What’s a “closed” rope system?

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

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

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

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

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

• Your retraced figure 8 tied directly to your harness

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

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

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

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

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Comments . . .

Some people object to tying knots in the rappel strands, saying they “don't want the knot to get stuck”. I’ve never understood this. Unless you have some very unusual deep rope eating cracks right below you, the first person down should easily be able to pull the knot out of whatever crack it might be in, and toss it on down the cliff. A basic rule of rappelling is to never descend past any rope that is hung up; the job of the first person down is to de-cluster any problems and toss the rope down and cleanly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 2016, Alex was dropped by his belayer because they were using a 60 meter rope on a 70 meter route, there was no knot in the end of the rope, and his belayer was not tied to the end of the rope. Whoops, open rope system. While the belayer was lowering Alex, the end of the rope zinged through their Grigri and Alex fell onto some “gnarly rocks”. Luckily he only suffered mild injuries. Other climbers in the same situation have died.

Read the accident report here.

CalTopo pro tip - stacking map layers

(If you want to learn the basics of using CalTopo, start with this tutorial video.)

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If you’ve spent any time around the navigation department of Alpinesavvy, you know I’m a huge fan of CalTopo.

Here’s a lesser-known CalTopo ninja trick you may find helpful - stacking map layers. 

In CalTopo, you can stack two or more map layers together on the screen, and then with a slider bar or typed in percentage, change the opacity of each layer. (If you've ever used photo editing software like Photoshop, you're probably familiar with this idea.)

Stacking allows you to see features of interest in two different map layers at the same time. I rarely view more than two map layers at the same time, and definitely not more than three, otherwise you’re going to go cross-eyed trying to find the view you want.

Procedure:

1. From the main screen at caltopo.com, zoom to your area of interest.

2. Mouse over the map layer in the top right corner, and choose “Stack New Layer”

3. Choose a second map layer from the drop down to lay over the first one.

Let’s start with a satellite image base layer, for land cover, and overlay it with Open Cycle, which shows trails. Let's set the opacity of the Open Cycle later to 60%. You can do that with the slider bar, or by typing the percentage directly in the box as seen below.

In the screen grab below, we see the south side of Mount Saint Helens. You can clearly see which trails are in forest cover and which are not.

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Let’s try a combination of satellite view, showing crevasses, stacked with slope angle shading, showing steep areas and possible avalanche terrain. 

The settings for that from the top right corner would look like this:

Here’s the SE side of Mt. Hood. You can see crevasses and areas of steep, moderate and low slope angle. This could help you create a route that avoids crevasses and stays off of steep terrain.

With both of these on the screen, you can draw a line that hopefully avoids most of both. In CalTopo, right click, choose “New > Line”, then hold shift, and click and drag draw a freeform line. 

You can then export this line as a GPX file for use in actual navigation in the field.

I think you get the idea. Dive in and play around with this.

And, if you find it worthwhile, I strongly encourage you to support CalTopo with an annual subscription of just $20 a year. Doing this helps ensure this great software continue to be available for us all to enjoy.

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.

Team of 3 in moderate terrain? Try end roping

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 have a team of three climbers and one rope. You’re in moderate technical terrain - low fifth class rock with good climbers, 4th class with occasional “steps” of harder moves, a open big slab, or fairly steep snow. The terrain falls lies that in-between spot, ranging from “No prob, I can solo this!”, to, “Hmm, I think I want a rope!”

This might be a good time for end roping.  

Look! It’s our friend Sticky! She’s back, and climbing with her 2 pals. Hi Sticky!

This is a technique often suited to alpine climbing, where you may have many pitches of easy to moderate climbing, and speed can become more important. It’s best not to use it on much anything higher than mid 5th class.

The leader heads out as usual, but the two followers tie in close to each other near the end of the rope. (End roping, get it?) The leader then belays up both followers at once.

The “end” follower ties in to the rope end as usual with a rewoven figure 8 knot. The “middle” follower, about 4-5 meters away from the end person, ties in with one of several ways, more below.

With the middle person on a large bight of rope, it gives them some freedom of movement. If the end person falls, the middle person may not be pulled off because of this loop. And, it means the followers do not have to be moving at the exact same rate.

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A few things to note:

• You need to use a single rated rope, not a skinny twin or double.

• This is ideally for rock and maybe steeper snow. For ice climbing, you always want your seconds on separate ropes and end roping is not a good choice.

• The anchor needs to be especially stout, because it could potentially be loaded with the weight of two people with a little slack in the rope.

• If the last person falls, it’s possible they will pull off the middle person. Because of this, it’s best if the strongest climber of the two followers is on the end of the rope.

• This is really only a safe system up to low fifth class for most people. For more difficult terrain, you probably need a different rope system.

• If you're in an area where the rope is going to be potentially loaded over sharp rock edges, keep in mind that you could be putting a double load on the rope if the seconds fall together.

• This works best if the route is pretty much straight up. If you start any kind of a traverse, a slip by either of the two followers will probably result in a fall for both of them.

• Communication between the belayer and the followers needs to be clear and obvious, in case something goes wrong. If the route is long, it goes out of sight around the corner, it's a windy day and it's hard to hear each other, or all of the above, this may not be the best technique.

• The large loop connecting the middle person to the rope is a bit of a trade off. The loop can give you more freedom of movement, but it also can also be a tripping hazard. Use your judgment here. A smaller loop (1-2 feet) might be a better choice depending on terrain, skill of the climbers, if you have crampons or not, etc.

Use some common sense. If the consequences of a fall are low, meaning the terrain is a slab or snow or not very blocky, and it goes pretty much straight up, and your climbing team is skilled enough to mean a very low chance of a fall, this technique will probably work fine.

Anything more advanced or difficult than this, you're probably better off using a two rope system and bringing up each climber on a separate rope.

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There are a few ways for the middle person to connect to the rope. Here’s one that's pretty straightforward - tying in directly to your harness with the rope. There are a few ways to do it. This example uses a bowline knot.

1 - Tie an overhand knot, leaving a large bight of rope about 5 feet long.

2 - Pass this bight through the two tie in points on your harness, and tie a bowline knot. (Yes, you use both strands of rope, and this might look a little funky if you've never done it before. It's the exact motions as tying a bowline with one strand of rope.)

3 - Finally, secure the tail of the bowline with a locking carabiner to the loop through your harness.

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Another option is to clip this bight of rope to the middle’s belay loop with two carabiners, opposite and opposed, with at least one being a locker. (If you are feeling a bit bold, one good locker with the carabiner properly aligned with no chance of cross loading is probably okay too. It's really up to your personal level of acceptable risk. Me, I like two carabiners.)

Cross loading the carabiners is the main thing we're trying to avoid here. There are several ways to avoid this:

1. Use the belay loop rather than the harness tie in points, as this minimizes tri-axial carabiner loading.

2. You can tie a clove hitch in the bight loop and crank that down on your carabiners.

3. You could use a nifty new-school locking belay carabiner, like the Black Diamond Gridlock, that has a clip that captures the carabiner so it can’t be cross loaded.

