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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A slick carabiner rappel brake

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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If you forget your rappel device, drop it (whoops), or maybe you’re on a really long alpine climb with just a short rappel and don't even want to bring one to save weight (Mt. Olympus, I'm looking at you) the somewhat old-school technique of a carabiner brake can offer a smooth rappel with gear you already have.

Now, before you roll your eyes about this being an old-timer technique from Freedom of the Hills version 2.0, (when harnesses were made from braided blackberry vines and Mt. St. Helens was a real mountain), stay with me. This method has a place in your tool kit, and uses just three lockers.

What are some other options if you or your partner drops your rappel device?

• You can rap with a Munter hitch and a single carabiner. But, it’s probably going to twist the hell out of your rope unless you use the correct technique.

• Your partner can lower you, probably directly off the anchor. Learn lots of ways to do this at this article.

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Safety note 1: There is a remote chance that the rope might unscrew a carabiner gate, so please keep an eye on this. In the example below, I’m using two auto locking carabiners to lessen the chances of this happening. Like I said, this is not a common-practice set up, more of an emergency kind of a thing.

Safety note 2: The friction with this technique will probably be less than using a standard rappel device. Maybe a LOT less. It depends on variables like your weight, the diameter of your rope and whether it's old and crusty or new and slick. Always use a third hand autoblock backup, and gloves are a fine idea also. Because of this diminished friction, it's probably best to use this technique in less than vertical terrain. Practice it in a controlled environment like a staircase to get a sense of how fast your rap is before you try in the real world.

• You can generate slightly more friction by rotating the carabiners so the small ends are together.

• This can be a fine place to use a locker draw to slightly extend your rappel.

• If you don't have three locking carabiners, you can use two regular ones, opposite and opposed, on the bottom, clipped to your belay loop.

• As with other flavors of carabiner brake rappels, when you remove your rope, it's really easy to drop a carabiner, because at least one of them is not attached, in this case the top one with the orange sleeve. So watch this when you take it apart.

• If you're really short on gear, you can do this with two carabiners instead of three. The third carabiner is mostly to prevent the rope from rubbing on your harness or rappel extension. If you decide to use only two carabiners, keep a close eye on your rope.

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Here’s how to rig it.

A rappel extension is not required for this carabiner brake, but it's good practice to use one, so we're showing it. And, as mentioned above, using a third hand /autoblock backup is usually good practice, but it's not shown here for clarity.

For a rappel extension, here we’re using a double bowline tied through the belay loop. (This is a crafty yet unconventional way to make a rappel extension, which we're going to cover in another tip soon.) You don't have to do it this way, use whatever kind of extension you like Yes, this sling is tied through the belay loop. There is no problem attaching your tether to your belay loop, it’s plenty strong, but if you prefer to go through your tie in points, then go for it.

1 - Clip a locking carabiner to your rappel extension.

2 - Clip a second locking carabiner to the first one.

3 - Pass a bight of both rappel rope strands through the second carabiner.

4 - Clip a third locking carabiner to these two strands of rope, and then . . .

Clip that third carabiner onto the strands going to the anchor. Check that ALL carabiners are locked.

Under load, it looks like this:

And finally, here’s a short Instagram video from Guide Cody Bradford showing how it's done.

Petzl - Accessing an exposed rappel station

The tip and diagrams below are from: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Accessing-an-exposed-rappel-station

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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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The amazing and informative Petzl website is full of great Crafty Rope Tricks (CRT). Here’s a good one on accessing an exposed rappel station. It's written for canyoneering, but it could also apply in some rock climbing situations. (There are various ways to accomplish this, this is just one.) Note: canyoneers like using rope bags, as shown here, but it’s not required.

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Step 1 - Set up some sort of an anchor in a safe position away from the cliff edge. (Note that any anchor material you use will be left behind.)

Step 2 - The first person ties into the end of the rope, and then lowers themselves through their rappel device to the rappel anchor on the cliff edge.

Step 3 - After securing themselves with a leash/lanyard to the anchor, the first person ties the end of the rope and a loop of the rope into the rappel anchor, fixing the two strands.

Step 4 - The second person can now safely descend to the rappel anchor, either with two leashes and carabiners, as shown here, or down climbing with friction knots (or maybe a combination.)

Step 5: Once both climbers are secured to the rappel anchor, the rope can be untied and pulled from the upper anchor, and then set for the actual rappel.

Stuck rappel ropes - use brains, then brawn

You’re pulling the ropes after a rappel, on the ground and dreaming of that post climb pizza and malted beverage, and . . . “#$%^(*&^&%!!!”, the rope is stuck! What are your options? Before you try the advanced (and scary) maneuver of ascending the ropes to free them, try everything you can from below first. There’s two basic approaches: finesse and brute strength. Here’s a few tricks:

• Examine the situation before taking any action. Some stuck ropes come free with finesse, some with brute strength. Generally, try finesse first, as pulling hard too early can make a bad situation worse. Pulling hard can lodge it further in a crack, damage your rope on a sharp edge, and possibly pull down rocks. That's why it's the second choice.

• If you’re on the ground, try walking back from the cliff or far to one side and pulling from a different angle.

• Sneaky Finesse “Flick” Trick: If you suspect the rope might be stuck in a crack or around a horn or something like that, try this Crafty Rope Trick (CRT): Clove hitch the rope to the end of a stick, trekking pole, ice axe, etc, the longer the better. This gives your rope “flick” a larger diameter and can be a lot more effective in freeing it from a small obstruction,  If it’s just hung up on a small knob, this often does the trick.

• Rubber band trick: You and your partner grab opposite ends of the ropes and pull, hard. One of you keeps the “pull” pressure on, while the other suddenly releases her end. The “rubber band” effect of one end of your dynamic rope “springing” upwards often will get a stubborn rope moving. This also works with a Grigri.

• Brute force trick: After you try the above with no luck, time for the muscle. Tie a foot loop and stand/jump on it. One or more people can put the rope through a prusik loop or belay device, jump upwards and lock off on the rope, adding full or multiple body weight. (If you’re off the ground, be sure you’re safely anchored for this.) The next step beyond this is to maybe build a 3:1 mechanical advantage system to try to apply some serious force to the rope. 

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If it doesn’t come loose after this, you may be faced with one of the scariest situations in climbing, reascending a stuck rappel rope. Hopefully you’re never in this situation, it’s gonna suck. If you still have both ends of the rope, this is a lot safer, because you know the rope is still running through your anchor. Put a couple of prusiks on both strands and get busy.

If you have a Grigri, it might be faster to use that and a foot sling to ascend the rope, provided you fix the other strand to the lower anchor. Learn how to do that here.

If you only have one end of the rope, you’ve hopefully done the 3:1 pull and it still hasn’t come loose. That can give you a little peace of mind that your bodyweight carefully ascending the rope is probably not going to pull it off either. There are various ways to safeguard this. Here’s one: Tie in to the bottom end of the rope, and build an anchor set for an upward pull. Ascend the rope with a prusik and place gear as you can, clipping the rope below your prusik. If the upper stuck section comes free, you take a leader fall onto your prusik and your highest piece of gear. (This approach assumes you can place gear.)

But it’s still going to suck. Good luck.

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Of course, preventing the problem in the first place is far preferable to solving it later. Here are some tips to avoid getting your rope stuck.

• If you’re doing a two rope rappel, be aware of potential obstacles near your anchor where the knot can get stuck. Use this Crafty Rope Trick (CRT ) to move the knot past the obstruction.

• Before you do your pull, carefully look at the terrain above you and decide which strand you should pull to keep the falling rope away from potential obstacles. (if there is an obstacle on the right as you look up, pull the left strand to hopefully keep the rope away from it as it falls.)

• If you're doing a double rope rappel, try to plan the previous step from above. Look down the route. If you see an obstacle on the rappeller’s right looking down, then consider pulling the knot on rappeller’s left. Doing this will hopefully help the rope drop away from the obstacle.

• If you have a short rappel and a long rope, considering pulling some of the rope through the anchor before the last person rappels.

• Before the last person heads down, the lower person should do a test pull by moving the rope side to side, and see that it moves freely. (Yes, this step can be difficult if the upper person has pre-rigged their rappel, which is about the only downside to pre-rigging.)

• If the cliff is steep, giving your rope a flick through the anchors right as the top passes through can help send the end further out into space.

• If the cliff is lower angle, it might work better to NOT flick the rope, and let it slither down under its own weight. Doing this minimizes making large rope loops that may want to catch on rock features.

• In general, it's better to do more short rappels than fewer longer rappels if you’re in terrain (trees, shrubs, blocky alpine rock, vertical cracks) where the chances of a stuck rope are high.

Short rappel? Pull some rope first

Say you have multiple raps to get down a lower angle, blocky, chossy alpine route, complete with a few small trees and shrubs - prime rope eating terrain. Even though you have a 60 meter rope, you decide to keep the rappels short, because you’re concerned about rope induced rock fall, lots of friction making for a strenuous pull, or the rope getting stuck. (Yep, you might make an extra rappel or two, but that is far preferable to having a stuck rope.)

Crafty Rope Trick (CRT): If you have plenty of rope at the new stance, pull down as much rope as you can BEFORE the final person goes on rappel.

