The quad anchor

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The quad anchor, first mentioned (I think) around 2006 by John Long in his book “Climbing Anchors”, was an attempt to have the Holy Grail in anchors. What’s cool about the quad?

• Good load distribution

• Minimal extension

• Fully redundant

• Quick to set up and break down, no knots to untie

• Super strong (would you believe 40 kN?!)

• Bonus, two independent and load distributed master points, which can be quite handy

Well, it didn’t catch on right away. One reason may have been that the original version suggested using a long and bulky cordelette to rig it.

Traditional quad anchor rigged with 7mm cordelette. Nothing really wrong with it, just big and bulky.

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Well, here’s the modern iteration of that idea, in a much lighter and more compact package. Rather than using a huge honker cordelette, instead you use a Dyneema sling; I prefer 180 cm. Double it, tie two a figure 8 or overhand knots (with the stitching in one of the end loops), and then use two strands to make an anchor for both toproping and multipitch.

The knots stay in the sling for at least the entire day. It's good practice to untie the knots every few days or after a weekend of climbing to “rest” your sling.

This system works best with two solid pieces of gear that are fairly close together and ideally in a horizontal plane. Two bolts on a sport route are a perfect application. Two ice screws that are slightly offset would also work too. (If you’re building a 3 piece anchor from trad gear, it may be faster to use a more traditional cordelette.)

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What's the best sling length?

For me, the 120 cm is a bit too short. It can work if the bolts are very close together and you use a small diameter sling, like 8 mm.

I think 180 cm is about the sweet spot. Not too short, not too long, works on horizontal bolts and with a little adjusting, vertically offset ice screws.

Some people think this is called the quad anchor because it uses a “quad” length sling, or 240 cm. A 240 cm sling can be handy for many kinds of anchor building, especially for equalizing three points of protection, orslinging around a tree. But for side by side bolts like this, many people find it’s too long, a bit bulky, and hard to rack.

• But hey, as you can see below it's only a bit longer than the 180, so many people this is gonna work fine.

• Notice the 180 and the 240 are tied with a figure 8 rather than overhands. This uses up a bit more material which raises the master point, and it also makes the knot quite a bit easier to untie after it's been loaded.

Here's another trick with the 240 cm sling quad to make it a little more manageable. Instead of doubling the cord, you can triple it. Then, when you tie your knots, it raises the master point and you clip to three strands rather than two. This makes it the effective same size as the 180 cm sling, nice!

If you look carefully at the photo below, you can see the yellow locking carabiner is clipped to three strands of cord, rather than two.

If you were climbing a route that maybe had a mix of gear anchors and bolt anchors, this might be a good trick to be able to use the 240 for both.

Quad toprope anchor

Lockers on each of the two bolts, opposite and opposed lockers for the rope, good to go.

There's some difference of opinion about whether you should clip the master point lockers onto two separate strands (left), or put both of them onto three strands (right).

• Argument against the set up on the left: the sling arms could rub against each other when loaded, and the carabiners might bind against each other a bit, giving you less than ideal equalization.

• Argument against the set up on the right: if either bolt where to fail, you're only being held by one additional strand.

I think both of these issues are highly unlikely, and you're gonna be fine no matter how you rig it. Personally I prefer the one on the left.

(Hopefully this is glaringly obvious, but you absolutely should NOT clip all four strands. If you did this and any anchor point failed, the carabiners with slide off and you would die.)

Side note regarding lockers on the bolts . . . For a top rope anchor, when you're not right there next to it to keep an eye on it, and maybe multiple people will be using it over a long period of time, it's good practice to use locking carabiners on the bolts. In some circles this is known as an “unattended” anchor. However, if you’re multi pitch climbing, it's fine to use non-locking carabiners on the bolts. We can call this an “attended” anchor, because there's someone there the whole time watching it.

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Notes . . .

For those of you who are extra concerned about tying a knot in Dyneema . . . A full strength Dyneema runner is about 22 kN. Here, we are doubling the sling, which in theory makes it about 44 kN, and then we're tying a knot, which reduces that in about half, which brings it back down to about 22 kN. In other words, it's absolutely not an issue. We cover the “tying a knot in Dyneema” issue more detail here.

A 180 cm sling can be a bit hard to find, But is this type of anchor becomes more popular, hopefully more manufacturers will offer them. (If the links below don't work, just Google around until you find them.)

• Petzl Pur’Anneau 180 cm sling

• Mammut Contact 180 cm sling

• CAMP Express 180 cm sling

• Blue Ice Mission 180 cm sling

A skinny Dyneema sling is best for this. (It won’t work nearly so well with a nylon runner because the knots are too big, plus finding a 180 cm nylon runner is difficult.)

A 10 mm or 11 mm Dyneema sling is recommended for anchor building. These are larger than the 8 mm used in many 60cm and 120cm slings. Most of the 180 cm slings I have seen are in this larger diameter, so that's good.

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How strong is the quad?

Ridiculously strong. How about a 40kN break test? The great team at HowNot2 tested this several times, and the quad is WAY stronger than anything else you will probably have on your harness. See the video here.

image: screen grab from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=she8vH1DCBU

Can I clip the shelf? Yes. HowNot2 did a pull test on the shelf, and the knot started sliding at around 13 kN. SuperGoodEnough! (Same video link, start at 7:00.)

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Quad with a cordelette

While I'm generally not a fan of the 7 mm cordelette, you can certainly use one to make a quad anchor. In the photo below, the red cord is Sterling Powercord. While it’s a bit expensive, it's only 6 mm but is rated to 20 kN, almost 3 times stronger than normal 6 mm cord. If I am carrying a cordelette, this is what I grab first.

As the saying goes: “You can have it strong, light, and cheap. Pick two.”

In the photo, both left and right anchors are structurally strong. However, the right photo, showing the knots tied a bit lower, is slightly preferable. In the highly unlikely event of a bolt failing, the lower knots limit the extension of the anchor.

Here's another option: Tie a “figure 9” knot rather than an overhand knot to isolate the strands. This is simply a figure 8 knot with one more turn. This has a few advantages: it brings your master point up a bit higher, because the knot takes up more cord, and because of the extra turns, it's easier to untie at the end of the day.

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The extended rappel, explained

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Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.

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So, what exactly is an extended rappel?

Simply put, rather than attaching your rappel device directly to your belay loop in the standard manner, you add some sort of runner / carabiner combination to “extend” it farther away from your body.

Maybe a decade ago, the extended rappel was regarded by many as a sort of a fringe Euro rope trick. I recall seeing as a diagram in a long-ago Petzl catalog and thinking, “Hmmm, I’m not so sure about that one…”

While it’s now becoming more standard, many beginners may not be familiar with this method, or the various ways you can rig it. So, even though it’s in a lot of instructional books and websites, let's cover some rigging options and the benefits, a couple of which are not generally recognized.

There are some downsides.

• It requires a bit extra gear and time to properly set up.

• There’s a potential for long hair to get caught in the rappel device. Tuck away your hair, clothing, and anything that may get caught.

• It also add some extra cluster onto your belay loop; depending on how you set it up, you could have three total carabiners and associated webbing on your loop, rather than just a single rappel carabiner. Ironically enough, this extra cluster can make it a little harder to do a proper safety check, because the front of your harness gets pretty busy.

• If you have an awkward start to the rappel, such as having to shimmy off of a ledge in a weird way, the extended hardware can sometimes scrape on the ledge as you’re getting started.

Should you use this set up on every rappel? Probably not. If it’s just one pitch to the ground and a bluebird day, then the traditional rap off of the belay loop should work just fine. However, there are some subtle benefits to it, outlined below, that you may want to consider.

Note: If you're rappelling a single strand of rope on a Grigri or similar auto locking belay device, it's best to NOT use an extended rappel. You get better control of the Grigri lever when it's closer to your body.

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Why would I want to use a extended rappel?

Excellent question! Here are some answers, in rough order of importance.

1 - Works better with an auto block “third hand” back up.  With an extended rappel, you can clip an auto block directly to your belay loop. This is the most secure and comfortable place to clip it (better than your leg loop), it keeps the rope and the auto block centered in a straight line, helps the rope feed more smoothly, and ensures the auto block does not become caught in your rappel device.

(Note: With a larger group, especially beginners, adding an autoblock for every climber can take a long time. One alternative: the first person down uses an auto block, everyone else gets a firefighter’s delay from below.)

Are you doing a straightforward rappel on a bluebird day with no complicating factors? Then you can maybe skip the auto block. Or, are you rapping with one or more challenges, such as beginners, darkness, cold, wet, icy ropes, new ropes that are slick, heavy pack, heavy rappeller, vertical or free hanging, pendulum to reach the next rap station, rope cluster that needs fixing, single strand, unsure of the next anchor location, etc.? In these cases using an auto block can be an excellent idea. (Personally, I think of it like wearing a seatbelt.)

2 - Allows the whole team to “pre-rig” a rappel.  This means that team members use an extension, rig for the rap at the same time, and leave their rappel devices on the rope while other people are rapping. The extension allows them to stand close to the anchor but not be pulled around by the rapelling person, who is tensioning the rope. Pre-rigging improves safety, because the last person can get a safety check, and it improves speed, because there’s no waiting around for each person to rig for the rappel. Pre-rigging is covered in depth here.

3 - Easier to rig your rappel device correctly. If you’re rapping off your belay loop, and if you’re wearing loose or bulky clothing, and/or it’s dark, it can be a struggle to look down and be SURE that your rappel device is in fact threaded correctly and the carabiner gate is locked. (Both of these mistakes are common causes of rappelling accidents.) By extending the device away from any clothing, it’s easier for you and your partner to inspect. 

4 - You have less chance of your clothing getting caught in your rappel device. But there’s maybe an increased chance of getting your hair stuck, because it’s closer to your head, so this might be a trade off.  Bottom line - tuck away your hair, beard, pack straps, hoodie strings, dreadlocks, and any stray clothing whenever you rappel, extended rap or not. 

5 - It makes the rappel more ambidextrous. Because the rappel is in front of you and elevated, the rope runs between your legs rather than over one hip. This lets you use either hand as needed. Or, as I like to do when the rap gets faster as the friction decreases near the bottom, use both hands comfortably in front of you on the brake strands at the same time. It's very awkward to get both brake hands on the rope if you’re doing a traditional rappel off of your belay loop with the rope over one hip. Having both hands in the brake position offers more control.

One more small benefit: the rope tends to twist less when it's hanging straight between your legs, as opposed to running over your hip off to one side.

6 - Easier free hanging rappels. By moving the “pivot point” higher, a free hanging rappel done with an extension greatly reduces the tension on your abs to stay upright.

7 - Offers more braking control / power. Because your device is positioned high and in front of you, this lets the brake strand be pulled down easily 180° opposite the “top” of the rope, for maximum braking force.

