Moonlight Buttress 12 hour Solo Trip Report

Kurt Burt wrote:Ha this guy is nuts... good on you mate! soloing with the gri gri is fine, just use a steel biner (less chance of one breaking in a fall) and all you silent partner guys... just broke mine this spring on El Cap. Normal fall and wham it was broke. So the lesson is tie a back up knot. Hey if the guy wants to solo this way then go for it. Bigger balls then me... I have stood on way too many A1 cams in zion that have pulled and taken the plunge. Rapping moonlight is no biggie, we rapped Ball and Chain whenever we where working on the free ascent of the route. When we did a new route on Angels Landing we rapped it back to the car. Way easier then that fucking trail! Sorry I hate to hike too. Good job man, watch yourself cause the demons are always lurking... KurtBurt

You can go with a biner like the Belay Master to ensure the biner is never incorrectly loaded. Or you can get a 1/2" steel quicklink, which is probably even safer than a steel biner. The Silent Partner requires you use two biners anyway. Never heard of someone snapping two biners at once.

Broke the silent partner not the biners...

Aid Bobbin on his first route.

Awesome.

Kurt Burt wrote:Broke the silent partner not the biners...

What broke, the clutch?

I think the clutch was f'ed up after the fall, it locked then that was it... but the break came from the pins that guide the rope. I took a good whipper on Mescalito pulling 5 pieces and I think my daisy got caught in it and ripped the pins out. Rock Exotica is the best and let me buy a new one at cost. Still love the SP, and just reminding people to have a back up knot. I have had a few friends break aluminum carabiners while soloing and a friend in the gym broke on catching a sport fall. Became cross loaded (happens from time to time) and snap. So I just switched to a nice small steel biner that is an autolock and the strength is through the roof if it becomes cross loaded in any way. I use my gri gri for just about everything including guiding on multi pitch, to me another indispensable tool that we get to have!

KurtBurt