This can reduce the chances for a hangup or rockfall when the rope is pulled, because there’s less rope going over blocks, into cracks, and around shrubs that may get caught. If the rope does get caught when it's being shortened, the last person on rappel can fix it when they head down.

The last rappeller can help pull rope to shorten the strands. (The person at the lower anchor should of course have control of both ends of the rope so one end does not get pulled out of reach.)

This tip is from “The Mountaineering Handbook”, by Craig Connally

How to descend with a damaged rope

Thanks to expert canyoneer Kevin Clark for technical advice on this post. Check out Kevin's book, “Canyoning in the Pacific Northwest”

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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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While out on a long multi pitch climb, your rope gets damaged by rock fall. What can you do to get down quickly and in relative safety?

Here are a few Crafty Rope Tricks (CRT) to help you do this. And no, you should never have to “pass the knot” on rappel!

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Ouch! How do you deal with this?!

If you doing a standard rappel on two strands of rope, and you have a knot in one strand, you should pretty much never need to do any shenanigans to get past the knot.

Having to rappel past a knot in the real world is exceptionally rare. About the only time you might need to do it is on a big wall climb, such as descending fixed single strand ropes that you might find on El Capitan.

Many people think you must rappel past a knot if you have a damaged rope and have to isolate the nicked part in a butterfly or similar knot. Well, that's not the case.

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First off, if you have to keep going up, cut the rope at the damaged part and continue climbing on the longest strand. (Hang onto that other part that you cut, you're probably going to need it on the way down.) Be ready to climb shorter pitches and look for alternative anchors.

This will require a careful reading of the route topo map, perhaps some alternative intermediate belay anchors, and maybe some simul-climbing, which is hopefully doable if you’re on a moderate alpine route.

However, if the damage is more in the middle part of the rope, it's quite likely you can’t continue upwards and need to start rappelling. Hopefully this is painfully obvious, but if you were to tie a knot to isolate the damaged part and try to keep going up, that knot will get stuck in the gear placed by the leader.

(Now, there’s an advanced way to bypass even this problem - The leader could continue by rope soloing, feeding the rope out through a clove hitch on their harness. Because they are not being belayed in the normal manner, the knot will not get stuck in the gear. But, this is an extremely advanced technique and you're not going to learn about it on this website. :-)

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First, assess the damage.

Is the core of the rope (white part) severely damaged? If yes, you may want to actually cut out the damaged part and retie the rope with a stout knot. (A Flemish bend is a good choice.) And you do have a knife with you, right?

If the rope has mild damage, mostly to the sheath, you can probably tie a butterfly knot to isolate the damaged part. The butterfly knot is a great choice for this, because it retains pretty much the full strength of the rope (minus a bit for the knot, of course) and can take a pull in any direction. Tie the knot so the damaged part is isolated in the loop.

Here’s a post with more uses of the butterfly knot, and a video on how to tie it.

Butterfly knot isolating the damaged part of the rope.

So, you've isolated the damaged part and now need to head down. What now?

The more traditional old-school approach is to start doing standard twin strand rappels with the knot in the rope, and have everyone “pass the knot”. This can be time-consuming, dangerous, and, if you have two strands of rope to work with, probably completely unnecessary.

There are actually very few situations in which you really need to pass a knot for real, but they pretty much all involve tying two ropes together for a long single strand rappel, and not when you're doing a normal double strand rappel. For example, cavers on a very long rappel, big wall climbers fixing a rope to the ground or rapping back to a high camp after fixing two pitches, or descending some fixed lines someone else left that turn out to be in lousy condition and have knots in them . . . basically, not situations most recreational climbers are ever going to face.

You can read more on those scenarios, and learn a great technique to do it, at this link.

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But, you may be thinking, what if you DO have two rope strands to rappel and there IS a knot in one of them? No problem, you should never need to deal with passing the knot. There are several ways to approach this problem.

One way to tackle this is to use a carabiner block or knot block (aka “Reepschnur”, Google it). This is common in the canyoneering world but not so much in rock climbing. This method essentially uses the damaged strand of the rope as a pull cord. You use a carabiner or knot tied near the anchor to “block” the damaged side of the rope from pulling through the anchor, and rappel on the “good” side of the rope.

This is definitely a valid technique if you’re experienced with it and absolutely know what you're doing. However, there are some downsides to consider:

• Most climbers have never done this. Trying it for the first time way off the deck with a damaged rope is Less Than Ideal.

• You need an anchor point with a very small diameter connection, such as a chain or quicklink. It probably won't work if you’re rappelling through a carabiner (as in the example below). With a small diameter rope, it may not work if you’re going through even a rappel ring. If you rig it wrong, the blocking knot could pull through your anchor and you could die. This has happened. Or, maybe you won't die, but the knot could pull through and your rope will be hopelessly stuck on your backup carabiner, which only sucks slightly less.

• You're introducing a second knot (and maybe a carabiner) into the pull strand in addition to the butterfly. Now there are two potential things that could snag when you're pulling the rope instead of one.

While certainly a valid technique, knot blocks fall into the category of Advanced Ninja Rope Tricks. Here's a detailed article about them. Practice it in a safe environment with a qualified instructor before you ever try it for real.

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Here's another method that, in my opinion, is preferable for most climbers: the “ground anchor”.

Here's a diagram of how the ground anchor works. Secure one strand of rope around something solid on the ground, and rappel on the other strand. In some circles, this is known as a “counterbalanced rappel”. In the diagram, the rope is tied around a tree. In the real world it could be an intermediate anchor, or even the harness of your partner.

It's simple, fairly intuitive, easy to check, and pretty hard to screw up. It also doesn’t rely on any advanced knot blocking techniques that you may not be familiar with, and that may not work depending on your rope diameter, anchor hardware, etc., and it doesn’t introduce an extra knot and carabiner into the system that could potentially get hung up when you pull your rope.

source: Bruce Wyse

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Step 1: Rig the rope through the anchor as for a normal rappel.

Note 1: The tape on the butterfly knot indicates the damaged part of the rope.

Note 2: A fine use of the “cheapskate locker”, a standard carabiner with the gate taped shut, equivalent to a normal locking carabiner and perfectly fine as a rappel anchor. (Yes, it's not redundant, and no, it's not going to break.)

Note 3: Because of the wide mouth carabiner, you can’t tie a standard knot block here, because it would pull through.

Note 4: For the purposes of these photos, the butterfly knot is very close to the anchor. In reality, the damaged part of the rope could be anywhere within a 30+ meter section, and is very unlikely to be next to the anchor. So, you can’t use that butterfly knot as a block.

Step 2: Fix the “good” side of the rope.

There are various ways to do this. Here, we choose simple: clip a locking carabiner to the two anchor slings and clove hitch the rope to it. (If you’re a crafty canyoneer and are very familiar with the Stone hitch, you could use that here as well.)

Because the damaged rope is on the right strand, everyone can rappel on the left strand. Sweet, no knot to pass!

Note: When you rappel on one strand, you'll have less friction, and the rappel will be faster. You may want to use some simple techniques to add more friction so you can rap in complete control. Wear gloves if you have them.

If you're doing more than one rappel to get to the ground, be sure and keep control of the strand with the knot in it, don't let it blow away from you. One way to do this is simply clip it through a quickdraw on your harness.

Step 3: Make a ground anchor for the damaged side of the rope.

OK, so what about the last person? No problem. Make what's called a “ground anchor” (aka counterbalanced rappel) to secure the right hand / damaged strand, and the last person raps on the left strand. When the last person is down, pull the right strand of rope and you're done. Never had to pass a knot, nice!

When the first person down arrives at the next anchor or the ground, they can tie off the damaged strand of the rope (right strand) onto an anchor, a tree if they're on the ground, or even themselves. Everyone else in the group continues rappelling on the left strand. Yes, the last person down is absolutely relying on the knot tying capabilities of their partner down below.

Note: Clearly communicating this plan, having everyone in solid agreement on how it's going to work, and confirming to the last person that the rope is properly fixed to the ground anchor is critical!

The last person removes the carabiner and clove hitch so the rope is running normally through the rappel anchor. Then, the last person raps on the left, undamaged strand of rope, and is counterbalanced by the ground anchor.

Note that this puts a load on the top anchor that’s about twice the weight of the last person, just like if you were toproping. So, the anchor needs to be reasonably strong. If the top anchor is less than perfect, ideally the last person is fairly lightweight, does not have a heavy pack or a lot of gear, and knows how to rappel slowly and smoothly, without a lot of bouncing.

If you have the misfortune to be doing this from an extremely marginal rappel anchor, it might be best for the last person down to avoid the ground anchor, and just deal with passing the knot. However, most of the time this should not be an issue, because the maximum force you can put on a rappel anchor is about 2 kN, or about 440 lbs, and that’s if you are really jumping and bouncing around.

When the last person is down, untie the ground anchor, pull the damaged (right) strand of the rope, and you're done. Repeat if necessary until you get to the ground.

Doing this avoids all of the mid-air shenanigans of having to pass a knot on rappel.

