Top Rope Solo Tips for Rehearsing a Crux Section

[@RonMarish]

Just ordered the neck lanyard for trs. Thanks for inventing it and thanks for your great videos!

[@wetl2628]

Perfect. Same as in caving, rope rescue. Add a cordolette as a footloop to the ascender if you dont have an adjustable PAS so you can lower yourself to weight the grigri.

[@choss0]

If you're working sections this much the much better solution is a taz lov3 or lov2

[@brentbclimbs]

I finally have a Taz Lov - will give it a try and report back! Agreed that it is likely way better for retrying short sections over and over. But, pulleys have a lot of upsides (not to mention cost of the Taz) that override the hassle of a few transitions like this, IMO

[@jeremiahjahn]

@@brentbclimbs It's going to change your life forever. Both convenience and safety. You're going to luv it. The repel on it can be a bit subtle until you get a feel for it. But enjoy!

[@BenbowBoulders]

You should really try a Neox with a micro trailing below on sling as backup and (stopper knot). Really smooth transitions and only a couple pounds added drag.

[@brentbclimbs]

I have a Neox.. I'll try this out! Does yours catch right away everytime?

[@BenbowBoulders]

@@brentbclimbs I use it to do laps on the same 5 or 6 routes we have added to our local bridges. The routes are dead vertical and have no danger of sharp edges for the rope so it's a perfect scenario for the Neox setup. I usually have limited time and I'm trying to get a bunch of laps in, I use it like an auto belay on things I've climbed 100 times. The routes are about 25 meters and I use an old rope I've cut so I only have maybe 5-10 meters extra rope, that's in my rope bag tied to bottom. I've tested it many times (with stopper knot) just off the ground, and yes it's always caught immediately. I've used a 9.2 and a 9.8 rope.obviously every rope is different so test it first. I've taken maybe a dozen unintentional falls but most higher up with all the extra rope weight. I think the micro trailing below also helps keep rope in braking position. But I've done tests without micro and it caught too. That being said I would never use Neox without backup of some kind. And if the micro Traxion was involved In my catches I wouldn't be using the system. Its only a backup. I also think Neox and GriGri feed and catch better then in a completely static slow pull test setting because as you climb everything moves in jerks and bounces helping things slip thru or catch.. I've tried on a 30 degree overhanging bridge route and it did not feed well and was annoying. Anyway. Not for everyone or every situation but I think the Neox definitely has a place in TRS.

[@jonatanjohansson2496]

At 0:48, I noticed you have that "Flex-Link Anti-Crossload Protector" thing that you sell on the Spoc carabiner but not on the MicroTraxion carabiner. Has it to do with a) carabiner locking/shape differences, or b) device differences? Or something else?

[@brentbclimbs]

The top device is held snug upward with the neck lanyard, which also keeps it in place at the end of the carabiner, helping to avoid the crossloading problem. I use it on the bottom one since it hangs down loosely. Crossloading isn't a huge fear for safety in the force range of top roping, but it does improve feeding by keeping the device from sitting sideways.

[@jonatanjohansson2496]

@@brentbclimbs Thanks, that makes sense.

[@janskarohlid8297]

Where it is? Looks awesome.

[@paulhaensch2673]

Is there a reason why you wouldn't use two spocs instead of a spoc and a microtrax??

[@dillproductions83]

No reason, they are essentially the same device. Although some prefer the lockout mechanism of the trax.

[@Nofacefarmz]

On their hownot2 video if I recall correctly 2 spocs (at least if you don’t have a neck lanyard) can interact poorly and catch on each other because the way they are designed. And for why he chooses the micro over other brands I believe is because the micro takes the least amount of weight / is the smoothest to feed. It interacts well with the spoc, and the spoc is close behind it in terms of feed weight. But spoc obviously is a great bottom device with modification to make it unable to turn into a pulley like you can with the micro and other devices. Leaving for what sounds like the most balanced setup between efficiency and redundancy. Ultimately it’s a personal preference what brand and devices you want to use you just have to understand those nuances and ideally test how they interact with eachother before you buy. But I’d trust Brent’s recommendations and judgements and his dedication to finding the best systems and further optimizing them.

[@marcmichael521]

Where is he climbing? Looks nice!

[@javierm.a.4914]

What rope are you using in the video?

[@GeneRosellini]

What's that PAS setup you've got there? Looks like a petzl connect adjust but you've added an 8 millimeter cord in place of the usual piece of rope.

[@noahg-123]

just did that myself the other day. A lot smoother, and lighter, worth it for me. Go on mountin project there should be some discussions on it.

[@GeneRosellini]

@@noahg-123 His might be even less than 8mm. It's definitely the Petzl Connect Adjust camming device. Petzl strongly discourages any modification to this device-doesnt mean you shouldn't, just might mean it's rated far lower than their sewn piece of rope. Girthing their device (as it comes from the factory) on your belay loop is extremely cumbersome, and something like this is very attractive.

[@noahg-123]

@@GeneRosellini yea i mean, this might be overkill but i have two setups. I have one that I tie into my hard points for top rope soloing (theres just too much going on with the belay loop to girth hitch my PAS on it) and I have one for reguklar climbing/multipitch where I do girth hitch and it doesnt come off until the end of the day. But yea some people go down to 6mm. I prob wouldnt go past 7.7mm...

[@tangran-ok7ci]

Do you ever work short, difficult sections on just a grigri, to more easily lower back down? My project has a very short crux and it feels like too much hassle putting on and taking off the traxions over and over.

[@mathpotatostudios]

For this type of thing the toothed pulley devices ie microtrax aren't ideal. Taz Lov 2/3 is the go to device for fast lowering since it has a grigri style handle lowering system built in, but it's expensive $200+ so most people don't use it, however if you rope solo a lot its worth every penny to save going through a long process of changing devices

[@giovanniratti3663]

I like having two strands, on one I have my progress capture device, on the other I have my grigri. Very easy to switch back and forth. Great for short cruxes and repeating moves. To go down, just pull up on the grigri, disable the progress capture device and pull slack through it.

[@deanhart8154]

@@giovanniratti3663 I agree - so much easier and safer with two strands

[@brentbclimbs]

I will use the Gri to hold positions and try 1-2 moves at a time, but it doesn't auto feed, so you get slack above the device and will take harsher falls. The 2 strand method mentioned in this thread might work for some things, but is not practical for multipitch (whether fix-and-following, or rapping in with a long static rope like shown in this video series).

[@Nofacefarmz]

Overall use your own judgement when doing so and always manage the slack the best you can. If you’re isolating each move and it’s truly short cruxes and you can manage slack inbetween or during then most would say yea, like Brent said you will take harsher falls on the system if you do not manage slack. But ultimately yes you can as long as you can manage the slack yourself on the moves and you deem it safe. tie cat knots below as well for that extra layer of safety due to now lacking redundancy within your device(s). How a lot of climbers project boulders outside, you just lack the auto feeding and truly free climbing aspect of top rope soloing so ofc that’s why it’s not a device you solely want to use when trying to free climb something. Good for projecting though. Climb safe.

[@boredbeingbored676]

i've been wondering, why does everyone seem to use a belay device instead of a descender? also why do you use 2 different progress capture devices? thanks for the wisdom.

[@bfkeats]

Because most climbers already own a gri gri, and redundancy.

[@brentbclimbs]

A GriGri is the swiss-army knife of multipitch and big wall climbing. Most climbers have one on them at all times in a scenario like this. It IS a descender, and an autolocking handsfree-ish one at that