8 - Advanced Crafty Rope Trick (CRT) - If you’re using a plaquette style belay device such as a Black Diamond ATC Guide, an extended rappel lets you easily “flip the plaquette” to ascend the rope. If you ever need to transition from rappelling to ascending your rope (like that time you rapped past the anchor and looked up only to find it was 20 feet above you, whoops) this is a pretty cool trick.

Clip a locking carabiner to the “ear” of of your rappel device, Find a stance where you can get a little slack in the rope, and then clip that locking carabiner back onto your belay loop. BAM, your rappel device is now an ascender! Granted, this is going to be an extremely rare thing to do the average recreational climber, but it’s still another trick in the toolbox. This Crafty Rope Trick is covered in detail here.

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An extended rappel works great with an autoblock “third hand” rappel backup.

An autoblock is an optional but often used addition. The autoblock functions as your “third hand” rappel backup, and let you go hands-free on the rappel at any time.

To make the auto block, use a webbing loop designed for this such the Sterling Hollow Block, or second choice, a short prusik loop (start with 1.5 meters of 6mm cord).

Wrap a Hollow Block or prusik loop a few times around the rope, then clip both ends to a locking carabiner on your belay loop. (Use your belay loop rather than the old-school method of your leg loop.)

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A note on auto block rappel backups:

This is becoming much more popular, to the point of it being taught as pretty much mandatory in some mountaineering classes. However, like everything in climbing, it comes with some downsides. It should be a conscious decision to use this technique, and not a “always yes” sort of choice.

• Requires a short friction hitch which you may or may not have with you

• Takes longer to rig (especially true for beginners), and is one more thing to safety check for your partner

• Can cause you to rappel more slowly (especially true for beginners)

• Can make for a start-stop-jerky rappel rather than a nice smooth one, which can put more load on the anchors. Avoid this by not making too many making to many wraps on the rope, which makes too much friction.

• Tips: for a friction hitch, start with 1.5 meters / 5 feet of 6mm cord. See this 1 minute video from Petzl for a how-to.

One simple option to consider to reduce risk for everyone: send the first person down with an auto block backup. Everyone else on the team does not use a backup, but gets a firefighter belay from below.

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A few notes on rigging methods . . .

You want to use an extension that’s roughly 1-2 feet / 30-60 cm long. Reason: you always want to be able to reach above your rappel device to put on a prusik in case you need to unweight your device. So, don’t use a double length (4 foot / 120 cm) runner at full length for an extended rappel; it’s too long.

Like most aspects of climbing, how you set this up and whether or not to use it really comes down to personal preference. Try out a few different options, and see which one makes sense for you. Your choices may depend on the gear that you have (sport climbing or alpine trad?) and the type of terrain you're rappelling (is it loose and blocky with large ledges, or is it steep or overhanging with hanging anchor stations?) Your height and arm length also influence what method you use.

Should I put the extension on my belay loops or through my tie in points? Short answer, it doesn't really matter. As long as you don't leave your extension on all the time in the same place on your harness, you can use either one. Personally, I’m a belay loop guy, so that was shown in the photos below. Here's an article that covers this in much more detail.

There are LOTS of ways to rig this. People on the inter-webs can argue about the fine points until the cows come home, but as long as your setup is strong and secure with a sewn runner or quickdraw, (and ideally not tied with a water knot) it's probably going to work just fine.

“But it’s not redundant . . . OMG, what if the runner breaks, Yer Gonna Die (YGD!)”

Some of the following set ups are not fully redundant. But, for you redundancy fans, keep in mind you are rapping on one rope, with one rappel device, one rappel carabiner, and one belay loop, so you don't need to freak out over rapping off one sling rated to 22 kN (even if it does look like Swiss dental floss.) Having said that, if redundancy gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, feel free to choose a technique that offers redundancy, or add another sling to one of the methods shown below. Remember, you are responsible for your own level of risk and comfort level; don't let it be dictated by someone else.

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Okay, let’s see some ways to rig an extended rappel.

For the simplest configuration, all you need is a runner or quickdraw. Everything past this adds either convenience, redundancy or both, but with the trade off of longer setup, more gear to carry, and as mentioned, extra cluster on your harness.

Note - for all of the setups below that do not have a built in tether, simply girth hitch a separate sling into your harness, and use that to connect yourself to the anchor.

Let’s look at a few bare bones setups first, then get into more complex rigging.

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Use a quickdraw(s). You may have a locking quickdraw, so use it! This is a simple approach when a single pitch climb requires a rappel, because there's no need for a tether to clip into the next anchor. Pros: fast to rig, easy to break down. Cons: you might not have one.

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Sport climbers can also use two standard quickdraws, with carabiners opposite and opposed. This is the equivalent of a single quick draw with locking carabiners. Pros: fast to rig, easy to break down. Cons: depending on your draw length, it might be a bit short and not give enough extension. Longer draws are generally better. No tether for clipping to rappel anchors.

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Now, let's look at some rigging that uses a double length (4 foot/120 cm) runner. Note: A sewn sling is preferred here, rather than a length of webbing that you tie with a water knot.

The blue sling I'm using here is the Edelrid Aramid 120 cm. I love it because the sheath is very abrasion resistant, and the Kevlar core is super strong. Most important, it's very easy to untie overhand knots after it’s been loaded, unlike Dyneema. Perfect for all-around anchor building and rappel extensions!

Let's start with something simple. 120 cm sling, basket hitched through your harness, overhand knot with the ends. Super strong, redundant everywhere, but no built in tether. (If you want a tether, take another 120 cm sling, girth hitch it to your harness, and clip that into the anchor.)

Double length sewn runner girth hitched through the harness tie in points, overhand knot tied for rappel carabiner and device, locker clipped to end. Pros: fairly easy to untie, redundant (with the girth hitch) has a tether for clipping to rappel anchors. Cons: None.

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Bowline on a bight tied through harness. Double redundant loop, fast to tie once you know how, very easy to untie. (Yes, the bowline is ring loaded, but that doesn’t matter here.) Tie the bowline through your belay loop or tie in points. I have a more detailed article on this technique that you can read here.

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How to best connect a tether to your harness?

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Have you ever heard some version of this?

“You should NEVER connect your tether/PAS to your belay loop. Todd Skinner did that, his belay loop broke, and he died. So, you shouldn't do it either.”

or maybe:

“You should ALWAYS run soft goods, like rope and slings, through the tie in points, and clip hard goods, like carabiners, to the belay loop.”

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I’ll start off with my opinion on this, right up front: I think, in most cases, it’s fine to attach a tether to your belay loop. 

There are a lot of people who feel differently, and if you prefer your tie in points for a tether, that’s great.  But know that in most cases, your belay loop is going to work fine as well. There are very few black and white, “Should”, “Always” and “Never”, “Gotta do it this way or else” rules in climbing. This is not one of them.

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Here's what IFMGA guide Dave Searle thinks about it, and I agree!

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When ascending a route, it's usually best practice to use the rope and clove hitch yourself to the anchor. But when it's time to rappel, you're probably going to want a tether. Whether you use a designated tether like a PAS or a Petzl Connect, or make one DIY with a double length sling, or you’re an aid climber and have a pair of daisy chains, you need to choose where to connect it to your harness - belay loop or tie in points?

The truth is . . . it depends! There are some cases when attaching your tether directly to your belay loop is not only acceptable, but the recommended practice. There are some other situations where it's probably not such a great idea.

• What kind of climbing (rappelling, big walls, via ferrata) are you doing?

• What does the manufacturer say?

• What’s your tether made of?

• What kind of knot or hitch connects the tether to your harness?

These are all nuances in technique that need to be considered, rather than a binary “always” or “never.”

Alpinesavvy tries to offer ideas and information, not advice. So, read on and make up your own mind.

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Here are some general guidelines and considerations:

• First, and perhaps most important, check your harness regularly and retire it without hesitation if it shows significant wear for any reason.

• If you do connect a tether to your belay loop, don’t leave it tied there permanently. Doing this can prevent the loop from rotating and may concentrate wear in a single spot. Remove the tether when you're done for the day, or after your rappel.

• If you're girth hitching a designated PAS type tether, the usual manufacturer recommendation is to use both tie in points. (Even then it's a bit of a “soft” recommendation, see below.)

• If you're girth hitching a “DIY” tether with a skinny Dyneema sling, it’s probably best to use both tie in points. (Should you use a use a Dyneema sling as a tether at all? See the “expert photo” section below.)

• If you're girth hitching a tether (or adjustable daisy for aid climbing) with a wider nylon sling, either the tie in points or the belay loop should be fine.

• If you're using a rope style lanyard such as the Petzl Connect Adjust, follow Petzl’s recommendation and girth hitch it to your belay loop.

• If you’re doing via ferrata, the standard practice is to girth hitch the lanyards to your belay loop.

• If you're big wall / aid climbing, the tie in points are usually better, because that gets your waist a bit closer to the gear you're clipped to. Every inch helps!

• And . . . if you're not using a girth hitch and using a double loop bowline tether, it's okay to tie it through your belay loop with any kind of material.

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What are some of the pros and cons of attaching a tether to your belay loop?

Pros:

• Comfort. Having a weighted tether girth hitched through your tie in points can cause your harness to squish together on some, shall we say, sensitive body parts, ouch! This depends a bit on the design of your harness and ahem, personal anatomy, your mileage may vary. This can be especially true for women with wider hips and a higher waist.

• Easier to rig and check. For cold weather climbing with bulky clothing, gloves, etc., it can be easier to properly thread your tether through your belay loop, as well as glance down and be sure it's threaded correctly. (This goes for checking your partner also.) Plus, the comfort factor: with more clothing on, tethering to the belay loop will usually be more comfortable.

• More reach. If you have a shorter tether and you’re a taller climber, having it on your belay loop can give you a few extra inches of reach.

• Less cluster. This probably applies more to big wall climbing, when the front of your harness can get very busy with two daisies, fifi hook(s), rope tie in, etc. Using your belay loop can spread out these connections a bit. Also for big wall climbing, you’re probably sleeping in your harness as well, so a belay loop connection will typically be more comfortable.

Cons:

• Not redundant. You're connected to one point of your harness while you could be connected to two. (This introduces a whole other conversation of all of the other non-redundant components in the climbing system you rely on the time, but let's save that for another discussion.)

• Puts extra wear and tear on your belay loop. (This argument may be countered by pointing out that the wear and tear is not eliminated, but instead transferred to your tie in points.)

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Let's look at some more specific cases of where to attach your tether.