(And, the next time you’re at your local mountaineering club’s training to “rappel past a knot”, you can ask the instructor to tell you in what situations you might ever have to do this. Who knows, you might just teach them something. =^)

Descending with a Grigri

If you have a Grigri or similar auto locking belay device, you can still get down a route. But, you need a few alternative techniques, because your device only works on a single strand of rope. Knowing some of these techniques can be great for descending multi pitch routes where your partner has a standard tube device and you have a Grigri. Use one of these techniques, and have the Grigri person go first.

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What are some situations where you might want to rappel with a Grigri?

Reduced risk on multipitch - an increasingly popular option for multi pitch climbs is for one partner to carry a Grigri and the other to carry a plaquette device. The leader is always belayed on the Grigri, and the second is always belayed on the plaquette. The devices get treated off between partners depending on who is leading. This can reduce risk going up, because it's generally easier to catch a lead fall on a Grigri. When it's time to come down, you can use the techniques described below.

Exploratory rappels - If you're doing multi pitch rappels on an unfamiliar route, consider sending the first person down with a Grigri (or similar assisted braking device) on a single fixed rope strand. 

Because the Grigri lets you go hands-free at any time, you can more easily:

• Decluster rope tangles

• Pendulum if needed

• Place gear and clip the rope to it if overhanging and/or traversing

• Reascend the rope easily if needed

Yes, the Grigri is not technically completely hands-free. But if you need to stop, simply tie a bight knot in the rope below your GriGri as a fail safe / back up. 

If you have any question as to whether or not your rope is long enough to get to the next anchor, one option would be to rig a Munter Mule Overhand (MMO) on the anchor. This gives you an option to easily lower your first person a bit if it turns out they need to go farther. Of course that also means that your rope is going to be too short to do a standard rappel for the last person, but there's a solution to that as well - the extended rappel. (Yo, read the guidebook next time and bring a longer rope, OK?)

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Here are a few ways to rappel with a Grigri.

1. Fix one strand

2. Self lower

3. Knot or carabiner block

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1 - Fix one strand

This is typically done by putting a bight knot (overhand, figure 8, clove or butterfly) in one rope strand, clipping that knot to the anchor, attach your Grigri to the fixed strand, and rapping on that strand. This of course works for the first person down, but not the second. Typically in a two person team, you would have one person with a Grigri and one person with a tube style device. The person with the tube always goes second. See photos below for some setups.

There are lots of ways to rig this. If you have a single master point. 1) Rig the middle of the rope through the master point, as for a normal rappel. 2) Clip a locking carabiner to the master point. 3) Tie a butterfly (in either strand, here the left) and clip it to the carabiner. First person down can now rap on a Grigri on the strand that’s “fixed” with the butterfly. Last person to rappel removes the carabiner, unties the butterfly, and raps on two strands.

Here’s a similar technique, useful if you have twin chain anchors. 1) Rig the middle of the rope through the master point, as for a normal rappel. 2) Add a locking carabiner to the right bolt and clove hitch the rope to it. 3) First person down can now rap on a Grigri on the left strand that’s “fixed”. Last person removes carabiner and rappels on both strands with a tube device.

Note: 99.99% of the time it's also going to be fine to rappel on the right strand. However, in the extremely unlikely event that the right bolt failed, then there’s nothing holding the rope to anchor. So, while it might appear that you should descend on the right strand, because that's what goes to the blue carabiner, it's marginally safer to rappel on the left strand.

Here's another crafty way to secure the rope strands - a stacked rappel (aka pre-rigged) with an autoblock. The second person rigs an extended rappel with autoblock, and puts both rope strands through a standard tube device.

Now the first person can rappel with Grigri on a single strand. The rappel device and autoblock from their partner above fixes the rope.

Note, many people think that the rappel device alone is enough to secure the rope, but that's not necessarily true. If the rope is new, thin, slippery sheath, etc. the weight of the first person can creep the rope through the top device. The auto block is important, it prevents rope creep.

Finally, an elegant way to fix both rope strands is with a Stone hitch. This is common in canyoneering, but not so much in rock climbing. It's basically a double strand slipknot, with a carabiner that prevents it from coming undone. Fast to tie and very easy to break down when the second is ready to go. Here's a whole article on the Stone hitch if you want to learn more.

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2 - Self lower

With the rope through the anchor, tie in to one end of the rope, attach to the other side of the rope with your Grigri, and lower yourself. This technique is a bit less common, and it has a few pros and cons, see below. There may be times when going more slowly and having increased friction is a good thing.

• For a self lower, be absolutely 137% sure the rope is going through some kind of METAL connection (carabiner, quicklink, chain, rap ring, etc) at the anchor point, never webbing!

• This option might be better if you have a skinnier rope and/or a newer sheath, because the friction of the rope passing through the master point will slow you down a bit and possibly give you better control.

• You’re descending at half speed compared to a standard rappel, which can help with rope control, again good if you have a skinny rope. Or, it could be a bummer if you have a long way to go.

• Tie a knot in the end of the rope, or maybe better yet clip the other end of the rope to your belay loop with a locking carabiner to close the rope system, so there is no chance you can rap off of the end. Having both rope ends attached to you means you can’t rap off the rope end, and minimizes problems caused by difficult terrain.

• PRO - A self lower can be a good choice if you only have a short distance to descend, because you don't need to flake the entire rope, feed half of the rope through the anchor, etc.

• PRO - This could also be a good choice if the rappel has some challenges - blocky terrain, places for the rope to get hung up, high winds, etc. (If this is the case, storing the rope in a rope bag, backpack or saddlebags or something similar can help it feed out smoothly.)

• CON - This works best with a single master point; doing it with two anchors, especially if they’re separated, can twist your rope.

• CON - Doing this can put excessive wear on fixed hardware. Probably okay if it's an easily replaceable quick link in a popular area, maybe not okay if it's difficult-to-replace hardware in a more remote area.

• CON - If your rope is running over any sort of a sharp edge, this may not be a good method.

• CON - The rappeller must deal with all the extra rope, as opposed to your partner lowering you, where the extra rope stays at the upper anchor. If you can get a good rope toss to make sure it gets down the cliff without tangling, good for you. If not, having the rope in a bag or backpack can make life a lot easier.

See this diagram from Petzl. It pretty much sums up how to rig a self-lower.

image: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Self-lowering

and, you can self-lower with any kind of rappel device, not just a Grigri. (Diagram from Petzl)

Source: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Accessing-an-exposed-rappel-station?ActivityName=Canyoning

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3 - Rope block (knot or carabiner)

This lets you retrieve the rope. This an advanced technique! There are lots of ways you can screw this up and die! Practice with a qualified instructor before you try this in real life! See video at the bottom for an example. I'm not going to get into the details here, because there are many important factors to consider and it's beyond the scope of this article. Here's a much more detailed article about rope blocks.

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Adding more friction

In many situations, like heavy load, wet rope, new slick rope, whatever, you may want some additional friction in your rappel. Here are a couple of ways to do that. Examples here are for belaying, but they also work for rappelling.

Photos from IFMGA certified guide Karsten Delap.

PHOTO: INSTAGRAM.COM/KARSTENDELAP/

PHOTO: INSTAGRAM.COM/KARSTENDELAP/

Another option is the Petzl Freino carabiner. This is designed specifically to add additional friction if needed to a rappel or lower. You clip the tail of the rope through the little spur on the right hand side. (I do not yet own one of these so I don't have an action photo.)

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Finally here’s a nice short video from IFMGA Certified Guide Karsten Delap showing a self lower and a knot block.

Rappel backup: avoid a prusik above your device

Adding a friction hitch (such as a prusik or autoblock) as a rappel backup becoming more widely accepted. More conservative climbers might use one pretty much always. Other people prefer a back up when:

• beginners are rapping

• your hands are cold

• the rope is wet

• rapping on a single strand or a skinny rope

• if you need to swing or pendulum to reach the next rap station

• rapping with a heavy pack

• when you can see the rope is clustered / hung up and you need to free it

• if you’re not sure where the next rap station is

Or any combination of these factors. In other words, pretty much any situation other than a rap  in perfect conditions.

So, what’s the best way to rig a rappel backup? With an autoblock tied below your device.

The older school method was to add a prusik to the rope ABOVE their rappel device. So the theory goes, if they lose control of the brake hand on rappel, the prusik will catch them. This sounds reasonable, but this method has a few problems.

1 - If the prusik knot is above your rappel device, for it to lock up, it needs to hold all of your weight. With the knot below your device, it only needs to hold the same amount as your brake hand, which is minimal.

2 - Once it’s weighted, the rappeler must remove their entire body weight from the knot in order for it to be released, which if you don't know a few Crafty Rope Tricks, is actually kind of hard to do. (Bonus tip - One fast and easy way to remove your weight from loaded prusik is to pull one foot up underneath your butt, wrap the rope a few times around your foot, and stand up.) With the prusik below the device, you can very easily weight and unweight the prusik as needed. 

3 - For the prusik to slide freely, the non-brake hand must be on it or perhaps above it during the rappel to slide it along. To catch on the rope and stop the climber, the non-brake hand needs to be off the prusik. Problem: In the event of a loss of control, our instinct is to grab tighter on the prusik or the rope above it, not let go of it. This grabbing keeps the prusik loose, prevents it from cinching it down on the rope, and may cause the climber to accelerate down the rope and . . . SMACK!

