I tried the autoblock today and it worked fabulously. 'tried to send a U2U to Redpanda, but I'm not sure I did it right.


Anyway, it's a great idea, held tight when I wanted it to, slipped like a greased pig when I pushed it down. Anyone who's rapelling without this should look it up.

I drilled into Rapanda's _link_s and found an additional _link_ with schematic of the process. I've also have read about this technique in two other books where it was referred to as a spider rappel.

This configuration also allows for pulling only a bite of rope through the rappel device. Clipping a carabiner through the bite provides less friction than the traditional figure-8, but the rope now flows in a straight line, minimizing twists.

The autoblock seems to operate under the same conditons as the Fireman's belay, where the friction hitch below the descending device replaces the person that pulls the rope taunt below.

Having locked up the reverse technique, where the friction hitch is above the descending device, the autoblock better distributes the friction between the device and hitch.

Since this is the season to vote, my vote is for the autoblock.

http://www.rockclimbing.com/articles/index.php?id=53

Regards,
Jim

Hmm. "Rapanda" is a pretty good name, as well.

Any friction hitch would work instead of an autoblock. In the rockclimbers "self-rescue" book by falcon books they suggest leaving an prussik loop fixed all the time to your leg loop, so you can just wrap it a few times around the rope. Make sure it sets!

also, you can also use autoblocks with webbing loops, rope loops, or webbing anchored at both ends. A loop theoretically puts twice as many fingers on the line, right?


Umm, I never check the u2u messages, because my only indication is a tiny piece of text in the upper right corner of an already busy screen.



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Ben,

I use a pirana as my descending device on SRT and occasionally on DRT to reduce friction from the Blakes. It works fine. The only safety problem I ever had was when I dropped Tim Kovar's pirana out of a tree and had to elude his wrath. That, and it's sometimes difficult to switch over to from ascenders, especially if you lack a foothold.

A safety suggestion I would make is to learn to routinely lock it off (after you've made sufficient wraps around the device), by taking up the rope below the pirana and wedging it between the pirana and the rope leading out from the top of the pirana. Your weight locks it. When it's time to descend, just pull the rope out of this wedge, carefully maintaining your other wraps. Please don't try unless this makes sense.

Harv

I'm not sure why you folks haven't been using the Petzl GriGri for descending a single rope. All you do is pull the handle, and down you go, as fast or slow as you want. If you want to stop on the way down just release the handle. I use if for rock and tree climbing and it works well in both applications.
If you want something that's more heavy-duty, Petzl makes the "Stop" which is used for caving. In this case, you just squeeze the handle to descend, and let it go to stop.

I'm going to update my previous post.
I went out this morning and bought the Petzl "Stop" at REI for $77.00. It's made specifically as a descent device, whereas the GriGri is designed more for belaying. I will try out the "Stop" this weekend and let you all know how it works.