Questions tagged [rappelling]
Rappelling, also called abseiling, is the controlled descent down a rock face using a rope. The words themselves come from German (Abseil) and French (Rappel) but are generally accepted adopted English words (there is no true English word for this activity).
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Multiple rappels with pull cord
I found this article by petzl here. I have trouble following the comparion of the rappel setups with the pull cord. I dont understand how the second one gains this stated advantage:
The next rappel ...
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What is the fastest safe abseiling method (for competitions)?
The competition's idea is to ascend 10-20 m of rope, then do a short sprint, then abseil 10-20 m back down. Repeat several times.
I am specifically interested in the abseiling part. I want it to be at ...
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Protect hand skin while belaying
Besides of using adequate gloves, I would like to have some safe options to decrease skin abrasion while belaying, due to the friction of the rope to lower the climber, mainly. I've come up with some, ...
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Lead climbing and descending with a rappel
After you finish a lead climb and are ready to descend by rappelling off the top anchors, do you pull the rope through all the quick draws or do you just clean the quick draws on the way down?
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Must you always have something in the master point of a belay?
When building a belay with a sling, and tying an overhand knot to create a master point, I’ve seen it stated that you must always have something in all the master point loops. I assume this is to stop ...
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Is it safe to depend only on a prusik?
This weekend I got myself into (for me) a hairy situation while rappelling. I got to a set of rap anchors that I needed to transfer to in order to get down to the next ledge, so I transferred myself ...
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Multi-pitch sport climb: Rope too short for rappelling, but having a backup rope
Let's assume you're on a multi-pitch sport climb with a pitch length of 40m and you know how to rappel using an ATC. The single rope you are climbing on is 50m. After 35m you are not able to continue. ...
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Rappelling using the Munter hitch - stopper knot at the end of the rope?
Usually I rappel using a tubular belay device such as an ATC and tie a stopper knot at the end of each strand of the rope such as a fisherman’s knot.
Is there a safety knot which you can tie before ...
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Can you Rappel with an Old Climbing Rope?
I received an old climbing rope, whose history is unknown. I know this rope should not be used for any situations where a fall is possible since it may have already sustained one.
However, can it be ...
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Redundancy in rappel systems
What is the simplest setup for rappelling that is fully redundant?
The most common system seems to be rappelling off of both strands of a rope passing through two rappel rings on separate anchors. ...
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Tradeoffs between different stopper knots
Because a number of accidents have occurred when a climber was lowered or rappelled off the end of a rope, it is wise to tie a stopper knot in the end(s) of the rope. My question is what stopper knot ...
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Transition from ascending to descending a rope
Consider an ascension of a single rope with an ATC guide in locking mode and a foot loop with a friction hitch, as described in this answer:
Quickest / most efficient way to ascend a hanging rope ...
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Use of a personal anchor system to rappel (abseil) off a cliff with anchors by the edge and at foot level
Definitely not a duplicated question to this one... Rather a much more specific question...
The situation arises when there are bolted anchors at foot level on the edge of the cliff:
The issue is ...
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Rappel: How do I start rappel from a ledge when using rappel extension
I'm using a rappel extension similar to what is shown in this video and that one. When the rappel start is a straight drop-off from a ledge and the anchor is low to the ground, I find it difficult to ...
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Rappelling with only one arm
I'm working on a novel. The main character recently (six months ago) lost her arm above the elbow. She's attending a summer camp, and I'm wondering if, with proper planning (and probably a mountain of ...
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is it safe to use a 4mm cord for French Prusik auto-block friction hitch when rappelling off parallel 10mm dynamic rope?
I want to rappel off of 10mm dynamic rope. The rope will be fed through both sides of the ATC device (parallel). Is it safe to use a 4mm cord for my French Prusik auto-block knot?
There is a similar ...
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Knots when abseiling with single rope
I have a rope of 10 m which supports 3 kN (300 kg) strength. I will abseil with it as a single rope.
I want to know what is the recommended knot to use when attaching the top with my anchor's ...
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Can I use SteriGENE broad spectrum disinfectant on abseil rope?
I work in ecologically sensitive areas in NZ and my ropes routinely get soiled. I have been asked by the Dept of Conservation to clean and disinfect my ropes to minimise the chances of accidentally ...
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The dangers of simul-rappelling
To simul-rappel, the technique goes as follows:
Prepare to rappel as usual, passing the rope through bomber bolts;
Tie knots on both ends of the rope;
Attach your personal anchoring system (PAS) to ...
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How to stop in the middle of a rappel without an autoblock?
Sometimes people rappel without a backup prussik, such as when canyoning and sometimes an auto block needs to be adjusted. In either of these situations, is there a way to stop yourself in the middle ...
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Lowering other members of a party on belay after rappelling
I, an experienced climber who knows how to rappel, would like to take some people on a scramble route that requires rappelling into a notch. The other people on the trip have standard top rope ...
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What do you do when you're rappelling a halfed rope and you run out of rope on one side?
So this happened the other day; shouldn't have happened if I had been taking my time and paying attention to what I was doing, but it did:
I was cleaning several ropes from the top of a short crag ...
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In canyoning, [why] do people skip a backup prusik?
I am used to abseiling with a prusik cord, which gives me protection for the case I lose control of the descent speed.
However, I have heard that in canyoning, in some situations, using the prusik is ...
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Backing up a abseil anchor with a human
Long story short, I want to abseil down from my balcony. The guard rail of my balcony feels sturdy, is bolted into multiple different bricks and uses big screws which makes me think that they will ...
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How to safely use reverso with ferrata harness?
