Quick n' Dirty Rope Ascension with ATC?

So if you're belaying with a GriGri or rappelling on a single line on said GriGri, it's pretty quick and easy to start ascending the rope. Just attach a long sling via a prusik above the device as a foot loop, stand up and reel in the slack through the GriGri. Repeat to ascend the rope while tying a catastrophe knot every once in a while.

Now, my question is whether it's ok or not to do that with an ATC? Let's say you are rappelling on two strands with an ATC which is backed up with an autoblock. Halfway down you realize, for whatever reason, you need to ascend. Could you just attach the single foot loop and then reel in slack through the ATC and reascend that way? Or is that placing too much trust in that autoblock? I understand that the autoblock is just a backup and it is not foolproof.

I've done something like that for a few feet and it is a true PITA. When you pull slack through the ATC, then you have to pull the slack through your autoblock also or you'll lose the gains made through the ATC. Make sense?

Ascend with two prusiks - one for the foot and one attached to the belay loop on your harness.

If you have a spare locker and can briefly unweight the rappel, you can clip the eye of the ATC to your belay loop and ascend the ropes.

blog.alpineinstitute.com/20…

mbk wrote:If you have a spare locker and can briefly unweight the rappel, you can clip the eye of the ATC to your belay loop and ascend the ropes. blog.alpineinstitute.com/20…

That is a pretty cool trick!

I've used the guide mode trick a few times and it works well.

Nice technique!

yeah it's a thing. To make it easier to take rope redirect the rope that goes down through a biner atached to the jumar/tibloc/prusik you're using for the upper side, kind of like this:

(Best image i could find)(and i know its not an atc but it works just the same)(pulley is not really necesary)

Although redirection makes it way easier it is still a REAL PAIN IN THE ASS to ascend a rope with an atc or grigri, it's much better just to have two prusik cords (one you already have for extending a rappel, so you just carry one extra piece of cord) or a tibloc, tiblocs are sweet. :)

With thick ropes on an atc guide youre almost FORCED to use the redirect above ... Not because of the change in direction

But because youve now created a 3-1 pulley to make it easier to pull in the rope

;)

The system shown by Faraday is a 2:1. Not 3:1.
However, the load being hauled is your own weight so any force you apply pulling down on the free end of the rope lightens that load, which makes the hauling that much easier.

kewl

jktinst wrote:The system shown by Faraday is a 2:1. Not 3:1. However, the load being hauled is your own weight so any force you apply pulling down on the free end of the rope lightens that load, which makes the hauling that much easier.

The load ISNT yout body weight .... Its the slack in the non free end of the rope

When you step up you create slack which with 2 strands in autoblock in a guide/reverso with a thick and stif 10mm+ rope can be almost impossible to pull up

anyone who tries to haul themselves up by hand is doing it wrong

;)

I like the follower to carry a Grigri and a T Block and use this if they need to ascend the rope.

Edit: better pic

Bill Kirby wrote:

Got a higher rez pic?

bearbreeder wrote: The load ISNT yout body weight .... Its the slack in the non free end of the rope When you step up you create slack which with 2 strands in autoblock in a guide/reverso with a thick and stif 10mm+ rope can be almost impossible to pull up anyone who tries to haul themselves up by hand is doing it wrong ;)

Yes. It's a walk up, not a haul up, which means that, when moving up, your weight is on your foot loop and the force of moving up is provided by your own push-up/pull-up effort. The weight then transfers to your grigri/guide and remains stationary while you move your foot hitch/ascender further up. The system is mostly only there to facilitate pulling in the slack but when doing that, I really don't see how it provides any mechanical advantage at all. Pulling slack through the friction at the grigri/guide is indeed much easier if the rope is redirected to pull down instead of up but, as far as I can tell, in this case, both the top pulley/biner and the grigri/guide act as simple redirection points. Only towards the end of the pull, will you get a slight mechanical advantage that will help you cinch the rope tight and avoid losing too much of the height gained when you sit back down in the harness but I don't see how that mechanical advantage can be anything other than 2:1.

Any chance you could show a diagram of this system indicating where you get 1+1=2 and 2+1=3?

jktinst wrote: Yes. It's a walk up, not a haul up, which means that, when moving up, your weight is on your foot loop and the force of moving up is provided by your own push-up/pull-up effort. The weight then transfers to your grigri/guide and remains stationary while you move your foot hitch/ascender further up. The system is mostly only there to facilitate pulling in the slack but when doing that, I really don't see how it provides any mechanical advantage at all. Pulling slack through the friction at the grigri/guide is indeed much easier if the rope is redirected to pull down instead of up but, as far as I can tell, in this case, both the top pulley/biner and the grigri/guide act as simple redirection points. Only towards the end of the pull, will you get a slight mechanical advantage that will help you cinch the rope tight and avoid losing too much of the height gained when you sit back down in the harness but I don't see how that mechanical advantage can be anything other than 2:1. Any chance you could show a diagram of this system indicating where you get 1+1=2 and 2+1=3?

Have you tried it on an overhanging dual strand rap with 10mm+ fuzzy thick old ropes?

There is a definite mechanical advantage

If yr in squamish yr welcome to try it on my old rope i use for cleaning ... I assure you its exceptionally hard to pull through on both stands in autoblock ANY way (rap or belay) without a mechanical advantage

Give it a try

;)