your top rope solo device

Microcender on a small sling to the belay loop, use a smaller locker to prevent it moving and cross-loading like a larger biner tends to do.

Back up knots would be a good idea, or have another ascender (Basic, Mini-trax) underneath it on a shorter sling, but I tend to just use the microcender.

I know, I'm gonna die.

Greg D wrote: After 5 or 10 feet it tends itself. Tie a small weight to the rope and it will be totally hands free. No sharp teeth either. It was recommended by the manager at Bent Gate. Tie occassional back up knots of course.

Yeah... I agree about the sharp teeth. The Basic is not the perfect device IMO. I went looking to buy the Mini-trax and found that Petzl had changed their usage recommendations. That's the only reason I got the Basic.

Bon Temps wrote: I've used a shunt before and found that it's simply another way of saying you have a serious death wish.

This should be qualified.

Dave McLeod doesn't agree with you at all, and I sort of trust that guy. Cause he knows what he's doing. Massively.

Mike McLean wrote: This should be qualified.

Blew a hold on a less than vertical slab. The shunt was pinched between myself and the rock which caused the shunt to release. I fell maybe 10 feet then bounced off the rock enough to where the shunt caught again.
Lost faith in it knowing that it would release that easily.

If you are rope soloing to work a route then I would use a gri with back-up knots so you can go up and down easily to work a certain move numerous times. If you are going up a route that is fairly easy and you are not going to work a certain move more than once, then an ascender (or two) of any choice is the best way to go.

I've used a Grigri, and a GGII, for TR soloing, it works well for some things, and not others. It's great for working short sections of a hard climb, on which you'll often have to lower. It's bad for cruising long pitches, since it's a pain to feed.

A minitrax feeds super well, but of course you have to re-rig another device to lower.

On a similar note, I learned a new super-simple trick for backing up my mini-trax the other day:

Take a standard sized steel quicklink, and a short sling (I use a half-length one, you could also use 6mm cord or similar).

Put the minitrax on the rope as normal, girth-hitch the sling to your belay loop, and attach the QL to the sling and the rope. Then tie knots as you climb.

Even if you're whole mini-trax and biner explode, the QL will still catch on the nearest knot and save you from the big plunge.

I also like to use a steel biner on whichever device I'm using, it adds a bit of confidence.

I use a shunt, fed through both ropes set up for rappel. Call me brave.

Tie the rope bag suspended off the deck to keep the rope taught and it self feeds, hands free. Works great on vertical. Not so much overhang, cause well, that's hard. And for slab there is that risk of falling on it and jamming it open.

Just find a partner. Or invent a robot.

William Rhyne wrote:so what is the best top rope soloing device. the mini traxion, wildcountry ropeman? looking for something i dont have to feed and will still be safe.

I've been using a Gibbs Ascender for the last 20+ years. Tie it to my belay loop with some 7m cord. Three passes through the Ascender's eye and belay loop and then tie off the ends with an EDK. Keeps it nice and close to my harness and no cross-loading of any carabiners.

Sometimes clove hitch a carabiner and my approach shoes at the bottom to add some tension to the rope. But after 10 feet or so, that really isn't needed as the weight of the rope makes it feed nicely.

Probably have fallen on this literally hundreds of times. As always, YMMV.

I create two independent lines by putting a figure 8 in the middle of the top rope and clipping that to the top anchor with a couple lockers. Then use an Ushba ascender on one side of the rope and a Cinch on the other side. Tying the ends of the rope to a light pack makes them feed nicely. Works well, feeds well, mostly redundant, and it's easy to lower off without having to fuss with the gear. Makes running laps fast and easy.

Shunt

Bon Temps wrote: Blew a hold on a less than vertical slab. The shunt was pinched between myself and the rock which caused the shunt to release. I fell maybe 10 feet then bounced off the rock enough to where the shunt caught again. Lost faith in it knowing that it would release that easily.

But what would have have happenned to Dave McLeod? I mean, that guy knows his stuff...

;-)

Regardless of what McLeod thinks, Petzl has been saying the Shunt has issues with self belay for years and is in a much, much better position to evaluate its suitability for such use.

Rob K showed me that great idea, thanks for "inventing" it John!

I watched a guy last weekend top rope solo with nothing more than his ATC. Perhaps not the recommended setup....

I use a micro traction with a prussik for backup. My only recommendation would be to make sure you have worked out a system for escaping the traxion under load. This is in case you get stuck on a move and can't continue up the line. Just make sure you know how to rig a rappel while the traxion device is still under load.

you guys thank you all so much for the imput. i really dig the simplicity of the minitrax and the quicklink on a runner. cant wait to try this method.

Stopping to tie knots sort of defeats the purpose of a self-feeding device.

I use a minitrax on top held upright (to keep slack out of the system so the device doesn't have to re-orient from hanging down) with a loop of shock cord girthed through the clip-in hole and worn over the shoulder bandolier style to hold it up, and a protrax as a backup on bottom clipped to a 4" sewn sling girthed to the belay loop so it hangs below my junk. Would prefer two minis (or better yet, micros) but I own a mini and pro and it works well enough.

If running back to back laps, I rig two strands (i.e. knot in the middle of the rope at the anchor), climb on one, slap a grigri on the other at the top and rap. With a little practice it only takes about 15sec to be on the way back down.

Occasionally I'll just use a grigri if working a sequence where I'll want to lower a lot, but I almost hit the ground doing that a couple seasons ago when I hucked a dyno and the grigri got hung in clothing and didn't lockup. Went about 15' convinced I was going to deck since I was only 20' to start with.

Will S wrote:Stopping to tie knots sort of defeats the purpose of a self-feeding device.

Yeah, that's always been my main beef with a lot of the common setups. If I'm going to take the trouble to go out and rig a TR solo somewhere I want it to be a route that's really worth running laps on, which probably means that I'm trying to gain some amount of endurance by doing it repeatedly. Wiring a hard vertical .12 and running laps on it just seems... tedious if you're stopping every 15 ft. to tie knots.

+1 for the Camp lift ascender. Feeds well. Have used it for three years with no problems. Used to use the Ushba, but lost it. They are similar.

mini trax with a ropeman back up

livinontheledge wrote:mini trax on top with the shockcord bandolier ushba ti basic below for a backup belay device on/off to rap curious how well the cinch feeds while climbing? seems like a nice way to simplify and speed up the system...if it feeds well

If you tie a back pack or something to the bottom of the rope the cinch feeds just as good as a mini trax.