4 - Another old school method was to attach the back up hitch to your leg loop. This is definitely not recommended, because your weight will end up hanging from the leg loop, which could flip you upside down, yikes!

(The one time when it might be a good idea to attach a prusik hitch ABOVE your rappel device before you start your rappel is if you know you’re going to be passing a knot. However, this is an very rare situation for most climbers, and usually can be avoided entirely if you know a crafty rope trick like this one.)

The image below is how you probably do NOT want to rig your rappel.

A better rappel backup method is to use an autoblock knot with an extended rappel. Here, the backup knot is tied below the brake hand rather than above it. If the brake hand comes off, the autoblock immediately grabs the rope and stops the climber. The auto block and extended rappel are covered in depth at this tip.

Here’s a photo from that post to show you the difference. Note the rappel device is extended away from the harness with a locking quickdraw (one of various ways to do this), and the autoblock knot is below the rappel device.

Avoiding snags when pulling a rappel rope

When rappelling, you always have a choice as to which side of the rope to pull. While on many routes it doesn’t matter, on some raps it may be the difference between having a stuck rope and/or a very difficult pull. Look carefully at every rappel you do, and try and identify potential problem points before pull the rope.

• Generally, try to pull the rope AWAY from any obstacles it may hang up on. For example, say you’re about to pull a single rope rappel, and you look up and notice a potential rope-eating shrub, block or crack below and slightly to the right of the anchor above you. Pulling on the left strand of the rope will cause the rope to fall to the left a bit, hopefully away from the potential hang-up point.

• If you’re doing a double rope rappel, you need to anticipate problems BEFORE you rig your rope. Get into the habit of looking down at the cliff below you before you thread the rope. Do you see a shrub or rope eating crack to the left? To keep your rope away from that, you probably want the knot on the side on the anchor away from that obstacle (or, to the right as you’re looking down.)

• Look up at the rope as you're pulling it. If the rope gets hung up on something, you might be able to see how it got hung up, which could help you solve the problem.

• If you’re on the ground when you pull the rope, you’ll almost always get a better angle of pull if you walk as far away from the wall as possible. If there's a snag point, say on the left as you're looking up, step away from the wall and to the right as far as you can. This can decrease risk from falling rock, and minimize friction.

image: From the book “down”, by Andy Kirkpatrick. Used with permission. andy-kirkpatrick.com

• On steep terrain, give the rope an extra flip or sharp tug just AFTER (not before) it slides through the anchor. This can cause it to fall farther away from the rock, further avoiding snags. Avoid the common mistake of giving a tug on the rope BEFORE it goes through the anchors. Doing this can cause the free end to whip around the other strand and make some random evil friction hitch that can block your rope. (I know this from painful experience . . .)

• But on lower angle blocky terrain, (or in high winds), it might be better not to do this and just let the rope slither down the rock under its own weight.

• If the anchor below you is off to one side, say the right, you should set your rope so the pull is in that direction. If you don't, the ropes can cross at the anchor and create a lot of extra friction.

image: From the book “down”, by Andy Kirkpatrick. Used with permission. andy-kirkpatrick.com

• If the wind is coming strongly from a certain direction, rig your rope to pull it into the wind. Or, in other words, if the wind is coming from the left, pull the left strand. Doing this makes the tail blow away from the pull strand, which reduces friction and hopefully avoids wind-induced rope mayhem.

• If you’re rapping in terrain where rope snag potential seem to be everywhere, you're probably better off doing a series of shorter raps using a partial length of the rope. It can be a better choice to have more rappels, but less chance of getting your rope stuck.

• Maintain control of the “up” strand until the last possible moment. This can be especially important on overhanging, traversing, or windy situations. If you get lazy with this, it's all too easy to have a stopper knot still in the end of the rope, you losing control of it, and having it swing out of reach. Big problem.

• In terrain with high snag potential, another option is lowering the first person and having the other end of the rope tied to them. This of course does not help with pulling the rope, but it can get it down more efficiently.

• If you’re doing short rappels in terrain with a lot of rope snag potential, try this: If you have plenty of rope at the lower anchor, pull down as much rope as you can before the final person goes on rappel. This reduces the chances for a hangup or rockfall when the rope is pulled and before it goes through the anchor, because less rope overall is moving through cracks, over blocks, around shrubs, etc.

The benefits of the pre-rigged rappel

Pre-rigging a rappel (known by some as a “stacked” rappel) is a common technique with guides and clients. But, it has some benefits that crossover well to recreational climbers too.

What’s a pre-rigged rappel? It’s when everyone on the climbing team (or, as many of them as can comfortably fit near the anchor) attaches to the rope at the same time with an extended rappel. Learn about the extended rappel in detail here. The extended sling allows the people waiting to rap to be connected to the rope, but not be yanked around by the rope tension from the person on rappel.

A pre-rigged rappel setup. Orange carabiner on right is rapping first. Blue carabiner on left is pre-rigged and ready to rap the moment the first rappeller is done. (Recommended third-hand autoblock is omitted for clarity.)

Okay, got it. So . . . why would you want to do this?

A pre-rigged rappel reduces risk.

1 - We always give our partner a safety check when we’re climbing up. Why not do the same on the way down? With everyone pre-rigged at one time, teammates can give each other a proper safety check of BRAKES (Belay device, Rope, Anchor, Knot, Extension and Safety backup). Compare this to the traditional rappel method, where the last person waiting to rap rigs up completely on their own, with no one there to give them a safety check. This risk can be increased when an inexperienced rappeler is the last person heading down, which is typical in a two person team - the most experienced person would almost always go first, to decluster the ropes, find and rig the lower anchor, or maybe give a firefighter’s belay to the second person down.  That’s a reason why guides like this method.

2 - Only one “safety” knot needed. Here’s one other interesting safety consideration. If the first person down ties a single stopper knot in either strand, or connects the end of either strand to their belay loop, there’s no way that they can rappel off the end of the rope. This is because the second rappeller, who is pre-rigged, has the rope essentially locked off in their rappel device. If the first person down were to hit one stopper knot or the end of the rope they’re tied to, the rope strands will not instantly slide through the anchor as with a typical rappel.

Note: just being pre-rigged, without having an auto block on the rope, does not always prevent the rope from sliding. With a skinnier rope, or free hanging rappel, or heavy partner or some combination of the above, the rope might still slip through the device if all the load goes onto one strand. So, if you are rappelling with only one knot in the rope, you may want to add a backup to be SURE the rope doesn't move. A simple one is a double strand bight knot (figure 8, butterfly) tied below the device of the second person. See photo below.

3 - In addition, this technique can reduce risk when doing multiple double rope rappels. A common reason for people to avoid the basic safety practice of “closing the system” and tying knots in BOTH strands on long multiple rappels is that when you thread a lower anchor and then pull the rope, the strand that’s going up to the previous anchor and then falling down obviously cannot have a stopper knot in the end. Pulling this rope strand back up, tying a stopper knot, and then re-throwing it takes time, and for that reason is sometimes skipped. With a pre-rigged rappel, because you only need a “safety” (stopper knot or tied directly to it) in one end, the first person down can thread the lower anchor, tie the one safety knot that’s needed, and then pull the other strand through the top anchor. This lets you rappel with greater speed and efficiency, and still have the assurance of never rapping off the end of your rope.

4 - Finally, if you find you’re rappelling in the dark and only have one headlamp (whoops!), this technique allows both people to set up using the one light. (Yo, you should always have a headlamp!)

A pre-rigged rappel improves speed.

I’ve read a bunch of articles and web discussions on the pre-rigged rappel, and curiously no one seems to mention this benefit. You get everyone down the rappel faster. Why? Because it eliminates the downtime of waiting for climbers to rig the rappel one by one, because several people can rig up at the same time. After rigging up, everyone can be on the tensioned rope (if you have a decent ledge to stand on) without being yanked around because of the extension. The moment the Rapper 1 goes off rappel, they quickly feed a couple meters of rope through their device and Rapper 2 can head down immediately. The movement of climbers down the rope is pretty much constant, with no waiting for someone to rig. (Of course this downtime is much less with skilled climbers, but it can be an eternity with a larger group of beginners.)

To be fair, let's look some potential downsides of pre-rigging.

1. The first person down can’t do a test pull to see that the ropes pull smoothly, because the person above is essentially locking the rope in place. If you have any doubts about pulling the ropes, you might not want to use this method, because pulling the rope without issue is more important than adding a small degree of speed and reduced risk by pre-rigging.

2. If you need the full length of the rope, and the exact middle is not on the anchor, and you’re relying on the sloppy technique of your stopper knot hitting your rappel device to move the rope ends while you’re rapping, you may end up short of your anchor. (This is unusual and can be avoided if you use good technique and simply put the middle of the rope on your anchor, but I heard a story of someone having this problem, so I thought I'd mention it.)

3. If the second person down rigs an extended rappel, but also puts their third hand / autoblock on and clips it to their harness, that usually means the second will be yanked around by the rope under tension. There's an easy solution to this. The second puts their autoblock on the rope, clips the carabiner to it, but does NOT clip it to their harness until the first person is off rappel and feeds some slack.

Should you use a pre-rigged rappel every time you rap? I’ll leave that choice to you, but if you look at the substantial rewards over the small downsides, you may well decide it's a good idea. Many very experienced guides do this as common practice, so you may want to consider it too.

