set-up(s) for top-rope soloing?

With all the new gear and recommendations out there, what are the climbers in Yosemite doing now? For ages they used two Mini-Trax. Have they changed their collective minds?

I can't speak for Yosemite climbers, but when in Yosemite and elsewhere, I have been using a Shunt with an extended quicklink + knot backup.

In the last year, I've TR'd somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 pitches on this setup and it has worked perfectly, fed flawlessly, caught me every time, and doesn't wear the rope as bad as Mini-trax.

I have done some TP soloing. I use a ushba basic asender and a jumar so you can't take the tension off. I like to tie my pack to the end of my line I'm climbing on, and I leave some slack in it so I can work the moves on the route. I have found this method to work pretty good for me. Hope that helps, and of course a sling or daisy chain for clipping if need be.

the rock exotica soloist works great for this.

here's a small followup to a couple of posts last week as i now have all my gear for my first top rope solo. i'm doing EXACTLY what petzl shows here;

top rope solo from petzl

the page it is on is here; petzl.com/en/outdoor/self-b…

the micro trax has piranha like teeth, which i didn't expect quite that, BUT i'm using an old rope that i retired which will be perfect for this. the micro trax pretty small, i like that.

the microcender is pretty cool too. total cost just under $200 which in my opinion is a bargain considering what i'm about to get out of it.

i played with them and it looks like a pretty bomber setup. my only worry is wear and tear on the rope, but i'm not too worried about that. i have one old rope now and about to retire another one, so i'll be good for awhile.

i also have the original gri gri which i will clip to a gear loop on my harness but i'll probably end up rapping down most of the time to keep rapping skills fresh.

it's exciting to think i can go run laps in joshua tree with just some rope, gear, me, and my headphones. can't wait to play on the thin wall first.

if you are using that setup ... once you get into the anchors, clip in with the safety leash ... take off the microtrax, put the gri gri on that line ... then take out the cam out of the microascender, but leave it dangling off the harness .... then single line rap down with the gri gri ...

thats the fastest way ... and likely the "safest"

the other hint if you are ending the day at the bottom ... is to feed the rope through the chains first, then tie the fig 8 bight to fix the rope to the anchor ... that way at the end of the day you dont need to pull up the rope to thread through for a rap ...

@bearbreeder, that's exactly how i plan on rapping with the grigri to try it but i'll probably be using both lines and using my reverso to rap most of the time as i do a lot of rapping in joshua tree so i prefer to keep the traditional rapping skills fresh. that's one of the reasons i'm choosing to fix two lines rather than one, the ease of traditional rapping.

bearbreeder wrote:if you are using that setup ... once you get into the anchors, clip in with the safety leash ... take off the microtrax, put the gri gri on that line ... then take out the cam out of the microascender, but leave it dangling off the harness .... then single line rap down with the gri gri ... thats the fastest way ... and likely the "safest" the other hint if you are ending the day at the bottom ... is to feed the rope through the chains first, then tie the fig 8 bight to fix the rope to the anchor ... that way at the end of the day you dont need to pull up the rope to thread through for a rap ...

The microtrax won't stay disengaged like the mini trax will. The slightest catch of the rope will re-engage the cam, even when you think it's off. I think petzl changed this on purpose.

I used to TR solo when I was starting out for lack of partners. I used Ushbas, or Shunt. They always worked very well, but they can be dangerous. Best bet - find climbing partners. They typically are safer and make climbing much more enjoyable. Make them use a grigri if you doubt their belaying capabilities.
Have Fun, be safe.

Markk wrote:]Make them use a grigri if you doubt their belaying capabilities. Have Fun, be safe.

dont climb with them ... or dont fall ... if you doubt their belaying capabilities ...

its that simple ;)

Markk wrote:I used to TR solo when I was starting out for lack of partners.

not everyone wants to do top rope soloing only because they lack partners. i have climbing partners but recently bought gear to top rope solo because the idea of just me, my rope, and some gear going out to joshua tree and run laps on the thin wall or atlantis wall mid week is very appealing to me. i'm not a free solo guy but solo top roping is as close as i can get to being alone on the rock and safely. it's not an all or nothing thing. you can top rope solo on some days and climb with partners on other days ;)

Thoughts...this is what seems to be working for me.

Solo top rope

Embarrassed to say wrote:Thoughts...this is what seems to be working for me.

How did you come across this three and a half year old thread that you revived? Did you search it out?

I did, is that bad? Just wondering if anyone has had any experience using a croll vs a basic? My other minor concern, is if it's REALLY necessary to use one of those "funky" D shaped biners with the croll. Petzl advocates using a "basic" ascender for solo toprope, and I'm wondering why they don't mention the croll...maybe I'm overly paranoid. I like this method because it's quick for running laps. The croll is harder to release on tougher routes vs the micro traction, but I don't like having to re-rig webbing to hold the micro traction up onto my torse(chest harness).