short sling)

Hi
I top rope solo at least once a week, sometimes more. My top, and main device is a Cinch, quick-linked to a 5 inch sling extension, that is girth-hitched through both tie-ins. The Cinch is kept upright with a shock cord over/around one shoulder. My lower, secondary device is a microtraxion, clipped to my belay loop with a locking oval. By using a climbing specific quick-link on my Cinch, its arc of travel is shorter than the micro on its carabiner. Therefore, the Cinch locks up just before the Microtraxion. It took a little bit of finagling to get it just right. I use a single 10.5 burly Sterling rope, and I always use these coiled-tube, orange rope protectors on any wear spots. Two ropes just seemed too cumbersome. Carefully protecting potential wear spots, and not hang-dogging on the rope seems to be a reasonable and safe compromise. The Cinch is practically frictionless. Once at the top, I throw an autoblock on between the Cinch and Micro, remove the Micro, and rap down on the Cinch. It's a Cinch! Cheers, Glen
P.S. I use a 1 liter Nalgene as my rope weight

Leaving notes on your car telling the time when you will return, is, IME, not very smart. Perfect way to let the thieves know you'll be gone for the next x number of hours.

I've TR soloed on gri-gri, modified gri-gri, silent partner, and various combinations of minitrax/microtrax/protrax.

I almost hit the ground once on a modified gri-gri that didn't lock up in a fall that started as a slow, sliding fall. Silent partner was a nightmare for solo TR, better for leading. I then went to traxions and probably climbed more on the solo TR setup than with partners for the 4 years after that. I love it, no agenda except your own, no time pressures, quiet, can work sections forever without worrying about your belayer's comfort or them getting equal climbing time.

My current setup is one mini-traxion (main/top device clipped directly to belay loop and help upright with shock cord), one micro-traxion (backup,clipped to a shorty 3" sling that is girthed to the belay loop), single rope (often a static), no backup knots except one about 10' off the ground. I use a piece of shock-cord in a bandolier style over one shoulder to hold the top/main traxion upright and free of slack. If I were starting from scratch today, I'd probably try to find two new-old-stock minitraxions, which I prefer to the micro, and modify the lockout tabs.

I ran a mini as the main device with a protrax as the backup lower device for years, because I already had the protrax that I rarely used. It was bulky, heavy, but it worked fine.

Ok, I'm not in Southern California. I get that. I have not switched from Grigri back up knots
And a super light chest harness, the harness is just flat 2inch, 'seat belt' webbing it is one of my oldest pieces of gear it is 45 Y'Rs old made by Troll.
I also have slid out of control useing a modified 1st gen Grigri also I'm a big fan of the Kong Robot
( I think I linked it before )
and a hybrid assisted climbing rig with a capture device at the top on one of two ropes.