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beanny
Jan 7, 2002, 2:10 PM
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i read in some material that it is possible to self belay when climbing. does anyone know how to or have you tried it before?
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case22
Jan 7, 2002, 2:37 PM
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I've done it at the gym. When you're trying to set up a route, it's kind of a pain to make someone else sit there and belay you forever. The way we do it is to get a locking biner and attach it to two daisy chains in the floor for our anchor. Then we attach a gri-gri to our harness where we usually tie in. When you climb, you can't forget to take up the slack or else it kind of useless. I don't know if that's the absolutely 100% correct way to do it, but it works for us at the gym. We NEVER self-belay outside.
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pianomahnn
Jan 7, 2002, 3:27 PM
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One can also self belay by tying into the rope, and also attaching the grigri to their harness. This makes jugging twice as long, but if one doesn't have floor anchors in the gym when setting routes, it fits the bill.
There are also some more solo climbing equipment out there. The ones I'm aware of, found here are by the same company.
Case, why shouldn't one self belay outside?
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wigglestick
Jan 7, 2002, 3:51 PM
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In case you are intereste there is a similar discussion going on in the GearHeads Forum.
http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=5562&forum=40&9
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cyberdragon
Jan 7, 2002, 3:57 PM
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done it at our wall here at school. setting up routes. i used a gri-gri, took 2 bieners. its fairly easy to do, but gets annoying.
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hangerlessbolt
Jan 7, 2002, 4:49 PM
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Yep...with a grigri...
Becomes a bit of a chore...
Still prefer a partner...
****If you choose to do so, remember that you don't have a partner to double-check your setup...so you'll have to do it...over and over again to make 100% certain that everything is perfect. If you have any doubts...don't do it.****
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toobigtoclimb
Jan 7, 2002, 6:51 PM
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You will get hair on your palms and go blind if you self belay too much.
That's what i've heard.
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camhead
Jan 7, 2002, 7:55 PM
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About a month ago I messed around with various self-belay systems at the crag. I used a prussik (not advised), a gri-gri, an ascender (tiblok), and a pair of clove hitches on locking biners. All worked fine for aid, but would suck for free climbing. However, I used occasional backup knots with all, so that if they failed I would not be screwed. I only fell once (on the cloves) and they worked fine.
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pianomahnn
Jan 7, 2002, 8:03 PM
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Supposedly the Silent Partner allows for true self belaying climbing. No need to stop and pull slack through, it feeds it automatically. I've seen one, but still don't see how the hell it works, and it's quite pricey as well.
But hey, if you're all about top roping alone, I guess this is allright...
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atg200
Jan 7, 2002, 9:06 PM
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the silent partner didn't live up to my expections for it. i either had to pull up slack, or pull through heinous rope drag. it is essentially a mechnical clove hitch. the barrel the clove hitch is tied around is supposed to feed smoothly at low speeds(climbing), but lock at high speeds(falling). the silent partner also has the huge disadvantages of not working in the cold or in wet conditions. i usually rope solo in those conditions since it is easy to find a partner in nice weather.
some people have reportedly had more luck than I did, but it certainly is a pain to get the system dialed. i sold it for beer money and went back to rope soloing with clove hitches. the clove hitch system is bomber(the biggest fall i ever took, 40 feet or so, was onto clove hitches), works in any weather conditions, and is cheap. free climbing with it is a real pain though.
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ryanguy
Jan 7, 2002, 10:16 PM
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I've been creating routes outdoors for a number of years now and use a self-belay device all the time to work a route for determining lead bolt placements. I have the 'Soloist' by Rock Exotica. I am pretty sure that company is out of business and another company took up making them. Basically the device has a pivotting cam and is really simple. For TRing you set up a fixed line and feed the free end from the bottom of the device through the top. If you fall the cam flips and the rope gets jammed between the back of the cam and the back of the device. It is self feeding if there is enough rope weight below you, otherwise you need to feed it a little but that takes no effort. In my opinion it is super safe since it has only one moving part that virtually can't fail and it has never dropped me on countless falls. For backup you just tie a knot in the rope below you every so often.
The device can also be used for leading but it is more tricky and there can be considerable rope drag.
I'm not sure what the silent partner is like but it sounds more complicated. The Soloist was $115 Canadian when I got mine.
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jds100
Jan 8, 2002, 12:05 AM
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The "new" company is Wren Industries, and The Soloist is still around. There is another solo belay device made by them, in addition to The Soloist and The Silent Partner, but I can't remeber the name.
The Soloist requires a long sling of webbing made into a chest harness, to hold the device upright, and the instructions outline the danger of falling upside down (the device will not catch the rope). Except for The Silent Partner, the other devices work with a camming/jammming mechanical configuration to catch a falling climber. No guarantees.
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case22
Jan 8, 2002, 12:39 AM
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Piano, I didn't say that you shouldn't self-belay outside. I just said that myself and my friends don't. We always travel in a group when we climb outside, so there is absolutely no need to self-belay. Besides, I don't think it's too safe to do it on say...a 5.12 climb. I'd rather have my partner worry about belaying me. I'm going to have enough problems of my own trying to make it up the climb without having to worry about belaying myself as well.
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