First, let's check out recommendations from Black Diamond. Their website tells you that girth hitching a daisy chain through both tie in points gives you the “green check” of approval. End of discussion, right?

image: https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-bdel/default/dw8f27ba12/instructions/F20/MM5825_C_Daisy-Etrier_IS-WEB.pdf

Well maybe not. Using the bottom tie in point is clearly a no-no, because it might flip you upside down. But the belay loop or the top tie in merits only the orange “caution” notification, not the red skull and crossbones, “Yer Gonna Die”.

image: https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-bdel/default/dw8f27ba12/instructions/F20/MM5825_C_Daisy-Etrier_IS-WEB.pdf

What else gets the Black Diamond orange caution? Getting your tether wet, icy, or dirty! Sheesh, we all know that happens to your gear all the time and it's hardly the end of the world. So, attaching a tether to your belay loop is in the same category of “it's best to avoid doing this a lot, but if you do, it's not going to be catastrophic.”

image: https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-bdel/default/dw8f27ba12/instructions/F20/MM5825_C_Daisy-Etrier_IS-WEB.pdf

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Let’s consider the following . . .

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1 - No warnings from harness manufacturers

The Alpinesavvy web gnomes looked carefully at the technical documentation for harnesses from Black Diamond, Petzl, and Edelrid. None of these manufacturers give a warning against attaching a tether to the belay loop. If doing so is “wrong”, do you think the top harness manufacturers might warn against it in their technical documentation?

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2 - Petzl Connect Adjust, Beal Dynaconnexion, CAMP Swing, and Edelrid Switch: use the belay loop

In 2015 Petzl introduced their “Connect”series of lanyards. These are made from dynamic climbing rope, and have a stitched, fixed loop at one end. It's a pretty sweet piece of gear.

Petzl recommends girth hitching it to your belay loop, as shown in this illustration from their website.

image: petzl.com

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Let's check out another nice diagram from Petzl.

1. Where do I attach my lanyard?

“From a safety and strength perspective, the lanyard can be attached to the belay loop or to the two tie-in points. But as a matter of comfort, it is preferable to attach your lanyard to the belay loop.”

So, sounds like the final recommendation from Petzl is the belay loop.

image: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Belay-loop-and-tie-in-points--where-do-I-attach-my-lanyard--my-belay-device-and-my-rope-?ActivityName=Multi-pitch-climbing

Beal Dynaconnexion: use the belay loop.

image: https://www.beal-planet.com/en/index.php?controller=attachment&id_attachment=8219

CAMP Swing: use the belay loop.

CAMP swiNG https://www.camp.it/d/us/us/outdoor/product/2166

Edelrid Switch: use the belay loop.

Edelrid Switch - https://avs.edelrid.com/images/attribut/54625_GAL_SWITCH_SPORT_ANSICHT_DINA4_Homepage.pdf

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3 - Via Ferrata: use the belay loop

Standard practice in via ferrata is to girth hitch your tether carabiners to your belay loop. Keep in mind that a via ferrata fall can can generate tremendous force on your anchor system, harness and your body, greater than a factor 2.

Here's a diagram from Edelrid. The text accompanying this diagram reads: “Via Ferrata sets or systems with tie-in loops are fastened to the tie-in ring (belay loop) with a choke hitch (girth hitch).”

image: edelrid.de/en/sports/harnesses.htm

Here’s a similar diagram from Petzl. Clearly, Petzl recommends that via ferrata tethers go onto the belay loop.

imae: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Harnesses/CORAX - technical notice PDF download

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Chain link fence for anchor practice

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Want a convenient and sturdy place to practice anchor building, or maybe cleaning and lowering from a sport route? Look no further than the nearest chain link fence.

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How to tie the perfect retraced figure 8

The retraced figure 8 tie in knot is probably the most important knot you’ll ever tie, so it's well worth it to pay attention to the small details so it's perfect every time. No twists, crosses, or other weirdness! (A figure 8 doesn’t need to be tied absolutely perfectly to function. If you have a twist or cross in the strands, it's still going to be fine. However, it is the fundamental knot in climbing, so let's take the time to do it right!)

Lots of instruction on the retraced figure 8 (be at books, video, or in person) fall short in explaining it properly. Simply saying, “Tie an 8 about a meter from the end of the rope, pass the free and through your harness, and then retrace the 8” doesn't tell the whole story. There are quite a few different ways you can do this, and many of them lead to an end product that’s Less Than Ideal.

I’m going to show you the way that works best for me, that I teach, and that people seem to find the easiest to learn. If you have a different way that works for you, and the result is a perfect knot, then keep doing what you're doing!

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Let's learn some of the nuances of a perfect retraced figure 8 knot.

First off, avoid talking when you or your partner are tying into the rope. Like packing a parachute, your tie-in knot is worthy of your complete attention, so stop the chitchat for a few seconds when tying in.

It may be tempting to begin the knot like the left photo below, because that's where the large obvious “hole” is. However, this often leads to crossed strands in the final knot. (Yes, there is a way to tie a retraced figure 8 correctly by doing this, but for most people that leads to twists and confusion.)

Instead, begin your knot as shown on the right.

Some instructors call this “start hard, finish easy.” This advice is a little cryptic, but it means start the knot through the hard-to-see, non-obvious “hole”, and finish the knot, with the remaining two passes, through the the easy-to-see, obvious “holes”.

(I put blue tape on the end of the rope to more easily see it.)

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This next photo shows a problem that trips up many experienced climbers. (And yes, I’ll admit that I did this step wrong for quite a long time . . . )

In the left photo, if you pass the end OVER the top of the knot, you end up with the strands crossed when you're done. (At least, I always did!) While you can correct it later, why not do it right the first time?

Pass the end of the rope BELOW the top of the knot, as shown in the photo on the right. This gives you a perfect symmetrical knot when you're done, no twists or crosses.

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If you make either of the two goofs above, your completed knot will probably look something like the one on the left below. See how the strands are crossed? That's not a catastrophic mistake, but it's not 100% correct either.

Below on the right is a proper retraced figure 8. All strands are nice and tidy, parallel, with no crossing or twisting.

There’s also a proper length tail on both knots, not too long not too short. Ideally the tail is about 6 inches / 15 cm. If your tail is shorter than this, start over. If your tail is longer than this, you can tie an overhand knot to take up the extra. But it’s unnecessary and doesn’t add any extra security to the knot, in spite of what the rules might be at your local rock gym.

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There's another subtlety for tying a correct figure 8, and that is keeping an eye on where the load strand goes. (If you tie it like I showed above, the load strand will always be in the correct place.)

Let’s add some tape so we can more easily see what's going on. (Note the skull and crossbones hockey tape, my favorite for marking soft goods like slings! =^)

• The load strand on the left comes out on the OUTSIDE of the knot.

• The load strand on the right goes through the MIDDLE of the knot.

Most people find the knot on the left to be significantly harder to untie. It can depend a bit on how much load you're putting on it, the type / diameter of rope you are using, etc.

Why?

• Load strand on the outside of the knot: When loaded, this cinches down on the entire knot, even to the point of partially deforming it. No loose strands, welded, hard to untie.

• Load strand on the inside of the knot: the very top strand goes to the rope tail, and takes minimal load. This gives you a slightly looser strand to start with when you need to untie it.

Both versions are equally strong and secure, the difference is only in the ease of untying.

When I posted this on Instagram, a substantial number of people commented that I was completely wrong, and having the load strand on the outside of the knot makes it easier to untie. Well, maybe that works for you, but it's not my experience, nor what various other rope experts have to say on it. The relative ease or difficulty of untying a knot is a fairly subjective judgment. Try both ways yourself and see what you think.

Here’s a more detailed article on this topic.

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Check out the nice video below from “Hard is Easy”for a very thorough discussion of every step tying a retraced figure 8. If you’re a new climber you may benefit from watching the whole thing. If you're more experienced, start at 7:08 to see some of the methods discussed above.

How to (almost) never drop your belay device

A classic beginner mistake (which I did for, ahem, a rather long time!) is to remove your belay device from your harness, hold it out in front of you when loading or unloading the rope, and then re-clipping it to your belay loop. If you do this, all you need is a moment of fumblefingers and you're going to drop your device, whoops! (Hope you know how to belay / rappel with a Munter hitch or do a carabiner brake rappel . . .)

I'd like to think that most people would learn the correct method on their very first day of climbing, but, based on the embarrassingly long time that I did this wrong myself, and the number of people I still see doing this incorrectly, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

(A possible contributing factor to sloppy technique are the many people learning to climb in rock gyms using Grigris that are more or less permanently attached to the rope, which makes them impossible to drop, or steal.)

(More experienced climbers reading this are probably rolling their eyes at this basic tip, but if you already do this as second nature, feel free to click on to something else . . . )

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A better approach: Keep your device (pretty much) connected to your harness when loading and unloading the rope. Yes, with the carabiner gate facing left is shown here, you do need to unclip it from the rope for a brief moment. When you do this you can pay full attention and hold your belay device firmly with your left hand.

Doing this makes it just about impossible to drop.

The demo here is with a Grigri, but the same principle applies for a tube style device.

1. Clip the Grigri to your belay loop.

2. As a right hander, hold the Grigri firmly in your left hand, unclip it from the carabiner for just a moment, slide the top plate up with your left thumb, and then immediately reclip the bottom half of the Grigri to your belay loop. Let go of the Grigri. The bottom plate is securely clipped and the top plate should be hanging free.

3. Now you can load the rope, carefully checking that it's loaded correctly.

4. Once again holding the Grigri firmly in your left hand, unclip it from the carabiner for a moment, slide the top plate down with your left thumb, and then immediately re-clip it to your belay loop.

5. The rope is now loaded correctly, and both holes of the Grigri are clipped to your harness. Ready to climb.

6. Reverse this to unload the rope, as shown in the video below.

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A couple of questions/comments I've heard about this method . . .

What about using a keeper cord on the Grigri? Some people find them useful, but I find they get in the way and snag on things. By paying attention and using this technique, you should never need the cord.

What about facing the carabiner gate to the right instead of the left; that way you never really have to take to Grigri completely off the carabiner? That might work for people with superb coordination or who are left handed. As right hander, I always have my belay carabiner gate facing to the left so I can open the carabiner more easily, so that's how I set it up. If it works for you facing right, go for it.

Does the same technique work with a tube style device? Yes. Personally, I use the exact same method: carabiner gate facing left, grip the device firmly with my left hand, open the carabiner gate for just a split second, clip the wire from the device and both rope strands, and then re-clip.

There’s a related method that some people prefer that allows you to keep the wire on your device pretty much on the carabiner the entire time. After loading the rope into your device, you can push the two strands off to the left next to the gate, open the gate, clip the strands, and the wire stays on the carabiner all the time. There is a second or two when the gate is open and you could theoretically fumble it and drop it, but it's very unlikely.

See photos below. You can use your right thumb to hold the wire in place when you open the gate.

