Learning to Trad Climb: Part 5 - How to abseil/rappel

[@ericvallespi8233]

What an amazing series! Very well filmed, edited and everything is explained in a super clear way!!! (and the place looks fantastic) Congrats to all the people involved in this project! Really enjoying every episode. Keep them coming ;D

[@wojciechkotas4452]

I like the movie, thanks Alice. It might be worthy to inform that the recommended (and used) prusik knot is "French Autoblocker".

[@tjb8841]

Can you explain why you had the student untie first, instructor untied and threaded her ends through the anchor? As you mentioned, you don’t want to drop your rope, so I would usually want to thread the ropes through the anchor before the other person untied. Am I missing an advantage to this order?

[@benoitcerrina]

Agreed the first thing I thought as I was about a minute in the video was oops here goes the blue rope down the mountain. Just as you explain that it is a danger. You could have threaded the rope as soon as the student untied or if you didn’t want tie a knot and clipped them to your harness prior to untying yourself

[@deinie2606]

a nice trick is to clip the end of the lanyard to the rope you want to pull at the end to save having to remember

[@matsr_2279]

Yeah I like that one as well

[@peteryoung9772]

These videos are excellent! Another little trick is to install the prussik on the rope first before doing the belay device. You can then pull some rope through and it will hold the weight of it and give you some slack making it easier to load the device and less chance of a fumble/drop.

[@rara58524]

As a beginner at first I got the impression from my instructors that rappelling is like the easiest safest part of climbing. Later I learned that actually the majority of climbing accidents happen on rappel. I've had one small accident myself - when I didn't judge the slope direction properly, so I ended up rappelling to the side of the anchor, rather than straight below it. Eventually my feet lost friction and I got violently pendulumed across and smashed into the opposing corner wall. Super silly mistake in hindsight but please do always check that your route of rappelling is actually straight below your anchor and not to the side of it, forming a longer and longer pendulum.

[@annemetteeskildsen6651]

Such a great and well explained video! Thank you

[@llovebeats3749]

So how do i get down the anchor after im done rappelling down?

[@grimlund]

You dont. Thats why bolted belay stations is to prefer. Sometimes you must build a station using your own gear. Then you must leave gear on the mountain. Its actually more common then people might think.

[@rorybaker3376]

Could you also make the mid section of the rope at the top simply go around tree or fixed loop and then you leave nothing behind

[@mrcrumb4302]

So after belaying down, do you just leave all the anchor kit at the top of the pitch?

[@sergioroman7862]

nice work Alice , thumbs up

[@atvairmax]

How do you do this when there is no anchor or bolts at the top? You just have to leave gear behind?

[@acidduk]

Tying a loop of accessory cord (aka "tat") round the biggest rock you can find seems a fairly common practice in that case, and that is left behind.

[@huwcunningham7812]

Often at popular crags there will be 'tat' (usually a loop or two of accessory cord approx 8mm) and a maillon left in place for all to use, it's always checked by the climbers and often replaced by your own kit. This is usually wrapped around a solid feature (think massive boulders). Climbers will often carry tat and a few maillons to avoid having to leave your own expensive gear. This is left for the next person to use or for your own retrieval at a later date. I carry around 5 meters of tat cord to make abseil stations and a few abseil rings/maillons.

[@jr.6199]

What alternatives do you like, instead of having newbies hold the prusik down with one hand, since people tend to clench and pull in, during a panic, leaving a prusik less effective. Also a prusik after a load is difficult to loosen.

[@acidduk]

A french prusik should be easy to unlock even when loaded. If you clench the prusic and pull in, surely you are, by extension, clenching the rope, so that should keep the braking action via the ATC? If you are doing a stacked abseil as in this video, the more experienced person is going to be at the bottom already and can give the second abseiler a firemans belay if necessary too.

[@mattbaker1683]

@@acidduk the fireman's belay is fine for short stuff but causes inconsistencies when trying to abseil, sure it's useful, but can lead to miscommunication, for example, abseiling person stops because (unknowingly) fireman has them, next they both let off and abseiling person becomes freefalling person! I actually had a fireman do a fireman's belay because my rope was a bit short by a metre or 2, and what a faff it was. I had to ask him to let go because I couldn't move, but I had to grip really hard when he let go.