Basic set up: overhand on a bight with 2 opposite and opposed carabiners.

Add a clove hitch and cinch it down to hold the carabiners in place.

Or, go with the sweet Black Diamond gridlock or similar carabiner designed to resist cross loading.

image: blackdiamondequipment.com

Which way should you face carabiners on quickdraws?

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Sport climbers generally agree on a few quickdraw “best practices”:

• You always use the same carabiner for the bolt hanger. Reason: Any metal nicks or burrs from the steel bolt hangers never touch the rope.

• If you have a bent gate carabiner, it goes on the bottom. Reason: Faster to clip.

• The spine of the bottom carabiner should face in the direction you’re climbing.  Meaning, if the route heads to the right, the gate on the bottom carabiner should face to the left. Reason: if you fall, the force goes against the strongest part of the carabiner; the spine, not the gate.

• Quickdraw slings (aka “dogbones”) almost always have one sewn loop that’s narrow and snug, and one loop that’s larger (or with Petzl draws, a little rubber thingie called the “String”, see image at the top of this page.) The narrow snug loop or rubber String/thingie always goes on the bottom carabiner. Reason: If it were on the top, the carabiner could rotate and be loaded in a weak position. See image below.

image: petzl.com

But, what about this: which way the BOTTOM gate should face?

Should it be the OPPOSITE direction as the top carabiner, or the SAME direction?

Some famous climbers say “opposite” (without really being able to articulate why). Alex Honnold says, “I don't really care”. Adam Ondra says “same direction”.

But consider: every major gear manufacturer (that I've ever seen) has the carabiners facing the SAME way.

Why is this?The clever climbing gnomes at Black Diamond have some answers. They offer two reasons for facing your draws the same way.

1. There's a chance that the top carabiner could be rotated into a position where it is not properly loaded along the spine, and potentially even unclip; this is like the Petzl warning diagram above.

2. It helps you clip faster and more efficiently when you're pumped, scared on lead, and your reptile brain has taken over. With gates facing the same direction, you can grab the draw and place it faster with a glance at the top gate, ensuring the bottom gate is facing the correct direction.

3. Bonus reason: Adam Ondra always rigs his quickdraws with gates facing the same way. That should tell you everything you need to know.

This content and general tip idea first came from the Black Diamond website. You can read the whole article here.

6:1 compound pulleys in the real world

Say you’ve built a 2:1 mechanical advantage (MA) system or 3:1 MA system, and it's not quite doing the job. You need some greater pulling force, so how do you do it? Here are two approaches that combine a 2:1 and a 3:1 to make a 6:1 MA system. If you find yourself in a one person rescue situation, a rig like this might be required.

Both of these examples are known as a compound pulley system. With a compound system, you have one simple system pulling on another simple system. The pulleys move in the same direction, but at different speeds, than the load.

In a compound system, the hauling systems are multiplied to get the final mechanical advantage. In both of these examples we have a 3:1 multiplied by a 2:1, so the resulting theoretical mechanical advantage is 6:1.

With a 6:1, you need to pull 6 feet/meters of rope in order to move the load 1 foot/meter.

Enough with the terminology and theory, let's see how to build these for real. If you want, go get your gear, lay it out on the floor and follow along. (Please don't pull heavy furniture around in your house, it's rough on the floor. =^)

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Let’s start with a 3:1 system, then add a 2:1 on top of this to get a 6:1.

This is one of many different ways you can set this up, with various combinations of hardware, pulleys, rope grabs, etc. This has a Petzl Mini Traxion progress capture pulley at the anchor. You could use a regular pulley and prusik loop here as well.

Let's start with a basic 3:1 Z drag.

Step 1 - Clip some cord onto the anchor master point. Here it’s an untied cordelette. It could also be the far end of the rescue rope itself.

Step 2 - Tie a prusik in the hauling strand as shown and clip a carabiner and pulley (if you have one) to it. (If you don't have a second prusik loop, you could tie a clove hitch in the white rope. You would have to retie at every time you reset the system, but it works.)

Step 3 - Clip the cord into the pulley and pull.

That's it, a 2:1 on top of a 3:1, resulting in a 6:1 theoretical mechanical advantage.

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Here’s a similar setup, but reversed. We're going to start with the 2:1 and add a 3:1 on top of it, resulting in a theoretical 6:1.

Again, this is one of many different ways you can set this up, with various combinations of hardware, pulleys, rope grabs, etc.

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Let's start with the basic 2:1. Note that in this 2:1, the red Traxion progress capture pulley is on the load, rather than the anchor. This can be advantageous in certain rescue situations.

Step 1 - Clip a carabiner into the anchor master point, and clip the pulling rope to this carabiner. (This changes the direction of pull and does not add any mechanical advantage.)

Step 2 - Add a prusik to the pulling strand near the load.

Step 3 - Clip a carabiner (and a pulley if you have it) to the prusik.

Step 4 - Clip the haul rope to the pulley, and pull.

You’ve added a 3:1 on top of a 2:1, giving you a theoretical 6:1 system.

If you happen to have another pulley, add it to the redirect carabiner that's on the anchor. If you have only one pulley, it’s in the correct place; on the prusik that's closest to your pulling hand.

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Finally, here is a great video by IFMGA Certified Guide Jeff Ward showing the 6:1 “Z on a C” System applied to crevasse rescue. (His rigging is slightly different than what I shared above and that he has the progress capture above with him and not down on the climber, but other than that the system is identical.)

Show me the 9:1

OK, I’m on a SAR team and need to know fancy systems, or I’m a river guide who might need to pull a wrapped raft off a midstream boulder, or I like to drive offroad and need to know how to pull my truck out of the ditch. I'm ready for the 9:1! How do I do it?

Well, if you’ve read this far, you're ready for the fancy stuff. A 9:1 is a compound system, with a 3:1 stacked on top of another 3:1. Remember, with a compound system, the forces of each section are multiplied together to get the final MA, so a 3:1 on a 3:1 gives you a 9:1.

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Important: if you have a high mechanical advantage system, say 6:1 or 9:1, and you are REALLY pulling on it (several strong people) to move a serious load (stump, car in the ditch) you may be getting dangerously close to the safe working limit of some of your equipment, such as a pulley or carabiner.

If you’re in this situation and feel you need to apply more pulling force, it’s probably a good choice, provided you have the equipment, to set up a completely separate system, may be on a new anchor, and pull simultaneously on both systems. 

Granted, recreational climbers should pretty much never find themselves in this situation, but if you’re pulling out a stump or your truck, keep this in mind.

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Many people (like me!) find looking at a diagram of a 9:1 makes their head spin. But as we like to stay around here, it's a better show than a tell. When you see it demonstrated properly it's actually pretty simple. Here is a nice video that shows you how to do it.

And, if you're the diagram type, here’s a pretty slick example of a 9:1.

image: https://roperescuetraining.com/raising_5-to-1.php

CalTopo pro tip - slope angle shading

If you're new to using CalTopo mapping software, watch this video tutorial to get started.

