Rappelling

How do you set up a rapell that doesn't leave any of your gear behind?

wow, after watching that video im never bringing 2 ropes again! thast a full 60m rap on a single line!

look up "ghost" canyoneering techniques... I would trust some much less than others. Probably the safest is to use a sling or piece of webbing with 2 links/rap rings/carabiners, use this to sling a tree and tie a pull cord to one of the rings/links/biners. run your rope through both rings/links/biners. At the bottom pull your rope and then use the pull cord to retrieve your anchor that was slung around a tree or something else. Or spend the 3-4 dollars and get some webbing and a few quick links that fit your rope.

Thats a crazy video! Great find...

This strikes me as a death wish TOO. As soon as you unweight the rope it pops... Imagine how easily you could accidentally pop that thing... You step onto a ledge and POP.

Wow.

I am still a big fan of using the largest tree around or leaving a little webbing behind...

I have seen people do "macrame rappelling" but doing this at the end of a long day could be a death-wish.

Cheers.

Use the Needles rappel (takes two people... lay the middle of the rope in a notch or around a horn and both rap off opposite sides)

Or, use the Texas Sling:

mountainproject.com/v/bolt-…

bad idea
Step 1- stack two nuts
Step 2- rig single strand rappel off the brown nut(downward pull nut)
Step 3- rig pull strand on the pushed through cable of the upside down nut
Step 4- make peace with god and tell your partner to apologise to your family for you stupidity
Step 5- rappel "safely" to the ground or your next belay
Step 6- pull retrieval line and the nut on the right pulls out and your whole kit falls to the ground

i think this is at least as safe as the fifi hook rubber band thing!

Ive used a slightly advanced trick, similar to the nut trick that involves a cam, and is highly not recommended. It's been discusses at length before, but its worked twice for me. Same disclaimers as the nut trick about apologizing to your family apply.

I DO NOT ADVOCATE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING TECHNIQUES, FOR ANYONE, BEGINNER OR EXPERT ALIKE.

The basics of it are this:

FIRST, DO NOT USE THIS TECHNIQUE (my disclaimer)

Set your cam in a parallel or slightly, very slightly outward flaring crack.

Clove the halfway point of your rope to the cam stem itself so it is loading the cam when pulling on it.

Take a runner and weave it through the trigger bar of the cam so it can pull the bar as necessary to release the lobes.

Pull up a bit of slack on one side of the rope and clove it to the sling.

Rap on the single line, and only that line, loading the cam.

Get down and pull hard and quick on the line attached to the trigger.

A side note, the looks on people's faces when they realize exactly how this works when I've explained it in person are priceless.

I think one's life is worth more than a cam...maybe just mine

I don't think these techniques are for daily use,they all have inherent dangers but in case of rescue, shut-down or last resort they may need to be applied and so therefore would be valuable.

IMHO

This will work if you had natural anchors without getting yourself killed, but you need to plan on using a tagline.

Yet another contrivance -- a retrievable rap rig

Buff, there's a similar method that arborists use when they install/remove a cambium saver sling. It involves a sling (I suppose you could make one using cord) with a small ring at one end and a large ring at the other. When the rope is doubled through both rings, a knot can be tied on the leg of the rope on the side of the large ring. pull the other leg of rope and the knot will slide through the large ring and catch the small ring, then the whole assembly comes down. Premade slings are available from various arborist suppliers. The process is also described in the Jeff Jepsom book, "The Tree Climbers Companion, 2nd edition". the beauty of it is, you would not need a tag line, but it would likely take a small bit of practice to figure out what knot you needed to tie to retrieve the setup.

Now that I'm not posting from my phone....

Here's a link to the slings I described above, and there is a picture there with a small illustration of how it's installed/removed from the ground. Obviously, the removal is the important thing in the rock climbing context.

sherrilltree.com/Profession…

If you can find 2 rings of different diameters, it should be pretty easy to make your own on the spot with some cordage....

steal someone elses 'biners, use them for set up, then you won't leave any of YOUR gear behind on a safe rappel.