[@peterbutcher4848]

Excellent series, all the needs to know with a sprinkling of nice to know. Btw remember to reapply the sunscreen

[@smurf9857]

Excellent series!

[@crt1983uk]

I'm surprised that a single overhand knot is safe enough to join two ropes and abseil from. Is this standard practice?

[@ralphmunn1685]

That "Prusik" is actually a Penberthy; it performs the same function as a prusik, but is easier to tie with one hand, easier to untie and can be formed from thicker cord, reducing the [small] chance of burn-through. And yes, "prusik" has long been in use for friction knots in general, but it's useful to understand the differences between them.

[@mattbaker1683]

A what?! It's a French prusik to me! Not entirely how I'd do it but that's generally because I use a sewn one (Beal jammy) or a single stranded one to eliminate the twists, both of which are easy to show but hard to explain. I'd also tie the friction hitch first to give slack for loading the rope(s) and to prove the hitch. I'm happy to stand corrected though. I have honestly never heard that name in any video or book, British or US.

[@bloodink9508]

@@mattbaker1683 in climbing we tend to think the word ‘prusik’ is the word for ‘friction thingy that keeps me from falling’ on a rappel. Nothing wrong with this, but prusik is the name of a specifically formed ‘knot’. The oc is simply informing that the particular formation shown here serves the function of a prusik but is not the actual formation a person identifying knots in rope work would call a prusik. There are a handful of methods which perform this function, and are often called prusiks. Autoblock, penberthy, microtraction and so on. Just so happens one of them is actually called prusik both in function and in fact.

[@sergioroman7862]

i think Ralph and Blood are being a little fancy/ pickie on the choice of words here , this video series is an introduction to trad , keep it simple guys , Nice work Alice Kerr

[@kaspareevald2264]

Love it. Good work!

[@rafaelgomez1284]

Very pedagogical lesson, whith a factual rappel. The main rason is tech safety, not only promote gear. That is fair for leanr how to proceed in the mpuntain.

[@TSchulzeMasterClimb]

Obrigado por compartilhar! Saudações de Brasil. Eu faço e recomendo: antes de procedimentos com corda (retirar corda de harness), prender a corda em algum lugar. Aqui, em vídeo, estamos tranquilos. Depois de uma atividade cansativa, onde estaremos desatentos, podemos - sem querer - deixar a corda cair. E teremos uma situação critica ou/e desesperadora.

[@rfcdgaf]

Didn't the euro death knot get tied at 2:10 lol?

[@student207]

:50 she should have secured the rope thru first then the other climber untie and drop ends, just in case.

[@quickdraw30]

nice

[@CuncunHadiantoLbbf]

Gunakan ikatan atau pengaman tali dobel supaya lebih aman, jika putus ada tali lain yg menopang

[@wojciechkotas4452]

Wow! It must be great! 😄

[@edmundravagotv171]

❤❤❤❤

[@adrian1990ts]

I feel it is quite Risky to untied your rope First without securing it with a knot or through an eye... Btw , the know you are using for rapel it is call Machard, not prusik!

[@henkmenda]

FYI knot used on rope is not prussik, its klemheist, very similiar to prussik, but its not the same and you shouldnt squeeze them with yourhand

[@SaoirseStuff]

It's a french prusik, not a klemheist. They're friction hitches not knots. You are supposed to squeeze it, as shown. All these friction hitches are colloquially called prusiks

[@mtndncer]

Both of you are anchored into the rope, no hitches, just in one rope, not a safe anchor!! I'd recommend a hitch in the rope & backing up your anchor with another sling, cordelette or webbing. :)

[@ShailenSobhee]

Need a PhD to understand all these steps well xD

[@silviorussino3271]

It's machard knot, not a prusik! Bye 😉

[@adamwojtyczka5748]

overhand knot on the end of dropped ropes is BIG MISTAKE...never do that please

[@tomvana4270]

Nose hardware is gross.