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Bonus speed trick: the safer simul rappel

With 3 (or more) people, a pre-rigged rappel lets two people rappel at one time, each on a single fixed strand. This gives pretty much all the benefits of a classic simul rappel with greatly reduced risk. (I learned this clever tip from IFMGA certified guide Rob Coppolillo.)

(Generally, the standard method of simul rappelling is not recommended for lots of reasons, covered in detail at this article.)

Picture this: a party of 3 (or more) is at the top of the route, and you want to get everyone down as quickly as possible. (Let’s assume you have a stout anchor that can easily hold the weight of two people.) Everyone pre-rigs their rappel at the same time.

• The last person down rigs for a standard double strand rappel, with an extension.

• The other two people (here on Grigris, could be any device) each attach to a separate single strand of rope. These two can rappel at the same time. Because each strand is fixed by the pre-rig of the last person, the risks of a normal simul rappel are pretty much eliminated.

Here's one way to rig it for four people.

Here's how it might look for five people. I think you get the idea.

Obviously, normal precautions need to be taken - knots in the rope ends to close the system, and especially, an anchor that can without question handle the weight of two climbers. Please, this is an advanced technique. Experiment and practice with this on flat ground in you before you ever try it for real.

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Caution: stacked rappel with a Grigri(s)

There is a caution on the Petzl website against doing a stacked rappel with a Grigri. From the website:

“With the GRIGRI + from 2017 and on, and the GRIGRI from 2019 and on, unblocking and a consequent fall can occur if the rope is heavily loaded below the user. Unblocking can occur if the rope is loaded with a weight equal to or greater than that of the person rappelling on the GRIGRI.

Examples of dangerous situations:

• Multiple people rappelling in sequence, GRIGRIs pre-installed on the rope. If the person waiting in turn to rappel has their GRIGRI pre-installed on the rope, it can be inverted (and thus unblocked) by the weight of the person rappelling below them. So it will not be operational when the second person wants to start their rappel.

• Bottom belay: the person performing the belay maneuver must not hang on the rope.

• Rescue from below: The rescuer must not ascend the rope of a person who is stuck on rappel.”

Below is a stacked rappel with a Grigri. When the first person down starts loading the rope, (apparently, in some cases) it can cause the rope to invert on the top person. (I tested this briefly and could not cause failure, but I certainly trust the Petzl engineers on this one, so don't do it!

image: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Rappelling-with-the-GRIGRI?ProductName=GRIGRI-PLUS

Related to this, Petzl also cautions against a firefighter belay, or someone ascending a rope when someone above them has a Grigri.

image: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Rappelling-with-the-GRIGRI?ProductName=GRIGRI-PLUS

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Awkward anchor rigging option

The stacked rappel works best when you have a solid anchor that’s about chest height, and a nice ledge to stand on. However, if you have an anchor that's more awkward, or even on the ground, like the base of a tree, here's an alternative way to set it up so the second person doesn't get yanked around.

In some circles, this is known as a “J-rig.”

1. The second person (top) sets up their rappel.

2. The first person (bottom) pulls up about 2 meters of slack rope, ties a double strand clove hitch and clips that to the anchor with a carabiner. Here, I'm using the blue wide HMS locker, but it doesn’t have to be a locking carabiner. (You could also use a double stranded bight knot, such as an overhand or figure 8, but those are going to be a bit harder for the second to untie after being loaded.)

3. This creates an isolated double strand loop, so the second person doesn’t get yanked around.

4. When the first person reaches the lower anchor, the second person unties the clove and rappels normally.

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Lets you rappel single strand with a Grigri

I briefly covered this above, but let's have a closer look. A pre-rigged rappel effectively gives you two independent fixed strands of rope. This means that the first person down can rappel on one strand with a Grigri. (Note, the rappel extension that would normally be on the top device is not shown here for clarity.)

Note, many people think that the rappel device alone is enough to secure the rope, but that's not necessarily true. If the rope is new, thin, slippery sheath, etc. the weight of the first person can creep the rope through the top device. The auto block is important, it prevents rope creep. (You could also tie a BHK, as in the photo above, which will nicely secure the rope.)

This set up is a little unusual; be sure and practice it with your partner on the ground before you try it for real.

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Here’s a nice instructional video from the Seattle Mountaineers that covers one way to set up the extended rappel. Start the video at 4:50 to see how a pre-rigged rappel is set up with two people.

Temporary middle mark on a rope for rappels

It’s great to climb on ropes with obvious middle marks, but someday you’ll definitely be climbing without one.

When you’re in this situation, and have multiple rappels, put a temporary middle mark on your rope with a strip of tape.

It won’t last through the day, but it’s going to make setting up all your subsequent rappels faster and easier.

It's not good practice to try to permanently mark the middle of your rope with tape, because it's going to probably become a sticky mess, and maybe even move from the correct spot, which could be dangerous. Only use tape as a temporary marker.

(Note: at one point I recommended dipping the middle of your rope in your chalk bag as another way to give it a temporary mark. However, I have since read some Edelrid technical documentation that excessive chalk on a rope may be harmful, so I don't recommend that anymore. Here's that link if you want to check it out, see page 34, ”Dirt”.)

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If your rope doesn’t have a middle mark and you want to add one permanently, a good choice would be the Beal rope marker. It has a specially formulated ink in a handy dispenser that's designed for use on climbing ropes. It can be messy. Do it outside, lay down in a plastic bag under where you're working, and wear gloves.

Beal Rope Marker

4 reasons not to simul-rappel

Simul-rappelling is a technique in which two climbers rappel a single strand of the rope at the same time, counterweighting each other. While this is typically thought of as an advanced maneuver that you should only try when you really have to, such as an incoming lightning storm or on a very long multi pitch route, in some climbing circles it's being used as a more standard way to descend.

As you will discover below, I'm not much of a fan. However, there are a couple of situations when a simul-rappell might be a good idea.

• If you need to rappel down some gully with loads of loose rock, a simul rap might be a good idea, because rocks that you kick down when you’re side-by-side won't nail anybody below. But, hopefully you don’t find yourself in a situation like this very often, as a standard rappel route should rarely be in dangerous areas like this.

• Teaching a beginner to rappel - the more experienced person can descend right next to the beginner, and perhaps even be clipped to them loosely, to offer advice and encouragement.

image: http://theconspiracytimes.blogspot.com

If you and your partner are both solidly experienced with the technique, and observe a few common sense precautions such as:

• knots in the end of the rope

• using a third hand autoblock backup below your rappel device

• being sure both strands of the rope reach the next rappel station

• and possibly tethering yourselves together with a long sling

then simul-rapping it can be reasonably safe and possibly save you a little time.

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But think about it: by the time you've added the knots in the end of the rope, the auto block back up, and tethering yourselves together with a sling, could you have already been down rappelling the normal way?

Or, as some people have described it, “being fast isn't particularly safe, and being safe is not particularly fast.”

Side note: If you want to improve your speed AND safety when rappelling, try pre-rigging your rappel on an extended sling. Both climbers rig at once, so they can check each other, and then the second can begin heading down the moment the first person is off rappel at the next anchor.

(One other tip, mentioned to me by a canyoneering expert: If you have to simul rappel with someone who is a relative beginner, you can put a carabiner block on their side of the anchor. That way, if they screw up and tension goes off the rope on their side, the block will catch in the anchor and you will not fall.)

However, there are some major downsides to simul-rappelling, both in terms of safety and speed.

IFMGA Certified Guide Rob Coppolillo, co-author of “The Mountain Guide Manual”, wrote the following article in Climbing magazine which summarizes the shortcomings. Below is a direct copy/paste, in italics.

(Note, not mentioned by Rob is the hopefully obvious downside of doubling the load on the rappel anchor. If it’s bolts, probably not an issue. If it's anything slightly sketchy, then potentially a big issue.)

Here's the link to the original article.

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1. Simul-rappelling without both climbers having a backup (third-hand) on their respective brake strands doubles the chances of a catastrophe. Should one climber lose control, the rope will feed through his rappel device and begin sliding through the anchor. 

2. If one climber unweights his rappel, it introduces slack into the system and the rope will slip at the anchor, effectively dropping the other climber. If this occurs at an unlucky moment, or the rope begins to pull unchecked through the first climber’s device, it can result in a tragedy. 

3. Less-experienced climbers typically rappel slower on a single-strand of rope because the relatively low friction of a single-strand rappel makes them nervous. They elect to simul-rappel, but then fail to make up any time because of the slower rappel.

4. While simul-rappelling, both climbers arrive at the next rappel station nearly simultaneously, which can be awkward (and slow). Typically, one rappeller waits up top while the other manages the anchor and/or transition. Having one climber prep the station speeds up the second climber going off rappel. Often it would be faster (and safer) to simply rappel in a traditional fashion.

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Finally, if you want a few more good reasons not to do it, here's a quote from Canadian expert climber Will Gadd’s personal website:

“Don’t simul-rap and otherwise get tricky on your raps until you’ve really, really figured your systems out, and even then simul-rapping doesn’t generally speed things up much. If you are going to simul rap then have knots in the ends of the ropes, have some sort of prussic attaching the one climber to the other’s rope (so if one person loses control both don’t plummet, and if this idea doesn’t make sense then definitely don’t simul-rap), consider putting a blocking knot on the weak climber’s side (with a quick link so it doesn’t pull through), use auto-blocks on each climber, etc. I did a lot of simul-rapping over the years but have pretty much given up on it in the last decade, it’s open to problems unless so many control measures are put in that it becomes very slow. Very, very rarely is simul-rapping justified by expediency . . .”

