Another rope + tag line question

So... I understand the concept of biner blocking on a more traditional anchor so you just rappel on the climbing rope. However, I am curious how to achieve this if you just threaded the rope through some cord.

Any help would be really appreciated.

Jake Jones wrote:Don't thread rope through cord. Even for rappelling. Bad idea.

Wrong. While it's not the best case, it's not a "bad idea."

That is an excellent question. There wouldn't be a little ring for the knot to hang on so it'd flip over and catch. It might be a giant pita or impossible pull the rope back down.

FWIW, whenever I've been in a situation that I'd be rapping off only webbing, I'm also in a situation where I'm carrying a 2 slot device. I can't imagine heading up an alpine route with only a gri gri.

I tend to agree with Jake, not because it's dangerous to you, but because you're leaving possibly unsafe tat on the wall after pulling the rope. If I had to in an emergency, ie. multiple raps/possibility of running out of leaver gear, I would probably just tie a power point in the cord. Just make sure the power point loop is small enough to jam your knot/biner setup against. Hope this helps.
-Mackley

nicelegs wrote:That is an excellent question. There wouldn't be a little ring for the knot to hang on so it'd flip over and catch. It might be a giant pita or impossible pull the rope back down. FWIW, whenever I've been in a situation that I'd be rapping off only webbing, I'm also in a situation where I'm carrying a 2 slot device. I can't imagine heading up an alpine route with only a gri gri.

You can tie a knot to make an "eye" in the cord/webbin to prevent the knot from being pulled through

;)

John Wilder wrote: depends on your definition of bad idea, i suppose. for your party, the consequences are effectively none- it is safe to do. (unless, of course, someone before you has done it) for any subsequent parties, the consequences are high enough that it might kill someone if they dont inspect the cord prior to rappelling. for me, i would argue that it is a bad idea, as it puts others in danger. leave a carabiner or link. don't be that guy.

You make a good ethical/responsibility point, but your approach is too simplistic. Following up on this reasoning, the OK-ness of rapping with rope threaded straight through the cord is, as always, dependent on context. J. Wilder is pointing out that putting the rope straight through cord is a bad thing to do in settings where another party is likely to be rapping on that same cord in the future...such as on popular routes or well established and frequently used rap routes. Wilder's reasoning does not hold up, however, if you are in a remote and infrequently climbed area, are bailing because you are off-route, etc; in these contexts there should not be anyone coming by soon, and it is fine to rap with the rope threaded through the cord. Furthermore, anyone else who does come across a lone bit of faded tat off route or way out in the boondocks somewhere should know better than to trust it implicitly (this is different than if it is a well used rap route, where several more parties are likely to use it that day).

A final point is that when rapping on cord or webbing, it is important to make sure that there will not be any motion of the rope under load that would saw on the cord/webbing. This is generally not an issue with a regular rap setup, but can occur when simul-rapping, especially if there is a weight difference (of course, simul-rapping has other issues as well and should be used with caution, but I digress). Just another thing to be aware of when considering rapping on cord.

Neither of these points answer the original question. Sorry.

v-threads are used all the time; it's really not that big a deal from a rap safety standpoint unless you're dealing with a trade route.

I am aware that this situation is not idea but i will be on a grade V or VI alpine route and have enough to carry than a bunch of extra biners and rappel rings. If it were straight up and down i would just leave draw biners buuuuut it's a traverse with a lot of ups and downs

P.S. Thanks for everyone's input!