UKC

Can anyone give me some advice on prussik lengths that would be useful to buy. I want primarily to buy a length to use for abseiling, but was advised to buy two (one a bit longer) so that I could potentially use them for climbing up a rope. So what are two good lengths to buy that would be most useful?
Thanks

In reply to AlexW:

As 5mm cord is 58p per metre, I normally buy 10-15 m and cut off what feels right

My two prusiks are the same length as each other.....

In reply to AlexW:

All my prusiks are the same length at the moment, but I have found that when attaching the klemheist (when changing to prusik-up mode) - it's too short and I have to find a way to unweight the abseil-device in order to clip the klemheist to my harness.
What I do to unweight the rope is to tie a slip-knot in the loose rope to use as a foot-loop, stand up on this and then clip the klemheist to my harness. With a longer prusik for the klemheist, I think you could clip it straight to your harness, abseil lower until the klemheist has your weight.
An alternative to the rope loop is to extend the klemheist with a sling - which I found too much of a faff.

So in summary - I think you'd probably want 150cm lengths for the short prusik (that's the standard length I believe), and 180cm-200cm lengths for the long prusik if going this route. Otherwise you can use the methods above if you want your prusiks all the same-length.

In reply to AlexW:

Personally I carry two the same. Both are made from 1m of cord approximately. You really don't want to stand in a thin rope loop in rock boots for any length of time. Attach a sling or two for that.

In reply to AlexW:
The only time I find I need one a bit longer than normal is when using it for an unassisted hoist - mainly because I use three turns on the normal prusik knot and then tie an overhand next to this to keep the distance to the knot as short as possible. This seems to need a bit more than the normal prusik length. For this reason I have a couple at normal length and one about 10cm longer.

In reply to AlexW:

http://www.needlesports.com/Catalogue/Rock-Climbing-Equipment/Cord-Tape/Pru...

In reply to AlexW:

It's all a matter of opinion really. Usually something between 1m and 1.5m for a standard prussik. Up until the other week I was carrying one that was 1.4m (pre tied) and one that was about 2.5m (of thinner diameter) to use as a foot prussik. After going out with a guide for the day covering self rescue / prussiking situations, his view was that a long one isn't that much use as a small one can always be extended by a sling, and that a really short one can be tied with one hand.

So now, I carry one that is 1.4m pre tied (I chose this as it sits around my chest very nicely when you quickly want to put it out of the way, shorter ones are a bit tight and require that extra faff of putting it away after each use), and one that is about 40cm after it has been tied.

In reply to AlexW:

Typically 1.5 metres is a pretty decent length for a prussik. As someone else has suggested, I wouldn't bother with a longer one - carry two short ones and attach a sling to one of them with a crab should you ever need to ascend the rope. This has the added advantage that you can tie a knot in the sling to make sure the foot loop is hanging at the right place, rather than messing around with a longer prussik that's too long or too short.

In reply to AlexW:
not sure, just enough to do a 3 or 4 wrap French prussic around 10mm rope and clip the end, nothing left to hang loose. At guess perhaps 60-75cm would be enough to do it.