Rope Solo w/Gri-gri
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I'm interested in getting into Top Rope Soloing w/Grigri. Been reading up on it on previous threads and it seems the best/most common method is using a Mini Traxion in tandem with a Microsender. I have neither and finances make either a luxury at the moment. |
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If top rope soloing is what you're interested in, I don't think this vid will be very helpful to you. There are lots of TR soloing forums for you to reference but IMO it would be worth it to get at least one of the devices you mentioned and back it up with a prussik, if you're worried about saving money. |
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Grigri is not the best device for top rope soloing, but it does work. Downside is it does not feed smooth till you have a lot of rope hanging from it, i.e. near the top of the climb, so you end up having to feed rope through it. You can add weight at the bottom of the rope, like a water bottle to help with this. You can back up the device by tying knots in the rope as you climb up, another PITA. Another solution if your rope is long enough, fix the rope in the middle at the top of the climb, so you have 2 strands coming down, climb on one strand with the grigri and pre place back up knots in the second strand that you can clip as as back up as you climb up. Always back up a grigri some how, lots of accidents out there with people rope soloing with a grigri and no back up. Again there are better devices out there for the job. |
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Mike Caracciolo wrote:http://youtu.be/8AnpN3gSho8 Do this.Don't do this! Not very efficient, more rope in the system so your going to fall further, still no back up, and no self feeding. |
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I think it is funny how they say it is "prohibited" on their website... I have done it before when my partner bailed on me last min after i had drove 3 hours to the wall =/ It is a pain to do but as long as you have solid anchors and you back it up as you go it works. |
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Spend the 60 dollahs on a microcender |
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Freaky, one lot of people talking about top-rope soloing, another lot talking about lead rope soloing and each telling the other they are wrong. |
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Thanks for the helpful responses. |
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MClay wrote: I'm interested in getting into Top Rope Soloing w/Grigri.The guy in the video is solo leading, not top roping. But I guess you knew that. When leading backup knots are essential whatever the device. I have been saved by a backup knot. You can use a gri gri in much the same way to top rope, with the same modification as he has, but most people would say a back up is still a good idea, and that you should just save up and get a microtrax and a micro ascender to equivalent, or join a club and borrow them from other members. |
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I don't solo with a rope, but I've seen solo rope climbers use a Tibloc and have seen people use the Micro Traxion. Back up either device with a tibloc or a prusik. Solved. |
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David Coley wrote: The guy in the video is solo leading, not top roping. But I guess you knew that. When leading backup knots are essential whatever the device. I have been saved by a backup knot. You can use a gri gri in much the same way to top rope, with the same modification as he has, but most people would say a back up is still a good idea, and that you should just save up and get a microtrax and a micro ascender to equivalent, or join a club and borrow them from other members.Difference between top rope and lead rope soloing is on lead you can have pretied knots as a backup. If you want to put a backup knot it would be on the belay side going up under the grigri climber(tied in)-----------top rope anchor(rope going down)-------------grigri(at climber)-------safety knot-------other rope tail You could tie an overhand / clove to a biner and clip that biner to your harness so when you reach the finish it is easier to remove instead of removing on repel. Depending on the route it could be hard to tie knots so you may want something you tie once at the bottom and can just slide up as you go under the grigri. |
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Been reading all the old forums in conjunction with your answers. Gonna save up and get a microcender in a few months. |
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MClay wrote:If I halved the rope by putting a figure 8 on bight and secured it to the existing anchor bolts w/ lockers, I would have two fixed lines. Attaching the GriGri as self-belay on one side of the rope, but backing up with pre-tied knots to clip into belay loop from the other side of the rope would be solid back up? Still have the pain of pulling slack thru the GriGri, but that seems to be similar to the system that Viper was explaining.It's a bit of a pain, but it works and is what i've done on routes I was comfortable on. You'll want two tethers with locking biners so you can clip the next backup before dropping the previous. Works well on nearly vertical climbs which are in a nice straight line with decent spots to adjust the backup, not on wandering routes. Know that if the grigri slips and you fall on your backup knots, there's a risk of getting your legs tangled in the loop and inverting you. Hang a little bit of weight on the bottom of the grigri line to help with the feeding. |
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I suppose that would work. If i understand you right you are talking about doing something like this where there is a knot at the anchor and you are "aiding" up a single line with a grigri but using pretied knots on the other side to clip into your harness as you are climbing? |
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My TR solo system is two strands with an Ascender on one and a Microcender on the other. I weight the ends of both strands so that feed is good from the very beginning. It beats my older system of the Ascender and tying backup knots or clipping pretied ones. |
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Yeah, that's the basic idea I had. As I said it is mostly on easy/moderate routes for running laps. I think the upside of the system I described is that descending is very quick/easy - no change over between devices needed, just unclip from the backup knots and rap with the Grigri. |
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Because of the issue with descending when using a trax etc. I use a grigri to work routes I know I will fall. These tend to be routes with hard cruxes, rather than things that cause me to pump out. |
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Works fine with a grigri, just tie your backpack in at the bottom, hanging in the air, and it pulls most of the slack through. You still have to occasionally pull in the slack yourself when you want to be tighter on the rope or there is too much drag. My friend was doing this yesterday and it worked great. As for backing up the grigri, it is really no different than if you are being belayed on top rope by someone from a grigri, if it fails, you fall. |
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JSharpe wrote:Works fine with a grigri, just tie your backpack in at the bottom, hanging in the air, and it pulls most of the slack through. You still have to occasionally pull in the slack yourself when you want to be tighter on the rope or there is too much drag. My friend was doing this yesterday and it worked great. As for backing up the grigri, it is really no different than if you are being belayed on top rope by someone from a grigri, if it fails, you fall.The difference is your belayer has a hand on the brake strand and is maintaining the device. In top rope soloing, the grigri is flopping around on your belay loop, it could potentially get into a position where the cam is obstructed, the carabiner is crossloaded, etc. |
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JSharpe wrote:Works fine with a grigri, just tie your backpack in at the bottom, hanging in the air, and it pulls most of the slack through. You still have to occasionally pull in the slack yourself when you want to be tighter on the rope or there is too much drag. My friend was doing this yesterday and it worked great. As for backing up the grigri, it is really no different than if you are being belayed on top rope by someone from a grigri, if it fails, you fall.Yea as larry says this is bad because you have no safety if the grigri fails. |