Oliver Tippet's LRS Aid setup.

I love this dude and am addicted to watching his videos.   youtube.com/@olivertippett  (Thanks for finally getting a mic so we can hear you! *hides lol*) It seems he does the following:

- Rope dangles and no backup knots
- Rope to Harness w/ GriGri w/MicroTrax (for Cache loop)
- Rope through pro(draws)
- Anchor

I know he's taken some nasty whippers (I've watched them and been scared out of my mind on my couch!)

I know some people (Avant guy) uses cache loop stuff. And some have talked about putting your 60M rope in a backpack (sounds horrible)

Can anyone confirm the above as Oliver's system?

Unrelated but I got that Alfifi Like Mark Hudon said to and if you don't have one you need to get one now.  Gamechanger.

Love his videos to! No back up knots thats crazy! I solo aid with just a grigri also but definitely have back up knots.

Ollie is totally approachable if you are in the valley at the same time as he is and happen to be on the ground at the same time as he is. But if you have to ask whether Skot’s Alififi is a good idea or not, he won’t spend anytime with you.

My bad- I shouldn’t presume to speak for Olly. He is more chill than I gave him credit for and it looks like he is responding below.

In recent vids it looks like he’s using the new freebell device as a grigri backup/cache management 

Unrelated but I got that Alfifi Like Mark Hudon said to and if you don't have one you need to get one now.  Gamechanger.

It took you THIS long to figure that out?!

Sheesh. 

EVERYONE in this forum needs to own a Skot Richards Alfifi. This is not Big Wall Theory; this is Big Wall Fact. 

Ask Tom Randall: As for the above mentioned rope solo system, ALWAYS tie a backup knot or yer...

There are no big wall facts. I dont use an alfifi, and Olly and I get along swell.

Support Skot, he's rad, but use the system that works for you.

All this mindless copying of other's systems takes away from some of the fun of aid climbing. KISS.

Brandon Adamswrote:

There are no big wall facts. I dont use an alfifi, and Olly and I get along swell.

Support Skot, he's rad, but use the system that works for you.

All this mindless copying of other's systems takes away from some of the fun of aid climbing. KISS.

What is your system for aid leading then?  Not trying to start something I'm still learning the ropes

M Goatwrote:

In recent vids it looks like he’s using the new freebell device as a grigri backup/cache management 

Dope AF!  

I did some googling: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/benk98/bcg-freebell

This does look awesome.  

Hans Lacassewrote:

Love his videos to! No back up knots thats crazy! I solo aid with just a grigri also but definitely have back up knots.

Do you cache loop with a microtrax and just put backup knots behind that?  (That's what I've been doing)  What do you do to manage the rope weight on the other (climber) side (non-anchor) side. 

RWPTwrote:

What is your system for aid leading then?  Not trying to start something I'm still learning the ropes

I've caught flack for this on here, but I use Yates adjustables, with my ladders on the same oval carabiner as my daisies. It's all personal preference, but I like it better than an alfifi, at least when it comes to pure/hard aid.

I like that I'm never exposed to a significant daisy fall, because I'm always attached short to my last piece. Plus, it's not really any more movement than an alfifi, just a different order. Plus the alfifi is just one more thing attached to my harness.

Alfifi feels faster when I'm doing really easy aid and never scared to blow a piece. 

disclaimer: it does seem like most of the top aid climbers (including oli, hudon, ptpp, etc) are using the alfifi for everything, so this is NOT a rule, it's just what I prefer

Yukon Cornelius - the Alfifi really helps with your top stepping, offering significant mechanical advantage over mere adjustable daisies! 

Peter Zabrokwrote:

Yukon Cornelius - the Alfifi really helps with your top stepping, offering significant mechanical advantage over mere adjustable daisies! 

How so? It's the same thing, just attached with a hook instead of a carabiner. Wouldn't the mechanics be the same?

^^ Not even close buddy. 

