Fast French Free Techniques?

I want to learn more about quickly french freeing a pitch (or just 1-2 moves) that is fixed or just out of my ability. Maybe something that is A0 or C1 that could almost be as fast as actually freeing it. The thoughts that come to my mind are yarding on the draw, and putting a nylon runner on a piece and putting your foot in and standing up to get past a short crux section. Anyone have techniques or tips?

That's what I do.

If you use alpine draws to clip the gear or bolts, you can step into them...opposed to just pulling on fixed draws.

at clear creek i watched someone french free routes using a small extend-o-stick clip that they had on their belt. They would stick clip the bolt from below, then top roped/ pulled up to the next bolt. When they reached the next bolt they used their handy extend-o-stick clip clip to clip the next bolt. Then again top/pulled up. They did the whole 30 meters that way...
if you just need on or two moves an extend-o-stick clip clip might help you bypass hard parts.

just dyno the crux......way less work

Keep a longer apline draw with you and step into it. Make sure you use your legs as much as possible as pulling on draws with just your arms will wear you out much faster than you think.

just don't do this

chockstone.org/Forum/Forum.…

Andy and I wrote a whole chapter on it in:

amazon.com/High-Advanced-Mu…

Unless it is very easy and very short, using 120cm and 60cm slings to make aiders really helps.

Depends how far the bolts are from each other, and how horrible the feet. You can also still use the holds on the route, just stick a draw in your mouth while pulling up to the next hold and clip and grab.

Also FYI: Bolts make really good footholds!

Let's turn the conversation towards a trad route where the climbing is above my limit for 15 feet. Say a crack dips down to tips for 15 feet and is steep or there aren't feet. I would imagine that I reach as high as possible and place a cam, then I'm not exactly sure what's efficient. Maybe put a sling on it and walk my feet up until I can stand in the sling, clip the piece, and repeat? Is there a technique with a daisy chain that might be as fast as this without frogging my arms?

Jeff, the easiest and quickest would be to reach as high as you can, place a piece, pull on it while clipping, then pull the rope tight and either have your partner take or clip yourself in, then either stand in a sling to reach higher or just place a piece 3-4 feet and repeat. Try to back clean at least every other piece so you don't run out.

You should still be able to use your feet in the crack or smeared on the wall to the sides. If it's a slab to vert you should be able to do this, if it's overhanging you can clip your self into your current piece, clip the next piece then unclip yourself while pulling on the rope.

We need videos on how to "cheat" our way up stuff!

Side note: if you are getting on a route where you might be standing in slings to aid through a short section, make sure to bring a couple of slightly thicker nylon slings for comfort. Standing in 8mm spectra slings in rock shoes gets painful really fast.

I do all of the above. Good stuff. Key for me is to place high, put the rope in the piece and pull down on it. You have a 2:1 if you pull on the rope. 1:1 if you pull in the piece. :)

It's 2:1 - if you pull on the side of the rope that's opposite the piece from you, then the rope pulls on your harness with the same force you pull on the rope (ignoring friction) so it's effectively 2:1 since your body is lifted both by the force on your arms, and also by the force from the rope on your harness.

Uh, someone missed high school physics.
ropebook.com/information/pu…

Kedron Silsbee wrote:It's 2:1 - if you pull on the side of the rope that's opposite the piece from you, then the rope pulls on your harness with the same force you pull on the rope (ignoring friction) so it's effectively 2:1 since your body is lifted both by the force on your arms, and also by the force from the rope on your harness.

Agreed. Although I would explain it as ...

Pulling 2 foot of rope down past some point on your body raises you 1 foot.

Of course, it is not quite that good due to friction over the top biner.

I'm not an expert at fast French free techniques. At the same time, in my experience, the efficient part of it is not wasting time waffling about whether to do it. Worse is to try the move a bunch of times, failing each time, and then finally French freeing through the move or two: NOT time-efficient and can burn you out for climbing efficiently higher up.

And then there is doing it safely. The previous caution about not hooking yourself is important. A previous partner of mine went to the ER for doing that - impaled his wrist.

Last for me ...

Beware of connecting directly to a piece / bolt and then moving up to place the next piece or clip the next bolt. Falling back onto that direct connection will be BRUTAL.

Just don't connect directly? You will need to connect direct when communication with your belayer isn't good enough for movements / tasks that need to be synchronized: "Take!", "Climbing!", "Clipping!", "Take!", etc..

When moving up, if a slip is possible or you are actively pulling on the next piece up and it might pop, don't be directly clipped into a piece upon which you would fall.

An afternoon practicing with a top rope is time well spent.

Bill Lawry wrote: Agreed. Although I would explain it as ... Pulling 2 foot of rope down past some point on your body raises you 1 foot. Of course, it is not quite that good due to friction over the top biner.

You should really review cfuttner's link. If you have your rope running up from the belayer, through a single carabiner, and straight down to your harness, you have a 1:1. If you pull 1' of rope down, you go up 1'. Think about it...

Ryan Nevius wrote: You should really review cfuttner's link. If you have your rope running up from the belayer, through a single carabiner, and straight down to your harness, you have a 1:1. If you pull 1' of rope down, you go up 1'. Think about it...

My thinking about it won't change my answer, with all due respect.

His link is not about the same configuration as that of a leader pulling down on the line that runs up to the top piece and back down to the leader's harness.

His link would be the "same" configuration if the belayer were trying to pull down on the rope leading up to the top piece and then back down to the leader.

Sorry Ryan, Bills right, no diagram needed. its the same thing as being on top rope and putting ascenders on the belayer's side. You are pulling only 1/2 your weight (in reality 3/4 or so with friction) twice the distance, as in you pull down 1' on the ascenders and you rise 6". same as batman-ing up the rope after a fall.