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Note: this type of slope shading is made with an elevation model that may not show all relevant features and potentially hazardous avalanche slopes. It can be a useful tool for macro level trip planning, but is not accurate enough to completely assess potential avalanche hazard across all types of terrain.

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Say you’re planning a canyoneering trip, climb, backcountry ski tour, or snowshoe trip.

• Canyoneers want to locate possible waterfalls.

• Climbers and skiers want to (hopefully) avoid potential avalanche slopes.

• If you’re a good skier, you want to find a long run that’s reasonably steep but not ridiculous.

• If you're on a long cross country hiking or climbing trip, you want to generally choose the path of least resistance and lowest angle slopes.

Good news, the best backcountry mapping software CalTopo has you covered.  

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Zoom into your favorite mountain area, and choose a base map.

Mouse over the map layer box in the top right corner, and click the drop-down next to Base Layer. I think the default map layer is MapBuilder Topo. This is my go-to map layer and a fine place to start, because it shows topography, contours, updated trails, and shaded relief.

Just under that you'll see some checkboxes in the category “Map Overlays”.

Check the box next to “Slope Angle Shading”, as seen below.

You should then see a color coded overlay added to your base map, showing approximate slope angle.

• Yellow > orange, 27 to 35 degrees, low angle and pretty mellow, probably safe to travel on.

• Red > purple > blue > black is 35 t o 60+ degrees, progressively steeper and possible avalanche terrain. 

You can print this out, draw in a track of your intended route or import a GPX track you already have.

Canyoneers or photographers, looking for secret waterfalls? Find a stream drainage that goes over an area of blue/black. That's likely going to be a waterfall.

Here’s a view of the north side of Mt. Hood, with the Forest Service base map. Note the marked waterfalls on the map, that correspond with the stream running over an area of blue/black shading.

Here are a few more screen grabs. 

Mt. Adams

Mt. Rainier

Need to lower from an ATC guide? Try the "LSD"

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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This tip is from a few great sources: IFMGA Guide Karsten Delap, book from Marc Chauvin and Rob Coppolillo, “The Mountain Guide Manual”, and a video from AMGA Rock Guide Cody Bradford

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Black Diamond ATC guide, a “plaquette” style belay device.

Plaquette style belay devices like the Black Diamond ATC Guide and Petzl Reverso are great, allowing smooth rappels, to be rigged as an ascender, and to autolock when belaying your second. But they do have one major drawback - if you need to lower your second, it's generally not safe, easy, nor intuitive to do so.

Doing this incorrectly has led to numerous accidents; read about one of them here.

Here’s a Crafty Rope Trick (CRT) that's about the easiest method you’ll find to lower your second off of a plaquette. Note that this does not require any seldom used, hard-to-remember rescue geek knots like the Munter Mule Overhand (MMO), nor any sudden unweighting of the belay device that might cause your second to wish they wore their brown pants that day.

Plus, it has a great name - the “LSD” or “Load Strand Direct” lower.

Note: this method does require your follower to unweight the rope for a moment and give you a small bit of slack. In just about every climbing situation, this will be possible. Even so, I can already hear the peanut gallery out there, yelping “OMG, what if they’re unconscious! What if they fell on a traverse and are hanging out in space or on a 5.15 blank wall?” True, in those two scenarios this not going to work. However, those two situations are so incredibly unlikely to happen, it's certainly safe to learn this as your primary lowering technique. And, be smart about it - if your second might have a chance to swing out into space, you should probably be belaying with some other method all together, like with a Munter hitch, which is super easy to lower on anytime. (Or use a DMM Pivot belay device, which greatly simplifies the lowering process.)

And, if they REALLY can’t give you any slack, there is another way to do it with a redirected sling, check the video link below.

Safety note: Depending on a few factors, this technique can significantly reduce the friction from your belay device. As mentioned, be sure and practice in a controlled environment such as a stairway to see how it works, and consider tying an overhand on a bight catastrophe knot maybe 20 feet below you when you start to lower, in case you misjudged. As mentioned, always have a third hand back up, and gloves are recommended.

Typically, this technique is used to lower someone a short distance, not the entire length of a pitch. If you want to lower your second a very long way, a better setup may be to redirect the brake strand rather than the load strand. Learn how to do that in this article.

Okay, let's get to it.

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Scenario: You’re belaying your second directly off the anchor from a plaquette style belay device. For whatever reason, they need to be lowered (after they’ve reached the top of the pitch, or from anywhere else, 2 feet or 200 feet.) Here's what you do.

1 - Tie a quick overhand or figure 8 on a bight as a backup knot in the brake strand of the rope.

2 - Put a prusik, autoblock or similar friction hitch on the brake strand, and clip it to your belay loop with a locking carabiner. This friction hitch will back up your brake hand when you start to lower in a moment. This is important, don't skip it.

3 - Untie your overhand or figure 8 backup knot.

4 - Clip a spare carabiner (non-locker is fine) to the anchor master point, with the gate opening facing down. Note that this carabiner needs to be the same size or smaller than the carabiner that’s holding your belay device.

5 - When all this is set up and double checked, ask your second to unweight the rope for a moment. Doing this will cause a little slack in the load strand. Pull up this slack rope, and clip the load strand through the new carabiner on the master point. (Load Strand , clipped Direct to the anchor, = “LSD”, get it?)

6 - Normally with a plaquette, the rope leading to the second exits the device at the top. When the rope is weighted, it presses down on the strand underneath it, locking the rope. By clipping the loaded strand higher on the anchor, it's no longer pressing down on the bottom strand, so the rope is now “unlocked”. Slowly let out slack from the brake strand of the rope, backed up with the friction hitch. You should be able to lower your partner slowly and in control.

You definitely want to practice this in a controlled environment before doing it for real on the rock. The friction might be less than what you’re used to, and you need to be ready for that.

There are lots of factors that can affect how fast the lower is, such as rope diameter, whether the rope sheath is new and slippery or old and crusty, the weight of your climber, the amount of rock/snow your rope is running through causing additional friction, the carabiners you’re using, and other variables. That's why you have the friction hitch backup; if the load starts to move too quickly and your palms are smoking, that hitch is there to stop things in a moment. Wear gloves if you have them. Practice in a controlled environment (like a staircase) before you ever do it for real. If the lower is faster than what you like, you can redirect the brake strand through a carabiner on your rope tie in point, which will add additional friction and slow down the lower.

Here’s the sequence.

Our second is on a standard plaquette belay directly off the anchor. (In this example, the second is directly at the anchor. In reality, the second could be anywhere along the length of the pitch, needing to get lowered.)

Step 1 - Add a third hand / autoblock, and clip it to your belay loop.

Step 2 - Add a second carabiner to the master point. (Non locker is fine.)

Ask your climber to give you a few inches of slack. Clip this slack rope into the carabiner you just added. You’re now ready to lower.

