Use the rope, most the time I do an eight on bite, clip it in. Sometimes clove if I have a good stance, the eight feels better.

i've got to chime in here

i'm not entirely comfortable with the current trend of climbers today using the phrase "freakin truck" or even "fucking truck" in place of the commonly accepted and time tested phrase "bomber" or "bomb proof"

now- i understand that each situation demands its own special rules and in climbing everything is situational, but most of the time "bomber" or "bomb proof" is the way to go.

for sure i use "fucking truck" in other aspects of my life, like "don't mind the rattling noises from the elevator, its fucking truck" or, "that nail in the dry wall is fucking truck- go ahead and hang your 400lb mirror from it!" or my (and other tuck owners) personal favorite "its official guys, after last night i can say i own a fucking truck!"

...Do not feel free to come up with your own cliches. Yours will suck. Just use mine, you'll feel better about it and won't make yourself look stupid by trying too hard.

somebody notify homeland security.

This thread has been well and truly hijacked

Back on to topic.

Base up, , screw gate to my harness clipped to 8mm cordellette sling, clipped to three =ised pieces of bomber/death&taxes pro. Lead down, figure 8 clipped to belay loop with screw gate running to second screw gate clipped to my harness clipped to figure 8 tied from climbing rope to clipped three =ised pieces of bomber/death&taxes pro.

Research was done by Mike Gibbs of Rigging for Rescue in Ouray Colorado on the results of shock loading daisy chains and other commonly used positioning lanyards. In addition to being the owner of one of the premier rescue training organizations in the country (R4R), Mike is an active climbing guide as well as a member of the Ouray Mountain Rescue team. Mike performed dynamic testing on daisy chains as well as a number of positioning lanyards commonly used in climbing and rope rescue. The results of this testing were informative, to say the least. After reading this post, many of you may want to reconsider your choice in positioning lanyards.

Mike designed a drop test representative of what could take place in the field that would provide some indications as to the capabilities and/or limitations of positioning lanyards. A common example in canyoneering would be slipping from a stance when starting a rappel with the anchor at your feet resulting in dynamically loading your safety lanyard. The purpose was to examine the magnitude of peak forces as well as the integrity of the connections on certain commercially and user-created lanyards in a dynamic event. The drops were conducted with 80 kg and 100 kg mass simulating the weight of a climber or climber with a heavy pack and fall factors from 0.5 to 2.0. The surprise was how easily daisy chains and some other lanyards resulted in catastrophic failure on relatively short drops.

Test results were sobering at best. Particularly considering how many canyoneers still insist on using the daisy chain (almost 30% of poll responders) as their primary positioning lanyard. Daisy chains failed in short falls (FF 0.5-1.0) and slings made of Spectra/Dyneema webbing exhibited alarmingly high impact forces (>12kN) and catastrophic failure at surprisingly low fall factors. In canyoneering this could easily happen at any rap anchor below chest level. One slip and bang, you've dynamically loaded the anchor.

Nylon slings (not nylon daisy chains) and the Purcell Prusik came out on top as a result of their shock absorbing abilities. Typically, nylon slings held falls with reasonable impact forces (<10kN). The Purcell Prusik did best holding up to factor 2 falls with impact forces of less than 12kN. (FYI acceptable impact forces: CE 6kN, CSA/OSHA 8kN and UIAA 12kN).

Mostly rope. Clove first, pull some slack, then figure 8 for a backup.