RRC Archives

Here is an old (1996) thread on the subject from the old alt.climbing newsgroup:

http://www.inergi.com/~nick.parker/Solo_tr.htm

if you are worried about the ascender comming off, once you are off the deck (top roping), tie a figure 8 in the bight and clip into it! yes, you have to "take" to do this, but it is worth it. problem solved.

I recently purchased a petzl basic ascender and it worked really well. I backed it up with a prussik that I pushed up along the rope as I climbed. I bundled the rope at the bottom to weight it. The rope fed thru the ascender with no problems.

I've rope soled TR, aid and lead. One good approach is to aid routes that you can and then TR them to get your climbing fix. Also, some routes just don't lend themselves to roped soloing.

I use a modified gri-gri and it works ok as long as I am consistent in setting it up. I've roped soloed a multipitch route at Seneca and many here in the RRG.

I used to TR solo with a Gibbs ascender. It worked pretty well. Now I use a gri-gri and a jumar with the free end of the rope pulleyed through a biner on the jumar. When you make a moved all you have to do it yank down on the free end below the jumar and the slack reels in.

If you're really interested in getting in to it you should sit down with someone, or better yet-go climbing with them, that knows what their doing.

Here's a little tutorial I whipped up. If you get killed it's your own fault. The only reason I put this on here is because it took me so long to develop a system for myself that I missed out on many fine climbing days because I hadn't figured it all out. This is copywrited and all that stuff, yeah right!

Roped soloing with a modified Gri-Gri

WARNING!!! This system is not for the novice climber. Bombproof anchor building skills, along with infinite patience is necessary for safe roped soloing. You should also be very knowledgeable about fall factor and the forces generated in a fall. If you are unsure about anything mentioned below, seek the advice of an experienced roped soloist or do not attempt this form of climbing.

Modifications to the Gri-Gri:

1) Cut off the flange on the “Climber” side of the cover. Make sure all edges are smooth and without burrs, as the rope will pass through here.

2) Drill a 4-5mm hole through both the cover and the main body of the Gri-Gri between the “F” in “ONLY FOR ROPE” and the “M” in “MADE IN FRANCE.” This is for a keeper cord to attach the Gri-Gri to a chest harness to keep it upright.

3) On the cover, cut away the extra metal between the previously drilled hole and the outside (bottom) edge of the cover. This is so the cover will open without untying the keeper cord. Smooth all edges.

4) Locking ‘biner. Rig the locking ‘biner with heavy rubber bands or elastic cord and cord zips, so that the Gr-Gri cannot cross-load the ‘biner and cause failure. Tape will also work but is not as efficient.

Rigging the system for lead climbing:

1) The most crucial aspect of roped soloing is the anchor. For trad routes, a complex, multi-point anchor is ideal. If large trees are available, by all means, utilize them. Just make sure your rope is anchored in a such a way that the rope will not slip upward. If trees are unavailable use a gear anchor. Cordelettes are ideal and recommended. A Yates Screamer or two in the system won’t hurt. WARNING: Be certain of your anchor building skills! Good judgment is a must.

For sport routes: The above will work for sport routes. There is another quick and easy set up for bolted climbs. First, stick clip the first bolt with a locking biner tied to the end of your climbing rope. When you begin climbing, as you pass the first bolt, lock the gate. When you get to the second bolt, clip a second locking biner to it and tie a clove hitch to it and snug up the rope between the bolts so there is no slack. This keeps neither biner from cross loading. WARNING: make sure you give yourself plenty of rope when you clean to make up for the fact that your anchor end is even with the first bolt and does not reach the ground!

2) Take the loose end of the rope and begin stacking from there. When you have finished stacking the anchor end of the rope should be on top of the pile. Make sure your rope will feed and not get tangled. Take extra care if the route traverses or angles right or left. Note that he rope will drift in the direction the climb goes. A tarp covering the base from the start of the climb to the finish is recommended.

3) Your modified Gri-Gri should be attached to your belay loop on your harness with a locking biner that cannot be cross loaded. Load the rope into the Gri-Gri with the anchored end passing into the Gri-Gri through the climber side and exiting through the belay side of the device.