Here's a nice video of the whole sequence in action.

And here’s a video from AMGA Certified Guide Cody Bradford showing a simple technique to use the LSD lower even if the rope is fully weighted.

Transformers! Your ATC belay device is also an ascender

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 an experienced climber, 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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First off, a few disclaimers and cautionary notes . . .

• Using a belay device in this manner is not explicitly approved by any manufacturer, as far as I know. Alpinesavvy offers ideas and information, not advice. Use this at your own risk. Instruction from a qualified professional is highly recommended when learning any new belay technique.

This technique can fail if you use a skinny rope and a large belay device!

• I was easily able to put this into failure mode with a single strand rappel using an old style Black Diamond ATC Guide, and an 8 mm rope. Under even a small load, the rope strands can become inverted. This causes them to either jam together and you can't move the rope at all, or even worse, the strands become reversed, and you will fall / slide under load. Be sure and test this under a controlled environment with your preferred rope and belay device before you ever try it for real! (This is why you should never use a device like this to rope solo.)

• If using a skinny rope, be extra careful! Matching your ropes to the proper size belay device is always important, especially in this case. Consider using a device such as the Black Diamond ATC Alpine Guide, specifically made for smaller diameter ropes. You have been warned, be careful!

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DMM Pivot belay device

Auto locking plaquette-style belay devices (such as the DMM Pivot, Black Diamond ATC Guide and Petzl Reverso) have become pretty much standard gear. The auto locking feature when belaying your second directly off the anchor has another nifty capability: rope ascender.

Now, you don’t want to use this when you head up a big wall climb, because it does add extra friction and it’s not quite as secure as a dedicated ascending system. But, for improvised rope climbing, such as in a rescue scenario, or if you find you need to ascend a rappel rope for some reason, this is a pretty cool trick.

A few notes . . .

• Doing this is WAY better than the old school method of ascending a rope with two prusik loops!

• The effectiveness of this system, and the ease that you can ascend, greatly depends on the type of belay device you are using, and the rope diameter, how old/stiff the rope sheath is, and some other variables. Generally, if you have a newer smaller diameter rope with a smoother sheath, this is going to be easier. If you have a newer style belay device made for smaller diameter ropes, and and try this with a stiff sheath 10mm rope, you will have a L O T of friction and hassle pulling the rope through the device.

• Practice, practice, practice in a controlled environment before you ever tried this in the real world.

• If you’re on lower angle terrain, you might just be able to step up on the rock and pull slack through your device. If it's steeper, you'll probably need to rig some kind of a step for your foot, which I cover in this tip.

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There are two possible scenarios where you can set this up.

1. one starting from a ledge or flat ground or otherwise good stance

2. when you’re on rappel

Let's look at each one.

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Method 1 - Rigging to ascend from a ledge or flat ground

Let’s start with the easiest set up, and assume you are on the ground or a ledge and have a rope you need to climb. This rope can be a single strand or a double strand. (Hopefully this is obvious, but this rope needs to be fixed in some way at the top anchor, either directly tied, or looped through an anchor point like a standard rappel. )

You simply rig your belay device just like you would to belay up your follower directly off the anchor, and clip the “anchor” carabiner to your belay loop. One locking carabiner in the ear, which you would clip to the anchor master point (here, the black one), and one locking carabiner blocking the rope the rope (here, the yellow one).

(Note: this system works a bit better if the rope blocking carabiner is round metal stock, rather than some fancy weight shaving I-beam type construction. The rope slides more easily and there’s a bit less friction on the rounded metal. If you have one, use it, if you don’t, no biggie.)

Standard set up, just like you would for a direct belay from the anchor (black carabiner would clip to masterpoint, yellow carabiner blocks the rope, the strand to the “climber” is always on the top.)

Now, instead of clipping the black carabiner on the anchor, you simply clip it onto your belay loop. Now, if you sit back in your harness, the rope should lock off. Slick!

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Method 2 - Rigging to ascend while on rappel

Hopefully this won’t happen very often, but sometimes when rappelling, you need to go back up the rope. Maybe you missed the anchors, or maybe the rope got stuck above you, and you were careless and went below it without untangling the mess. Whatever, it doesn’t really matter, you were rapping down and now you need to climb up. Here’s how to do it.

There’s two different ways this can be rigged. It depends on whether you are rappelling from an extended rappel or from your belay loop . An extended rappel is easier and safer; lots more on extended rappels at this Tip.

Let’s look at each one.

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First off, whenever you’re doing any shenanigans like this way off the deck, tie a “catastrophe knot” in the rope below you. This is an overhand on a bight in both strands, clipped to your belay loop. This is insurance; if you screw up any part of the next couple steps, you’re not going to fall to the ground. So do this first. If you were rapping with an auto block, going hands-free to do this is easy. If not, use the old-school Crafty Rope Trick (CRT) of wrapping the rope a few times around your leg to go hands free.

“Catastrophe knot” - Overhand on a bight in both strands, clipped back to your belay loop with a locker.

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Note: Both these methods require you unweight your rappel device for a moment. Hopefully you can find some kind of a stance where you can temporarily unweight the rope. If you can’t do this, you’ll have to get creative. Add a short prusik plus a foot loop and standing in it, or use the Crafty Rope Trick (CRT) of wrapping a few loops of rope around your foot and standing up, temporarily unweighting your rappel device.

Note: For clarity, the catastrophe knot backup is not shown in the following photos.

A - Rappelling from an extended rappel (easier and safer method)

An extended rappel makes this method safer, because you do not need to unclip your rappel carabiner as described below in method B. When you do this for the first time, you might actually amaze yourself, because it’s so fast and easy, it almost seems like a magic trick.

The set up shown below, with one single runner, is one of various ways to rig an extended rappel. The extended rappel is covered in depth here.

(For clarity, this photo doesn’t show an auto block third hand backup below the rappel device. If you only have a short way to ascend, you can leave it on. For a longer climb back up the rope, it's probably better to take it off, as shown in the video below. )

1 - Clip a locking carabiner into the “ear” on your rappel device.

2 - Unweight your device using one of the methods mentioned just above, and clip the “ear” onto your belay loop. Note the gold carabiner and yellow rap extension sling stay attached the whole time.

Sweetness, you’re ready to ascend!

Your extension gives you enough slack for the blocking carabiner to properly work. Nice! One more reason to use an extended rappel.

Bonus: one more cool thing about this method is that if you want to transition back into rappel, all you do is reverse the process. Simply unclip the black carabiner from your belay loop and you are back into rappelling position.

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Here's a nice instructional video that walks you through this step-by-step.

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Here’s a video from AMGA Certified Rock Guide Cody Bradford showing how to do this.

While sadly Cody is no longer with us, his Instagram continues to stay up and is a great source of tips like this, check it out.

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B - Rappelling from your belay loop

1 - Clip a locking carabiner to the “ear” of your rappel device.

2 - Unweight your device using one of the methods mentioned just above, and clip the “ear” onto your belay loop.

