Silent Partner Leading...

J. Thompson wrote: NO. The Tibloc should NOT be used for this. It was tried in the past, and it shredded more than 1 rope. The teeth on the Tibloc are extremely aggressive, more so than other ascending devices. The camming angle is also not there, this is because when set and weighted properly the angle is created by the way the carabiner weights the device. The Tibloc is designed to manually "set" in place. As opposed to other ascending devices that are spring load, they have a larger caming angle and much less aggressive teeth. This technique really doesn't have any place in roped soloing. It does have a place in simul climbing. But if you choose to use it, make sure you're using a spring loaded device, like the ropeman or a standard ascender. josh

Josh, can I just check we are not talking about different things. I've been talking about solo leading with a silent partner, the tibloc would be upside down on a runner mid pitch just to stop rope feed. I was wondering if you might be talking about a tibloc and solo top roping, which would be very dangerous.

I rethought about it more throughfully and I realized that what I had in mind was probably wrong.

What is just going to probably happen - and I don't want to try it with my costy ropes ;) - is that as Tradoholic said, the rope would just be tore apart after a fall!

Out of topic: that "High" book is really superb! So far it also seems superior to "the Freedom of the Hills". Thanks for that pointer, ten euros well spent!

Hello,
I have one more question about the silent partner.
The manual states that it is possible to rappel/abseil with it, although it's not as practical as with other devices.

Has anybody ever tried to actually rap with the silent partner? It really is such a royal pain in the bum?

I ask because I think it would be simply awesome to be able to get down without changing setup. I am wondering if it's more boring and frustrating to rappel with the Silent Partner - that is already in place and would require NO modifications to your setup (any modification you do requires a lot focus and intruduce the chance to do mistakes) or actually do the swap.

I'd also like to know *if* the main reason why most (all?) people use an abseil device rather then the SP, is only practical - or it is for safety as well - read, if there is any danger to rap with the SP or if it's only unconfortable. I am especially interested in very slobby terrain rappelling, if I let go for whatever reason, the SP would get enough speed to catch or I'll get to the ground?

Thanks all!

Febs wrote:Hello, I have one more question about the silent partner. The manual states that it is possible to rappel/abseil with it, although it's not as practical as with other devices. Has anybody ever tried to actually rap with the silent partner? It really is such a royal pain in the bum? I ask because I think it would be simply awesome to be able to get down without changing setup. I am wondering if it's more boring and frustrating to rappel with the Silent Partner - that is already in place and would require NO modifications to your setup (any modification you do requires a lot focus and intruduce the chance to do mistakes) or actually do the swap. I'd also like to know *if* the main reason why most (all?) people use an abseil device rather then the SP, is only practical - or it is for safety as well - read, if there is any danger to rap with the SP or if it's only unconfortable. I am especially interested in very slobby terrain rappelling, if I let go for whatever reason, the SP would get enough speed to catch or I'll get to the ground? Thanks all!

Safety. Work out your system before you get up high. If switching to an abseil device means you have composure and can keep your routine in order: DO IT.

I haven't had any problems rapping with it. Work this all out on the ground first, tie in, tie backup knots. I also use a prussik above the SP (this makes 3 points: the SP, knot, and friction hitch)

Remeber: BACK UP KNOTS!

JacksonLandFill wrote: Safety. Work out your system before you get up high. If switching to an abseil device means you have composure and can keep your routine in order: DO IT. I haven't had any problems rapping with it. Work this all out on the ground first, tie in, tie backup knots. I also use a prussik above the SP (this makes 3 points: the SP, knot, and friction hitch) Remeber: BACK UP KNOTS!

Thanks dude, I always test sh*t at home before going out (I have an anchor on the ceiling). So far I only solo toproped with the mini-traxion and backup knots, although I'll probably change that so to use a separate ascender on the second rope rather thank knots (knots forms loop that really gets in the way).

I ordered my SP and it still has to get home. I will of course try it in a safe area, but I'd love to read from other users so to learn from their experience (things are always different when you get on the rock).

So, you said that you had no problem rappeling directly with the SP itself. The manual states that it is difficult to control the speed and the process is "a little unnerving at first". Did you experienced that?

Thanks!

Addendum. I realized (late, sorry) that this thread is about LEADING with the Silent Partner. Being it the most informative thread about the SP on this board (and everywhere else on the Internet as far as I could find) I thought I could post here a question about the Silent Partner, but toproping and rappeling probably are something that should get a separate topic:
mountainproject.com/v/silen…

Sorry for the double post then. Thanks all.

Febs wrote:Being it the most informative thread about the SP on this board (and everywhere else on the Internet as far as I could find)

Dunno about that last bit. Loads of excellent info on the SP on ST, including comments direct from the guy who invented it. If you haven't looked there I highly recommend it. In fact, Iirc there was an active SP thread there just yesterday started by Norwegian.

Used my SP this weekend for some solo aid and was really glad to have it when the cable on an old HB brass size #0 (smallest size) failed leaving the nut head in place but a long single strand of cable pointing down. Small fall but the SP was nice to have. I used to use a SoloAid device but feeding out slack was a pain compared to the SP.

