RRC Archives

Take a look, from the pretzl website:



So, it looks like you'd basically be descending off of a girth hitch (w/ carabiner), then you could pull the rope down after you get down. My question is... when you weight the rope to begin descent, wouldn't that jam the knot up into the chains? Seems like it could easily get stuck in a rap ring or something.

Anyone ever do this?

Yes, it can clog the works. I have yet to get a rope stuck this way, but have had some "close calls". The knot and biner can also get stuck in a crack etc when pulled...

I often lower myself using a grigri and standard tie-in on the harness.

What girth hitch? Usually its just a figure 8 on a bight with the carabiner there in case the knot were to somehow pull through the rings. Never had a knot get jammed into chains as a figure 8 is normally much bigger than a chain link but I guess it could happen on rings... Still never had it happen to me on the few dozen times I have done this.

EricDorsey wrote:What girth hitch? Usually its just a figure 8 on a bight with the carabiner there in case the knot were to somehow pull through the rings. Never had a knot get jammed into chains as a figure 8 is normally much bigger than a chain link but I guess it could happen on rings... Still never had it happen to me on the few dozen times I have done this.

+1

I do this quite a bit. It is called a knot-block with a carabiner back up. I typically just use an over hand. The know has never pulled through even in the situation shown. Less likely to happen if the rings on the bolts are far apart as the carabiner pulls knot away.

You have to be careful on longer rappels with this. Lots of times the ropes will want to twist on each other to the point that they won't pull.

Cheers,

Karsten