To me, both these methods offer a comparable level of security, try each one and see which works best for you. Bigger picture, keep in mind the thing we generally want to avoid: removing your device entirely from your harness and holding it out in front of you to load or unload the rope.

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Here's a short video that shows how it's done. Again, the same concept applies to just about any flavor of belay device.

“Cast”, don’t throw, your rappel rope

Getting your rope down a cliff face when rappelling may seem very simple. But there are many nuances to doing it efficiently, which can save you huge amounts of time and frustration. Here are some suggestions.

Main idea #1: “Cast”, don't “throw”.

This idea is emphasized by Andy Kirkpatrick in his excellent book on descending mountains, “Down.” Think of casting a fishing line. There's a weight (lure) on the end. The line is carefully spooled on the reel. The weight is cast over the water, and the line smoothly follows it from the reel. No snags, no snares. 

“Casting” rappel ropes uses the same concept. Create a weight with one end of the rope, prepare the rest of the rope carefully, and toss the weight to carry down the rope.

Let's start using that verb, “cast”, instead of “throw”, to emphasize the concept. “Throwing” the rope relies on luck. “Casting” relies on technique.

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Main idea #2: The terrain dictates your rope toss method.

The method in the diagrams below can work best if you have a ledge to stand on with minimal rocks on it, and no one below you might get klonked by the rope. For other situations, lowering some or all of the rope can be better than throwing.

• Completely overhanging or vertical smooth rock? You can probably simply lower one end of the rope at a time without even throwing it.

• Reasonably vertical terrain? Try lowering down a bit less than half of one strand (for a 60 meter rope, that’d be 15 meters of one 30 meter side), and then making a simple butterfly loop as shown below, to cast down the remaining 15 meters.

• Lower angle terrain, maybe with trees, boulders, obstacles? That's when making a weight and giving it a real cast can be the best approach.

• Rappelling at a busy crag, with people below you? Consider lowering the rope as much as you can so you don't nail anyone with the rope, and hopefully so you don't have to scream “ROPE” either.

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Main idea #3: Prep your rope before you throw.

You might feel like you're saving time by hucking the rope as quickly as possible from your anchor. Most of the time, you won't be. The time you “save” by making a sloppy rope toss will be likely used up when you stop on rappel to decluster your rope. It's better practice to take a minute or so to prepare your rope first, hopefully with the help of your partner, and make a good, clean cast to start with.

It's almost always better to separate the rope into two strands and lower or throw each one separately.

Image credit: Andy Kirkpatrick from the book “down”, shared with permission

The classic beginner toss (which yes, I did many times my first year or so of climbing, and paid the price) is making one giant butterfly coil with both strands (photo above on the right). You might rarely get lucky and have a clean toss, but most times it's going to make a guaranteed snarl. Please don't do this.

(Method number two, a slight improvement, is to make one big butterfly coil in each strand and throw those one at a time. You have slightly better odds of getting a clean throw than with both coils together, but it's still highly likely you're going to have a snarl. Still not recommended for the most part.)

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There are many approaches to efficiently getting your rope down the cliff. If you have any sort of a ledge, here's one good way.

Check out the diagram above on the left. Each strand is carefully flaked or even serpentine coiled on the ledge. Each half of the rope is separate from the other.

Two cautions: 1) This method can drag down some stones from the ledge you're standing on, so you might want to avoid this if you have rocks around your feet and people below you. 2) Keep your feet away from the rope that will be zinging off the ledge.

If you’re on steeper rock and don't have a convenient ledge to flake the rope, you can feed out about rope out so it drapes down the cliff below you, and then toss the weight. Another option is to butterfly coil over your partner’s outstretched arms, and then cast the end. The same basic concept applies: prepare each strand carefully, toss each one separately, and have some sort of weight that carries the rest of the rope.

After tying a stopper knot in the free end of the rope, you need form a weight of some kind; think of this your “lure”. You “cast the “lure”, and this pulls the rest of the rope down.

(Like all things in climbing, this is situationally dependent. If there's a crowd of people below you, you probably don't want to toss a bundle of rope that might klonk somebody. Likewise if there's a large deep crack below you, and there's a chance the rope could swing into it, you may not want to try this method. But most of the rest of the time it should work pretty well.)

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Here are two short videos showing the “rope cast” in action, from @benmarkhartguiding on Instagram. (Click images to see the videos.)

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There are several ways to do make the weight. Here's my favorite, known in some circles as the “rope bomb.” This works especially well if you need to get your rope down a slab or other lower-angle terrain. (The carabiner isn’t needed, it’s shown for scale.)

After tying a stopper knot in the end, make a small butterfly coil with short loops. I like to make 10 loops, with five on each side.

Finish it off by simply wrapping the rope a few times around the coils. This does not have to be very tidy.

When this mini-butterfly coil hits the end of the rope, it will usually untie itself. If not, just give it a shake or kick when you rap down to it.

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Another way to close your rope system is to rappel while being tied into the end of the rope. If you do that, you could cast your rope as shown below.

Note that in this case, with a double rope rappel, you’re casting the middle of the rope, not the ends.

You get the idea. Take an extra minute or so, properly flake your rope, cast a weight like a “rope bomb” rather than hucking off 30 meters in a huge coil, and your chances of a cluster-free rappel are much better.

Image credit: Andy Kirkpatrick from the book “down”, shared with permission

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Finally, here's a nice video from IFMGA Guide Jeff Ward showing several different methods. The first one is what we demonstrated above, he calls it a “torpedo”.

Finally, if you read this far, here's a short Instagram video on how NOT to throw your rope.

Below are a couple of screen grabs.

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And finally, if you read this far, here's a pretty hilarious short Instagram video about throwing ropes on a windy day.

Try a "D" carabiner with your Grigri

Out of habit, many climbers always reach for a large, pear shaped, “HMS” belay carabiner anytime they are belaying. (In case you’re wondering what “HMS” means, it’s an acronym for the German, “Halbmastwurf sicherung”, which loosely translates as “Munter hitch belay” carabiner.

However, when using a Grigri (or many similar assisted braking devices) the rope never touches the carabiner. This means you can use pretty much any kind of locker you like. In terms of saving weight, having compact gear, and most importantly the carabiner behaving and staying in proper alignment, using a “D” carabiner may actually be a better choice.

In fact, Petzl recommends it. From the always informative Petzl website:

“Beware of pear-shaped carabiners, which in this application have a tendency to rotate and often become poorly positioned.”

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Check out the carabiner recommendations below in this graphic from Petzl. Noticeably absent are the two large HMS carabiners from Petzl, the William and the Attache. (Of course, there are loads of other carabiners from other manufacturers that can be used with a Grigri; I'm using this nice diagram as an example.)

Personally, I’m a fan of the Petzl Sm’D (shown in photo at the top of page.)

To be clear, I’m not saying it's dangerous or incorrect to use an HMS carabiner with a Grigri. However, a “D” carabiner might give you slightly better performance, and be more in line with Petzl’s guidelines.

image: https://www.petzl.com/INT/en/Sport/Choice-of-carabiner-for-attaching-a-GRIGRI-to-the-harness

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Here are a few more specialized carabiners that can work well with a Grigri.

Flat overhand bend - how long a tail?

A great knot choice to connect to rappel ropes for a double strand rappel is the flat overhand bend. (It was previously known by some as the “European Death Knot”, or EDK. Let's not call it that anymore, okay?)

Why is this a good rappel knot?

• It’s known as an “offset” knot, because the body of the knot is offset from the line of pull. This can help the knot work its way around obstructions such as rock nubbins or ledges to lessen the chance of it getting hung up when you pull your rope.

• Works well with ropes of different diameters (up to about 3mm difference). So if you want to connect a skinny 7.7 twin rope with a 9.5 single rope, no worries.

• Super easy to tie and visually check.

• It's plenty strong for any normal two strand rappel situation. (For a single rope rappels more common in caving and canyoneering, or for extra heavy loads, some recent research recommends a more robust knot. We’ll cover that in a future tip.)

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It’s important to have the right amount of tail in the flat overhand bend. A good rule of thumb is about 30 cm / 1 foot.

Think of that as about the length of your forearm, or two hand spans. It's sort of the Goldilocks length, not too short and not too long. This length gives you a margin of error to prevent minor mistakes from becoming catastrophic.

• If the tails are too short, the knot could potentially roll once or twice under an extremely heavy load and roll off the ends. A decent sized tail (hopefully) prevent this.

• If you tie a sloppy, poorly dressed knot, a proper tail allows the knot to tighten up under load without pulling in the ends.

• Not-too-long tails give you use of the full rope, which can be important in reaching the next rappel station if it's a real rope stretcher and you need every possible meter.

• Proper length tails keep your nervous partner happy, and gives them room to add another overhand knot (aka stacked flat overhand bend) in the tail if they like, to give them a warm fuzzy feeling before they rappel. =^)

• Many people think a longer tail is better. Not so. If the tails are too long, it increases the chance of someone mistakenly clipping their rappel device to the tails rather than the actual rope. While you may think this would never happen to you, this has caused fatal accidents to extremely experienced climbers, usually in darkness and/or from major exhaustion. Eliminate this potential mistake by having tails not too long, but just right.

• If for some reason you’re ever fixing a rope (or using someone else's fixed rope) or tying two together like this, and the tails are longer than about 30 cm, at the very least tie a stopper knot in the ends, or tie them together, or do something to prevent someone from ever rapping off the ends.

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Here are two accounts of tragic accidents where someone rigged a fixed rope with a long tail, and rappelled off the tail instead of the actual rope.

• Fatal accident: Rappelling off the long tail of an anchor in Yosemite

• Fatal accident: Rappelling off the long tail of an anchor in Baffin Island

The "easy-to-clean" toprope anchor

Modern “clip & lower” anchor hardware like fixed steel carabiners and Mussy hooks allow faster and simpler transitions from climbing to lowering, and are a great development at many popular climbing areas. However, they are still catching on, and many routes will have a chain anchor without clip & lower hardware. That usually means you need to build your own anchor of some sort, because it’s generally bad practice top rope directly through the anchor hardware. (Hopefully you know that already . . .)

Typically, the most experienced person will lead the route, which means the beginner climbs second and cleans the anchor. Of course, learning to safely clean and lower is an important skill to learn eventually. But if you're climbing with someone who does not have it down, here’s a way to rig your anchor to keep it simple and low risk for the last person up.

Important cautionary note at the bottom of this article, please read all of it!

• The first person leading the route, usually the most experienced, can rig the anchor is shown. You can now top rope off this anchor all day, and all the wear-and-tear from the rope goes your bottom carabiner, not on the fixed hardware.

• If you’re toproping a lot, you might want to use steel carabiner or maybe the cool Edelrid “Bulletproof” carabiners. These are aluminum and have a steel insert at the bottom where the rope goes, meaning they will last much longer.