Aric Datesman wrote: Dunno about that last bit. Loads of excellent info on the SP on ST, including comments direct from the guy who invented it. If you haven't looked there I highly recommend it. In fact, Iirc there was an active SP thread there just yesterday started by Norwegian.

Hi Aric Datesman, sorry but I missed the specifics of where to find that other (ST?) thread...could you please post the link here?

Chris

Chris- It wasn't a single thread in particular, but rather a body of knowledge on ST about using the Silent Partner. A quick search there will turn up *oodles* of information, and take anything from eKat or Blinny as *Gospel*, as they're the ones who invented it (IIRC Blinny was as shared account for eKat and Blanchard before eKat made her own, maybe 5 years back?) .

Lots of other folks there with really good input, so would suggest you do some digging and make up your own mind rather than point you in a particular direction.

EDIT- quick search and I can't make heads or tails of which Blinny is the real Blinny, which is to say there is oldBlinny, newBlinny, unBlinny.... Anyway, eKat and Blanchard are the folks behind it. Dunno I've ever seen Blanchard post, except for eKat posting from his account and signing it as the unBlinny. Very confusing, even for someone who was trying to follow along.

Are there any instructional vids on how to use one efficiently?

Thanks Aric and Locker. But, forgive my ignorance, I don't know what "ST" is. Can you tell me what that is please and I will happily read it? Thanks.

Regards,
Chris

Ah. Supertopo.com. Sometimes also referred to as the taco or taco stand.
:)

I just lead my first pitch with the Silent Partner. It was of course very easy to begin with, 5.6.
I rappelled with it as well: it was a breeze. Amazing tool!

Yeah! :)

I am more and more wondering why the hell isn't rope solo more common,
and,
why there are not bolted anchors at the bottom of any pitch, so to easily allow soloists to climb with a strong, ready-to-go bomber anchor point.

You need some care in handling the rope, but the feel I had is that the Silent Partner is better than most human belayer, at least on sport routes, with solid bolts and no need for a soft catch.
Provided that you handle it properly[1], it just leave you the right amount of slack you need to push forward, nothing more, nothing less.

I guess that I'll end up buying a drill and I'll bolt my own anchors at the bottom of sport routes.

[1] but then it is only about you and yourself, not about any other lazy human being.

David Coley wrote: Josh, can I just check we are not talking about different things. I've been talking about solo leading with a silent partner, the tibloc would be upside down on a runner mid pitch just to stop rope feed. I was wondering if you might be talking about a tibloc and solo top roping, which would be very dangerous.

I use the Soloist to lead, and I tie a prussik with a shoe lace to support the weight of the rope, which btw only becomes an issue once you've got a good bit (way more than 30 ft) of rope beneath you. Having said that, it seems like a Tibloc would work OK too, well assuming you have one already. If you have to run out and buy something then a pair of shoe laces would surely be much cheaper. :-)

I read that if you cut in rings an old bicycle tube you can use those elastic rings very effectively as well to prevent the rope getting down.
Perhaps that (the rope self feeding in the wrong direction) is the thing that scares me the most for what matters solo lead. After how many meters could you expect that to happen, more or less?

BTW, here's proof of my first "ascent" :P
youtube.com/watch?v=Xb6CxR1…

What my friend says is "ehi, cool, if you fall and that thing fails there will be all of your brains splattered out and this video will become one of the most clicked on youtube"

Question about the rebelay. These questions are all directed towards
preventing self feeding and excess slack.

If forming the rebelay couldn't you just tie an overhand on a bite and connect that with a shoelace/rubber band/weak material as well?

Also if you want a true rebelay couldn't you also build another three point anchor tie it off and keep going? I know the disadvantage to this would be bringing extra gear, but I exclusively use my SP for splitter cracks (give or take) so building said rebelay wouldn't be a problem.

Am I drastically missing something with these ideas or am I "skinning a dead cat" one more way?

Thanks

Any time you tie a rebelay directly into the rope, ie not using a releasable system (rubber band) or one-way system, you effectively have less rope in the system after the rebelay and will increase the fall factor should you fall.

Travis Haussener wrote: Also if you want a true rebelay couldn't you also build another three point anchor tie it off and keep going?

As has been just been said, this would increase the fall factor. And 9 times out of 10 you won't want to do this. However, sometimes the belay won't be perfect and you might then tie off a bomber piece as a backup part way up the pitch. Very occasionally you might also tie off a piece so you don't fall so far on rope stretch. E.g. you are 50m out from the belay, making a move above a ledge. You might then tie a piece off at the ledge, and treat the rock above a mini-pitch and place lots of runners.

Because you don't get rope drag when soloing, it is more common to complete very long pitches so if you fall you can go a long way on stretch.

I will often climb say 50m to a belay, simply clove hitch the rope to a bolt at the belay, but then carry on for 20m to the next belay if the pitch is easy. This is a great way to remove all those short connecting pitches of easy ground in alpine routes