UKC

hello, I am looking for a rock exotica silent partner. The company no longer sells them... does anyone know anywhere or anyone that is selling one?
thank you!

In reply to tomytwotoes:

Good luck! From what I've seen it's not so easy to find them...

In reply to tomytwotoes:

don't seem to come up often, wait for the revo?

In reply to John Kelly:

interesting... I didn't know about the revo. it looks perfect! and it's a lot cheaper than the silent partner. problem is that it's not out yet and there is no official release date as far as I can see.

I kind of wanted to try rope soloing on my trip to the alps this year, maybe I should use a modified grigri...

In reply to tomytwotoes:

I'd steer clear of the modified grigri. If you're going to do it, get looking for a silent partner - maybe just borrow one for the trip? Perhaps someone you know owns one. Otherwise, the Revo is currently pegged for an October release date. I've also got my eye on it for rope soloing. We shall have to wait and see...

In reply to tomytwotoes:
I have a silent partner sat on a my bookshelf in the front room, not for sale sorry, can't bring myself to get rid of it.
However the modified grigri does the job just as well (usual caveats apply) and is a lot more compact in use, the S.P is bit bulky which is fine on aid routes but not so great free climbing IMO.
Being as both require back up knots the faff is not much different unless your free climbing at or near your limit, where pulling the rope through the grigri might become an issue, but if you're soloing you know all this already???????

In reply to artif:

That is just cruel

In reply to tomytwotoes:

Even Andy Kirkpatrick thinks the modified grigri is too dangerous to use....and he's f*cking mental.

In reply to Dave 88:

I've been wondering about a shunt put on upside down, should work

I've been looking on the web and it seems like the elderid eddy is a pretty good device for rope soloing... has anyone had any experience using it?

In reply to Dave 88:
Even Andy Kirkpatrick thinks the modified grigri is too dangerous to use....and he's f*cking mental.

Roped soloing is not for the sane, most sane people have friends/partners to climb with, hence my array of soloing devices and techniques.

@tommytwotoes
I would also suggest it's not something to just "have a go at" as your belays have to have some specific quirks to work adequately.
Try to avoid traverses, they are really interesting to clean, unless, like me, you take perverse joy in the challenge.

In reply to artif:

I don't think it's a particularly insane thing to do, as long as you do it right, it's how I started out climbing in fact.

As for Andy K, his recommendation against the grigri mod was part of an article suggesting the best methods of roped soloing. He strongly advises against the grigri after it failed on him and he avoided an accident by pure luck. I would consider him experienced and confident enough that I would take his advice seriously.

https://andy-kirkpatrick.com/articles/view/rope_soloing_101_part_1

In reply to Dave 88:

He doesn't mention if he had a back up knot in the article. If he didn't, then yes he was very lucky and not very clever (depending on the situation).
Grigri or SP, both require back up knots regardless. I treat both as an intermediate device, the back up knots are my belayer replacement, the SP is just bulkier than the grigri and more of a pita to ab with.
My first roped climbs were all solo and I broke nearly every rule in the book, I was very lucky to live and learn. Try leading (ground up) with a petzl croll, feeding the rope through by hand (please don't try this anyone) youth and stupidity what a great mix hahaha.

In reply to artif:

Haha sounds like we are both cut from the same idiotic cloth! I used the Yosemite rope method which was a monstrous amount of faff and weight. Seemed pretty safe, although I never fell on it!

In reply to tomytwotoes:

One for sale on Gumtree:

https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-sports-leisure/rock-exotica-silent-partner-...

In reply to tomytwotoes:

mine cost me about £270 plus import duty on top. THe one for £100 on gumtree looks incredibly cheap