• Notice how the carabiner is clipped through the quick link which means it's facing out, perpendicular to the rock. This can help minimize rope twists.

• For the last person up (typically less experienced) to clean the anchor, it couldn’t be much easier. They simply clean the carabiner and call for a take and lower.

• To clarify, lowering directly from the anchor chains is only for the LAST person, not everyone who’s top roping the route. Avoid top roping through fixed gear.

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Concerns, grumbles, FAQ . . .

• “You should never top rope through fixed gear.” That's generally true. It might seem like that's what's happening here, but it's not. As soon as the rope is weighted, all the force goes onto the carabiner and there's no significant wear on the rings.

• “It’s not equalized.” That’s correct, because it doesn’t need to be. You're climbing on two modern bolts, each of which is rated to at least 25 kN. In the extremely unlikely (1 in 100,000?) event that the left bolt were to fail, the rope will be caught on the right bolt. (If equalization is important to you, simply clip a second carabiner into the quick link on the right side hanger.)

• “If the bolt fails, it’ll shock load the other one. ” Not a concern. This is a top rope anchor with your stretchy dynamic rope absorbing almost all the force of the very modest fall, if a very unlikely bolt failure ever were to happen. (Again, if this concerns you, just clip a second carabiner to the right bolt.)

• “Do I need a locker?” Not really. A standard snap gate carabiner is fine here. If the rope were to detach from the carabiner, it’s still going through the rings. But if it makes you happy to use a locker, go for it.

• “Lowering through chains is bad, rappelling is better.” With modern anchor hardware that's inexpensive and easily replaceable, it’s now preferred practice (in most areas) for the last climber to lower, not rappel, from the anchor. This anchor is set up perfectly for that: large long-lasting 50 kN stainless steel rings at the bottom, connected to a quick link for easy replacement. This is per the recommendation of the American Alpine Club.

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Caution: Don't do this on “open” anchor hardware (like anchor hooks)

This technique should only be used on “closed” anchor hardware, such as a ring, quick link, or chain, where there is no possibility of the rope coming unclipped. Do NOT use this technique on “open” anchor hardware, such as anchor (aka Mussy) hooks, carabiners, or a ram’s horn / pigtail.

In autumn 2023, there was a fatal accident in Alabama. It involved a beginning climber who was cleaning an anchor hook anchor, that had a locking carabiner added to minimize wear on the hooks. The carabiner was removed, somehow the rope unclipped from the hooks, and she fell.

Short version: for anchor hooks, do NOT add a carabiner on the anchor for the rope. If you do toprope through your own equipment, extend quick draws or slings BELOW the level of the hooks, and put the rope through your own gear that way. This reduces, but does not eliminate, the risk of the above accident happening again.

Also, NEVER have someone clean an anchor who is not 110% solid on the correct procedure. The proper learning sequence should be: 1) instruction on the ground, until the person can demonstrate several times in a row the correct sequence. Then, 2) doing it with an instructor off the ground, hanging at the actual anchor, where they can be directly supervised. (This means NOT yelling instructions from the base of the cliff!)

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Here’s an analysis of the accident from IFMGA Certified Guide Karsten Delap.

Here's another video from Karsten showing some ways to build your own anchor with your own gear, and then transfer to the anchor hooks when it's time to lower off for the last person.

Bounce test to learn gear placement

Starting out learning to place trad gear and build anchors? It looks like a decent placement, but is it really going to hold? A great way to build confidence in your gear placements (as well as get lots of practice using your nut tool) is take a page from big wall climbing: bounce test your gear.

While a bounce test is probably going to put between 2 and 3 kN on your piece, quite a bit less than the maximum force of about 6 to 7 kN it might see in a big actual fall, it can definitely boost your confidence that you’re placing your gear correctly.

The image below is a screen grab from a video from our friends at HowNot2.com, showing the actual force generated during a static sling bounce test.

image: HowNot2.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq3_DfyHg1A&t=781s

You may hear advice of “go aid climbing” to learn how to place gear. Not a bad idea, but it does require lots of extra stuff like a rope, a patient belay partner, and aiders, fifi hook, daisychains, and probably ascenders. You actually don't need any of that; you can bounce test and get the same learning pretty much standing on the ground.

What you need: base of a cliff area with lots of various sized cracks to place gear, a decent trad rack (can maybe borrow from a good friend), a cleaning tool. Optional but suggested: a hammer and eye protection/safety glasses.

How to do it: At the crag, make a placement that you can reach from the ground, and clip a runner or two to the gear. Extend runners as needed so when you step in it, it’s about knee level. (You want to keep your feet close to the ground when you do this because if the piece pops out, that means you won't take much of a fall.)

Give it a decent tug.

• Did it move? Does the rock on either side look solid? Good.

• Now, carefully step into the runner, and give it a little bodyweight. (If the placement is near or above your head, you might want to cover the gear with your hand. If the gear pops, it’s going to zing out somewhere in the neighborhood of your eye - remember those suggested safety glasses?) Did the gear move it all? If not, sweet, probably a good placement.

• Now, start jumping on the sling with increasing enthusiasm. Did the gear shift a little bit and then hold? Might be OK, but probably could be improved. Did it sprout wings, fly out of the rock and almost hit you in the eye when you jumped on it? Definitely needs more work. 

And, like I said, be sure and bring a cleaning tool and perhaps a hammer, or at least a baseball sized rock or big hex, so you can (gently) beat on those welded stoppers to be sure you take everything home. (You might not want to bounce test a Tricam, which are notorious for being hard to clean after they’ve been weighted.) 

It’s one thing to put in a piece of gear, look at it, and hope it’s well placed. It’s quite another to jump on it with enthusiasm and know with more certainty. If you have a more knowledgeable friend to work with on this, they can critique your placements.

Here's a nice short video that shows the basic technique. (Note that here it's demonstrated using standard big wall equipment such as aid ladders and daisy chains, but pretty much the same procedure can be done very close to the ground with a few slings.)

And finally, here's a video from our friends at HowNot2.com showing the actual force is generated from bounce testing. (it's a long video, start at 13:00 to see the testing part.)

"Locker draw" - What is it, why carry it?

A “locker draw” is simply a short quick draw style runner, a.k.a. “dogbone”, with locking carabiners on either end. Some people may dismiss a locker draw as something that overly cautious sport climbers may use on a top rope anchor, but they have many more uses.

You don’t buy these premade like a normal quick draw, you need to buy the dogbone and locking carabiners separately. A good combination is to have two sizes of locking carabiners: one D shaped, and a compact pear-shaped HMS style, as shown below. (The CAMP “Nimbus” carabiner on the left, is perfect for this.)

Tip: Put the HMS carabiner in the small constricted end of the dogbone, and put the D shaped carabiner (here, orange) in the top loose end of the dogbone. Use the orange carabiner to clip the gear, the HMS carabiner to clip the rope.

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Here are some ways to use a locker draw.

1) Bolted top rope anchor. A normal multi pitch anchor doesn’t require locking carabiners on the bolts. But a top rope anchor, which may be unattended throughout the day and have many people climbing on it, may benefit from having at least one locker draw. We cover toprope locker draws at this post.

Below is a typical set up, with one locker draw and one standard quick draw. Bottom gates are opposite and opposed.

Here are two extra long (25 cm) Petzl Express draws, which can be helpful if the bolts are far apart. Here we have lockers on everything. Some people may consider this overkill, but if you're in an instructional type setting, with many climbers all day using a single top rope, having lockers on all four points may give extra peace of mind. This can be especially true with kids or beginners.

It's debatable if two locker draws offer much more security than one. But if you have them and it makes you feel good to use them, why not? There's really not much downside.

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2) Rappel extension. Extending your rappel device so it’s not directly on your belay loop is a good idea for many reasons, which we cover in this tip. There are lots of different ways to rig it, and one quick and easy one is with your locker draw.

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3) Extending your tie in / belay point; declustering your anchor. When you a master point at one level, connecting both yourself and belaying your partner from that one point can be awkward. A locker draw can extend the tie in or the belay carabiners. This can make the belay more convenient and less awkward, depending on your stance.

Example: Standard anchor on a mini quad (180 cm runner). Nothing wrong with this set up. But depending on the stance, the leader’s clove hitch tie in point on the left and the belay carabiner on the right might be annoyingly close together.

Here, a locker draw is added for the leader’s tie in. This moves their connection point lower, making the anchor less cluttered at a single point.

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4) Using it as a regular quickdraw before a hard move, before a big run out, or right off the belay as the first clip, to pump up the psyche.

If you find yourself doing this on a regular basis, you may want to invest in a pair of Edelrid HMS Strike Slider carabiners. These have a clever locking mechanism that is very easy to open with one hand, and can work better for making fast clips.

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6) Rig a toprope with the rope through the chains to make it easy for a beginner to clean, but so the wear‘n’tear happens on your own gear, not the fixed hardware. (A regular carabiner can work fine here as well.)

And here's another way to set up a similar type of anchor, this time with vertically oriented chains and a locker draw. Note, the rope is going through the brown colored ring master point on the bottom, but all of the load from the climber is resting on your own quick draw. This is a great system, because you have complete redundancy from both bolts and also super easy cleaning; the last person just removes the quick draw and lowers off.

Photo: IFMGA Certified Guide Dale Remsburg @daleremsberg

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7) Ice thread backup. If you make an ice thread anchor for a rappel, you can place a screw(s) above it and clip a locker draw to the rope as a backup for the first person(s) down. The last person cleans the draw and the screw after the thread has proven it holds. Be sure that all of the weight is on the ice thread, with no force on the locker draw.

photo: Dale Remsberg - https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsx7X6ZhcpA/

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8) Winter climbing device attachment. No photo for this one but you can get the idea: Use it to extend your belay device farther away from your harness if you're wearing lots of thick winter clothing. This makes it easier to connect the belay device properly because you can see it more easily.

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9) Always gives you two extra locking carabiners for any kind of rescue situation. If you've ever practiced any sort of rock rescue, about 30 seconds into any scenario, you're going to wish you had a few extra lockers. If you carry a locker draw, that gives you two lockers when you need them.

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10) As a directional placement for ice or rock toproping. In many toprope setups, especially for ice, having a directional placement as shown below is a good idea. Using a locker draw here gives more security than a standard quick draw.

image credit: Sean isaac

The "open" cordelette

While a traditional cordelette is about 16 feet of 7mm cord tied into one big loop, many climbers (if they carry one at all) prefer to leave it untied, known in some circles as an “open” cordelette.

Why use an open cordelette? It’s more versatile.

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You can tie the ends together quickly in a big loop if you need it, with a simple flat overhand bend. (That’s right, no double fisherman’s knot required.) It’s fast to tie and easy to untie when you’re done compared to many other knots.

