How I Rope Solo. Everything You Need to Know!!

hello folks today i'm going to go through your rope solo questions that you posed to me on a recent video that i brought out of me soloing the root and glopperdarlin there were loads of really good questions on there i've got old questions down here i'll give you some answers as you can see we're in our new uh studio setup we've got our favorite climber over here the big o on some alpine route so he's gonna sort of uh bring inspiration and and help us along for the for the rope soloing questions so the first question how to start rope soloing do you do it on a super easy route do you do with a partner how do you start safely so the way i started rope souling was actually by reading a book by andy kirkpatrick called me myself and i and i actually re i had no idea about rope soloing how to do it systems what to do i read that book covered cover and then i just went out started practicing on some easy things and then gradually progressed harder and harder kind of like you would do with any normal standard climbing really but i would say that book me myself and i was the real the really good thing of of how i learned how i learned the systems and and basically how rope solving worked so are the falls different rope solving to normal b laying yes they are slightly different i would say that if you're quite close to the belay then it can be a little more of a sort of like a shock fall it's coming directly onto a piece of like onto your belay onto a piece of gear if you're further out from the belay then generally you can have a little bit more i always think there's a little bit more slack than you realize in the system so i generally think you can fall a bit further on a rope solo than with a normal b layer okay how to set up a rope solo so everybody's got different setups with with a rope solving system the way i do it is i use my belay so i'll have an upward pulling belay this could either be on bolts or a trap a built tread belay in an upward pull direction when your piece of gear catches you up here and you fall then the belay is going to pull up the only time you would pull down on the belay is if you took a factor to fall onto the belay so if you totally stripped the pitch of gear and you fell straight onto the belay and now if you had an upward pulling belay in that situation let's say it was made of wires for example and it was an upward pulling belay you stripped your pitch there is a risk of you then stripping the belay from pulling the wires downwards so in that case it's actually really important to also have the belay in a downward pulling direction as well so you want an upwards and downward pulling direction so the next thing that i would look at for setting up a good rope solar system the device that you're using now the device that i use is something called a silent partner quite difficult to get hold of these days below that i have a traction and that essentially keeps the weight of the spare rope off the device so it's feeding well and properly what you can do is you could also add an extra belay loop or a piece of cord to the harness so you have a backup of that belay loop if you if you wanted to because it is only through the belay loop so if your below loop failed then you would totally fall out the system with the traction i always tend to put this below the solo device because that way you can reach it with both hands now some people like to have it on a gear loop either side but i've found when i've been doing this and you're actually on pictures that are at your limit then actually reaching around your harness when you're climbing to feed rope when it's on the wrong side is actually quite tricky which is why i like to have it in the center so you can reach it with both hands so how did i learn to rope solo i guess i covered this but i read the book me myself and i and then i just went and practiced and practiced and practiced the first place i climbed was the peak district and that was single pitch climbs and that was more to figure out the actual technique of climbing feeding rope managing it whilst you're climbing a pitch and then after that i actually made a trip to squamish that was more to figure out the systems of swapping over at belays uh how to manage the rope properly where to clip it into the quickest way to basically go from pitch to pitch so how much would a rope soloing setup cost you that really depends on the solar device that you get i use the silent partner very hard to come by these days and if you do can buy one then it's probably going to cost you more than your house but there are there are other um lots of other solar devices on the market another popular one is the grigri so they're not to you know that's just like a normal piece of climate gear not too expensive the best and safest solo devices but not the silent partner yeah i do think the silent partner is probably the best and the safest it's got a double attachment point and it's the only solar devices or one of only the solar devices which is built for solo climbing so other than the silent partner i've only used the grigri and the revo i've used both to decent effect it would be hard to say you know which one is the safest to be honest i mean they're both devices that aren't made for rope soloing but do work for rope soloing so am i still using the silent partner and have i considered moving to anything newer such as the revo yes i am still using the silent partner but i have used the reaver in the past for more sort of like um faster and lighter solo missions so when i was soloing both half dome and elk cap in a single day then i used the revo i just wanted something a little bit lighter i was also doing quite a lot of aid climbing on that or daisy soloing um and i just wanted something to sort of back me up in a way but when i'm doing hard free climbing and there's the higher percentage or possibility of falling off then i always revert back and go back to the silent partner what would be my second choice of device if i didn't have a sign-in partner i think to be honest i would probably try and get into using the grigri i know something like the grigri plus has a lead and top rope mode on it and if you switch the lead mode then the rope feeds out the device much smoother so pros and cons of the solar devices that i have used if we start with the silent partner which is my main solar device if we look at