Opinions on TR-Soloing

For lack of a consistent partner, I just wanted to get some top-roping in rather than bouldering before everything up here snows over.

What's your opinion on TR soloing with just 5ft spaced knots (alpine butterfly?) and some sort of 'lobster claw' system. So you always maintain two points of tie in with the rope. Or is there a better system that can be made without the use of a GriGri or similar device?

Anchors will be bombproof of course, 1-3ft diameter trees above.

I have an ATC Guide which can be used to autoblock from a top belay, could pulling down the slack while climbing work? I'm not looking to do anything too sketchy, just exploring options.

In the interest of safety, I'm not pushing my limits while soloing, I'm just looking to do a little fun before the season ends.

I picked up a used Cinch for $35 and a Petzl Basic ascender for $14. I'd keep your eye out for something like one of those. They both work fine on TR solo. I like the basic better but the Cinch makes it easier to rappel quickly if you're running a lot of laps.

I've found TR soloing to be a major pain in the ass. Rope soloing while leading seems to be less of a cluster and is far more enjoyable. For top-roping I think the best system is to anchor the rope at half, so you have two strands of rope hanging down to the ground - weight one strand of rope with a pack full of rocks or water-jugs, use a Petzl minitraxion (this really is the best device for TR soloing) with a nylon runner girth hitched through your belay loop and climb. This system alows you to climb without having to take in slack - the mini traxion slides up the rope because the rope is weighted. When you reach your anchor, rap down the free hanging line. I've never used a back-up knot.

Bouldering is way more enjoyable.

Not bad deals, I was just looking for opinions on a knotted set-up, as theres probably only a week or two until most stuff is snowed over, I'll definitely consider either of those for when I go back out in the spring.

Thanks for the input Kevin, I was looking to do some lines that weren't bouldering just because it's not bouldering. I've been bouldering 3-4 days a week. 4 days in a row the last time there was a perfect weather stretch....I was looking to do some easier TR lines for a break.

The mini-traxion looks pretty good, aside from the pricetag that comes with ascenders, I'll look at that heavily if I end buying a device.

Knots work fine. I just find them a PITA to pre tie and that's more crap dangling from my belay loop. I use a backup knot below the ascender when I'm on harder lines or projecting. When I'm on easy lines that I'm not falling on, the ascender is my backup. If I'm running speed laps on something I normally would free solo then I like to have the ascender backup (rigged a lot like Kevin) just in case of a hasty slip.

You can use your atc-guide too. A guy I climb with does that. It's more of a pain to feed than a minitrax but it works.

Alright, here's the setup I came up with for a TR solo with an ATC Guide.

I tested it out in my basement using an anchor atop my home wall. This worked quite well, don't mind the 7mm line that is the main line, I tried it on an 11mm dynamic rope as well.

It works great as far as I can tell, it takes a fall without a problem, and no slipping whatsoever. The only thing is it takes a fair amount of pull to move it up the rope, but that doesn't bother me so much, I just need a heavier weight on the ground end.

The Dynex sling allows me to release the auto-block (it also takes quite a bit of pull) and I wouldn't use it unless I had control over the loose end of the main line as it dropped me in under a second once it freed the auto block.

Overall it seems like a nice system other than the difficulty with pulling it upwards on the line, which is just an inconvenience really.

I've used the Soloist with success for both TR'ing and solo lead. For me it works great, and it's made for it. I've looked at trying out the gri gri as another option. I typically don't use back up knots and have fallen on the Soloist while leading and TR'ing with no issues. Perhaps I should use back up knots, but it's held any fall I've had. Just another option.

Juan

Check out the Petzl Microscender. It completely encloses the rope so back up knots are bomber, it feeds smooth, once you get up ~10 feet the weight of the rope self feeds, it has no teeth, it is designed to slip a little if you actually put any falling force on it. Love it.

Rick Blair wrote:Check out the Petzl Microscender. It completely encloses the rope so back up knots are bomber, it feeds smooth, once you get up ~10 feet the weight of the rope self feeds, it has no teeth, it is designed to slip a little if you actually put any falling force on it. Love it.

i use the rescuscender. it has been a lifesaver when i go alone. tad bigger than microscender, but same design i believe.
but as far as O.P.'s original question, you could solo toprope with just a single line with clip in points along the rope, every three to five feet or whatever you feel comfortable doing. and as long as you dont mind fighting the rope to get the knots out after weighting them with falls. but you could just climb and clip and clip and unclip as you ascend the wall. as should be just fine, especially since you stated you werent climbing at difficult levels. maybe only concern would be a fall towards the top of rope, but you still shouldnt be reaching any forces to damage the rope. good luck, hope you get some climbs in before the snows.

Thanks for the advice guys! I've ordered a Microcender to give it a try. I'm going to use that ATC setup in the mean time, and if that gives me too much of a problem, alpine butterflys and carabiners it is.

You can also set up 2 clove hitches to feed rope through. That works ok but it can be somewhat of a hassle if the stance is bad. I just use a gri-gri, it works pretty well and it's easy to rappel with because it's already set to go once you reach the top.

I've tried the "line of alpine butterflies" option, and it works, but I don't really like that method. Pain to tie/untie all those knots and you can't rap down easily, which is important if you're just going for mileage/workout. I usually put two lines down (one rope tied to the anchor near the middle). One one strand, i hang some weight to make the line taught and I use a gri-gri. On the other strand, I tie in short with your knot of choice. I've used a clove hitch on a large biner lately and that's easy to adjust/pull the slack thru with one hand without ever unlocking the biner. Just make sure you cinch it down. This really only works on straight-up routes. I use that system for climbing well below my limits when i don't have a partner and for practicing aid climbing. Make sure you pad any edges the rope will rub on.

I'd get yourself an iPod shuffle, or any old MP3 player actually, you don't need much memory. Put exactly 1 song on it, hit repeat, and sing it as loud as you fucking can. Now go TR solo, preferably in popular areas.

Chris Plesko wrote:I picked up a used Cinch for $35 and a Petzl Basic ascender for $14. I'd keep your eye out for something like one of those. They both work fine on TR solo. I like the basic better but the Cinch makes it easier to rappel quickly if you're running a lot of laps.

I use a system that uses a Cinch and a Petzl Basic as a backup. I learned the Cinch from a young pup, (Nik Berry when he was living in Flagstaff since he used to run laps on Paradise Lost using the system- thanks Nik, its a good workout) and the Basic as a backup from the Red Rocks crew who used to visit.

Dude you're gonna kill yourself.

Invest in a Gri-Gri, learn how to use it.
Here is a picture I drew just for you.

Or if you're climbing a long route....
Anchor one end of the rope to the top of your climb, lower yourself off with a gri-gri *tie end of rope obviously if you're not sure if it's touching the ground.*

Climb, then take in slack.

The whole point of the other devices is the auto-block, and not needing to slack the line while climbing, with a Microcender or Mini-Traxion you avoid the slacking while you climb.

A gri-gri would work for this just as well, but I'm leaning heavily towards the other set-ups.

ushba basic ascender works very well. just tape the biner to your belay loop or use one of those dmm ones with the plastic peice so it doesn't get cross loaded if you fall.

use the ushba. I think thats how you spell it

Microcender came in yesterday, tied into a tree and gave it a test run in my driveway, seems to work great. Can't wait to hit the cliffs this weekend and see how it goes.

I bought an ascender from CAMP a few months back for about $30 and it is sick. Very simple design and feeds rope smoothly. I also back up with a prusick that was probably not necessary, but worth it.