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You can tie small loops in either end to make a ”bunny ears” cordelette. This can be handy when the gear is far apart, or you need to sling a big tree or boulder. Just tie a small overhand loop near the ends.

“Bunny ears” used to clip gear that’s far apart.

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Ice climbing toprope

If you're setting up an ice climbing top rope anchor, you can make two V thread anchors and connect them both with a single cord, if you keep it untied.

Photo credit, Tim Banfield and Sean Isaac

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Thread the open cord through fixed protection

This example comes from a nice PDF file showing some European style anchor techniques, made by the German Mountain and Ski Guides Association (“Verband Deutscher Berg und Skiführer” or “VDBS”). Here, using an open cordelette lets you thread one and through the fixed gear that can’t be clipped. Also, note the girth hitch at the master point.

image: Standplatzlogik VDBS 2019 - Ausbildungsstandard VDBS & Alternativen

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Crevasse rescue

After a crevasse fall is held by the team on top, the person closest to the crevasse can tie a prusik hitch with an open cordelette (about 5 meters of 6 mm cord) on the rope, tie an overhand to make a clipping point, and tie the ends through their belay loop.

The key here is that the ends can be passed through the belay loop and tied if needed in a rescue; the rest of the time it stays out of the way on your harness.

Image: https://www.ortovox.com/uk/safety-academy-lab-ice/chapter-3/rescuing-a-companion

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Alternative anchor rigging

You can make an multi point anchor by not really tying any knots at all at least until the master point. Here's one way to do it, shown by my pal Ryan Jenks at HowNot2.com. It's a little hard to explain in words, so check out the video below.

Spoiler alert: 28 kN strong anchor made with 6mm cord, impressive!

Start it at 7:00.

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Here's another way.

Place three pieces of gear, or in this case, three bolts. At least 1 foot from one end of the cord, tie a clove hitch and clip it to the left bolt. At least 1 foot from the other end of the cord, tie another clove hitch, and clip it to the right bolt. Then, take the approximate middle of the cord and clip it to the middle bolt.

Clip a locking carabiner through the two “U” shaped strands in the middle.

Tie an overhand knot (or figure 8) to make the master point. Done!

Note:

• There is no redundant shelf on this anchor. The loop that goes from the masterpoint knot to the middle bolt is probably okay for clipping a backpack, but not for belaying.

• This anchor is easily adjustable. If the pieces are far apart, or farther away from you, tie the clove hitch nearer to the end of the cord (while still leaving a foot or so of tail, and snugging down the knot.) If, like in this case, the pieces are very close together, you can tie a clove hitch with longer tails, making a more compact / higher master point.

• This anchor can be easily adjusted if the direction of pull changes. If the direction of pull changes to one side, say the left, then the strand of cord going to the left anchor is going to go slack, which means it's not taking any of the load. You can easily adjust this by shortening the clove hitch going to the left bolt, which can regain a nice three point load distribution.

• You only have about half rated strength of the cord going to the single arms. A 7 mm cord is rated about 13 kN, so half of that is around 6.5, which should be fine. However, a 6 mm cord is only rated 7.5 kN, so halving that brings it down to 4 kN, which is sort of in the danger range. So, if you're ever going to use this technique, please use a 7 mm cord.

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Hey, don't take my word for it. Here's a short (31 seconds!) video by expert climber Hans Florine (multiple speed climb record holder on The Nose on El Capitan, among other things) showing this technique.

Cordelette - Connect the ends with an overhand knot

Yes, an overhand knot. Yes, the same one you use to tie two ropes together to rappel. (If you want to get technical it's a “flat overhand bend.” previously known as the Euro Death Knot, of EDK).

Or, to really keep it simple just carry your cordelette completely untied, also known as an “open” cordelette.

• make a 3 piece anchor with two clove hitches

• Tie a small overhand loop in each and, a.k.a. bunny ears style

• Want a traditional big loop? Tie with a flat overhand bend.

Hey, if you're happy keeping your cordelette pretty much permanently tied into a loop with a double fisherman’s knot, feel free to keep doing it that way. But, if you see somebody tying a cordelette as shown below, don't freak out about it, it's fine.

Just like if you were using it to connect two rappel ropes, make sure you've got a nice long tail at least 6-8 inches, and make sure the knot is “dressed and stressed” - properly snugged down

Update: a reader mentioned on a related Instagram post that if you’re using a 5.5 mm HMPE “tech cord”, at least one manufacturer recommends using a triple fisherman's knot to tie a loop, because this material is more slippery than standard cord. So, if your cordelette is made of tech cord, probably best to avoid the flat overhand bend.

Note the striking resemblance to the Flying Spaghetti Monster . . .

Knot close up: Yep, that's your garden-variety flat overhand bend. (And please don't call at the European Death Knot (EDK), we're trying to get away from that, okay?

Hey, don't take my word for it. Here's a photo of an anchor made by IFMGA Guide Dale Remsberg, taken March 2019. Notice the flat overhand bend connecting the cordelette ends.

and, in an email to me from internationally certified guide Rob Coppolillo, and co-author of “The Mountain Guide Manual”:

“I have my cordelettes tied with flat overhands right now....and I'm liking it. Easier to untie, etc. Only time I do not leave it tied as such, is what I'm using the cord as one big loop (as in, not tying it off as a distributed, redundant anchor material). 

Indeed, the flat overhand starts rolling at relatively low loads, but in the testing I've seen it rolls once or twice, then quits....unless of course the load stays on it indefinitely. 

Does this make sense? So, I guess I'd say, go for it with the flat overhand...but if you're using the cord as one big loop, maybe take the time to tie a double-fisherman's, if you foresee high loads.“

And, one more endorsement, this time from a video made by Ortovox and the German Mountain and Ski Guide Association - some folks who know what they're talking about. In this video about building multi piece gear anchors, he says at about 2:20: “I fix the optimum height of the anchor by tying an overhand knot (in the open cordelette).” Screen grab below of overhand knot; See the video here.

Introduction to MA systems

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First off, thanks to some Very Bright People who helped with these posts. High fives to Barry O’Mahony, Bryan Hall (with Rose City Ropes) Deling Ren, and Derek Castonguay. Thanks, friends!

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I'm busy and I have a short attention span. What's the takeaway?

• Start with learning 2:1 and a 3:1 until you can build them with your eyes closed. Every other fancy system is really just a combination of these.

• Real world mechanical advantage will always be less than theoretical mechanical advantage. Sometimes a lot less - that “3:1” is probably more like at 2:1.

• Use pulleys instead of carabiners when possible.

• Redirecting the pull adds friction. Don't do it unless you need to.

• A pulley on the anchor only serves to change the direction of pull. A pulley on the load or the load strand creates mechanical advantage.

• The efficiency of ratchets is worse than you may think.

• Redirecting the pull through the anchor magnifies your pulling effort on that redirect point.

• Mechanical advantage systems can increase forces on the anchor.

• Static ropes are more efficient than dynamic ropes.

• A pulley with a larger wheel is slightly more efficient than a pulley with a smaller wheel.

• Don't use more mechanical advantage than you need to get the job done.

• Alpine climbers and big wall climbers have different needs and different systems

• These blog posts are mostly arranged with easier topics at the top and more advanced topics closer to the bottom.

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Got some time and a longer attention span and really want to learn this stuff?

Good, let's get started.

I'll always remember my first encounter with pulleys. In the rural area where I grew up, we had a neighbor named Ray, who was always messing around with cars. One day my dad said, “Let's go visit Ray tomorrow morning, I think he has something special to show us.”

The next day we walk over to Ray's house. He’s elbow deep in an old Chevy, that’s parked under an oak tree with a stout branch. I see some ropes going back-and-forth between the tree branch and the car, but that doesn't mean anything to me. After a few minutes. Ray hands me a rope end and says, “OK, start pulling.” I pull hand over hand on the rope . . . and watch in absolute amazement as my 8 year old arms lift the entire engine out of the car! The magic of pulleys had me feeling, for a brief moment, like a superhero.

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Mechanical advantage (mostly referred to from here on as MA) which rather magically magnifies your pulling power, is one of the wonders of human ingenuity. Something as simple as running a rope back and forth between an anchor point and a load can somehow give you the power to lift a load many times your own body weight.

Mechanical advantage in various forms was a key component of building the Egyptian pyramids. Sliding a block up a ramp is shown below is a form of mechanical advantage, because you’re moving the load several horizontal meters and only one vertical one, which means it requires less force to move.

Systems of pulleys are used on modern cranes to lift amazingly large loads.

Applications of mechanical advantage have been used for many centuries in all kinds of different clever ways!

This series of posts takes a deep dive into MA, how it works, and how it can be applied to climbing situations. The goal here is for anyone reading this, especially non-engineering people, is to start simple, get a bit more esoteric, and by the end have a complete and solid understanding of MA pulley systems and how they apply to climbing. If you make through all these posts, you’ll be an expert!

Knowledge of mechanical advantage systems is not helpful only for climbers. White water rafters and kayakers use similar rescue systems, and this series of posts will be helpful for them as well.

Note that this post is NOT a rehash of the specifics of how to perform alpine rescues or big wall hauling. Those topics are already well described in many other places on the web and in print.

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Moving rice bags: a way to think about MA

Imagine you work at a grocery store. One morning a delivery truck drops off a pallet, on which are 10 bags of rice. Each bag weighs 20 pounds, for a total of 200 pounds.

Your job is move the rice bags from the loading dock into the store. How do you want to do this?

• If you’re feeling pretty strong, make a single trip: deadlift 200 pounds, and slowly walk it into the store. We could call this a 1:1, lifting and moving the entire weight once. 

• If you’re not feeling strong (and maybe getting paid by the hour) you could take one rice bag at a time and leisurely walk it into the store, taking 10 trips to move all 10 bags. It takes very little effort to lift each bag, but you have to do it 10 times. We could call this a 10:1. 

• Or, a more practical approach may be somewhere in the middle. You could take, say, two bags at a time, a manageable 40 pounds, and make five trips to carry the 10 bags into the store. We could call this a 5:1.  

In the end, all of the bags are moved from point A to point B. You haven’t magically made the 200 pound load any lighter, moving the 10 bags still took the same amount of “work”, but you simply changed the time and distance involved to move the load. Is one “easier” than another? No.

The basic question is, would you rather move 200 pounds one time, 20 pounds ten times, or maybe 40 pounds five times? There’s not one correct answer.

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Let's start with some definitions.

• Mechanical advantage, or MA: This is the magnification of your pulling effort. It's expressed as a ratio, such as 2:1, 3:1, and is pronounced “2 to 1” and “3 to 1”. The first number is the force applied to the load, and the second number, which is always one, is the effort that you apply to the rope. For example, in a theoretical 2:1 system, if you pull with 100 pounds, you can lift a 200 pound load. A 3:1 system with a 100 pound pull let’s you lift 300 pounds. Magic! 