the pros then it's got a double attachment point it's actually built for soloing it feeds really well it's just the smoothest one i've used and it also catches the fall in any orientation or direction the cons i guess are that it is quite big and bulky and a little bit heavy it's sort of like jangling around it can be a little bit annoying let's put it that way because it's kind of big and heavy what else have we got the revo this isn't built for rope soloing so i would say that is a negative one of the things that i have found with the revo is that the some little catchers on the side these are used to help lock the rope but what i've found is that when you're climbing these can actually flick up and down without you being aware and then suddenly you can't feed yourself rope also with the revo you only have one attachment point uh with that i would actually recommend using something like a mayon or steel carabiner when you've taken a fall on them to be very varied in length before it locks up so sometimes it you know locks up completely instantly and then other times you're just like just like falling and then just like in terms of the grigri i think the the pros and cons are pretty similar to the revo other than i think a four with the grigri uh because it's a different system uh for catching uh it's done on friction rather than like the rotation of something spinning the grigri maybe is slightly more consistent in the size of four or the time it takes to lock up the device when it catches you but in terms of the other pros and cons i think it's probably pretty similar it's it is a little bit smaller so it's a little bit lighter uh but then you know on negative side you've only got one attachment point yeah all the kind of things that i went through with the other one so how do i set up the anchor to start climbing on a rope solo it's very easy if it's vaulted belay i would just uh clip two carabiners to the bolts belay and then make a like a bunny ears if it's a trad climbing anchor this is a little bit more complicated because you have to think about all the different scenarios so usually you would just go with an upward pull direction like i mentioned before if there's a chance of taking a factor two onto the belay you also need to have it in a downward pull direction because you can end yourself in a very sticky situation if i have got a trans climbing anchor and i've got my main master point coming to a point here i'll clip my rope into it but then i will also have the the very end of the rope clipped into another carabiner just so that the rope isn't clipped solely into one master point carabiner it's basically that's where the main load is going onto that but then i've got a backup and it'll be clipped just into another piece of gear or somewhere else in the anchor so that i've got the rope clipped into two pieces and it's not just on one carabiner because you can do all these things of like i've got double carabiners on my harness i've got extra loops here but then you just clip the rope solely into one carabiner on the belay and then there's no point in doing all the other stuff is there you may as well you know you may as well be in two points everywhere if i didn't have a silent partner what would i use i think what i would try and use is what i mentioned before which is i think it's the grigri plus and i would use that in lead mode is it lead mode the one which feeds rope more easily it's going to be lead mode isn't it because you want to feed rope more easily how is it climbing with the silent partner compared to a grigri setup and like i say i haven't really used the grigri setup that much and when i have used it i haven't got the systems right properly so to be honest i've found it like total nightmare and that's basically because i just haven't practiced with it and haven't got the system set up i'm sure i would get used to it and it would become my sort of go-to method if i didn't have a silent partner uh so this is an interesting question so this is in relation to the video that i put out about the rope soldering glopper darling i mentioned about placing a piece of gear above the belay to redirect the rope through it so that the belay wasn't sagging back down and you could keep it in that upward direction pull this person is asking would i clove hitch into that piece and again yes you could pull the rope tight so the anchor stayed upwards have that piece hang downwards and just clove hitch into that piece how do i manage security when soloing preparation so i would say when i'm climbing with a partner i do 50 percent sort of rely on them a little bit for the preparations you know you're sort of a little bit more relaxed about what you're taking in the gear and you're sort of chatting it between you but when you're going out by yourself you're on it and you know exactly what gear you need to bring and i make sure i have the rack sort of set out i go through everything individually the next thing i'll do which i think is really important is to check the weather and then double check the weather and then triple check the weather and then check the weather when you are at the car park check the weather when you're at the base of the climb and keep checking the weather when you are doing the climb if you can you know if you have access to the internet on your phone i've always done this i've made sure that i've always done it even more after i read an article that steve mcclure wrote about when he tried to go rope soloing and he got totally shafted by the weather halfway up the route and it basically nearly ended him in really in a really bad way basically and then on the other factors for security um yes i do take a mobile phone um tell somebody at least one person where you're going you know all those kind of precautions that you would take when you're going uh climbing in the mountains really one thing that i should actually get better at which i'm not very good at is taking a small personal uh first aid kit the final thing that you want to take is a knife that is one thing that you should never get i nearly ended in quite a funny situation when i went to solo the first few pictures of the nose and i got to a little traverse to sickle ledge my rope dropped down and it dropped down into a a rope eating crack couldn't pull it out so i had to abseil down i had to stand on this little ledge and i was stood there for about five minutes like