3 - Carefully, and I mean VERY carefully, unclip your rappel carabiner (here, the gold one) from your belay loop, WITHOUT unclipping the rope. If you unclip the rope at this moment, you are completely unattached to your rappel device, so practice this on the ground and do it VERY carefully!

You DID tie that catastrophe knot, RIGHT? This step is DANGEROUS! Pay ATTENTION!

This sketchy and awkward step is NOT required if you're using an extended rappel, as shown above. (Take the hint, use an extended rappel . . .)

When you're done, it should look like the photo below.

You now have your rappel device in the ascending position.

The importance of a "ground plan"

Clear communication and expectations between partners is a vital aspect of safety when climbing. This can become critically important if voice communication is limited by a long pitch, wind, route going out of sight, or other Less Than Ideal (LTI) circumstances.

Spend some time at the beginner routes at your local climbing area, and you’re bound to hear some conversations like the following:

Excited newbie leader, reaching the anchors on a one pitch sport climb:  “Yeah! Wooo! Phew! Belay off!”

Attentive belayer from below: “Are you sure about that? Don’t you want to clip the anchor and lower off?”

Newbie leader: “Oh, hmmm, yeah, right, okay, better keep me on belay. Ready to take? You got me, right?”  

Yes, this is a potentially lethal mistake narrowly averted by an attentive belayer. It has happened: distracted leader calls “Belay Off”, their partner obeys, the leader clips the rope into the anchor and thinks they’re going to be lowered, leans back on the rope, and falls to the ground. Yes, awful. And easily averted by about a 10 second conversation on the ground before anybody starts climbing.

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There are four different things that a leader can do when they reach the top of a pitch.

(For this discussion, let’s leave out big wall climbing, where the leader would usually fix the rope for the second to ascend.)

1. lower off

2. rappel off

3. belay their partner up to their position

4. walk off

Before the leader heads up, take a moment on the ground (hence the name) to confirm which one of these four things is going to happen. 

Sometimes you can easily eliminate one or several of the options. Is there no way to walk off the route? Well, let’s skip that one. Have you already agreed on a multi pitch climb, and for sure the second is going to come up? Well, then that’s pretty settled as well.

But even a standard one pitch route has some choices to make. The most important one is probably if the last person at the route is going to rappel or be lowered, with lowering usually the preferred option.

Whatever the possibilities, you should have complete agreement as to what's going to happen while on the ground, and not yelling at each other back-and-forth on the cliff. 

Now, you can of course change the ground plan later on if for some compelling reason you need to, just to be sure that this change is also clearly communicated to your partner.

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.

Sewn daisy chain as a gear sling

Leash, lanyard, tether, daisy . . . Lots of different names for pretty much the same thing, a short sewn bit of webbing that connects you to the anchor, especially handy when you’re rappelling. (When you are going UP a route, it's generally best practice to use the rope you’re tied in with to directly connect to the anchor, not a leash.)

And no, I have absolutely no idea why this is called a daisy chain . . .

Modern “personal leashes”, such as the Metolius Personal Anchor System (PAS), are made of connected full strength loops. Use them for just about any kind of connection to the anchor, clip two adjacent loops, make a rappel extension, whatever, it's going to be bomber no matter where you clip it.

Metolius PAS. Each sewn loop is full strength (22 Kn)

image: metoliusclimbing.com/pas_personal_anchor_system.html

But, before the PAS came along, many climbers used a sewn pocket daisy chain as a personal leash. Even though this is designed for aid climbing and bodyweight only, the convenient pockets were too tempting to pass up. And hey, the sling as a whole is rated to 20+ Kn, right? 

Sewn pocket daisy chain

Well, these pockets disguised a potentially lethal problem. Each pocket is sewn with bar tacking that's only rated to about 2 Kn (about 440 lbs.) Clipping one pocket is okay. But clip two pockets and put any sort of a serious load on it, you could potentially break the sewn bar tacks and be completely off your anchor! Large problem!

Clip ONE loop on a sewn pocket daisy? No worries.

Clip TWO adjacent loops on a sewn pocket daisy? Break those bar tacks and you’re gone, YIKES!

Fortunately, most modern climbers are aware of this potential problem with pocket daisy chains, so many folks have a semi-retired pocketed daisy that’s now collecting dust in the bottom of the gear bin. Well, here's a possible use for that.

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The sewn pocket daisy makes a pretty sweet gear sling!

Hook it around your shoulder, and adjust it by clipping a carabiner or a quick link in the loop that fits your body. 

Now, you have a bunch of sewn loops available, which keep all of your gear from bunching together, the main problem of the traditional single gear sling.

One more tip, for big wallers: A sewn pocket daisy like this is great for securing gear (rock pro, shoes, water bottles, stuff sacks) at your bivy/portaledge.

Backside clove hitch: transition to rappel

The video is from IFMGA Certified Guide Karsten Delap. Connect with Karsten on Instagram, his website, and YouTube.

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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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Using the backside of the leader’s clove hitch is a great way to transition from climbing to descending.

Advocated by IFMGA Guides Marc Chavin and Rob Coppolillo (authors of the excellent book “The Mountain Guide Manual”) this method uses the climbing rope coming off of the leader’s connection to the anchor as the primary anchor point for the follower, as opposed to the second clipping a tether to the anchor master point.

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Lots of multi pitch routes require a rappel to get down. For many climbing teams, this transition period, from moving upwards to moving downwards, can be a bit of a cluster. 

The traditional method is each climber using a tether/PAS to connect in close to the anchor, each person untying from their respective ends of the rope, threading the anchor and then each person rigging for a rappel separately. This can be awkward at tight stances, and often takes a LOT longer than necessary, especially with less experienced folks.

The backside clove hitch elegantly address some of these issues.

(Another term I've heard for this method is the “Backside Rappel Feed”, or BARF. I love it, but it hasn't caught on yet.)

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It can take a bit of creative visualization to try to imagine how this works in your head. I have to say it took me a while before I got it figured out. But once I did, and realized the subtle benefits that come from this system, I knew it was going to become a regular part of my rappel routine.

I strongly suggest you try it on flat ground with a partner a couple of times to get the hang of it, and watch the video at the bottom of this page!

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What are some benefits of the backside clove hitch?

1 - Cluster free anchor. By having the follower clipped to the backside of the leader’s rope, there’s no need for multiple leashes clustering up the anchor. You have plenty of room to stretch out and move around a bit, assuming the ledge allows you to do so. Your position isn’t limited by a short tether or PAS.

2 - Always using the dynamic rope to connect everyone to the anchor. Ropes are stretchy. Generally, tethers and slings, not so much. Stretchy is good. Use it when you can.

3 - (Close to) zero chance of dropping the rope. For a two person team to transfer to a rappel, of course one end of the rope needs to be freed up to pass through the anchor. With the backside clove hitch, this is simple: because the leader’s end of the rope is securing the entire team to the anchor, the follower’s end of the rope will always be the one threaded through the anchor. The leader remains tied to their end during the whole process. Rule number one in setting up a rappel is don’t drop the rope, and this method pretty much ensures that can never happen.

