UKC

Hi,

I am about to go out and self belay on top rope climbs using the mircro Traxion with Gri gri and back up knots as fail safes. This seems perfectly adequate, but wanted your opinions on this please.

For leading sports routes, is there any method (apart from the 'silent partner') that is recommended for solo leads?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Paul

In reply to plogan5:

Run me through the exact system you intend to use, and i'll give you my thoughts.

In reply to andy_e:

Okay,

micro traxion on the belay loop and an improvised harness keeping it center and high to the chest.

Below that is the Gri gri 2

I have an assender that I intend to carry with me incase I can't top out that would be attached to a daisy chain. I can carry an addiontal sling to improvise an etrier. This would be used to ease the pressure on the micro traxion to enable it to be disconnected from the rope to allow a decent on the gri gri.

So back ups while disconnecting the micro traxion would be

1. Assender on daisy chain
2, Gri gri,
3, back up knot on quick draw

What do you think?

Is there an easier method? safer?

Thanks for your reponse.

Paul

In reply to plogan5:

>


Yes, A shunt on a weighted rope. thumb knots at regular intervals. Don't forget your prussics and belay device for if you can't finish the route (speaking from experience). Make sure your ropes are really well protected at the top.

In reply to plogan5:

I started using the GriGri2 to self-belay but didn't find it to be very good as the rope doesn't feed through well without using a hand to pull it through. I've read about modifications to allow this to work better but couldn't really be bothered with the faff and seemed potentially a bit dodgy.

I've not used a micro-traxion - but can it descend to give slack without completely disconnecting? I use a Shunt on the belay loop which can give slack if needed without disconnecting which is important from time to time. By weighting the rope at the bottom it runs through the shunt nicely.

I back the system up with a handle ascender on a second rope connected to the harness via a sling - this can be pulled up from time to time when needed, although might cause problems if running several moves together (although in general it will also slide up the rope if it is weighted at the bottom).

I abseil down to the start of the route then climb up - If I can't get up I abseil to the bottom rather than ascending the rope as that seems easier, but I only do it at Stanage or similar where the walk-around is not too difficult. While changing systems I leave the handle ascender on when the shunt is off.

Guess there's a million-and-one options, but this is the one that works for me.

In reply to plogan5:

http://www.petzl.com/us/outdoor/product-experience/self-belay-solo-climbing...

http://www.petzl.com/us/outdoor/self-belay-solo-climbing/solution2-two-asce...

http://www.highinfatuation.com/blog/rope-solo-system/

In reply to plogan5:Hi for what its worth to actualy lead climb the silent partner is best,but you can use a modified grigri,i got advice from a well known climber about this and he said silent partner every time,thats why i chose to top rope instead using a shunt and backup knots and rather jumaring up if i coudnt top out id abseil off by using a prusic above attach etrier step into etrier clip quickdraw into etrier and my harness this puts slack into system push shunt higher up attach atc then clip long qickdraw with locking rabs into shunt ,unclip etrier quickdraw step off etrier and rappel down,thats for those who have never tried that method but it worked for me on rock and ice.

Thank you very much for your advice. On reveiwing your advice, the shunt does look like the better option. Thanks for the heads up about the prussics and thumb knots.

Kind regards
Paul

In reply to splat2million:

Thank you very much for your advice. On reveiwing your advice, the shunt does look like the better option. The Micro Traxion does have the feature to 'unlock' and allow the rope to pass through with out disconting, but it 'errs' on the safe side and locks back down again if pulled through quickly or at a slight angle. (not handy when abbing back down!)

I like the second rope idea with the assender. I think I'll try that after investing in the Petzl shunt.

Kind regards
Paul

In reply to plogan5:




Paul, have a look at the solo chapter in
http://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Advanced-Multi-Pitch-Climbing-ebook/dp/B00EPFL...

and a few photos in the solo chapter at
www.multipitch.com

The authors have soloed mainly long routes.

In reply to plogan5:

Noticed your other thread...I think you had it right with the microtraxion.

Using a shunt is mostly a UK thing and not recommended by Petzl (notice the shunt has a big cross through it in the petzl solo TR link above, along with the new basic and the tibloc.)

(I seem to write about the same thing every self belay thread...)