UKC Forums - self belay using an alpine clutch

self belay using an alpine clutch

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Mr-Cowdrey 25 Nov 2011

there's an old quarry and man made cave near where i live an i was thinking of climbing/dry tooling there but i don't have a climbing partner around where i am to hand. So i'm thinking of self belaying using the trees at the top, with an alpine clutch. Would this work or is it too dangerous? Thoughts please.

jon 25 Nov 2011

In reply to Mr-Cowdrey:

An alpine clutch is hard enough to use when attached to a fixed point. It'd be very difficult to use and keep the krabs in alignment/pull the rope through, when attached to your harness when climbing. I assume I've understood your intentions correctly...

jkarran 25 Nov 2011

In reply to jon:

I was presuming he'd assemble the clutch at the top then pull in his own slack as if 'bottom roping' minus the belayer. Makes getting down troublesome of course and it doesn't strike me as a very good/safe idea at all.

OP: I'd have a look into some of the more popular self belay solutions.
jk

higherclimbingwales 25 Nov 2011

In reply to Mr-Cowdrey: you can't release it should you get stuck. use a shunt or other device genrally used for this purpose.

JLS 25 Nov 2011

In reply to Mr-Cowdrey:

>"Would this work or is it too dangerous?"

Sounds like death on a stick to me.

It's scary enough with a shunt or grigri.

needvert 25 Nov 2011

In reply to Mr-Cowdrey:

There's a few self belay threads around.....Just buy a petzl basic!

Personally I'd rather a clove hitch and the slow manual feeding rather than using an alpine clutch like that.

colina 25 Nov 2011

In reply to Mr-Cowdrey:

> i'm thinking of self belaying using the trees at the top, with an alpine clutch. Would this work or is it too dangerous? Thoughts please.

refer to this previous thread

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=483895

mlmatt 25 Nov 2011

In reply to Mr-Cowdrey:

Too dangerous.

Use another method.

Do a forum search on self-belaying and top-rope belaying

OP Mr-Cowdrey 25 Nov 2011

In reply to Mr-Cowdrey: ok, cheers guys, was just a thought, i'll have a search around for self belay techniques.

Mark Reeves Global Crag Moderator 26 Nov 2011

In reply to Mr-Cowdrey: I would just add that to get and alpine clutch to work you need the right shape carabiners, and they need to be allign properly. I suspect like those who have said above that this isn't like to happen when you are climbing with it.