UKC

Having just watched a silent partner go for over £1000 on ebay, how are people getting on with the revo for rope soloing? I've heard they could suffer with grit ingress, a bit of a worry when climbing. 

Cheers, Gwain. 

Out of interest, how does the Silent Partner work? It looks to me like its just a drum which you thread with a cove hitch - is it just a case of the cove hitch stopping the fall, or is there some kind of inertia brake/reel involved (like the Revo)?

Makes you wonder why they stopped making the silent partner, not economical presumably as its only a soling device? 

It's got a centrifugal motion actuated locking cam inside, like a car seatbelt.

Yeah, it's a perfectly viable roped solo system, just not quite as confidence inspiring. The issue is that the auto-locking mechanism could theoretically be disengaged by clothing, other equipment etc. pressing against it. There are advantages over an SP though, including weight. I'm writing a comparative review, I'll point you towards it when I'm done.

keen on reading this sam, have you used both for lead rope soloing?

I have, yes. Even took some practice lobs on a Revo on self-belay. Working on a full write-up. Don't really know where to post it though, presumably just in a UKC thread. Watch this space.

That would be an interesting read.  Maybe speak to UKC mods/editor - they'll probably publish as a review article?

I've used one in the same format as a silent partner. Works, but backfeeds like mad so a thick rope or regular knots are needed to hold the rope weight. The thing is it feeds so easily that I'm now considering a system where the device stays on the belay and I climb normally after seeing a chap testing something similar on Facebook - this would leave it way more 'in spec' than having it on the harness and theoretically could work really well as long as the rope is stacked properly. The only downside being you have to abseil every time you take a fall - but this is maybe not so bad considering you're probably aiming to free the route anyway. We'll see how it goes.  

Just be careful that the device doesn't jam mid pitch... a'la dramaturized flick of Destivelle from Devils Tower (I think it was Matador, she was climbing).

Sounds good in theory but sketchy if device jams or live rope gets trapped.  Maybe tie into the middle so you have some spare rope for doomsday scenarios?

Yeah, I was going to say, not much you can do about any jamming issues in that case.

Mischa, have you thought about using a progress capture pulley to hold the wait of the dead rope and prevent unintended spooling?

a shunt used to do the job for me, surprisingly straightforward and cheap

In addition, that system would provide no way to use backup knots.

Wow , you're still alive too.

W

For solo leading???

In the end the worst that would happen is that a twist gets stuck and you have to head back down or take a whipper. Plus the revo feeds so incredibly easily (think pulling rope through a pulley) that it's really unlikely to stick IMO. We'll see how it works in practice when I get chance to give it a go (off to the Verdon tomorrow and I've got a partner with me!)

You could put one at the end of your pitch length on the rope, meaning at worst you'd fall the rope length minus how high you'd climbed. On multipitch this would be fine, and on single pitch this would mean that past half way it'd be safe - but I'm mainly interested in rope solo for multipitch. If it worked well with feeding you could even consider using two revos with twin ropes to eliminate risk further and make the system better for trad or winding routes. 

I already use a microtrax on the dead end but the revo feeds so easy that it also backfeeds on the live rope in my experience - my current system uses italian hitches to hold the rope weight because they can be tied with one hand and will slip under tension, meaning you can also use them for introducing deliberate slack behind the knot for shock absorption in the result of a fall. The problem as ever with the revo on harness is that there is so much more potential for a poor orientation which is basically impossible if you fix it at the belay. 

My current idea for the system is to tension it between two bolts or bomber multi-directional anchor points using my two petzl connects (made with dynamic rope) and attach the revo to a maillion rapide. Practically speaking this should keep it nicely orientated and over an amount of shock absorption in a fall. Setup like this the revo would hang very similarly to how it would on a harness and so is way more likely to operate as specced. 

no no no... as per Cathrine, you need to untie and solo up the rest of the way...

BTW, it was a GriGri that jammed, but still...

You can make a slip knot as backup and use the teeth to untie it. 

In 'normal' rope-soloing use, yes, of course. But not in the scenario described above - namely "I'm now considering a system where the device stays on the belay and I climb normally" - which is what I was referring to.

Missed that  

How are you going to tie backup knots if the device is on the belay?

At the end of the rope length, like I said? This would be enough to provide a 'catastrophe knot' for multi pitching or similar. 

Hi Sam, hope all is good with you and you managed to get out plenty over the summer. Like the other chap said, UKC might well be interested in hosting your review as there is clearly a lot of interest in the Revo. I can point UKC gear editor Dan at this thread. I've even got a couple of pics of your Revo from that evening at Horseshoe if you need any more.

sorry, I read rope soloing in the OP, I might have misunderstood

I didn't say that ...

Thanks for all your replies, and I'll look forward to reading your review Sam. 

Safe climbing all. 

Phew! We're just glad you're still here...

In fact, people have used the Shunt for that - a description of one such set-up can be read at http://soloalliance.blogspot.com/2011/12/solo-self-belay-on-petzyl-shunt.ht...

I've never experimented with it myself though.

Just looked at that. Is he still alive?

W

Thanks Toby, do feel free to put Dan in touch with me if you think this may be of interest

Totally not comprehensive review but

Just aid soloed 20pitches using a revo with an 11mm rope, with back up knots only I.e. no other cleverness

Result - generally feeds nicely, but will start to backfeed with 20m of rope below. Great for free climbing, very rarely locked unintentionally.

Not good for tension traversing, unless there is a way I don't know.

The crux - i took 2 massive whippers including one inverted, it locked, I didn't fall to my death- note I could definitely envision scenarios where something could stop it locking, hence why it's not recommended for this purpose!