How to coil rope "in slings" for rappels
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I've seen it once, and dared not try it. |
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Butterfly coil each side of the rope and clip each coiled side to your left and right front gear loops, each with a doubled-over standard-length sling. |
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The general idea is to stack the rope in butterfly coils that start big and end small. Pass a sling around the whole bunch and clip both ends of the sling into your belay loop(or one of your gear loops). Theoretically now as you descend the loops feed out and you don't have any tangles. The problem is that usually when you need to use this technique you are going to have winds that are going to mess things up. |
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Or you can just back your rappel up with a prusik, toss the rope over, rap, and untangle anything on the way down with your two free hands (being backed up). Am I crazy? When would it be vital to have all the rope with you feeding it out during a rappel? |
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JFK wrote:Or you can just back your rappel up with a prusik, toss the rope over, rap, and untangle anything on the way down with your two free hands (being backed up). Am I crazy? When would it be vital to have all the rope with you feeding it out during a rappel?Really bad idea. Slow and cumbersome. Major tangles, possible snags. Much worse in high winds. But, I do have a way that requires no slings and works 100% of the time in no winds and high winds. I do it on single pitch and multi pitch, no matter what the weather. That way it is second nature. And never fails. |
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As the above folks stated, butterfly coil on each side, hung via a doubled-up sling. To make the system run smoother, extend your belay device away from your harness... makes a big difference. Use one hand to brake, and the other to manage what is going on with the coils. And don't forget your autoblok in this setup. |
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JFK wrote: When would it be vital to have all the rope with you feeding it out during a rappel?When your a ninja. |
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In high winds, I tie a fig 8 in the non-anchored end and clip it to my harness. that gives me a 100 foot loop. I then take and lower the remaining bight of line over the edge. If it is horrible winds sometimes its easier to half the rope again and clip it to the harness. In hurricane winds, it gets stacked in my pack and goes out from there. |
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JFK wrote:When would it be vital to have all the rope with you feeding it out during a rappel?I use the "holster" method in three situations:
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Perin Blanchard wrote: I use the "holster" method in three situations: *High winds. *To avoid throwing my rope onto leaders below when the descent for a popular route is to rappel the route. *While cleaning loose stuff.For sure. Another method is to feed the rope through the anchor and lower your partner down. The partner can take the extra rope down with them or, at least, you'll only have about half the rope (the slack half after your partner is down at the next anchor) to holster with you as you rap down to her/him. Indeed lowering your partner places extra wear on the anchor hardware so this may not be the most popular way to go but in super high winds or on heavily trafficked routes such as Crimson Chrysalis where you're rapping down on others. This is nice and friendly. |
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Greg D wrote:But, I do have a way that requires no slings and works 100% of the time in no winds and high winds. I do it on single pitch and multi pitch, no matter what the weather. That way it is second nature. And never fails.C'mon Greg, don't hold out! What's the other method besides butterfly coils, stacking in a bag or lowering your partner so they can fix to the next anchor? Educate us please... Cheers, Clayton |
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1. While threading the rap anchor make a tight bundle about the size of a basketball (no bigger) making a circular coil (not butterfly cause they tend to cluster frig). I do 13 coils. |
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Greg, |
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Yes the bundle gets made starting with the rope end. I will try to post pics tonight. |
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Thanks man! That looks like a great trick. I will give it a try. |
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I would never rappel off of a door hinge. |
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The proper term for this one is "the greg flail knot" and it was developed over a few summers of untangling messes while hanging from ropes in the wind and rain. |
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I just wanted to say that I've been using this technique (the one illustrated by greg) this year and am totally sold on it. |
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flake over the extended sling that you are using to extend yr atc off ... |