I am entering the wonderful and scary world of aid climbing and seeking some advice. what do you use for your fall protection when solo aid climbing. I know some people use a grigri, some use a girth hitch, some use a solo aider. I heard some of these solo aid fall protection does not work when you flip upside down. can you post what you use and why you like to use it. thanks

This question has been addressed several times at rockclimging.com. Try a search there. Its not the fastest, but i have used a clove hitch for years and it has held falls, long and short, in the winter and summer. Whatever you use tie a backup knot. I keep two extra lockers on my harness for this. I tie an eight-on-a-bight, clip it to second beaner, unclip first figure eight and move on. I generally give myself 20-30' between my clove hitch and backup, unless there is a ankle breaking ledge nearby.

good luck

I use a silent partner. It is heavy, awkward and sometimes a pain. But, it works every time and when you step out of your aiders to bust 20 feet of 5.6 you don't have to think about it.

Start by climbing very easy grades, one pitch routes to get your systems dialed in.

Search on the forums at bigwalls.net and supertopo and you will find tons of advice.

Cheers

john

For aid solo/speed solo I use a grigri with a clove backup. It is not as safe as the Silent Partner(IMHO), but it is less bulky and easier to transition to rap/clean mode. Plus when aiding you can always throw in another clove if the next piece is sketch...If you have to bust out some free moves just feed yourself out a couple of loops and go.

One way of using a grigri

http://bigwalls.net/wallwiki/index.php?title=Solo_Belay

I've just gone with a clove; bad, Mark, bad bad. I would look for vertical lines with fixed gear or a good continuous straight-up crack, 5.11-12 makes for good aid sometimes, N Table has some good workable lines with anchors also to work on hauling.

I own a Silent Partner but usually leave it in my pack when I leave the ground. I just haven't gotten a system down that works well for me. Mostly for the fact that I don't climb with a rope bucket (which rumor has as being the best for SP's). That said, I aid and rope solo using 2 clove hitches. I find I climb about 2 letter grades lower than if I had a partner belaying, as the extra time to change knots can be a real pain, but have never had any problems with it.

As to the kind of device that can fail if you turn upside down, you're thinking of the Soloist (IIRC), as it feeds one way, and locks the other, vs the soloaid that requires manual adjustment to feed rope.

Good luck to you, and be safe.

I use a Gri-gri on an auto locking biner. I added a keeper cord to it, and i use a rubber band (the kind they use in the grocery store on broccoli works best) to keep the Gri gri at the proper end of the biner. This seems to prevent cross loading.

I use it for solo aid, and if i need to free a few moves i have to feed out the appropriate slack first, which can be a pain.

I also always tie a back up knot.

I was feeding out slack through my clove when the piece popped, and when the rope came tight it pinched off the end of my finger and broke my thumb in the bargain.

Now I use a grigri.

I have used every method in the book and the soloist is the best.
self feeding,lead,toprope and rapell all in one device. It is fast as hell on a wall just back it up. I have been soloing for ten years and my silent partner is up for sale I used it five times. any buyers?

mike

Mike,

I've been roped soloing for %50 of all my climbing, free and aid, for the past thirty years. I've also used every method available and I'd frankly have to disagree with you on the soloist. I think of all the devices it is the one that is dangerous and should never be used. It simply won't hold upsidedown falls or falls that are even off vertical close to the horizontal. I know extremely competent and experienced folks who have decked due to ending up horizontal to the ground and then having the soloist just scream rope to the ground. Go with a grigri or better yet, get an Edelrid Eddy and use it with one of the new 9.8mm's (I use one from Metolius).

I prefer the Silent Partner.

Brad

Soloist!!! just back it up with a figure eight every ten or twenty feet, just like any other device you always back it up.
Grigri's have failed in the past and are not designed for this purpose. I have passed teams on walls and free routes with my soloist
and it caught seventy footer. I have heard of grigri's damaging a rope in a big solo fall because of the pinch point and they don't self feed.
mike

Hmmm. Varied opinions. This is what I've always heard, about the various devices.

It's good to keep it simple. Since solo aid is so complex and requires having so much going on your head, at any one time, it's nice to have a system that is simple, absolutely worry-free, and will work for any and every situation.

No single mechanical device is to be absolutely trusted (see posts above). I use knots. I tie a figure eight, then at least three figure eight back ups, each tied into a different carabiner, each tied into the belay loop of my harness. I only solo aid, so tying and untying is seldom a problem. I leave about ten feet between knots. More for easy sections, less for scary sections, and near the ground. As the rope comes tight, I'll untie the closest, and tie a new one ten feet further along.

For free sections, I'll tie a clove hitch closest to me, so it can slide along the rope. Figure eights are bomber. Clove hitches are slightly less bomber, but much easier to undo/adjust one-handed. Or sometimes I'll just reel out a twenty-five-foot loop of slack, and go for it.

The best carabiners to use are the Wild Country Belay Masters. It's good to have several. These are cleverly designed so they will never be cross-loaded, so you can be sure to get the full strength out of the carabiner, for every and any eventuality. Another thing less to worry about.

http://www.dmmclimbing.com/productsDetails.asp?id=3&id2=91