you know arse in the air hands right down by the crack just giving it everything to pull this rope out the crack and i i would have been in you know would have been fine if i couldn't get the rope out because i could have called for somebody to come and help me but that was one time i didn't bring a knife and i was thinking oh my goodness i'm gonna like a right flipping plonker if uh i'm stuck here my rope is stuck i haven't got a knife and i can't get down off pitch four of the nose i was pulling and pulling pulling and then suddenly it just like fired out the crack and there and i was free and then i got the hell out there have i ever taken a four whilst rope soloing where one or more pieces has failed no what would you say the most dangerous part of rope soloing is staying focused not being able to discuss things with a partner doing everything yourself and you making all the decisions that's probably the most dangerous thing about it i think the actual acts of rope solving and climbing a pitch i've never found to be that dangerous the thing that is dangerous is those big days you're tired and you'll make you're having to make those decisions on your own what's the worst mistake i've made whilst rope soloing this is an easy one for me i remember it well it was when i was uh rope solo free climbing mount watkins in yosemite i just led the crooks pitch it was basically the struggle of my absolute life like clinging on for dear life to get this to climb this thing i got to the belay my feet were on absolute fire the crook's pitch is kind of a leaning pitch you it kind of goes up in this direction and i ended up for some bizarre reason coming down the pitch cleaning the pitch the whole way down until i got to the last piece over here and i got to this last piece and then my belay was out over here and i was like i was really tired at the time and i just thought i'm going to take this piece out and i'm going to just take the ride across the slab and i can swing and i can and just and make a good landing but there was a big corner over on this side i took the piece out i started running across the slab and then i just literally me corner it was like that it was literally felt like hitting the floor i smashed into it with my hand and my side i load myself back to the uh the ledge with the belay um but initially i thought i'd broken my wrist but luckily i'd well i hadn't and yeah basically that was the biggest mistake i would say i've ever made uh because what i should have done was i should have left all my pieces in and then stripped it on the way back up before we go into more ropes all the questions i just want to announce the sponsor of today's video which is skillshare skillshare is an online platform which i've been using over the last few months to improve my video editing recently i've just finished a course by ali abdul which takes you through a tutorial on final cut pro which is a video editing software which i upgraded to a few months ago i know this video is quite basic in its filming and editing but hopefully the regular viewers of the channel have seen some improvement in my videos from the birth of the channel until now those later improvements that i've made have been through the courses that i've taken on skillshare you know there are loads of courses on this platform i wouldn't say there's any rope solving tutorials uh but if you're looking for something creative which is a little bit more mainstream then this is a platform with a you know a wealth of information where you'll be able to find stuff if you are interested in checking out the platform then we at wide boys have a special link and the first 1000 people who click the link and sign up can get a free month of using skillshare when you sign up not only do you get a free month but you also really help us out on the channel so give it click sign up see what it's all about learn something new thanks very much to skillshare for sponsoring the video do i normally bring aid climbing gear no because i'm usually on free climbing missions what's the most common mistake when rope learning to rope solo maybe the most common mistake is trying to copy what other people are doing people love to try and know what i'm doing but i'm not necessarily sure it's the best thing but i think it's the best thing for me and my type of climbing and the risk that i'm happy to take and i think what people do is they try and copy what other people are doing but i always think with rope solving what you should do is you should pick elements from everybody's systems and then make a system yourself and then be happy with that system and be happy with the risk of that system has anybody repeated my in a day ropes all about cap no not that i know of rope soloing must be tedious what do i do to ensure that it is that i'm having a good time to make sure i want to be there make sure you want to do the route when you do bigger things it can be quite overwhelming so just taking it pitch by pitch and enjoying the pitch that you're doing and then focusing on the next one when the previous is finished so how do you do a traverse pitch whilst you rope soloing it's confusing as hell what's the best way to do it yes traverses they're a nightmare basically you have to climb the pitch three times so if you're doing a traverse pitch you would lead out on the vaulted belay you would traverse and you'd finish on the bolted belay here one option is to fix hard here you would climb but on attraction or a grigri or something and you would back climb clipping all your pieces of gear and then you would get back to your start point here you could tie into the end of the rope and then also put a grigor on for example and then you'll climb again take it in on the grigri uh you could rest on the piece of gear and you would take the gear out as you went back to this point here the next option is when you get to the end of the belay here you can fix it in so you have a bit more slack in the system come back down or you'd use your lowering device like a grigri or something you would lower back down and you'd have a joomla on the road pulling you in so you'd be lowering down jumaring back across the traverse and then what you would do is you take the pieces of gear out on the way back now this way you do end up in this like massive y hang and it can be quite sort of like awkward and bouncy and sort of like you're lowering out a little bit you're