Knotting the ends of your rappel rope - three approaches

It’s generally accepted as Best Practice to put a knot(s) in the ends of your rappel rope, to prevent the catastrophic accident of rapping off the ends. (This is also known as making a ”closed system”.)

Of course, if you’re rapping off a single pitch route and you can CLEARLY see that both ends of the rope are on the ground, a knot in the rope ends is not necessary. However, especially if you’re more of a beginning climber, it can be important to build good technique by repeating the same Best Practice all the time, so no one should chap on you if you decide to tie a knot in both ends of the rope.

There are a few different ways to approach this, and as with most aspects of climbing, no single one is right or wrong. Let’s explore each method and look at a few pros and cons.

Method 1 - Stopper knot in each strand

Method 2 - Tie both ends together

Method 3 - Clip both ends to your harness

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Method 1 - Stopper knot in each strand

This is probably the most common technique. One benefit to this is that any twists generated by rappelling can work themselves out. 

However, there are two reasons why you might not want to do this.

1 -  A fairly common scenario that can lead to a Major Rappel Epic is forgetting to untie one or both knots in the rope before you start to pull the rope, and realizing, only too late, that you have a knot above you that will not pass through the rap anchor above.

F#$%^&*K!! Big Problem!!

(This usually happens when climbing with a new partner, when one of you likes to tie knots in the end of your rappel ropes, and the other one for some reason does not, and that other person decides to pull the rope without checking. Ask me how I know this . . . )

Do you or your partner REALLY want to put a prusik knot on that rope and ascend 60 meters, hoping like hell that stopper knot is somehow securely jammed in your anchor? The answer is NO, you definitely do not!

If you climb long enough, this will very likely happen to you, and hopefully you realize it FAST, when that damn knot is dangling only a couple of feet above your head, and you can do some crafty trick to pull it back down to you.

There are some ways to lower the chance of this happening.

• If your rappel ends on the ground, make it the task of the first person down to untie both of the knots. You don't need them anymore.

• If you have a multi pitch rappel, have the first person down use the “J loop” system: tie a figure 8 on a bight in both strands and clip it to the anchor. Now, the stopper nuts or no longer needed. The first person down can untie both of them, thread the pull strand threw the anchor, and tie one stopper knot in the new pull strand.

• Develop the habit of maintaining control of the strand that's going up until the last possible moment when it gets pulled out of your hands. If you're sloppy with this and let loose and swing out away from you on an overhang or blow away from you if it's windy, you might find that knot is out of your reach even if you haven't started pulling yet. You don't have to hold it in your hands, you could simply clip it through a quick draw attached to either you or the anchor.

Very unlikely but very serious: You may tie a knot in one rope strand and forget to tie a knot in the other.  If this were to happen, and the person rapping slides to the end of the rope, not only do they fall to the ground, they also could potentially pull the rope all the way through the anchor above, leaving your partner stranded. Depending on how remote your climb is, this could be an extremely serious situation.

Super important - ALWAYS be sure the knots in your rope are untied before you pull your rappel!

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Note on stacked rappels and ONE stopper knot: This may well be the best solution of all for multi pitch rappelling: Both partners (or at least the second) use an extended rappel and pre-rig with an autoblock backup. Having the second person with their rappel device already on the rope and an autoblock fixes both strands of rope for the first person down, and the rope therefore can never slide through the anchor.

This means that you only need to tie a stopper knot in ONE strand of the rope. If the first person down were to rappel into the stopper knot for any reason, it can’t pull through the anchor because it's locked in place by the person above them. This also means that on multi pitch rappels, the first person down can thread the pull strand of the rope through the lower anchor, tie a stopper knot in it, and then pull the rope, which will pass through the upper anchor, and fall down past the lower anchor. No need to pull that strand back up to tie a second knot, a big time saver!

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Method 2 - Tie both ends together

The solution to both of these problems is to tie both ends of the rope together. An flat overhand bend with about 1 foot of tail works fine.

This definitely eliminates problem number one, starting to pull the rope with a knot still in the end. If you start to pull the rope with both ends tied together, you have a closed loop, so you can easily retrieve it, untie the knot, and then continue pulling.

It also eliminates scenario number two, unlikely as it may be, because anyone who falls to the end of the rope is going to hit that knot and (probably) stop.

Many climbers dismiss this method because they think that twists in the road generated by rappelling have no way to work themselves out of the ends. The amount of rope twisting can vary a lot depending on the diameter and stiffness of your rope, your rappel device, etc., so experiment with this in a controlled environment and see how it works before you adopt it as a regular system.

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Method 3 - Clip both ends to your harness

(advocated by Andy Kirkpatrick. See his great book, “1001 Climbing Tips, #252 for more.)

How about taking both ends of the rope and tying each one separately to your belay loop? This solves both the problem of rapping off the end of the rope and problem of pulling the rope before you untie the knot. If you get some twisting near the bottom, simply unclip the knots and continue down.

One clever modification to this, suggested by Andy: when attaching the rope ends, tie a figure 8 knot for the pull rope and an overhand knot for the other, to remind you which rope you're supposed to pull.

This gives an additional benefit: the rope is less likely to snag, because the rope is hanging in a loop below the rappeller.  With this method you you don't even need to throw the ropes. This makes it a good idea if there are climbers below you, it’s windy, you have a low angle rappel, or terrain with lots of shrubs, blocks etc. for the rope to hang up. Flake out the ropes carefully on your ledge, lower a bight of rope, the rappeller starts down, and the partner feeds out remaining rope as needed.

An additional benefit to this method is because you only have at most 30 meters of rope hanging below you, (assuming you're using a 60 meter rope) you're reducing the risk of damaging your rope if you knock off any rocks.

This technique can become more important in blocky terrain, high winds, low visibility, or if you're not sure where the next anchor is. Or some epic combination of these - basically, all the rappel situations that are Less Than Ideal.

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A great rappel check acronym - BRAKES

Rarely does Alpine Savvy post material directly from another website. But in this case I will, because it can't really be improved upon.

A similar rappel check acronym I’ve used is BARK (Buckle, Anchor, Rap device, Knot) but I was never quite satisfied with that one, because it left out securing the ends of the rope, and putting in an auto block. This new acronym nicely covers both of those.

The below content is straight from Climbing magazine

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BRAKES - a system check for rappelling

Prior to rappelling, you should check every aspect of your system. The rappelling safety acronym BRAKES, developed by Cyril Shokoples in 2005 and now widely used by climbing schools, can easily be employed as a pre-rappel checklist. It’s a good idea to go through this list out loud by stating each letter and touching the part of the system you’re checking. Confirm with your partner when possible that each component of the system has been set up appropriately and is going to be applied correctly.

B – Buckles: Check the buckles on your harness. Make sure they are snug and that all appropriate straps are doubled-back.

R – Rappel Device/Ropes: Check that the carabiner attached to your device is locked, both strands of the rope have been loaded correctly in the device, and the rope is properly threaded through the rappel anchor.

A – Anchor: Confirm that the anchor is strong. If it’s a tree, make sure it’s alive, large enough to hold your weight, and that it has a good root base. If it’s a boulder, ensure that it is not going to move. If rappelling off bolts or gear, confirm that they are suitably strong enough. Double-check that any webbing or cord isn’t damaged or too faded.

K – Knots: Check all the knots in the system. Make sure that knots adjoining two ropes in a double-rope rappel are correctly tied with enough tail.

E – Ends: Confirm that the ends of your ropes are on the ground or that they reach the next anchor. Confirm that your system is closed with knots at the end of your rappel lines.

S – Safety Backup/Sharp Edges: Use an autoblock backup and check to make sure that you aren’t going to rappel over any sharp edges.

Adding friction to a rappel

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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Sure, on a bluebird day, standard rappel practice is probably going to work fine. However, some rappel situations, such as:

• a single strand

• wet/icy rope

• skinny rope

• cold hands

• no gloves

• forgot your third hand friction hitch backup

• wearing a heavy pack or dangling a haulbag

• a rescue where you have the weight of 2 climbers on the rappel rope

• dark

• an icy, slippery slab

• a knuckle scraping overhang

• not sure where the next anchors are, need to go slowly and look around

or any multiple combination of these cluster factors, can make adding some friction a fine idea.

Raps under Less Than Ideal conditions are often safer and easier when you add extra friction to the rap to better control your descent speed.  This can be especially true for beginners, who most of the time are happy to go down a little more slowly under greater control.

Note, using these techniques does not replace having a third hand backup autoblock.

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Note: It is critically important that you always use a rappel device that is properly sized for your rope.

This is especially true if you are using twin or half ropes. Many accidents have happened when people have started to slide uncontrollably when they had a skinny rope in a rappel device designed for something larger. The techniques below do not replace having the correct rappel device to begin with.

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Here are a few easy ways to add friction to a rappel.