Think of your attachment point using a traditional adjustable Daisy. On the bottom end, it's attached to your belay loop. The top end has a buckle, sewn loop and lead carabiner which you attach to your piece of gear as high as possible. 

If you cinch the system tight from below, you have the distance of belay loop plus buckle plus sewn loop plus lead carabiner separating you from the piece. How much wasted height is this on every single move??

Even worse is when you topstep. The lead carabiner plus sewn loop plus buckle keep your connection point low. How the hell can you topstep above all that crap? [You can't]

Enter the Alfifi, girth hitched to the cross strap of your harness and passed behind the upper harness closure. No belay loop loss of height. The Alfifi hook goes DIRECTLY into the piece - no loss of height. 

If you are below the piece, you can cinch up into it with zero lost height. 

Even more significant is the mechanical advantage during top stepping - the mechanical advantage of the Alfifi kicks the shit out of an adjustable daisy! Furthermore, the camming-torque action of the Alfifi of cross strap against top harness closure helps pull you into the rock. 

There is no comparison. There Alfifi is TJAT much better! GET ONE. 

There is a REASON Fabio Elli and I considered the Alfifi to be one of the four great aid climbing innovations of the new millennium.

All of this and hundreds of other big wall and Aid Climbing tips are explained in our book HOOKING UP - The Ultimate Big Wall and Aid Climbing Manual.  Everyone on this forum should own a copy, as well as an Alfifi. 

By owning this Aid climbing device and this book, you will save enough time, energy and heartache to completely underwrite the cost of these two items many times over. The book sells out quickly and I have another order of books coming up the St Lawrence Seaway to be picked up by me in Toronto at the start of December as soon as I get home from caving in Mexico, before Lake Ontario freezes for the winter! I can get everyone a book by Christmas so contact me please. Support your dirtbag wall doctor! 

Yours, etc.

Dr. Piton

Peter Zabrokwrote:

^^ Not even close buddy. 

Think of your attachment point using a traditional adjustable Daisy. On the bottom end, it's attached to your belay loop. The top end has a buckle, sewn loop and lead carabiner which you attach to your piece of gear as high as possible. 

If you cinch the system tight from below, you have the distance of belay loop plus buckle plus sewn loop plus lead carabiner separating you from the piece. How much wasted height is this on every single move??

Even worse is when you topstep. The lead carabiner plus sewn loop plus buckle keep your connection point low. How the hell can you topstep above all that crap? [You can't]

Enter the Alfifi, girth hitched to the cross strap of your harness and passed behind the upper harness closure. No belay loop loss of height. The Alfifi hook goes DIRECTLY into the piece - no loss of height. 

If you are below the piece, you can cinch up into it with zero lost height. 

Even more significant is the mechanical advantage during top stepping - the mechanical advantage of the Alfifi kicks the shit out of an adjustable daisy! Furthermore, the camming-torque action of the Alfifi of cross strap against top harness closure helps pull you into the rock. 

There is no comparison. There Alfifi is TJAT much better! GET ONE. 

There is a REASON Fabio Elli and I considered the Alfifi to be one of the four great aid climbing innovations of the new millennium.

All of this and hundreds of other big wall and Aid Climbing tips are explained in our book HOOKING UP - The Ultimate Big Wall and Aid Climbing Manual.  Everyone on this forum should own a copy, as well as an Alfifi. 

By owning this Aid climbing device and this book, you will save enough time, energy and heartache to completely underwrite the cost of these two items many times over. The book sells out quickly and I have another order of books coming up the St Lawrence Seaway to be picked up by me in Toronto at the start of December as soon as I get home from caving in Mexico, before Lake Ontario freezes for the winter! I can get everyone a book by Christmas so contact me please. Support your dirtbag wall doctor! 

Yours, etc.

Dr. Piton

Crap, I was supposed to pick this book up.  I'm going to have my wife get it for me for a Christmas present!  Thanks I had forgotten all about this Dr. Piton! 

I've got your back, buddy! 