Ferrata harnesses (FH) can be probably safely used also for climbing, as stated in another
post.
However, I am not sure how to use the reverso with FH.
This is because in a usual FH,
the belay ...
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When rappelling, should a screwgate locking carabiner be orientated up or down?
For the locking caribiner that connects the person's harness to their rappel device/ropes, should the locking caribiner's gate be toward the top or bottom of the setup when using a screwgate type ...
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How to rappel with a dog?
My wife and I are planning a camping and climbing trip and we would likely need to rappel with our medium-sized (45lbs/20kg) dog. Holding the dog is obviously unacceptable, and using the dog's ...
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Rapelling an overhang
How do you bypass the overhang, mid-rappel?
--. <-- Start of rappel
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__| <-- Overhang
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Do you go to your knees and then step one foot over at a time trying not to squash your ...
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How to avoid tangling up the rope when throwing it before rappelling?
When we rappel after a multi-pitch climb, we usually take up the rope (or both ropes when we use half ropes) so that we end up with one or two nicely lap-coiled ropes.
Throwing the coiled ropes ...
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How to use a Munter hitch to belay and rappel?
There seems to be conflicting information on the web about how to use a Munter hitch for belaying and rappelling while rock climbing. The way I learned decades ago is consistent with Nols Wilderness ...
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Why does abseiling become easier gradually?
When I am abseiling, the rope is initially hard to feed through my braking device - if I take my hands away from the rope, I get stuck in mid-air.
However, as I am getting lower, it gradually gets ...
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What are the dangers of descending/rappeling very quickly?
Sometimes when descending with a GriGri, I get the urge to pull hard and zip down the line. Safe reasoning returns and I continue descending with a safe, steady pace. However, I would like to know ...
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What's this knot called?
I came up with this variation of the flat overhand knot (also known as the Euro Death Knot) for pulling ropes on a rappel. I've never been comfortable using the Euro Death Knot (EDK), but it's hard to ...
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Rappelling from tree
My friend and I were on a tough sport climb and couldn't make it to the chains. Thus, we had one quickdraw still on a bolt and we didn't want to leave this behind, (a quickdraw on this same project ...
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Safe ways to abseil last [duplicate]
When being the last one to abseil you obviously need to make sure that when you are down, you can retrieve the rope. While the most common way is probably to use twin/half ropes and to put one rope ...
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Is Kamikaze knot safe with ropes of different diameters?
I know how the last man rappel. While practicing at a local place, I saw one of the groups using a kamikaze knot for rappel and rope retrieval after the last man rappelled. Kamikaze and Sheepshank are ...
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Practical uses for commando/Australian rappel?
Having watched several Bear Grylls shows, I was curious if anyone has any practical uses for a "commando rappel", as he calls it, or an "Australian rappel". It seems like they're only used for ...
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What happens to rappel anchors?
When setting up a rappel anchor, using things like webbing, rings, that kind of stuff, what happens to the anchor when you get to the bottom? Assuming you can't hike to the top and grab it, do you ...
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How to tandem rappel/abseil with a child?
So my toddler just barely fits the smallest child's harness on the market, which of course means she's big enough to go climbing and rappelling with daddy ;)
I've been playing around with different ...
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Abseiling on one rope: should I attach the prusik to the other one?
We were abseiling into a cave (about 15 metres height) using a rope hanged by its middle from an anchor:
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My experience on abseiling is mostly from climbing, where I ...
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Minimum safe rappel rope diameters?
9mm is considered minimum for a vertical rappel with a nylon or polyester kernmantle rope, 6mm with high strength aramid, but what if your rappel isn't vertical? What's the minimum safe rope diameter ...
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Is it ok to use rolled aluminum descending rings in permanent anchors?
Rolled aluminum descending rings like the SMC Descending ring are light (11g) and cheap ($3) which makes them great for carrying and leaving behind on long descents, but in my mind they are disposable ...
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How should I choose between setting up a Cordelette or an Equalette climbing anchor?
I was going through anchoring techniques and I came across this well-received question:
Anchor without cordelette?
How should one decide when to go for a Cordelette or an Equalette?
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How do to a safety knot when abseiling with 2 ropes? [duplicate]
If I'm abseiling with a double rope what's the common way to add a safety knot? Is it a prusik knot around the 2 ropes instead of 1 or something like 2 prusiks?
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Lowering off from anchors vs. rappelling after a climb?
What is recommended after finishing a sport climb--lowering off from the anchors or rappelling ? Rappelling preserves the hardware better, but is usually thought to be more dangerous since you take ...
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Rappelling with an injured arm
Is there a specific method which would help one with an injured (say, broken) arm to rappel down a rock?
It is very much possible that one may hurt his / her arm for some or the other stupid / major ...
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What do I do if I lose my belay plate?
The scenario
My climbing partner and I are at the top of a pitch and we drop a belay plate to the ground. There is no safe descent, we were planning on rappelling down off safe anchors.
What do we ...
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How to rappel on an over-hanging cliff?
I have rappelled quite a few times. I have also done commando rappel on shorter patches (up to 100 ft or so). The pic of a cliff that I have attached below is Kokankada. The height to rappel will be ...
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Whats the best way to abseil off a ledge with the anchor at foot level?
Is there any method for making the initial stages of an abseil smoother when the anchor in use is at foot level and the ledge drops off abruptly. I have had a big swing before when trying to do this ...
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If an autoblock inteferes with a belay device will a fireman belay have any effect?
When rappeling I understand the need for a backup--whether an autoblock below the belay device, or a second person providing a fireman belay. My understanding is that using an autoblock incorrectly ...
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