Note - Method 3 is my favorite, because it's more easily adjustable on the fly. Need just a little bit of extra friction? Redirect the brake strand through the bottom carabiner. Need even more friction? Redirect the brake strand through the top carabiner.

Methods 3 is what we might call “adjustable”. Meaning, you can have the carabiners in place, ready to go in case you need them. If you find your rap is going faster than you like, you can then use them. Because rappels get faster near the bottom when there is less rope weight, this can be a good approach.

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1) Use TWO carabiners and clip the rope through both.

The extra friction of the second carabiner slows your descent. This may be counterintuitive, as it seems that the sharper angle made by a single carabiner would slow the rope more.  It’s actually the opposite - try it yourself and see. This second carabiner does not necessarily need to be locking, and it does not have to be clipped to your belay loop.

Lots of pro guides advocate this technique, but personally I‘ve found it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Bonus tip - if you find yourself having to belay on a skinny rope with a belay device that's not quite rated for it, you can use this same “double belay carabiner” trick to add a bit more friction. (Ideally, you should never find yourself in this situation . . .)

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2) Clip a spare carabiner to your device’s “ear”, then to the belay loop.

If you have a plaquette style belay device such as a DMM Pivot or ATC Guide, try this: feed the rope as for a normal rappel. Clip a spare carabiner (non locker is fine) through the “ear” of the device, then clip that carabiner to your belay loop. Doing this changes the braking angle of the device, increasing friction.

Note: The effectiveness of this has a lot to do with the rope diameter, how slippery the sheath is, and the size of the carabiners you’re using. This might be the perfect solution, it may only give a tiny bit of increased friction at all, or it may completely lock up your device. Definitely practice this one on a staircase first!

Note, if you’re rappelling from a sling with an extended rappel, can you clip this year back to your belay loop, you will immediately lock up your device and be in ascending mode. Which at times can be super helpful! Learn more at this article.

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3) “Rappel Z” with an extended rappel

This is pretty hard to describe in words, so check out the diagram below.

This has the advantage of working with an autoblock backup, if you choose to use it. Note that you need to attach the autoblock to the leg loop, and it might also add an unnecessary extra amount of friction and cluster. As always, practice in a controlled situation, like a staircase, before you use it for real.

image: “Self Rescue”, by DAvid Fasulo, illustration by Mike CLelland

Rappel tip - Getting the knot past an obstacle

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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Scenario:  You’re the last one rapping on two ropes tied together and you’re worried about the knot sticking on the corner of the ledge or in a crack near the anchor. (In the Portland Oregon area, the rappel off of Rooster Rock in the Columbia River Gorge has a notorious knot-eating crack at the top, and is a great place to use this technique.)

Try this Crafty Rope Trick (CRT) to move the knot past the obstacle.

1. Move the knot as close as you can to the ledge, obstacle or crack you’re concerned about.

2. Girth hitch a two foot single runner above the knot, clip the other end to your belay loop with an extra carabiner (not the big locker to which your rap device is attached), and begin to rappel.

3. The knot will move along with you as you rap down. Once the knot is past any ledges or cracks where it might hang up, unweight the rope for a moment, unclip the runner from your harness, remove it from the rope, and continue your rap to the bottom.

This may be a little hard to visualize when you first read it, but try it once or twice and it should make sense.

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A few cautions:

1) Practice this in a safe place!  A staircase is a fine place to learn.  It’s a little unnerving to see one side of the rope NOT sliding through your rap device, and the other strand sliding through twice as fast!

2) Doing this will cause one end of the rope to rise, so be sure both ends of the rope touch the ground or reach the next rap station with room to spare. Follow the best practice of always having a closed rope system; usually a stopper knot in the ends of your rappel rope, or the ends tied together. The first person down has the task of managing the rope ends. On a multi pitch rappel, a good way to do this is threading one rope end through the lower anchor and then tying the ends together to be sure the rope strands stay connected to the lower anchor.

3) This method is more complex on a free hanging rappel, as this makes it harder to unweight the rope to unclip the sling. If you see that the first few feet of your rappel is completely free hanging, then you want to add a load releasable hitch, such as a Mariner’s knot, or maybe a Purcell prusik (which can extend under load) to the system so you can release it under tension.

4) Be sure to use a single length / 60 cm runner.  Using a longer runner will probably cause the knot to be out of reach when you want to remove it from the rope.

5) Only do this when you have a metal-to-rope (carabiner, rap ring, chain, or quicklink) connection at your anchor. This technique causes the rope to slide through the anchor under load. This is something you NEVER want to do with a webbing connection, even if it's only for a few feet.

6) Hopefully this is obvious, but this maneuver only needs to be done by the LAST person coming down the rope.

7) Oh, and please practice this a few times on a staircase at first, willya?

1 - Rig for normal double rope rappel.

2 - Girth hitch a single length / 60 cm runner above the knot connecting the ropes.

3 - Clip the runner to your belay loop. (Note: in the photo below it’s clipped to the belay carabiner; the belay loop is better.)

Now as you rappel, the knot will move along with you. When the knot is past the obstacle, unclip the runner from your harness, remove the girth hitch, and continue your rappel.

Faster rappelling with a group - fix each strand

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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Sometimes, a well moving climbing team can come to a screeching halt when making a rappel (or a few of them.) The logistics of setting up and completing a rap seems to gobble up the clock like no other part of climbing, especially if you have a group of newer climbers. Add to this approaching darkness or a building storm, and reasons to rap quickly can become even more pressing.

The next time you’re stuck in a crowd at a rap station, try this trick:

1. Feed the rope through the rap anchor as for a normal rap.

2. If the anchor has a single master point, clip a locking carabiner to the masterpoint. If the anchor is twin chains, clip a locking carabiner to each bolt hanger.

3. Tie a butterfly knot in each strand. Clip the butterfly loops to the carabiner(s).

You now have two fixed single lines, allowing one climber to rappel while another is rigging their rope. (I call this being in the "on deck circle" like in baseball.) The second person should be ready to rappel the moment the climber ahead of them is on the ground or at the next anchor.

This can really speed up your downward progress, because there's no downtime waiting for anyone to rig. Someone should be moving down the rope at all times.

The last climber unties the butterfly loops (which are used because they are fairly easy to untie even after being loaded), cleans the carabiner(s), and raps normally.

Note: Be sure that all climbers are comfortable rapping on a single strand of rope. If the rap rope is free hanging, and/or the rope is skinny or wet, climbers may descend faster than they are used to. If this happens, climbers can use various techniques for adding friction to a rappel - read about a few methods at this tip.

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There are lots of different ways you can fix two strands of the rope. Here are two more.

The methods shown above are visually easy to check, and use knots and anchor components that are clear and obvious.

However, there are certainly a few other options.

You could tie a double strand bight knot, which effectively blocks both strands of the rope as well. Here's a double strand butterfly. (A figure 8 or an overhand would also work, but they are a bit harder to untie after being loaded.)

Another option is the Stone hitch. This is commonly used in canyoneering, not so much in climbing, but it is a rather simple and elegant way to isolate two strands of rope. Here's an entire article on this knot. Definitely practice this with a qualified instructor before you use it for real!

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Another way to expedite a rappel - the “pre-rig” with an extension

Another approach to expediting a group rappel is to have everyone use an extended rappel, and do what's called a “pre-rig”. This means that everyone in your group has their rappel device on a shoulder length runner, and they are all attached to the rope at one time. By extending the rappel, the climbers waiting at the top will not be yanked around when the rope is under tension.

Doing this expedites the rappel, because the moment the first person gets to the ground or the next anchor and creates a little slack in the rope, the next person can immediately head down. This is the same idea as the fixed single strands Illustrated above, but allows each person to rap on double strands of rope, which gives a little more friction and is probably more comfortable for beginners. Having a pre-rig speeds up the entire process, because once again there should be someone moving down the rope pretty much constantly.

The number of people in your party, and the size of the ledge around the rappel anchor will dictate the method you use. Lots of people, and maybe a small stance? Use The “fix separate strands” method mentioned at the top. Small team, and perhaps a larger ledge around the anchor? Then use the pre-rig method described here.

Learn about the pre-rigged rappel at this Tip.

A better, and silent, way to signal “off rappel”

Rather than yelling up “off rappel”, which may or may not be heard if it’s a windy day or you’re out of sight, try this instead:

when the rappeler is safe on the ground or at the next anchor and off rappel, she grabs a strand of the rope with each hand, and pulls the strands back and forth in large arm motions, several times.

This does two things.

1. It silently signals the remaining climbers that they can begin their rap set up.

2. It ensures that the ropes can pull freely. If the ropes are crossed, or hung up or in someway making the rope pull difficult, this can hopefully be remedied by the next climber down.

This tip is originally from Topher Donahue via Climbing magazine

Rappelling on ropes of 2 different diameters

You’ve finished a long multi pitch climb, using a single 10 mm rope. From the top, you need to make some double rope rappels to get down.

You partner carried a lightweight 8.5mm rope in her pack, and you now need to use it to make your long rappels. (You chose not to climb with double ropes, because the route was pretty much straight up, and you decided with your partner that the extra hassle/cluster factor of double ropes was not worth it.)

Before you head down the lines, you want to be mindful of a few things.