I arranged with our Eye-talian publishers the perfect timing of the shipment, to arrive when I finally get home after my El Cap climbing season, and Mexican caving. 

Ho ho bloody ho, it's the perfect Christmas gift. And Hanukkah too - oy vey! 

I use a Grigri 1 with a Freebell as a backup. Before I had a Freebell, I would use a microtraxion and a backup knot. I personally feel that it's not significantly more dangerous to go without a backup knot when using the Freebell. The only time I haven't used a backup when I was doing the Nose in a day and wanted to save time. My backup in that case was the fact it was C1.

Olly Tippettwrote:

I use a Grigri 1 with a Freebell as a backup. Before I had a Freebell, I would use a microtraxion and a backup knot. I personally feel that it's not significantly more dangerous to go without a backup knot when using the Freebell. The only time I haven't used a backup when I was doing the Nose in a day and wanted to save time. My backup in that case was the fact it was C1.

Am I wrong to feel giddy replying to you?  Thanks for all of your videos btw /fanboy.

Also thanks for the feedback. That's kinda what I have been doing. I was really more curious about rope management than anything.

Did you / do you I guess; tie into the non-anchor end of the rope to your harness or is a "bunny ears" 8 or figure 8 on clipped in as backup (to your harness) "Super Good Enough."

Besides single pitch cragging most of my xp has been in our local gym that's only 40' high and rope weight isn't really an issue. I'm trying to get my systems dialed so when I get out and Rope Solo The Glass Menagerie here in the SouthEast I can be super efficient and have my systems dialed to hopefully not be a chokepoint for folks.

I use the continuous loop method, where I tie the top of my haul line to the bottom of the lead line. The bottom of the haul line is still clipped to the bags so I can get back to them easily down that after I finish the pitch. If I'm doing a solo push and only using one rope then I'll let the rope end dangle below me. Whether I have a stopper knot at the end of it or not depends on whether I'm using backup knots and how likely the knot is to get stuck.

Peter Zabrokwrote:

Think of your attachment point using a traditional adjustable Daisy. On the bottom end, it's attached to your belay loop. The top end has a buckle, sewn loop and lead carabiner which you attach to your piece of gear as high as possible. 

If you cinch the system tight from below, you have the distance of belay loop plus buckle plus sewn loop plus lead carabiner separating you from the piece. How much wasted height is this on every single move??

Even worse is when you topstep. The lead carabiner plus sewn loop plus buckle keep your connection point low. How the hell can you topstep above all that crap? [You can't]

That is not how I attach my daisies. I girth hitch them to my hard points, and attach them to the same carabiner as my ladders. That makes it mechanically identical to an alfifi, no? It's like I have two alfifis, except it's one less thing attached to my harness.

This is how I was taught to aid climb, and that's how Neil Chalten (of Vdiff) does it. If it was good enough for the 2nd ascent of Disorderly Conduct, it can't be that bad, right?

Edit to say: I don't think this way is distinctly better, and I wouldn't try to convince anyone to change. But it works for me and I like it. I'm always trying to experiment with different methods and see what works better in different scenarios.

Olly Tippettwrote:

I use the continuous loop method, where I tie the top of my haul line to the bottom of the lead line. The bottom of the haul line is still clipped to the bags so I can get back to them easily down that after I finish the pitch. If I'm doing a solo push and only using one rope then I'll let the rope end dangle below me. Whether I have a stopper knot at the end of it or not depends on whether I'm using backup knots and how likely the knot is to get stuck.

This seems nice as it would lessen the amount of weight on you and still allow you to have access to the haul line.  Double fisherman's to connect them or overhand or what for Haul line / Lead line connections.  

Peter Zabrokwrote:

I've got your back, buddy! 

I arranged with our Eye-talian publishers the perfect timing of the shipment, to arrive when I finally get home after my El Cap climbing season, and Mexican caving. 

Ho ho bloody ho, it's the perfect Christmas gift. And Hanukkah too - oy vey!