4 - Faster and less risky rappelling. After the follower threads their end of the rope and and pulls to the middle point, both climbers can rig for rappel. A low risk and fast way to do this is to rig an extended rappel with both climbers doing so at the same time.  The extended rappel means climbers can check each other, which reduces risk. Because they both rig for rappel at the same time, and also increases speed, because the second can begin their rap the moment the first person is at the next anchor. 

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Here’s the general procedure:

1. When the leader is securely attached to the master point with the clove hitch, they tie a clove hitch or a loop knot (overhand, fig 8, butterfly, your choice) on the backside of their clove hitch connection. This hitch/knot gets a locking carabiner.

2. The second arrives at the anchor, and clips this locker to their belay loop.

3. The leader takes the follower off belay, and removes the belay device from the anchor.

4. The second unties, freeing up a rope end.

5. The team threads the rope end through the anchor, pulls it to the middle point, and tosses that strand.

6. Both climbers rig an extended rappel and a third hand backup.

7. Both climbers are now secured by their extended rappel. The second removes the hitch/loop knot and carabiner from the backside of the leader’s clove hitch. The leader unties, tosses down the second strand of rope, and cleans the anchor.

8. Do a safety check, and rappel.

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In the video below, the second climber rappels first. However, there can be some advantages for the leader descending first. Here, the leader remains tied in the entire time, the second rigs their extended rappel above the leader. Doing this has a few extra benefits:

• The leader can’t rappel off the end of the rope, because they are tied to one strand and it's blocked from above by the second.

• It's a bit less rope management, because you only have to throw one strand instead of two.  

• You only have to tie a stopper knot in the one strand that you're throwing.

Whether you choose this method can depend on factors like the stance, team experience, and single pitch or multi pitch.

image: screen grab from https://youtu.be/feuVDCnS4g0

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So, that's about it, It’s a fairly simple concept, that can make your transitions faster, smoother and safer. But it may require a big re-think of the way you're probably doing things, so absolutely practice in a controlled environment and see if it works for you.

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As with most climbing techniques, it's a better show than a tell. Check out the video below from IFMGA Guide Karsten Delap showing the entire process.

In the video, Karsten also shares another clever use for the backside clove hitch method: removing twists from the rope.

If, for whatever reason, when the second arrives at the anchor there are twists in the rope, the second can temporarily clip to the backside of the leader’s clove as described above, untie from their end of the rope, remove the twists, and tie in again.

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What's the mechanical advantage? It's relative!

The illustrations in this article, used with permission, come from the excellent website RopeLab, run by Australian rigging expert Richard Delaney. RopeLab has a ton of great material for anyone who wants to dive into ropes, rigging, and mechanical advantage, check it out! There's a fair amount of quality free information, but getting an annual subscription unlocks the entire website. You can also connect with Richard on Instagram and his YouTube channel, where he has loads of concise, informative videos.

These diagrams come from a Ropelab online mechanical advantage quiz, which you can find here.

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Okay, clever rope wizards and mechanical advantage fans. Here are some questions and diagrams that might leave you scratching your noggin.

A standard principle in mechanical advantage systems is that any change of direction that's on the anchor only serves as a redirect, and does not add mechanical advantage. Well . . . that's true most of the time, but not when the “load is also doing the lifting.”

The mechanical advantage of the system depends not just on the rigging. It depends on who is doing the pulling - a person who’s “in the system” or a person who’s out of it. Let's look at a few examples.

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1 - This image shows someone standing on the ground attempting to raise their partner. What’s the Ideal Mechanical Advantage of this system (ignoring friction)?

image: https://www.ropelab.com.au/ropelab-quiz-1-mechanical-advantage/

Answer: It's a 1:1 mechanical advantage. The person on the ground is pulling the weight of the person hanging from the rope 1:1 through a redirect. No mechanical advantage is gained. The person on the ground needs to pull 1 meter of rope to lift their partner 1 meter, so it's a 1:1.

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2 - This image shows a person attempting to raise themself by pulling down on the rope. What’s the Ideal Mechanical Advantage of this system (ignoring friction)?

image: https://www.ropelab.com.au/ropelab-quiz-1-mechanical-advantage/

Answer: Exact same rigging as before, but this time the person hanging from the rope is doing the lifting. This time, the mechanical advantage is 2:1! For the climber to go up 1 meter, they need to pull 2 meters of rope through their hand, so the mechanical advantage is 2:1.

Richard Delaney, from the YouTube video link at the bottom of this page: “Mechanical advantage is technically the ratio of the applied force to the input force.” There are two strands of rope holding the climber’s weight. If the climber weighs 100, that means each strand is holding 50. If the climber pulls down on the rope with a force slightly more than 50, they will start to move up. This means the applied force is 100, and the input force is 50, so therefore we have a 2:1.

Does this leave you scratching your head? It did for me when I first saw it! Next time you see a sport climber after a fall, pulling down on the belay rope to lift themselves back up to their high point, this is how they’re doing it, with a 2:1.

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3 - Let's take this idea a step further. This image shows someone attempting to raise their partner by pulling down on the rope. What’s the Ideal Mechanical Advantage (ignoring friction) of this system?

image: https://www.ropelab.com.au/ropelab-quiz-1-mechanical-advantage/

Answer: 2:1, with a redirect through a second anchor point. There are two rope strands supporting the climber’s weight, so it's a 2:1.

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4 - This image shows a person attempting to raise themself by pulling down on the yellow rope. What’s the Ideal Mechanical Advantage (ignoring friction) of this system?

image: https://www.ropelab.com.au/ropelab-quiz-1-mechanical-advantage/

Answer: 3:1. Just as in example #2, if the person pulling on the rope is the same as the load, the mechanical advantage increases, even though the rigging is exactly the same. In this case, there are three rope strands supporting the climber’s weight. For the climber to move up 1 meter, 3 meters of rope needs to be pulled, so the mechanical advantage is 3:1.

Back to Richard’s explanation of the ratio of input force to applied force: We have THREE strands of rope holding the climber’s weight. If the climber weighs 100, that means each strand is holding 33. If the climber pulls down on the rope with a force slightly more than 33, they will start to move up. This means the applied force is 100, and the input force is 34, so therefore we have a 3:1.

Isn't that interesting? The mechanical advantage of the system depends not just on the rigging, but on where the pulling force is coming from.

Here’s a climbing application of this principle.

Below is a screen grab from a video featuring IFMGA Guide Jeff Ward ascending out of a crevasse. He's using this 3:1 mechanical advantage system to help him climb the rope. I have an entire article on this clever ascending system, read it here.

Here's the set up. This works way better than the traditional “go up the rope with two prusiks” method.

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Here's another way to think about it, in a horizontal plane.

You're out 4x4 wheeling in your truck, and you get stuck. You take the winch cable from the front of your truck, put it around a tree anchor, and then bring it back and connect it to your truck. You turn on the winch and slowly pull yourself out. What is the mechanical advantage?

