Double fisherman's cordelette loop as tether

Hi ! 

I've been lead climbing indoors for a while now and recently (6 months ago) started sport climbing and multi-pitch routes.

I've seen a lot of climbers using nylon or dyneema slings as tethers but I've never seen someone use a cordelette loop made with double fisherman's and girth hitched on your harness. Is there a reason for that ? I was planning on using something like this but is it safe ? 

I use a cordelette loop as a quad anchor and it works well so I don't see any reason why such a tether would fail

Thanks ! :)

Max 

If using cord, use it as a Purcell prussick.

One difference between a quad and a girth-hitched loop is that in a quad the segment with the joining knot is backed up by a segment with no knot.

mbk wrote:

One difference between a quad and a girth-hitched loop is that in a quad the segment with the joining knot is backed up by a segment with no knot.

Depends on how the cordellette is rigged as a tether.

I double up my knotted cordalette, girth it to my harness tie in points, stretch it out and put a knot in the middle of the extension with all four strands running through the knot. That way, any single point of failure in the thing is not catastrophic.

About the only time I do this is when descending a rap route.  I imagine it could be a bit bulky to wear that way while climbing  

I've never seen someone use a cordelette loop made with double fisherman's and girth hitched on your harness. Is there a reason for that ? I was planning on using something like this but is it safe ?

i think it worth saying that there is great danger in being tethered to an anchor, climbing above the anchor, and falling.  The stiffer the tether, the harsher the jolt - think train wreck.  

Some tethers do about as good as can be done to mitigate that error in judgement - the mentioned Purcell prusic and the commercial equivalents (e.g., Petzl Connect). I suspect a cordellette is not as good as those. A simple dynema sling may be the worst of these mentioned so far. 

a tied sling is more bulky than a sewn sling. 

Bill Lawry wrote:

i think it worth saying that there is great danger in being tethered to an anchor, climbing above the anchor, and falling.  The stiffer the tether, the harsher the jolt - think train wreck.  

I've heard a lot of warnings about this exact thing but I'm not sure why one would ever climb above the anchor, I might be too new to outdoors climbing to know but I'm only planning on using a tether to either belay my partner or set up a rappel.

Max Brunel wrote:

I've heard a lot of warnings about this exact thing but I'm not sure why one would ever climb above the anchor, I might be too new to outdoors climbing to know but I'm only planning on using a tether to either belay my partner or set up a rappel.

Makes sense. Although “Tethering” with a dynamic rope is a best practice for a belay - and often easy to do.

The circumstances leading one to be tethered to and above an anchor may not be common occurrences. But they do occur - see an example Adam mentions below.

The way I think about it is - to beat what is probably now a dead horse so to speak: If I need to introduce vertical slack when tethered directly, I treat the moves almost as though I’m free soloing. That is part of the judgement thing I mentioned that can go wrong: mis-judging whether the movement will go as planned.  

Max Brunel wrote:

I've heard a lot of warnings about this exact thing but I'm not sure why one would ever climb above the anchor, I might be too new to outdoors climbing to know but I'm only planning on using a tether to either belay my partner or set up a rappel.

Rope stretching rappels can force you to be clipped into an anchor while above it. It's not common, but could happen. 

Adam Fleming wrote:

Rope stretching rappels can force you to be clipped into an anchor while above it. It's not common, but could happen. 

Oh yeah makes sense, I don't think I'll be encountering such situations in the near future since I'm still doing the "classic" routes around me to gain confidence in order to do harder and longer routes 

Max Brunel wrote:

I've heard a lot of warnings about this exact thing but I'm not sure why one would ever climb above the anchor, I might be too new to outdoors climbing to know but I'm only planning on using a tether to either belay my partner or set up a rappel.

Well, imagine you are half-way down a two-rappel descent at a hanging stance.

You pull the rope and it hangs up on a chickenhead approximately 4 feet out of reach.

You might (?) instinctually try to just boulder up to it in order to get to the rope.

A fall could kill the entire party.

Bill Lawry wrote:

Depends on how the cordellette is rigged as a tether.

I double up my knotted cordalette, girth it to my harness tie in points, stretch it out and put a knot in the middle of the extension with all four strands running through the knot. That way, any single point of failure in the thing is not catastrophic.

About the only time I do this is when descending a rap route.  I imagine it could be a bit bulky to wear that way while climbing  

i think it worth saying that there is great danger in being tethered to an anchor, climbing above the anchor, and falling.  The stiffer the tether, the harsher the jolt - think train wreck.  

Some tethers do about as good as can be done to mitigate that error in judgement - the mentioned Purcell prusic and the commercial equivalents (e.g., Petzl Connect). I suspect a cordellette is not as good as those. A simple dynema sling may be the worst of these mentioned so far. 

Yes, I do that sometimes, too.

I interpreted the question to be regarding whether or not a shorter (e.g. 120cm) loop of cord used with a simple girth-hitch would be acceptable.

mbk wrote:

I interpreted the question to be regarding whether or not a shorter (e.g. 120cm) loop of cord used with a simple girth-hitch would be acceptable.

Right on. And Max was not clear about that in his original post.

Perhaps this belongs in the beginner section.  No offense to Max intended at all.

Todd Jenkins wrote:

If using cord, use it as a Purcell prussick.

That's what I use, it's great. 

Bill Lawry wrote:

Right on. And Max was not clear about that in his original post.

Perhaps this belongs in the beginner section.  No offense to Max intended at all.

You're totally right ! My original post wasn't very clear but I did mean either a purcell prussik or some kind of redundancy since I've never seen someone use either of those but you're right it belongs in the beginner section :)

Max Brunel wrote:

You're totally right ! My original post wasn't very clear but I did mean either a purcell prussik or some kind of redundancy since I've never seen someone use either of those but you're right it belongs in the beginner section :)

Do only beginners climb above the anchor?

Bb Cc wrote:

Do only beginners climb above the anchor?

I suspect it is the opposite on average.

Beginner only with respect to the lack of details.

Thanks, Max!