• Theoretical (aka “ideal”) vs Real World (aka “actual”)MA: On paper, in a frictionless world with perfect pulleys and ropes that don't stretch, MA systems work as advertised. But in the real world, not so much. Mostly due to friction, real world, or actual MA will always be less than theoretical, or ideal MA. (Meaning, that theoretical 3:1 may be more like a 1.7:1, ouch!)

• Efficiency: Closely related to MA is efficiency. Think of efficiency as: how much of your effort is actually getting through to the load to do some useful work? High efficiency is good, because it means you need to do less work. (And let's face it, most of us are lazy.) In the real world, haul system efficiency is affected by a wide range of things, such as stretch of the rope under load, the quality of your pulleys, rubbing and twisting of the rope, how often you need to reset your hauling system, and a few other quirky variables.

• Friction: the main and messy variable that takes nice “theoretical” MA and turns it into “real world” MA. With a 2:1 system, in theory a 100 pound effort can lift a 200 pound load. But in the real world, friction will always mean you will be moving less than 200 pounds. Depending on your choice of gear, it can sadly be a LOT less. In climbing, friction mostly comes from the rope bending to go through a pulley or carabiner, or the rope rubbing on a rock ledge or a crevasse lip. Friction is not our friend, and we want to try to minimize it whenever possible.

• Fixed pulley: a pulley/carabiner that’s attached to the anchor. This pulley does not move, and serves only to change the direction of pull. It does not create MA.

• Moveable pulley: aka travelling or “tractor” pulley/carabiner. This is attached in some way to the load or the load strand. This pulley moves as you pull the rope. It changes the direction of pull AND creates MA. 

• Progress capture: aka ratchet. If you pull on a load, a progress capture means the load won’t slip back once you stop pulling. A progress capture in climbing is typically either a simple prusik knot or a pulley that is combined with a rope grabbing mechanism. These pulleys, such as Petzl “Traxion” series, are expensive, but very handy. Progress capturing pulleys are optional for alpine climbing but mandatory for big wall hauling. More on ratchets in a later post.

Below are two examples of a progress capture - the humble prusik and the Petzl Mini Traxion (shown open to illustrate rope grabbing teeth.)

progress capture: Petzl pulley and sterling hollow block tied as 3 wrap prusik.

progress capture: petzl mini traxion

Overview of a simple pulley system

Let's start simple.

I don't know about you, but when I start looking at diagrams of complicated pulley systems and 5:1 rescue setups, my eyes get crossed and my brain starts to fog. Good news is, we don’t need to analyze a 5:1. At least not right now. Let’s break this down by starting at the beginning and then working up to a simple MA system, so you can really see how this works.

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The basic 1:1 pull

Sticky the climber needs to haul a 100 pound load up to the ledge. Sticky ties a rope onto the load, and starts pulling. To even budge it off the ground, Sticky needs to pull up with 100 pounds of effort. Sticky pulls 1 foot of rope, and the load rises 1 foot. Sticky has no mechanical advantage or progress capturing, so Sticky’s arms get tired pretty fast!

In this case, it's probably not a good system. But in other situations, it might work just fine. Got a crevasse rescue with five people on top ready to pull? Great! Put prusiks on the rope for everybody, have them clip in, and start pulling, ideally with their legs and bodyweight. Probably no need for anything fancier than this.

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Bluehat thinks, “Hmm, how about clip a carabiner to that bolt, and clip in the rope? That way, I can pull DOWN with my bodyweight instead of lifting UP with my arms, and I won't get so tired. That should be easier, right?”

The 1:1 pull with a redirect carabiner

Does Bluehat gain any MA with this setup? No. He changed the direction of pull, but because the direction change is on the fixed anchor, he did not gain any MA. He’s still pulling a 1:1, just like before, just with the rope now moving down instead of up. He pulls 1 foot of rope, and the load rises 1 foot. This carabiner on the anchor is called a “redirect”, because it, umm, redirects your direction of pull.

Does he get an easier pull? Maybe. He can now use gravity and pull down using bodyweight rather than lifting up with his muscles. Pulling down is usually easier than pulling up! But the redirect adds a lot of friction. By running the rope through a carabiner, which is only about 50% efficient, he'll have to pull down with 150 pounds of force to move the 100 pound load.

Which is better, 100 pounds lifting straight up, using your arm muscles, or 150 pounds, pulling down, using your bodyweight?  There's really no right answer. It depends on how far you need to move the load, your weight, and your strength. (Personally, I'll take 150 pounds with the redirect pulling down, thank you very much.)

Does he need a bomber anchor for the redirect? Yes! When Bluehat is pulling, the force on the anchor is approximately twice the force they’re applying to the rope, or about 300 lbs. Which introduces a good general rule of thumb: a redirect on the anchor increase the load on the anchor.

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The 1:1 pull with a redirect carabiner and progress capture prusik

Bluehat thinks, “Well, it is easier pulling down with my bodyweight, but if I ever let go, this load is going to zing all the way to the ground again. How about I put a prusik on the load strand so I can take a rest?”

Excellent idea! This is known as a progress capture (aka “ratchet”). It allows the load to move up, but whenever Bluehat wants to let go and rest, the prusik keeps the load from sliding back down. (If you want to get fancy, you could use a progress capture pulley here, such as Petzl Traxion.)

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The 2:1 pull

Bluehat thinks, “OK, time to start working smart instead of working hard!” He clips one end of the rope to the anchor, puts a pulley on the 100 lb. load, runs the rope through the pulley, and starts hauling. Now he’s getting somewhere!

Does Bluehat gain any MA with this setup? YES! He’s now pulling with a 2:1 mechanical advantage. Look how the load is distributed on the rope. 50 pounds goes to the anchor, and 50 pounds goes to him. So, if he pulls with 50 pounds of force, the load will rise! He has to pull 2 feet of rope to move the load 1 foot.

Does he get an easier pull? Well, it depends how you look at it. In theory, he only has to pull with 50 pounds of force to move the load, which is good. But, he needs to pull twice as much rope, which is not so good. In the end, he's doing the same amount of “work”. Would you rather lift 100 pounds 10 times, or 50 pounds 20 times? In the end you’ve still moved 1,000 total pounds, it's all the same.

Here's another way to think about it: work equals force times distance. You're doing the same amount of work in the end, lifting a given load the required distance. But with a mechanical advantage system, you use a lower force to move the load over a longer distance. 

How’s he doing for efficiency? Great! By using a quality pulley on the load, he can lift the load with much less effort. Way better than the carabiner with a 1:1 redirect.

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The 2:1 pull with redirect and progress capture prusik

Bluehat thinks, “Well, this is definitely easier to pull, but my arms are still getting tired. Let's put a redirect on the anchor, and a prusik on the load strand.”

Now we're getting somewhere. He’s lifting with 2:1 MA, , and added a ratchet prusik so he can take a break whenever he needs to without dropping the load. Nice!

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This, right here, is the foundation of mechanical advantage systems. All the fancy stuff in the rock or crevasse rescue books that makes you go cross-eyed? It's all just adding and stacking additional redirects and pulleys in different variations on top of pretty much what we just saw.

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Now, the above diagrams might appear to be overly simplistic. But if we break them down, we can learn some important principles that apply to any flavor of simple or compound pulley systems.

• Changing the direction of pull at the anchor does NOT add mechanical advantage.

• Changing the direction of pull at the load (or the load strand) DOES add mechanical advantage.

• Even if a change of direction at the anchor does add friction, it might make your pull easier, depending on your own personal strength, body weight, and the weight of the load you need to move.

• A redirect on the anchor increase forces on the anchor. Be sure your anchor can handle this.

• Try to minimize friction at every change of direction by using a pulley rather than a carabiner whenever possible.

• Adding a progress capture / ratchet means your load will not slide back down if you stop pulling.

• In the end, the “work” you do is the same with an MA system. You move the same amount of weight over the same distance. So, in a sense it's not necessarily “easier” to move the load all the way up, you just get to pull less weight on each stroke.

A 3:1 “Z” drag, step by step

The “Z” drag (so named because the rope looks like the letter “Z” if you turn your head sideways) which gives you a theoretical 3:1 mechanical advantage, is one of the fundamental setups of crevasse and rock rescue. After you've done it a few times, most people get the hang of it. But if you haven't rigged it in a while, or if you're doing it under the stress of a real rescue situation, setting it up efficiently and correctly can be a challenge. (I’ve seen some quite experienced climbers have a complete brain fade trying to do this if they’re out of practice . . .)

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Here's a step-by-step walk-through. Hopefully this will help if you're new to rope rescue, or to dust off this skill if it’s been awhile. So get a rope, 2 prusiks, a few carabiners and a pulley if you have it, and follow along.

Note 1: This shows the basic mechanics of how a Z drag is set up, not all the possible nuances of gear and technique. Prusik minding and progress capturing pulleys, rope grabs, backup knots and releasable hitches, and other fancy rope tricks can be added after you know this foundation inside and out.

Note 2: Don't pull furniture around inside your house as it's tough on the floor and carpet, ask me how I know this . . .

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Step 1 - Construct a bomber anchor. Add a locking carabiner. Clip this carabiner to the rope with the load. You now have a 1:1 system (zero mechanical advantage) with the rope redirected.

Step 2 - Add a “capture” prusik on the load strand of the rope, and clip this prusik to the anchor. (This prusik loop “captures” your pulling progress, holding the load if you let go of the rope.)

Step 2A - The way it's set up now, when you haul on the rope, the prusik will pull through your carabiner. Not good. There are a few ways to prevent this. One is to add a quick link, as shown below, which should block the prusik from sliding through. The effectiveness of this depends on the few variables such as size of your quick link, and diameter and grip-tion of rope and prusik cord. Give it a try and see how it works. (You can get quick links that are actually CE rated for climbing from CAMP, discussed here.)

Another way is to have a second person “mind the prusik”, keeping it loose when you're pulling, but letting it go tight on the rope to hold the load when you stop pulling.

If you have a fancy and somewhat expensive “prusik minding pulley”, this is where you’d put it.

(And yes, clever reader, I know the trick of adding a tube belay device here, we're not covering that today.)

Step 3 - Add a second prusik, called a “travelling” prusik, onto the load strand of the rope. It's called the “travelling” prusik, because it moves when you pull. If your prusik cord is a little long, like the one I have here, tie an overhand knot to shorten it up. Shorter is better.

Step 4 - Put the free end of the rope through a pulley, clip a carabiner to the pulley, and clip that carabiner onto the travelling prusik.

If you don't have a pulley, use a carabiner here. A pulley is better. If you have only one pulley, put it on the travelling prusik to increase your hauling efficiency.