If you clip the end of the winch cable to the tree, you would have a 1:1. But if you attach it back to the truck, you create a 2:1, because the load (truck) is also doing the pulling.

image: https://www.ropelab.com.au/ropelab-quiz-1-mechanical-advantage/

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Here's a nice video from Richard Delaney from RopeLab that further explains the concept. Richard has a great YouTube and website with lots more rope goodness like this, check it out.

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

Six features of your aider carabiner

The carabiners on the business end of your aid ladders will probably become your single most used piece of hardware. Choose them carefully. When you find a good one, buy two, because you need one for each aider. Note these are all my personal preferences; consider it a starting point. Try a lot of different styles in your training and see what you like.

Consider these qualities for your aider carabiner:

1. Non-locking - Sounds obvious, but I’ve seen beginners have a locking carabiner on their aiders. This is a carabiner you’re going to be opening and closing hundreds of times a day on a big wall, and you for sure don’t want a locking mechanism getting in the way.

2. Oval (or other standard shape) - Depending on how you set up your aiders, you might be clipping several things into the bottom of the carabiner. Having the classic oval design gives room at the top to clip a big wad of webbing, and at the bottom to get in whatever else you need. Having said that, some people prefer a slightly easier handling of a bent gate carabiner. Generally, avoid a very asymmetrical design.

3. Standard size - You're after the Goldilocks carabiner, not too big, not too small, just right. You don’t want a mini carabiner; harder to clip bigger random things. And, no need for a wide mouth belay style HMS carabiner either.

4. Solid gate, not wiregate. Wiregate carabiners are generally hard on your fingers to open hundreds of times a day, solid gates are a little more finger friendly.

5. Thin nose and thin metal stock - Having a narrow profile, or “nose” at the top of the open gate makes it easier to wiggle the carabiner into occasional small loops of webbing, rivet hangers, etc, and to unclip under load.

6. Distinct color - You can either buy an odd colored anodized carabiner, or even spray paint something creative yourself. Why is a distinct color important? You want to be able to glance your gear harness and always grab the aider fast. (Yes, you should get into the habit of always clipping your aider into the same spot on your harness every time, but having a distinctively colored carabiner makes it even easier to locate.)

Note that these carabiners are going to get pretty beat up, especially if you are clipping lots of bolt ladders. Check it regularly for any small burrs of metal that might hook up on webbing, and retire them if you need to.

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The Black Diamond keylock oval carabiner, a tried and true design, and the Petzl Spirit, are both solid choices.

• non-locker

• classic oval style and bent gate with lots of room at both ends

• medium size, not too small

• solid (not wire) gate

• thin / narrow nose

• okay, not a distinct color for that oval, but five out of six ain't bad. All you need is some spray paint!

(I think BD also makes a non-keylock oval carabiner; be sure you get the keylock, aka notchless, version.)

Also, check out the DMM PerfectO, a classic shaped oval carabiner that comes in lots of cool colors. No spray paint needed!

image: https://www.backcountry.com/dmm-perfecto-straight-gate-carabiner

Add a carabiner to easily adjust your clove hitch

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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Here’s a Crafty Rope Trick to easily adjust a clove hitch: clip a carabiner (locker or non locker, either works) into the top loop of the knot as shown above. Pulling on this carabiner creates slack, which you can then feed in either direction you need.

When might this be helpful?

• Adjust your connection length to the anchor, say on a larger ledge when you want to move away from the master point to the edge to watch your partner. (In the photo, that's the set up on the left, with the non-locking carabiner.)

• As a backup when you’re ascending a rope

• For lead rope soloing / short fixing on a big wall (advanced climbers only!) In the photo, that's the set up on the right. Because that's your primary connection to the rope, a non-cross loading style carabiner on your harness and a locker in the clove hitch is recommended.

• Some crazy rescue scenario, where you need to lead solo to save the day (without compounding your troubles further, of course . . . )

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Note: Alpinesavvy does not endorse lead rope soloing. It's can be scary, it can be dangerous, and it’s an advanced maneuver that’s beyond the scope of what’s usually recommended here. I’ve done it a few times, and even on easy ground it was still spooky. If you do it wrong you could die or get seriously hurt. (And yes, that caveat also applies to lots of other things we do in climbing.) Consider yourself warned.

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Notes . . .

• If you fall, the carabiner in the clove will cinch down and stop you.

• With the carabiner, there’s no chance of getting your finger pinched (or removed!) in the clove hitch, if you fell while pulling out a loop of rope.

• Note the Black Diamond Gridlock carabiner on the belay loop, which minimizes the chance of carabiner cross loading or other unwanted weirdiosities.

• Additional cautionary note: If the carabiner in the clove were to catch on to something at the same moment that you take a fall, the knot will fail. (Highly unlikely, but worth mentioning.)

• Even a clove hitch failure should not mean a horrendous fall in most cases. In addition to the clove, you’re tied into the end of the rope. If you’re ascending a rope, you probably have back up knots as well.

• Of course, try this on flat ground, then in a very controlled vertical environment close to the ground before EVER trying it on a real climb.

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Here's a short video on this technique from IFMGA Certified Guide Karsten Delap. Connect with Karsten and see more tips like this on his Instagram, YouTube, and website.

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Related note: if you're ever thinking of rope soloing on an ATC Guide in auto block mode, don’t do it!

If you take a lead fall onto an ATC in guide mode, it MIGHT result in some of the following: the rope becoming hopelessly jammed in the device, the blocking carabiner twisting and doing weird things, and the ropes becoming inverted and thus losing almost all braking power. In other words, don't do this.

Besides, Black Diamond does not recommend using their ATC Guide for lead soloing.

Read more on this issue here and here, and watch a video here.

Quick - which carabiner is stronger?

Short version: modern, properly CE rated carabiners from a recognized manufacturer are going to be plenty strong enough for any climbing application. However, it's quite interesting that's some of the tiniest and lightest carabiners actually can have a higher strength rating than some of the biggest burliest ones.

It’s natural to think that a carabiner designed for belaying, with a large diameter and generally burly appearance, would be stronger than what are sometimes called a “paperclip” carabiner, used by many climbers merely for racking gear.

Let's have a look at the Petzl Attache, a long time at workhorse belay carabiner that's been around forever, and the Camp Nano, which is one of the lightest carabiner on the market.

No contest, right? The yellow carabiner has to be stronger. Just look at that thing, it’s stout!

But . . . let’s check the numbers.

Stamped on the side of every climbing rated carabiner are three important load ratings: end to end, cross load, and open gate. Readings are given in kilonewtons (kN), which is a metric unit of force, equal to about 100 kg, or 220 pounds.

Petzl Attache

• End to end: 23 kN

• Cross load: 7 kN

• Open Gate: 6 kN

Camp Nano

• End to end: 21 kN

• Cross load: 8 kN

• Open Gate: 9 kN

Surprised? Yeah, me too!

