UKC

In reply to UKC Articles:

"The top prusik should ideally be attached directly to the harness, while the bottom prusik should be long enough to be used as a foot-loop –this may require an additional sling to be attached"

How to make it hard work!!!

Doing it the other way round and having a sling (parisienne baudrier) around the chest and clipped in to the rope with a free running krab will make things a lot easier. Have a look at a caver's rig which is optimised this way.

ALC

In reply to UKC Articles:

Hm? The second knot does not look like a Klemheist, it looks like a normal Prusik knot. A Klemheist is a French Prusik with one tail put through the other, AFAIK.

In reply to UKC Articles: After seeing the full veriosn of this video I had a go at doing this down my local wall with their permission. I've known in theory how to do it for quite some time but had not actually tried it. We tried various different set ups/prussiks and I eventually found one method I preferred to the others. In short, it's bloody hard work but I'm very glad I've at least done it once in a controlled environment and not had to learn 'on the job' so to speak.

In reply to a lakeland climber:

I don't agree. I can't envisage how this sling would help (despite being very familiar with a caver's rig), but there is a good reason for having the foot prusik below the one on the harness - prusiks are a pain to release and move. Its much easier to move them up a tensioned rope than a slack one. Having the footloop below means you can fiddle about with it whilst sat down, then when you stand up on it - which is the strenuous bit - the harness prusik can be slid up comparatively easily.

Of course if you have proper ascenders this issue doesn't really figure and it makes more sense to have the top ascender attached to a long footloop.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Why not use a Bachmann with a big screwgate handle for upper one? I found it much easier to push and release than a prussik. Also if the top prussik sling is longer you can travel further at each push. I tend to connect the lower sling to my harness as a backup too.

In reply to jamestheyip: I agree, I have found the bachmann to be more efficient when moving the prussic up.

I have also attached a separate prussic between the foot sling and bachmanns as a back up.

In reply to Zardoz: Second that. 2nd knott is a classic prusik

In reply to UKC Articles:

Using 2 Ropeman's (Ropemens?) to prussik you tend to have the footloop one above the one attached to your harness and this makes sense as when you stand up the rope moves freely through the ropeman attached to the harness, but yes with knots it makes sense to have a klemheist to the waist above the klemheist to the foot.

In reply to UKC Articles: The picture of the Klemheist knot isn't one: or am I wrong?

In reply to UKC Articles:

Top knot is a klemheist, bottom is a standard prussik. I did think the top one was a French Prussik for a bit.

In reply to Kid Spatula:

The picture labelled ‘French prusik’ really is a French prusik.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Doh. Really must read article rather than watch video.

Yes the French Prussik is a French Prussik and yes I am spectacularly thick.

In reply to UKC Articles: Yeah, the French prussik is a French prussik, but what they've labelled a Klemheist is in fact a standard prussik. A Klemheist is similar to the French prussik, except you feed one loop through the other and clip into only one loop.

In reply to UKC Articles: Thanks for all the comments, its good to see people reflecting on the implications. Basically there are several types of prusik "knot". Each have pros and cons. And cavers have different rigs for rope climbing, which are more effective for SRT but tend to take longer to set up and work better on free-hanging terrain. The classic prusik is a good all-rounder but has a tendency to lock under load and so can be a bit harder to slide, also there are times when it is useful to be able to cup your hand or use the slot of a belay plate around a prusik to allow a controlled slip. The classic prusik is not particularly good for this. The "french" prusik or "autobloc" is great for this, but for uses where a slip due to the knot touching an edge would be bad news, this prusik could be very bad news. The Bachmann, which incorporates a karabiner, is a very nice prusik, having many of the advantages of other systems, but it is slightly fiddly to tie. Finally, the Klemheist and Kreuzklem are similar to each other and are made in the same way as a french prusik but finished by threading one loop through the other, so only the one loop is clipped. These have several advantages: they can be slid under load but less easily than the french prusik, and can be very effective when tied using a tape sling.

As a general rule of thumb, I tend to use an easy slip prusik for my leg loop (usually a french prusik or a klemheist) and a more reliably locking prusik for the waist (usually a klemheist)However, the Bachmann can be good for both, and the karabiner makes a handy grab point for sliging the prusik up. There are no rights or wrongs here, all the prusiks work but I would caution against using 2 french prusiks - the length of the prusik loop is fairly critical, if too short it tends to lock too much and if too long can slip unexpectedly - when 2 are used, if the top one slips, it will hit the bottom one and definitely will slip as well! Hope this helps.

In reply to Steve Long:

Thank you Steve. I enjoyed this video and as mentioned above reminded me that I should practice this in a controlled environment before needing the skill in anger.

RPG