your top rope solo device

Nick Votto wrote:I use the Wren Soloist 2-3 times a week and I can't imagine anything being better than this device....hands free as long as you weight your rope correctly. Only drawback is when you can't do the climb you need to prusik up...

I also use the Soloist, backed up with knots clipped to my belay-loop, used with a rap rope (i.e. the other half of your rope). At the top, put a belay device on the rap rope, then invert the Soloist into fail-mode by clipping the upwards-orienting krab of the Soloist into a gear loop with a snaplink (you'll need to allow a wee bit of slack in your chest harness set-up to allow this). Then just rap down and the the Soloist will follow you. At the bottom, unclip the snap link, take off the bely device and run another lap.

Regarding the Goblin, it either trails or has a "parking" function that requires manual cam release.

Trailed on a 12" lanyard it freely moves up and down the rope but engages the instant the connection biner moves down. Hard to explain but as far as hands free reliability, it just works. I have been waiting for something like this to come along for a long time. As a rope access trainer, I will be putting it through the paces to identify any downsides, and would love to hear of any devious ways it could not work ( there's always something right?)

Mh

To be clear- top rope rather than leading. Silent partner for that

OAW wrote:Petzl Micro Traxion hands down! No issues what so ever if you understand physics and use a dynamic rope. I have logged hundreds of thousands of feet of climbing on the device and taken several hundreds of falls(more of a dynamic sit onto the rope) which produces way less then 5kn of force(where you can start to see rope damage) and zero issues. No need for two devices on one rope or two ropes and two devices means you either are a very big person or you just don't understand the physics involved. All the force is applied to one device anyways. And if you are concerned with the device not grabbing your rope then you put in on wrong or you are not paying attention to or maintaining your gear. Matt

I don't think anyone is concerned about distributing load between two devices; it's more that the inconvenience of using two devices every time is more appealing than the consequences of your single device not doing its job once in every ten thousand pitches or whatever.

But yeah, micro traxions are sweet. I use one micro trax and one microcender, but I'm thinking about switching to two micro traxions since the microcender likes to cross-load.

I've seen a climber tie weight to the end of his rope that he anchored so it hung just off the ground. He rigged up some camming device branded by ACME (to which he pointed out the irony in it). He top rope soloed this 5.easy route with a loose leash hooked to this ACME device. The rope had to be weighed down, for the device would pull the rope up with his upward progress.

I recently got a Petzl shunt and a Micro Traxion, and tried using them both on a single strand that I anchored in the same fashion. Twas skeeeetchY! The first several times that I fell, I couldn't help but grab the rope over the two devices, then lower my weight onto their aid. But, they locked me in.

Both devices are nice to have, in that they can be used for more than one thing in their own right. This Petzl Shunt locked me in when I stumbled along the arête that you rappel onto when coming off "Central Pillar of Frenzy" on Middle Cathedral, Yosemite. I was simulrapping and had just made a statement about backing up rappels for simulrapping. My reaction was to take my hands away from the brake strand and let the Shunt kick in, instead of make a panic grab for the brake strand and get my hand pinched in the ATC. The shunt works like a champ. I got it used off of here. It kicks in on my multipitch rappels when I don't need it to.

Todd Anderson wrote: I don't think anyone is concerned about distributing load between two devices; it's more that the inconvenience of using two devices every time is more appealing than the consequences of your single device not doing its job once in every ten thousand pitches or whatever. But yeah, micro traxions are sweet. I use one micro trax and one microcender, but I'm thinking about switching to two micro traxions since the microcender likes to cross-load.

Two Petzl Micro Traxions will not make a difference in safety as you will only be weighting one of them. The top one... If you're worried about damaging the rope, the bottom one won't matter because again its the top one that will be doing the damage. That said if you are using the device in an appropriate manner and with a dynamic rope, the only forces you will see are a doubling of the static forces. So if you are < 220lbs then you weigh < 1kn. But if you do weigh 1 kn, then doubling the static force means you will only put 2kns of force or barley over that on to the rope, which is way < the 5kn it takes to start damaging the rope. If you're worried about your device not grabbing then you have either loaded the device wrong or you have damaged your device and are not taking care of your gear appropriately. I hope this helps ease your mind.

Matt

For just taking laps and getting a workout in I like a MicroTraxion extended from the belay loop to a chest sling (keeps it up high) and a GriGri direct on the belay loop. Gotta pull slack through the GriGri every so often, but when I get to the top I just open the MicroTraxion and rap on the GriGri. Quick and easy. Works with a single rope or redundant ones if the rock's sharp.

Eric64 wrote:With the Camp Goblin, is it a concern that it could be switched into up-and-down mode by accident?

No.

In up-down mode it still locks in a fall. Been using it for about 6 months now and works every time.

The up-down mode always catches a fall and only allows a slow decent such that you can use it to down climb.

OAW wrote: Two Petzl Micro Traxions will not make a difference in safety as you will only be weighting one of them...If you're worried about your device not grabbing then you have either loaded the device wrong or you have damaged your device and are not taking care of your gear appropriately. I hope this helps ease your mind. Matt

Right, one device should be fine if you never screw up loading the device, or you are good at taking care of and regularly inspecting your gear. It only takes one screw-up to kill you, though, and on a big volume day I might be loading the device 20-25 times.

Out of curiosity, do you alter your microtrax so it can't be locked with the cam open? I.e. file the groove in the side plate so there's nothing for the locking pin to catch on. I haven't done this yet.