The Petzl Attache is stronger in the normal configuration, but the tiny Camp Nano is stronger in the cross loaded and open gate rating.

And check out the weight difference. The Petzl Attache at 78 grams weighs more than 3 TIMES the Camp Nano at 23 grams!

So, at 1/3 the weight, the Nano is stronger in two of the three carabiner strength ratings.

(This is more a tribute to modern engineering practices then any practical application, because any quality modern carabiner is strong enough for just about any use you can put to it, more below.)

Sometimes, you may hear people say, “I want to use that big, heavy, sturdy-looking carabiner because it’s stronger!” You might remind them of this post, or to have a look at the actual rating on the carabiner. The smallest carabiner on your rack may turn out to be “stronger” than the biggest one.

So, the Good News: pretty much all legit climbing carabiners you can buy have a CE rating. (“CE” is a certification mark that indicates conformity with health, safety, and environmental protection standards for products sold within the European Union.) CE ratings can vary a tiny bit depending on whether they are belay, oval, wiregate, but the general specs are: a MINIMUM strength of 20 kN end to end, 7 kN cross load, and 7kN open gate.

So, every CE rated carabiner is strong enough for any application you could ever think of. So relax, buy quality carabiners, and don’t worry about how strong they are.

(Just avoid open gate and cross loading on ANY carabiner.)

And if you want a deep dive into all things carabiner, this Black Diamond webpage is terrific.

Convert a 1:1 to a 3:1

I learned this tip from big wall ace Andy Kirkpatrick’s excellent aid climbing and big wall book, “Higher Education”. Definitely recommended for all big wallers! Connect with Andy on his website and his Substack.

A few words on hauling, from Andy Kirkpatrick:

“Hauling is potentially one of the most dangerous aspects of big wall climbing. This translates to ultra-caution in all parts of your hauling system and interaction with bags, haul lines, docking cords, and pulleys. If you rush and make a mistake, drop a load or have it shift where it's not wanted, you could easily kill someone or yourself. I try and teach climbers to view their bags as dangerous creatures, like a great white shark, rhino, or raptor that is in their charge. The ability to keep them calm and under your control comes down to paranoia, foresight, and heavy respect for the damage they can do.”

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When hauling light to moderate loads on a big wall, you can hopefully use a 1:1 mechanical advantage system most of the time. Yeah, it’s gonna hurt, but it’s usually going to be the fastest. (For bigger loads, you might prefer a 2:1 haul, which we cover extensively at this article.)

However, there may be times when you want to ramp up your pulling power from a 1:1 to 3:1. Typically, this happens when the bags are temporarily hung up, or are transitioning from being pulled from space onto a slab, or something else that introduces evil friction that you need to overcome. Or, maybe you're just feeling beat from a long day and want to make your haul easier, even if it takes a little longer.

Here's one way to set this up fairly quickly. You’ll need a bit of extra gear to do this, but hey you're big wall climbing so you have this with you, right? I’m showing this with pulleys for maximum efficiency. If you don't have those, you could also do it with carabiners at each change of direction, but you're going to be losing about 50% of your pulling efficiency, so pulleys are a better choice if you have them.

The basic idea is to make a 3:1 Z drag, with the pull strand redirected to the anchor point so you're pulling down instead of up. If that didn't make any sense, look through the photos below, and think it through. Once you understand the basic concepts, it takes just a minute or two to set up.

The photos are meant to illustrate the general procedure, and not to specify the exact gear that you should use. Everyone carries different equipment; use what you have.

Like with all big wall hauling systems, you practice this thoroughly until you have it dialed, with a realistic load, in a controlled environment, with the gear you’ll actually have with you.

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Safety note: If you think your bag is slightly hung up, you can try this to get it free. However, if it's really stuck, it might be a better choice to rappel down (or have your second pendulum over, if possible) and actually remove the bag from the obstacle instead of putting a really large load on your hauling system.

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Here's your basic 1:1 hauling system. The rope goes through Petzl Micro Traxion progress capture pulley at the anchor. There's a toothed cam on the pulley that captures the progress of your pull; if you let go of the rope, the pig does not slip down.

The Traxion is on a locking quickdraw. The quickdraw lets the pulley twist a bit and better align itself with the direction you're pulling, which slightly increases efficiency.

The rope going through the pulley on the anchor does not create any mechanical advantage. It merely changes the direction of the pulling force, in this case downward, so you can pull the rope down with your body weight rather than lifting up with your muscles. For every 1 meter of rope pulled down on the right strand, the pig goes up by 1 meter.

Step 1: Add a sling, carabiner, and pulley to the anchor. This will become the redirect for your pulling strand. Here, I girth hitched a 30 cm sling onto the top carabiner of the quick draw. This extends the redirect pulley a bit below the progress capture pulley so they don't clank around on each other. (If you have a schweet progress capture pulley with a hole at the bottom, like the Petzl Pro Traxion, skip the sling and clip the carabiner/pulley through that hole.)

Step 2: Clip an ascender upside down onto the load strand, add a carabiner and pulley, and clip the pull strand to the pulley. Here I'm using a Petzl Rollclip, an nifty integrated locking carabiner and high efficiency pulley wheel that works great in this application. But any combination of carabiner and pulley will work.

I'm using a handled ascender because that's pretty common gear you would have with you on a big wall. You can also clip a water bottle or two onto the top of the ascender, which can help it reset itself when you give it slack between pulls. However, any kind of a rope grabber would work here.

This is now your “tractor” pulley, meaning the one that's doing the work. If you pull upwards (toward the anchor) at this point, you have a 3:1.

Step 3: Clip the pull strand through the redirect carabiner that's on the anchor. Pulling upwards is a lot of work! We want to use our body weight and pull down. The redirect lets us do that.

Schweeeet! Now we have a 3:1, redirected for a downward pull. Pulling 3 meters of rope through the system will move the pig 1 meter. We have pulleys at every change of direction, which maximizes our efficiency. Again, you could use carabiners at every change of direction, but it's going to make the pulling significantly harder because of the extra friction. (Carabiners are about 50% efficient, a good quality pulley is about 90% efficient.)

Slide the ascender as far down toward the load as you can, and then pull downward, where the glove is. If raising a large load, you probably don't want to actually be yanking on the rope with your hand. Clip the pull strand through a Grigri or ascender, clip it to your harness, and start doing squats, using your bodyweight to lift. Or, you can clip another ascender to the rope where the glove is, clip an aider onto that, and then step down on the aider with your foot to lift the load. Use body weight, not arm strength.

When the ascender and redirect pulley come together, reset the system by sliding the ascender down toward the pig, and continue lifting. To help the blue ascender slide down on its own, you can clip a few cams onto it. The extra weight should help it reset itself.

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The previous photos were done horizontally to spread out the gear and more easily see how it works. Here’s the same set up done vertically, so you can see how the ropes hang in (semi) real life.

You can easily convert back to the standard 1:1 at any time, by removing the tractor and the redirect.