When rappelling on ropes of two different diameters, the skinny rope is going to slip through your belay device a little faster than the fat rope, which means the ends of the rope may not stay together.

This happens because there is more friction on the fat rope side, therefore the fat rope has the potential to move with you a bit more as you are descending.

This leads to the possibility that the end of the skinny rope can lift off of the next anchor point, potentially leaving you with rope ends that are uneven. If you’re doing a full rope length rappel, this could be a problem.

(The degree to which this happens depends on a a few things, such as what kind of rappel device you’re using, or how slippery or grippy the rope sheath actually is.)

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There’s a few ways to keep this from happening. One is to always put the knot connecting your two rap ropes on the “skinny rope side” of the anchor. That way, if the thick rope starts to migrate, the knot will hopefully be stopped by the anchor master point, and keep the ends of the rope at the same length.

It helps if the master point of the rap anchor is a quicklink or some other small diameter hole, rather than a carabiner, which might allow the knot to migrate through it, making the rope pull difficult if not impossible.

Here's a little pneumonic to help you remember a way to mitigate this: PS, or "Pull Skinny.”

That means when you're finished with your rappel, you always pull the skinny rope, which is the side with the knot.

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CORRECT set up. The knot is on the skinny red rope side of the anchor. If the knot migrates, it'll stop at the chain link. "Pull Skinny", or "PS", means pull the red skinny rope to retrieve it. 

(Note that the red rope is a 6mm pull cord, used here to easily see that it's a smaller diameter.)

INCORRECT set up.  As the larger diameter blue rope migrates, it'll pull the knot downwards. 

Another way to mitigate this is simply clove hitch the thicker rope to the anchor, have the first climber rappel on the single strand of the fat rope, and then have the first rappeller tie off both strands at the lower anchor to ensure both rope ends stay at the lower anchor.  See photo below.

Rappel hardware pros and cons

You can set up a rappel (but NEVER a toprope!) by running your rope directly through the webbing. But, it's usually preferable to have some sort of metal connection to the rope, which gives a much easier rope pull and does zero friction damage to the anchor slings.

Keep in mind that the maximum force possible on a rappel anchor it is only about 2 Kn, so the hardware does not have to be especially burly, But it sure can give you more confidence if it is! (See lots more climbing gear strength ratings at this link.)

This usually means one of three things: a quicklink, a rappel ring, or a carabiner. Let's have a look at the pros and cons of each one.

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1 - Quicklink

A quicklink (aka “maillon”) is a single link of metal chain that has a threaded sleeve, which can be opened and closed. They come in various diameters. Use the smallish ones (5mm) if you choose to take one on an remote alpine climb, and maybe a 10 mm big fat one if you're being a good Samaritan and replacing anchors at your local crag. The 8mm are a good in-between size for general use. They can be made with a zinc plating (for indoor use) or stainless steel. Please use stainless steel hardware for outside anchors!

Note: When possible, use quick links that are CE rated for climbing. The Italian company CAMP sells them and they are inexpensive, insanely strong, and come in 5 mm, 8 mm, and 10 mm. We have a whole article on that here. This is a better option than random hardware store quick links of questionable lineage.

Note: It's best practice to close the sleeve of the quick link by screwing it down toward the ground. This means that gravity is helping keep the sleeve closed. A little pneumonic to help remember this is: “Screw down, so you don't screw up.” If you have a quicklink that you want to fix it more permanently, give it an extra turn with a pair of pliers; a multi-tool is your friend. And if you really want to secure it, add a few drops of thread lock.

If you’re doing Crafty Rope Tricks like rappelling with a knot block, then the very small diameter opening may make the quick link your preferred option because it can block the knot. This is an advanced maneuver that requires some specialized knots and training, beyond the scope of what I want to explain here. If you're curious about this type of rope trickery, see this YouTube video, “StaticBlocks - setting the rope length.”

It's probably not worth carrying a quick link as a “just in case” piece of gear on your harness on every climb. It's heavy, single use, and if you need an emergency rappel anchor, a carabiner usually works just fine.

Sidenote: if you’re retreating from a sport climbing route, please don't use a quick link to lower from. They are much harder to clean for the next person up. Try a carabiner instead.

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A lightweight option is an aluminum quick link. These currently come in at 7 and 10 mm sizes. The 7 mm is not officially rated, but sources that say they break around 12 kN. Not anywhere close to the 40+kN of a steel 8 mm, but certainly adequate for a rappel anchor.

The 7 mm one weighs only 18 grams, which is dramatically lighter than the almost 80 grams of an 8 mm steel link.

These can be a bit hard to find online, but my buddy Ryan at howNOT2.com usually has them in stock; here's a link.

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Pros:

• Handy when you want to pass the quick link around several existing slings on an alpine anchor

• Small narrow opening, which prevents the knot on a double rope rappel or knot block from ever passing through it

• Inexpensive

• Insanely strong; the 8 mm CE rated CAMP quicklink is rated to 40 kN!

Cons:

• Most are hardware store varieties not rated for climbing, probably made in a random machine shop in China

• Somewhat heavy, single purpose piece of gear

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2 - Rappel rings

A rappel ring is a round, smooth ring, made of aluminum or steel. All are plenty strong and inexpensive. Again, like the quicklink, rings are something that you probably don’t need on every alpine climb. If you anticipate doing multiple rappels on a seldom climbed route, and weight is not a huge concern, you might want to bring a couple.

Pros:

• Properly engineered for climbing and rigging, a single ring is plenty strong

Cons:

• Can’t pass the ring around several slings on an existing anchor (Although you can girth hitch a rap ring around a sling, see this tip). Note that this girth hitch technique is more than a little sketchy!

• Again, a single purpose piece of gear

Rolled aluminum ring

• These are made of rolled metal, as you can see from that thin line in the middle. They are hollow, and (per Andy Kirkpatrick) are only about one millimeter (!), which does not fill me with a great deal of confidence. However, when new, they are rated at 14 kN, even if they do not give me a warm fuzzy feeling if rapping from just one of them. If you find them in the wild, consider replacing them if you have something better. Or at least double them up. Try to use these only for rappelling and not lowering, that will help them last much longer. 

• Best use: retreat anchors, or on remote alpine raps that are not going to get much traffic and not on common routes. Apparently they’re also good for hanging hammocks. =^)

• Yikes! This is what you don't want to find at a rappel station, and why hollow aluminum rings don’t belong on busy routes. These were removed from a popular route in Yosemite. Don’t be a cheapskate. Replace time bombs like this whenever possible. Ryan Jenks at HowNot2.com tested a worn out ring like this, and it broke at 1.5 kN! Death trap! Photo: shared by AMGA Certified Rock Guide Kevin Heinrich, used with permission, @kevhamrich

Photo: Kevin Heinrich, @kevhamrich

Forged aluminum ring

• These are solid aluminum all the way through, unlike the hollow ring above. Plus, they come in cool anodized colors.  =^) They are insanely strong, and cost just a dollar or two more than the rolled aluminum ones shown above. I would call these modern standard, and if you're considering aluminum rings, these are the way to go. This one is from SMC, they make some excellent gear. Cheap, strong, and light, I love it!

• Best use: rappel master point in moderate use alpine routes, still not great to lower on. Just like a quicklink, you’re fine rapping off one of these.

Welded steel ring

• Made by Fixe and other companies. Ridiculously strong. HowNot2.com tested two of these; one broke at 90 kN and the other at 47 kN.

• Best use is in popular sport climbing areas (okay to lower from) not for distant alpine routes. Still fairly inexpensive, around $7-$8.

Rappel ring break test results from HowNottohighline

image: https://www.instagram.com/p/CmKFzXmvIqp/?hl=en

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3 - Carabiner

Leaving a carabiner behind will tear at the soul of the frugal dirtbag climber, but come on, it's only about five bucks, relax. Remember all those clunker cheapo carabiners you probably got when you first started climbing? If you’re planning an alpine route where you anticipate lots of rappels, bring a couple of those along as a “leaver carabiner” and slowly dispose of them.

While a single carabiner generally fine to rappel off of, many people will prefer the extra security and use two regular carabiners with gates opposite and reversed. Or leaving a locking carabiner. Or, you can always use my favorite method: take one snapgate carabiner and tape the gate shut, making a cheapskate locker.

Pros:

• You always have it with you

• Multi purpose price of gear

• Easy to clip to multiple webbing strands on an alpine anchor

Cons:

• A bit more expensive than the other options

• The wide gate might cause the knot connecting your rappel ropes to migrate through it, making pulling the rope more difficult. Knot blocks may not work. Be cautious with skinny double rope rappels

• A single standard carabiner with the gate not taped is not the safest setup. Better to use a locker, two with gates opposite and reversed, or tape the gate shut

The cheapskate locker. A few wraps of tape completely secures the gate, and gives you peace of mind for a rappel. Leaving a little extra tape folded over makes it easy to remove.

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So . . . Where does that leave us? It really comes down to personal preference. Each one of these is plenty strong, relatively inexpensive, and will give you a smooth rope pull. Personally, I dislike carrying special use pieces of gear that I may or may not use, so I usually use a “cheapskate locker” carabiner taped closed for a standard rappel. I’ll sometimes bring a quicklink if I anticipate a knot block or some other Crafty Rope Trick may be needed.