UKC

I'm surprised by how many climbers I've met out at crags who have never heard of doing this?

A few of my climbing buddies have asked about it recently so I took the time to write a blog on my methods:
http://www.topropefreeclimber.com/2017/07/how-to-top-rope-solo-with-shunt.h...

What I am after is any points that can be made safer or slicker, specifically the issue of bailing a route while top rope soloing a trad route for instance.

It's easy transferring to an abseil device on a sports route, as you can make yourself safe via a crab and sling on a bolt.

Cheers
Rob

In reply to Oogachooga:
Couple of thoughts

To assist the transfer to abseil (bailing) or indeed to get back to the top if you cant climb the route, always carry two prussics or mechanical equivalents (a hand jammer and a 'basic' for instance) with adjustable foot loops, and slings attaching them to your harness loop. Use these to unweight the shunt (remove it if you want) and then transfer weight onto the abseil device if decending.

If you want to use two lines, make sure they are knotted at the top (fig8 or fig9 on the bight into the anchor) such that they cannot slide through. This keeps the redundancy, if one is severed, or you need to jumar up, it cannot just slide through the anchor. If you dont include this knot you are essentially on a single line, with complications.

**Dont do the 'bump the shunt down the rope' method of descent!** Shunts are not designed to hold dynamic falls, and can strip the sheath from the rope. Also its all too easy to 'death grip' the shunt and fall a long way. Might sound stupid but it happens, even with experienced rope access users.

Take your time, double check everything.

In reply to Dr Toph:

Some interesting points there to consider Dr, cheers

Knotting both strands of the rope could also be another solution to descending mid route. The abseil device could be setup on one strand and the other used for shunting. As long as they are both not conflicting with each other, this would work in my eyes.

In reply to Oogachooga:

I know a lot of climbers use a shunt for self belaying top roping but I think readers of this post should know that Petzl do not advocate using this method:

https://www.petzl.com/en/Sport/FAQ/can-i-use-the-shunt-to-self-belay#.Vnkri...

Needle sports have some useful advice:

http://www.needlesports.com/content/self-belaying.aspx

In reply to Christheclimber:

It's interesting that Petzl now say that, I think when I bought my shunt (mid-90s) it was sold as usable for self top roping. I've done it some what in the past, particularly for thin, early season ice climbing where there are no roofs to clear that could lead to that catching problem, but generally I've just found finding a climbing partner or doing something else instead more rewarding. I totally get that someone working a route would find solo shunt sessions useful though.

Interestingly I saw a video on FB last night of a certain Mr F Cookson, oft of this parish, shunting some heinously technical looking roof and arete. He did though clearly have a knot below him on the rope to stop a fall with shunt open going all the way. How and where he tied the knot I have no idea! Dave Macleod also seems to have worked many of his mega hard routes using a shunt - but it's clear that Petzl are very much against using it that way now.

In reply to Oogachooga:

It surprises me too, especially as the methods are pretty close to basic self rescue techniques.

In reply to Oogachooga:
I used to use a shunt to tope-rope solo routes all of the time. I did it for years and never had a problem - as long as I controlled the slip or fall onto the shunt. However, on one occasion I slipped when I was climbing a very steep slab and the shunt was close between my body and the wall. I feel thirty foot and only stopped at the knot at the bottom of the rope. With rope stretch I hit the ground, but some of the force had been taken out of the fall and I was alright.

I'm not saying don't use a shunt to top-rope solo, but I think that it is important to stress that you need to take a controlled fall rather than going all out and finding yourself in a position where the device is unable to bite on the rope adequately.

Good luck - and happy top-rope soloing!

Edit: I've just read your post advocating tying a knot in the rope as you go. This might work if you are able to tie a knot on one strand of the rope so that you are able to release the shunt and abseil on the unknotted side of the rope (when using the shunt on two ropes). However, this would limit you to climbing routes well within your grade - where you can find positions where you can tie a knot in the rope one-handed - or with a hands-off rest. This would really limit you route choice. You could get around this by hanging on the rope and tying a knot in one strand but I wouldn't find this kind of climbing very satisfying.

Maybe I'm missing something.

Edit 2: I used to find it useful to attach myself to the shunt with a screwgate, a quickdraw sling and another screwgate. This was useful when I fell off as it was easy to switch to a descender on the rope below the shunt. It also helped to stop me getting too close to the shunt and allowing it to fail to engage.

In reply to Dr Toph:


I don't think this necessarily keeps redundancy. If one rope severs and fails it will still be in place in the shunt, effectively preventing the other line from gripping in the device. It's likely that two independent lines are actually no safer than one.

In reply to Michael Gordon:
" It's likely that two independent lines are actually no safer than one."

I was thinking mainly of the use of a single rope, doubled, like you might use for a retrievable abseil. In this case without knotting the top, the cutting of one strand would cause the whole system to pull through the anchor and fail. Might seem obvious but worth stating before someone does it.

Im not sure whether the remnant of a second line in a shunt would prevent it from engaging. It certainly woudnt be able to bite as hard though, and might be more prone to slipping. I will test this.

Another point worth mentioning is that while a bit of weight on the end of your rope is good (helps the shunt slide up the rope), dont be tempted to over-weight it or tension it down. A shunt doesnt work well on a tensioned line, it needs to be slack below the catch point.

Obviously the ideal situation is two independant lines, with a separate device on each. Like a shunt on a short attachment (main catch) and a Basic on a slightly longer tail as a backup. But being climbers we will tend to go for a simpler system that is easier to set up and manage whilst climbing, while compromising the safety to a degree

In reply to Dr Toph:

>

I haven't tested this but theoretically it makes sense. The shunt works by locking in on a rope which is held tight from above (by the anchor). In order to lock it has to constrict the rope (effectively making the diameter less). But it won't lock on a rope which has been severed. Thus as it is trying to bite, the thick diameter of the severed rope will stop it being able to lock in as much as it needs to on the good line.

In reply to Dr Toph:


This is what I do virtually all the time when exploring possible lines for new sport routes and I would argue that this is normally no harder nor any more complicated to set up. It also negates the need to carry jammers, foot loops or slings etc if/ when there's a failure to make upward progress as it's easy to facilitate an abseil escape on the secondary line. If needs be, the Basic can be used/ repositioned to protect the transfer from the Shunt on the primary line to the abseil device on the secondary line.

FWIW, I often use a Croll - neck loop combo instead of a Shunt.