When you stand directly over your anchor the rope should run from the left side of the Gri-Gri (cover facing your body) to your anchor with the loose end dangling from the right end to your stacked rope.

Tie the Gri-Gri into a chest harness with 4-5mm accessory cord snugly.

4) Rack up and get your shoes on. You’re ready to climb!

5) To feed slack you must pull downward on the anchor end of the rope. It will take twice as much movement as with conventional belaying.

Considerations:

1) You will need to feed a lot of slack to clip protection above your shoulders. It is best to clip at your waist.

2) Rope drag will get worse the higher you go. Be aware of long routes with high cruxes. Also be aware that the higher you go the more likely it will be that the rope will creep through the belay device and sneak extra slack on you. Every so often it is a good idea to tie a clove hitch into a piece of protection to keep the weight of the rope from causing this to happen. Be aware as well that the fall factor increases after each fixed point on the rope. The closer you are to a knot, the higher the fall factor.

3) A good oppositional piece at the beginning will keep your anchor in line.

4) Be ready to aid climb if necessary. Carry slings or etriers and a jumar.

5) Wear a helmet!

6) Traverses, roofs and ledges will be more difficult to negotiate with this system. Straight up climbs are the best.

7) Carry a conventional rappel device for getting down.

Rigging the system for top rope climbing:

1) Secure a top anchor. If the route is a half rope length or less, tie into the middle of the rope and let both ends hang down. You can climb on one rope and back yourself up on the other.

2) Attach the Gri-Gri with the top anchor end of the rope passing in to the device on the “Climber” side. Chest harness is optional but recommended.

3) Attach an ascender to the rope above the Gri-Gri. Clip into it directly with a daisy chain.

4) Clip a loose biner to the jumar on the opposite side of the rope from the climber. Take the loose end of the rope below the gri-gri and clip it through the loose biner making a simple pulley system.

5) As you climb pull down on the loose end of the rope. This will pull the rope through the gri-gri. Then push the jumar up. Repeat. It helps to attach a weight to the end of the rope.

This tope rope system is redundant as long as the biners on the gri-gri and the jumar do not become cross loaded. It is best to continuously advance the system keeping slack out of the system. This is where the counter weight really comes in handy.

Petzl will probably kill me for this. You would be better off buying a Soloist than to modify the gri-gri but to my best understanding they work in almost the exact same way. Just keep in mind that all of this is inherently more difficult and dangerous than conventionally belayed climbing. I try to stick with routes I would be competent free soloing in a pinch or at least that I have lead more than a few times. I have only fallen once and it was a controlled (though unavoidable) fall.

i did some research on modifying gri-gri's a while back and came up with the same plan. since then i've done a lot of pitches with mine and i was reasonably happy with the performance. i've even taken some good lead falls on it, so it does work sometimes. however, after i modified mine, i found out about a serious flaw with cutting off the triangular flange piece on the hinged housing. this piece is designed to keep the lead line from getting under the clutch (where the gold colored dot is). leading with a gri-gri that has been modified as such opens the possibility for the lead end of the rope to get loaded across the sharp edge of the underside of the clutch. this could be catastrophic as it could cut your rope in front of the back-up knots. ugggghhhhh, shudder. so, in light of this i would strongly discourage anyone from modifying their gri-gri. an unmodified gri-gri works very well for aid soloing anyway. i just use mine for tightening slack-lines now.

sometimes it's hard for me to stop with this stuff when i get going. so here's my take on rope drag. rope drag should never be a problem soloing. keeping the weight off the free end of the lead line can be accomplished by tieing back-up knots and one should always tie back up knots. no matter what, always tie back-up knots. true story- a climber was soloing Eagle's Way on El Cap last year with a non-modified gri-gri. the climber even had one of those special belay biners that come with that thick piece of plastic to prevent cross loading (looks pretty effective). anyway the guy had been doing alot of backcleaning and ripped something out, when the rope came tight it broke his special belay biner into bits. good thing he had back-up knots.
one can also keep the weight off the lead end of the line by using long prussiks attached to pieces every so often. this seems to work well and reduces the higher fall factor associated with the clove hitch.

Another option besides long prussiks is to use real light string or baggy ties or anything that will break easily under a load.