M Hanna wrote:..... and would love to hear of any devious ways it could not work ( there's always something right?) Mh

The only down side that I have found so far is that when down climbing in up-down mode, any sideways pull will cause it to lock up. However, this is a minor issue that can be quickly corrected.

Todd Anderson wrote: Right, one device should be fine if you never screw up loading the device, or you are good at taking care of and regularly inspecting your gear. It only takes one screw-up to kill you, though, and on a big volume day I might be loading the device 20-25 times. Out of curiosity, do you alter your microtrax so it can't be locked with the cam open? I.e. file the groove in the side plate so there's nothing for the locking pin to catch on. I haven't done this yet.

True human factors is always very much at play. Do you back up your knot in your rope when you fix it to the anchor? You don't.... Point is, with discipline and a simple routine mental checklist it allows you to control the human factors.

Also I do not alter any of my gear. I also triple check that it catches as I pre-tension the rope before each ascent. Hope this helps...

i Use a Trangp Cinch. It's important to use a locking Belay Biner that can't be cross loaded . BD has a good one.

DavidDanielBrown wrote:Microcender as primary extended with a dogbone and chest harness, minitrax as secondary connected to belay loop, low stretch rope weighted at the base of the route, padded over the edge if needed and re-anchored as needed. No long traverses or significant overhangs. Pretzel has really good illustrations of this and a few alternate set-ups, some using a second rope and fall arrest type device. I don't have the link handy but Google can help find them.

Why a low stretch rope? Are you saying Petzl advocates a low stretch rope? Now you are increasing the chances of reaching that 5kn rope damaging threshold. Thats the only reason why its safe to use the micro traction in this application.

I use a modified gri-gri. I removed the Tab and polished the area nice and smooth. However I took a different approach than others on my keeper cord. My keeper cord does not attach to the gri-gri. It goes around the locker that the gri gri is on, holding the biner upright to my chest harness. This allows the gri-gri to float freely feeding effortlessly with no input from me, and arresting immediately upon a fall. I personally like it better than any way I had tested prior to that, and if push came to shove I'd be pretty confident on this system without a backup if I had to for some reason.

My backup is a fixed line (usually the middle of the rope is attached to my anchor with a double figure eight at the mid point creating one fixed line for the gri-gri and one for a backup) with overhand knots tied into every 6 feet or where a ledge fall could occur etc, depending the route. I have two draws girth hitched to my hard points with non-lockers on the ends. I clip them into the knots as I climb, pulling up and unclipping the bottom one, and re-clipping it above, so that even my backup is redundant.

OAW wrote: True human factors is always very much at play. Do you back up your knot in your rope when you fix it to the anchor? You don't.... Point is, with discipline and a simple routine mental checklist it allows you to control the human factors. Also I do not alter any of my gear. I also triple check that it catches as I pre-tension the rope before each ascent. Hope this helps...

True, but your rope doesn't have a trigger to disengage it.

And it isn't just human factors with a trax (I use a mini) - things tend to make their way inside the trax into the teeth and there is always the possibility of something catching the trigger and locking it open, preventing the cam from engaging, or getting into the slot the trigger pin rides in. There are plenty of times I've gotten dirt, ice, snow, leaves, and pine needles into my trax and gotten it all twisted up grovelling over a bulge or hugging an arete. That, and springs can fail.

I've never had my trax fail, never loaded it wrong, and never had any mishaps - but that doesn't mean I don't trail a microscender. It takes literally 30 seconds to attach, is as dead simple as possible, and may one day keep me from decking.

Fair enough, but at what force does your micro ascender start to damage the rope? At 5kn a Gibbs type ascender can outright break the rope at 5kn.

I always go by "Keep it Simple". So you can focus all your attention on the actual climbing.

Don't Modify your Gri Gri. Especially for toprope soloing.

For Freeclimb Rope soloing i use the Wren Soloist.

For aid climb rope soloing i use a Gri Gri or Trango Cinch. Two Clove Hitch's on two seperate Lockers works too.

Back up your device every twenty feet or so with a overhand tied to the harness. And use a Locker biner that can't be cross loaded.

I don't use a back up knot for top rope soloing. and I weight the end of the rope with a few Cams.

Take a AMGA Freeclimbing/Anchor Climbing course if relatively new to climbing. I wish i did this when i was younger.
Good way to meet potential climbing partners.

Cheers,
Chris W.

I used to use a cinch with a mini shackle. The cinch would drop me a few feet before catching which prevented cheating. It was also much easier to rap a few feet. I haven't used this setup in a while, however, and now have a micro trax.

Edit: a chinch still makes a good accessory even if you don't use it for the self 'belay' as you can clip a weighted rope (only rap device that does this?) and escape the self-belay and rap easily.

Chris CW wrote:Take a AMGA Freeclimbing/Anchor Climbing course if relatively new to climbing.

If you're relatively new to climbing you shouldn't be doing any kind of soloing at all.

Mark O'Neal wrote:I watched a guy last weekend top rope solo with nothing more than his ATC. Perhaps not the recommended setup....

When I'm setting toprope for my wife at one of the locations that's a pain to access the top(i.e. I have to rappel down to the chains). I'll use my ATC in Guide mode to clean the route. She's much to small and has rheumatoid arthritis so I don't expect her to belay for me.

Just set up for TR as normal and as you climb when ever you have a free hand(usually where you would clip a bolt anyway) tend the slack. With that being said I think at like 4kN the atc jams and 9kN it can sever your rope.

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