Sweet, you now have a 3:1 and you’re ready to pull! Pull on the rope until your load is where you need it, or until the travelling pulley touches the anchor. If this happens and you need to pull some more, set the capture prusik to be sure it can hold the load, and then reset the travelling prusik by sliding it as far as you can down the rope toward the load. Continue pulling.

What’s a “closed” rope system?

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You may have heard the term “closed rope system” in various books and websites. However, I’ve rarely seen it clearly defined, so let's talk about it.

A “closed rope system” means that both ends of the rope have a knot of some kind in them. It’s best practice to make this the default system for pretty much every climbing situation. 

A closed rope system can take many forms. Here are a few:

• A stopper knot in the free end(s) on a rappel or when top rope belaying,

• The end of the rope clipped or tied to a pack, rope bag or similar. This is helpful for single pitch top roping. If you start pulling the other end of the rope, you’ll immediately notice the other end is clipped to a pack. This avoids the extremely common problem of pulling the stopper knot up the route out of reach, whoops! Consider using a clove hitch instead of a bight knot. Once you unclip the hitch, the rope is free to pull. See above photo.

• Your retraced figure 8 tied directly to your harness,

• Both rope ends clipped to the anchor, as you might do with the “J loop” technique on a multi pitch rappel,

This is a simple habit that can prevent the end of the rope from ever going through a belay or rappel device, two common causes of climbing accidents.

Think of closing your rope system with knots the same as wearing a seatbelt when driving. 99.99% of the time you're never going to need it, but that one time you do, you're going to be damn glad you had it.

And, it's worth mentioning again, pretty much always close the system when rappelling. (The exception to this might be a one pitch rappel and you can clearly see the ends of the rope or on the ground.)

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Comments . . .

Some people object to tying knots in the rappel strands, saying they “don't want the knot to get stuck”. I’ve never understood this. Unless you have some very unusually deep rope-eating cracks right below you, the first person down should easily be able to stop, pull the knot out of whatever crack it might be in, and toss it on down the cliff. A key rule of rappelling is to never go below any rope that’s stuck. The first person down should fix any issues and lower the rope properly.

If it's a crazy windy day and you're worried about getting your knotted rope stuck in some far-off rock crevice, you have some options. You can lower your partner with both ends of the rope, or the first person can saddlebag the rope.

Think of it this way: how many people have died from a knotted rope end getting stuck? Compare that to, how many people have died from rappelling off the end of the ropes?

Do you have a rope that's “long enough”? Don't be complacent. Say you’re climbing a 25 meter route and you have a 60 meter rope. No problem, you think, I have an extra 10 meters of rope. But, if your belayer backs up from the wall or walks downhill, or maybe the climber decides to pendulum off to one side and clip a redirect piece of gear, or something strange like that, you might suddenly end up short when lowering off. Having a knot in the end of the rope, or having the belayer tied to it, eliminates this potential accident. Always close the system, even if you're doing single pitch sport climbing and initially appears you have plenty of rope to lower off your partner.

When your rappel ends on the ground, have the first person down untie the stopper knots. You’re on the ground, so obviously they’re no longer needed, and they need to be untied to pull the rope. So, get into the habit of having the first person do this. This helps prevent that all-too-common mistake of starting to pull the rappel rope with a knot still in one end, yikes!

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For a rappel, consider tying your stopper knot at least 2 feet from the end of the rope. By doing this, you give yourself enough extra rope to at least tie an overhand. This gives you something to clip your tether to, in case you screw up and reach the knot. If you don't do this, yes, you did prevent the catastrophe of rapping off the end of your rope, but now you might be kind of screwed, because you maybe can't do much else.

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Think you’d never make a mistake like this? If it can happen to Alex Honnold, it can darn sure happen to you.

In 2016, Alex was dropped by his belayer because they were using a 60 meter rope on a 70 meter route, there was no knot in the end of the rope, and his belayer was not tied to the end of the rope. Whoops, open rope system!

While the belayer was lowering Alex, the end of the rope zinged through their Grigri and Alex fell onto some “gnarly rocks”. Luckily he only suffered mild injuries. Other climbers in the same situation have died.

Read the accident report here.

Climbing "shades of grey" - Dealing with conflicting advice

Short version: A vast majority of climbing techniques are not black or white, right or wrong, but exist along a continuum of subjectivity and best practice. If you receive climbing advice that differs from what you already know, ask "Why do you like to do it this way, and what might happen if I do it differently?"

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It’s day one of climbing school. You’re out at the local crag with a handful of instructors and a few other eager students. One instructor, over the course of an hour or so, shows you how to belay and tie a few knots. You take a break, rotate to another instructor, and they then proceed to tell you a different method to belay and a different way to tie the same knots.

Aaaaaarrrgh! Confusion and frustration! Who should you listen to?

Sound familiar?

Just about every climber can think of situations in their climbing education where they received wildly different advice on a particular topic or technique. Your climbing mentor tells you to belay with your palm up, but the "Freedom of the Hills" instruction book suggests belaying palm down. There seems like a dozen different ways to tie a butterfly knot and everyone wants to convince you their way is the best. You get the idea. When you’re learning, it sometimes seems like everything is like this!

(And let's not get started on YouTube, where Reinhold Messner himself could post a climbing instruction video and even then some yahoos would rip his "incorrect technique" apart in the comment section.)

After you have some experience under your belt, you may be better able to interpret conflicting advice like this, but it can be especially confounding for the newer climber.

New folks are doing their best just to get their heads around the foundational skills, while underneath it all, anxiety is amplified because we all know we are doing a sport that can get you killed in an instant if you do something critical the wrong way.

Here are two approaches to hopefully cut through this fog. One is to understand that climbing techniques exist along a sliding scale. Two is to remember a back-and-forth dialogue needs to happen when you hear conflicting advice.

Let’s dive into each of these.

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One: sliding scale

It’s part of human nature to want to put things in a binary box. Is it A or B?  Am I right or wrong? Are you liberal or conservative? Is this restaurant great or terrible? This worldview takes less mental energy than trying to weigh the nuances of real life.

But, we all know that most things in life exist along a continuum, a sliding scale of ambiguity between one extreme or the other. The same is true in climbing.

There are actually very few climbing techniques that we can call black or white, set-in-stone, always-do-it-this-way-or-you’re-gonna-have-serious-consequences. I’m giving this a very subjective number of about 10%.

What are some of those black and white rules? Try to think of a few right now.

• Never glissade with crampons on.

• Never take your brake hand off the rope when you're rappelling or belaying.

• Always check your partner's harness and knot before they start to climb.

• Always double back your harness buckle.

You can probably think of a few more, but there really aren’t a whole lot more than that!

That means the other 90% of climbing techniques exist along a continuum somewhere in the middle. You could divide these into five general categories:

1 - Never do it this way, you're gonna die or get seriously hurt. Example: Glissading with crampons.

2 - Outdated technique that has a few problems, but you’re not gonna die. Example, using 1-inch webbing for everything.

3 - Completely up to you, flip a coin.  Example: using loose chalk or a chalk ball.

4 - Generally preferred modern method, best practice: Example: belaying directly off the anchor in fifth class rock, as opposed to off your belay loop.

5 - Pretty much everyone agrees you should do it this way: Example: Tying knot(s) in the end of your rappel rope so you don’t zing off the ends.

So, this means that the vast majority of climbing techniques are fairly subjective and generally up to your personal preference. Good news, if you do it a different way, you’re probably not going to die! Hopefully this is comforting to the beginning climber who's trying to sort out all this well-intended advice that often comes from different directions.

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So, that tells us that this climbing game is not as black-and-white as some people might lead you to think. What's the next step of sorting through the advice? How to decide what you want to absorb and what you want to discard? 

esteemquotes.com

Bruce, that's terrific advice, but as new climbers, it's hard to decide "what is useful and what is not". How do we do that?

Here's how. Simply ask, “What could happen to me if I do it differently than what you just showed me?”

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Two: Reasons and Consequences

For the giver of advice (instructor): when you offer advice or suggestions, try to follow that up with your rationale(s) for doing so, and the potential consequences of doing it another way.

For the receiver of advice (student): if you hear something that's different from what you already think is correct, try to ask two questions (in a respectful way and ideally at a time that doesn’t interrupt the teaching flow.)

• The first question is: “Why do you like to do it that way?”

• The second question is, “What might happen if I do it another way?”

(Of course, this is much easier to do when you’re face-to-face with someone, as opposed to reading a book, magazine, or web post).

“Why do you like to do it that way?”  If the person offering the advice can immediately answer with a few tangible reasons WHY, then you might well think: “Dang, they know their stuff and have clearly thought this through. It’s different than what I’ve learned, but I’m going to consider this alternative method.”

On the other hand, if your instructor person shrugs their shoulders and says “Well, I dunno, I’ve just always done it like that and I think you should too," then that’s not a very compelling argument for their technique.

“What might happen if I do it another way?”  If the answer is "Ehhh, not much", then no problemo, you can pretty much choose whatever method suits you. But, the answer is "If you do it differently than what I taught you, there's a good chance of serious consequences, which are X, Y and maybe Z,” then that's something you should probably pay attention to.

I think you get the idea. Subjectivity is an essential part of climbing, and it's not nearly as black-and-white as many instructors make it out to be. Do your best to embrace the “shades of grey” and develop your own techniques and style within the sliding scale of accepted methods.

A learning sequence for any vertical rope skill

If you want to learn any rope skill that if you screw it up, there's a high chance you're going to die, here’s a conservative learning sequence you might want to follow. It increases the odds of you learning the skills and getting through the process in one piece.

Yes, that may sound a little dramatic, but learning new vertical rope skills is no joke.

For beginners, this might be rappelling.  For more advanced folks, it could cover Crafty Rope Tricks like passing a knot on a single rope rappel, or moving the rappel knot past an obstacle.

Let's use learning to rappel as an example.

1. Watch any solid instructional videos you can find. (Start on the alpinesavvy Video page)

2. Recruit a friend who knows what they’re doing with a few tasty beverages or dinner.

3. Start first on flat ground. It’s easy to do this in a park by throwing a sling around a tree and just walking backwards to get a feel for the basic movement.

4. Then try doing it on a staircase. Again, work with your partner. This gives you the feel of actually putting your body weight on the rope with minimal consequences if you screw up.

5. Finally, you’re ready for something vertical yet very close to the ground, where you can practice your moves under the careful eye of your experienced friend. Unfortunately, due to liability issues, most rock gyms do not smile upon people practicing Crafty Rope Tricks. Always ask first. You may have to be resourceful and find something on your own, A short retaining wall of 10 or 20 feet as a possible option. How about a tree? The first few times you rappel for real, having a back up belay of some kind is an excellent idea.

6. FInally, You can try rappelling from a real life stance, ideally with a skilled climber standing next to you while you do the entire set up, and remaining on a belay of some kind the first few times you try it.