Wrapping the rope around your leg as a tie-off is seriously old-school and dodgy: props to you if you survive the practice :)

Wrapping the rope around your leg as a tie-off is seriously old-school and dodgy: props to you if you survive the practice :)

Wrapping the rope around your leg as a tie-off is seriously old-school and dodgy: props to you if you survive the practice :)

I had a situation come up last week, in which we needed to do a double-rope rap. The ropes were different lengths. I’d guess one at about 50m and the other at something over 60m. After a vertical drop, my feet were on the ground and I had about 2’ left on one rope, and a pile of rope on the ground for the other rope. I was very close to running out of rope in mid-drop; not good. It would have been nice to equalize the rope lengths. That got me to thinking: I don’t believe I’ve seen a description of how to pass a knot while rappeling.

Passing a knot on rap isn't something I expect to do very often. Ideally, never. But just in case, I want to have a method in my bag of tricks. I’m pretty sure I know how to do it, but I thought I’d see what the “community” has to say. Here’s how I propose to pass a knot, and this is how I'll practice it unless someone comes up with a better suggestion:

1. Rap down to a point where the knot is just below the device. Throw a couple of wraps around a leg and over the foot to hold position.
2. Use a short rescue loop to put a prussik close above the rap device, around both ropes. Clip a double sling to the prussik loop with a ‘biner.
3. Unweight the rap device by standing in the sling attached to the prussik loop. Drop the leg wraps.
4. Pull up a few feet of rope below the knot, then clove hitch both ropes to a locker on the harness, leaving a loop down to the knees. This is the safety backup.
5. Detach the rap device from the ropes.
6. Reset the device on the ropes, below the knot.
7. Double check that everything is rigged correctly, ‘biners locked, and etc.
8. Undo the backup clove hitches; throw a couple of wraps of rope around a leg to hold position.
9. Unweight the prussik sling (transfer weight to the rap device), and then remove the prussik loop and sling from the ropes.
10. Drop the leg wraps, and then continue with rap.

I think the main thing to watch closely is making sure that the prussik doesn't move out of reach when weight is transferred back to the rap device. I'd try to keep the prussik, device, and knot all close together so that this problem doesn't develop.

So... sound about right?

EDIT: okay so someone has, but if you are worried about sharp edges, just do your equalizing right at the very start of the rappel.

1. Rap down to a point where the knot is just below the device. Throw a couple of wraps around a leg and over the foot to hold position.
2. Use a short rescue loop to put a prussik close above the rap device, around both ropes. Clip a double sling to the prussik loop with a ‘biner.
3. Unweight the rap device by standing in the sling attached to the prussik loop. Drop the leg wraps.
4. Pull up a few feet of rope below the knot, then clove hitch both ropes to a locker on the harness, leaving a loop down to the knees. This is the safety backup.
5. Detach the rap device from the ropes.
6. Reset the device on the ropes, below the knot.
7. Double check that everything is rigged correctly, ‘biners locked, and etc.
8. Undo the backup clove hitches; throw a couple of wraps of rope around a leg to hold position.
9. Unweight the prussik sling (transfer weight to the rap device), and then remove the prussik loop and sling from the ropes.
10. Drop the leg wraps, and then continue with rap.

^^ good point

I pre-rig a cordalette with a friction hitch on the rope and a munter mule on my harness at the other end.

1. Rap to the knot and then let the cordalette take my weight.
2. Clip into a back up from the rope below the knot.
3. Switch my rappel device to below the knot and mule it.
4. Untie the mule in the cordalette and rap down it until the device is loaded again.
5. De rig the cordalette, untie the belay-device mule, and then rap on.

The most elegant solution, to be sure!

Or pick up a copy of Climbing Self-Rescue: Improvising Solutions for Serious Situations and practice that instead, though it doesn't have some of PTPP's slick knot-use, and uses munter mules rather than klemheists/tiblocs and aiders.

Wrapping the rope around your leg as a tie-off is seriously old-school and dodgy: props to you if you survive the practice :)

+1

The thing I need to do now is round up the Usual Suspects and organize a practice session.

In caving we run into a lot of situations where you have to pass knots, albeit on single ropes.

(snip)

-B

One practical problem with all of this is, if only one person in the party knows how to execute the procedure, then you might as well forget it because everyone else is going to balk at trying something they've never seen before, on their own, while their life is on the line. The thing I need to do now is round up the Usual Suspects and organize a practice session.