jimmering up you're luring out you do marrying up you're taking pieces out you're taking a little bit of a fall but then when you get back to the belay you have enough slack in the system or you've left enough slack in the system and then you can lower out if there's a bolted belay you can lower out on this bolted belay lower all that do a normal lower out like you would lower all the way out to below your other belay pull your rope and then two more back up to that belay now that system wouldn't work obviously if you're on a trad belay because you can't retrieve that belay uh that first belay in which case you would have to use the first system of actually just like climbing the pitch three times okay how to manage back feeding when you are halfway up the route there's a lot of ways of doing this some people tie like bungee cords rounds bits of things and then they snap when it comes off and all this kind of stuff um but to be honest like i've never ever done that uh maybe just because i'm free climbing and it's just like it's just impossible to do when you're hard free climbing you can't do it always just kept it really simple i've just tied an overhand knot into a piece of gear and then clipped it in i like you you often get comments of like oh but then you're falling back onto that piece of gear or like oh what if that piece of gear rips the first thing what if that piece of gear rips well it doesn't matter if that gear rips because it's only there to hold the rope the second thing is what if that gear doesn't rip well it doesn't matter if it doesn't rip you've just created another belay in the middle of the root and yes you are going to take more of a shock for because you've just created another belay within that root but it's no different to taking a fall close to the belay where you were before so i just keep it really simple overhand not clip it into a piece of gear do i use backup knots or is the idea never to fall i don't use backup knots because when you're free climbing and when you're hard free climbing the idea of trying to like tie back up knots untie back up knots have loads of loops of rope on pre-clipped onto your harness it's just it all just gets in the way to be honest it's a bit too much for me so i opt not to tie back up knots the only time i do tie back up knots or back up not in the rope is if i'm potentially on a really hard pitch and what i'll do is i'll look at the pitch first i'll decide where the hard climbing is going to be so it's going to be halfway at the pitch for example and then i will tie a backup knot at three quarters of the way through the rope that way it's not going to get in the way the hard climbing but if the device the solar device the system in the solar device did fail and the backup knot would get caught in the system essentially but the way i kind of see backup knots uh when you're free climbing rope soloing is that your first point of safety is your climbing your second point of safety is your equipment so really we have got two points of safety here we've got a climbing ability and we've got our solar device to catch us in a fall if we think we're going to fall off if i was to start tying backup knots that would actually affect my climbing and give me a higher risk of falling off which is my first point of safety it would affect my first point of safety by doing a third point of safety however you shouldn't like i was saying earlier in this video choose your own system don't do what other people do do what you are comfortable with doing so don't do what i do so why do i have attraction in the lead setup the traction is used to keep the weight of the spare rope feeding into the device off the device directly so that it can feed properly so which in my opinion is easier rope soloing or making friends to climb with you definitely rope soloing what is your multi-pitch sequence so when you get to the top of the climb what do i do how do i make it most efficient to like get to the top get down undo the last belay do more back up and we'll climb the pitch i will get to the belay i will pull up the end of the rope and i will attach that into the next belay and that is going to be my starting point for the next pitch to make sure there's not loads of slack in the system i will then get the rope where i've just finished the pitch where it's coming out the device and i'll then attach that into the belay and then i'll abseil down off that point come all the way back down to the belay and then i'll undo that belay and then what i'll do is i'll attach the end of the rope to me and i'll carry that up whilst i'm gmaring then make myself safe i will get the end of the rope that i've jumad up with that's attached to me i will then start stacking that into the bag a good way to stack it is to actually run it up to a carabiner and then pull it down into the bag and then eventually i'll get to the knots which i use to abseil down on i'll undo those knots keep stacking keep stacking and then eventually i'll get to the very end of the rope which is in the belay which i clipped into when i got that belay initially that's going to be my starting point for the next pitch i will then attach my solar device and all that kind of stuff re-rack and go how do you set up a anchor on a vaulted route when you rope soloing you use the first bolt and then you could redirect it through the second bolt so what length and diameter of rope did i use on el cat a sterling marathon i'm not sure what diameter that is but that's what i used what length of rope did i use i think had an 80 meter rope and that was so i could combine pictures together do i always go fast and light i do like going fast and light i'm not much of a hauler you could say do i ever use the continuous loop system no thank you to adam for joining us for this episode stay quite quiet uh but have you got anything to say adam anything you want to add to the the rope solo conversation there we go

Channel: Wide Boyz

Views: 155,776

Keywords: rope soloing, how i rope solo everything you need to know, how to rope solo, rope solo 101, rope soloing questions, how to rope solo with gri gri, how to rope solo with revo, how to rope solo with silent partner, silent partner rope soloing, crack climbing, wide boyz, pete whittaker, pete whittaker rope solo, pete whittaker rope solo el cap

Id: KJ9HGuiIc6w

Length: 26min 26sec (1586 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 08 2021