In reply to AlanLittle:
> I wonder what advantages a £9 aramid sling has over a £1 bit of nylon cord for this particular purpose?
I suspect the advantage is exactly what zimpara's asking about (edit: okay, not necessarily what he was asking about, but what we seem to have ended up talking about *g*): having something that can double as a full-strength sling.
Personally, I have one bog-standard cord prusik loop stashed on a screwgate and one as my chalkbag cord. But if you're going to be able to make use of the 30cm sling, seems like it could be a decent option.
And if you only very rarely need to use a prusik loop, I think it's sometimes easy for it to end up at the bottom of your bag (unless you're paranoid/conscientous about always carrying it).
Which is not where you want it to be when you suddenly find you need to ab to retrieve gear -- or worse, have an emergency of some kind requiring abseiling/prusiking/using prusiks to escape the system.
> Interesting. The standard length ones I have would be far too stiff to make effective prusiks.
Actually, I did a bit of experimenting the other day after a self-rescue workshop and (to my surprise) found that my standard one did seem to work, at least as a klemheist for prusiking up -- I don't know if it'd also work as an autobloc. And it may just have been on that particular fuzzy rope, etc.. But I'd be curious to know if anyone else has tried the experiment.
Post edited at 21:07