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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Abseiling tips, tricks, habits and advice 30-May-2014 At 12:31:40 PM martym

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On 30/05/2014 mikllaw wrote:
>I like a hint I saw in SuperTopo: The first person down does a rope pul
>once they are safe and off abseil. Seeing the rope move tells you they
>are safe and off abseil, no yelling required. if the rope doesn't move
>after some time and you can feel pulling, you know to fix it before you
>bail.

If it looks like the rope could snag - eg. Mirror Ball Rap - I go down last & have the first person hold the ropes, then I slide some of the "unknoted" rope side through the belay while holding firm on the "pull" rope. Sounds dodgy - but under weight the ropes don't move quick at all; and it allows me to guide the rope past obstructions till I'm confident the knot is past any major snags. This has definitely reduced difficulty retrieving the ropes.

Obviously won't work if the rope ends are just off the ground - needs to be at least 5-10m on the ground. Hence needing the fireman's belay at the bottom.