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timpanogos
Dec 11, 2002, 6:11 AM
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Registered: May 17, 2002
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Sorry, one more question for the night.
Are there any modifications to the aid solo belay technique that needs to be applied for the free sections – i.e. GriGri, backup knots and go for it?
Chad
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timpanogos
Dec 11, 2002, 7:25 PM
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Registered: May 17, 2002
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Come on guys and gals - I cannot see myself on a 5.8 trying to deal with the backup knot (a two handed maneuver for me at this point). How are you doing 5.7+ solo free pitches – just running it out till you get a 5.6 stance to backup?
Can someone point me to some good solo trad techniques.
Thanks
Chad
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hroldan
Dec 11, 2002, 8:13 PM
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Try the Garda Knot, requires only one hand to pull the rope and it locks automatically.
I've used it to solo sport routes on top rope.
http://storrick.cnchost.com/VerticalDevicesPage/Ascender/SemiMechPages/CarabKnotD2.html
[ This Message was edited by: hroldan on 2002-12-11 12:13 ]
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pbjosh
Dec 11, 2002, 8:14 PM
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Assuming your goal is to solo a bit of free on an aid route and not to rope-solo free climb some free pitches (different subject to some degree, as I would never choose as a solo a route that has extensive free, but there are those who would):
Say you're aid-soloing w/ a gri-gri or other self belay system with backup knots and you come to a 20' free climbing section. Make your shoe and rack decisions and then do this: Put as many backup knots as you want, spaced where you want, on your harness now. I usually put one on for each 10' or so of free climbing, spaced at 10' or so. So for this section I'd have a knot at 10', a knot at 20' and a knot at 30' to be safe. When free climbing simply unclip and drop them as you go. Make sure you have enough in that you reach some gear placements (where you could hang from the gear and re-arrange the system, add more knots to the reserve, etc)or go back to aid before unclipping the last one. Not tying the knots super-tight and/or using clove hitches as well speeds the dropping of backup knots.
Keep in mind two other things:
-There is often a lot of aid possible on mandatory free climbing sections. I've used hooks and slings to step up numerous times while "free climbing."
-Sometimes you can avoid mandatory free altogether with hooks and/or cheatsticking.
-Be careful that your gear is bomber before converting back to aid. I had an experience where I went to free and climbed up 20' or so of 5.7-ish edges and then put an alien in a small placement and yank-tested it and it blew out the placement and I nearly went for a big ride - scary. I quickly moved onto a hook on a good edge and slowed down.
-None of this will help you on Jolly Roger, but you'd have to be a sick mofo to want to climb the 5.10X pitch on JR, much less solo it
josh
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flamer
Dec 11, 2002, 8:27 PM
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I usually look ahead to where I'll get good gear and guess how much slack I'll need(on a clove), Then feed out a little more. You risk a big fall, but move pretty Quick. If there are any Multipitch sport routes in your area try doing this on them. Just hang on the bolts, as you get to them, and adjust your knot. Then free to the next bolt. If you can't free between the bolts work on top stepping. This is a great way to get faster at rope soloing.
josh
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wallrat
Dec 22, 2002, 9:37 PM
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Registered: Nov 28, 2002
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What I do is this; use a 20'-30' tag line, and tie the rack & haul line to it. The tag line does NOT clip to your harness gear loop, use someplace solid. Then, tie a fifi to the top of the gear sling and the tag line to the top of the fifi, as well as the gear sling. Having the tag line tied to the rack AND the top of the fifi assures that if you accidentally pull the rack loose you won't lose it.
Then, grab a few pieces, hang the rack on an extra crab, on a piece, tie in twenty feet of slack, or what have you, then climb away. When you run out of slack or bravery, hung on a piece, pull up the rack, begin again. Works for me.
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