Rappelling Safety

Tim - where did you get the 6mm cord to tie those prussiks that saved our arses in Mystery? Does REI carry that stuff?
 
lostlandscapes said:
I think you might be confusing carrying a plain old Prussik cord versus using it as an auto block. Two different things. I'm all about carrying a Prussik. Just not employing it as an auto block. Those things you listed were useful because we were carrying Prussik loops, not because we were using auto blocks.
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What i am talking about is an ascending system Bo tied for me. I will ask him when i see him. It has three different tied lengths of rope.

The prussik I was taught to use above my rappel device.

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Yes!!

That was the article I was talking about.

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lostlandscapes said:
I've seen it employed both ways, but your way (slide it down with free hand, above the belay device) seems a bit safer in that its less likely to jam up. Either way, I'm not really getting why people use them or why this method is taught. With exception to the first person down, all rappellers could (and should) have someone on belay in case there's a problem.
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This is how I was taught first person down only then use belay. Wish I would have had mine at Mystery Springs but I didn't. Up until this last trip I have never been the first person down on a huge rappel.

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I'm having a hard time figuring out how to tie these knots. I'm going off of these instructions:

http://swiftwaterrescue.com/technical-rope-rescue/trr-skill-purcell-prussik-building/

I have it laid out on the table and it says to hold the three parts together and tie a figure of eight. Problem is, I don't understand what I'm supposed to tie the 8 with. I get how to tie one with the end of a rope, but have no clue what to do here. Help anyone? Or a better resource to show me how to do this?
 
Have you tried looking for YouTube videos? I bet there are some that show how to tie that.

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Success!! I just tied up my whole ascending set. It took all but about 5 feet of the 30 feet of cord that I bought. Next up: string up a rope and see if they work!
 
Wow. Ascending is hard!! I setup a rope in my back yard with about 15-20 feet of free hanging space. All of my prusiks worked great but damn is it hard to move the harness loop up while standing in a leg loop! I don't think I have the upper body strength to do it more than a few feet. It's gotta be way easier to do this up against a wall, right? going from laying back in the harness to standing on a leg loop over and over is a beast!
 
Round 2: I added a 4th loop to put higher on the rope, above my harness loop. When I would stand in my leg loops, I would reach up to that to pull myself more upright which made the whole process much easier. Still an incredible upper body workout but doable. Getting onto my rappel device from dangling 8 feet above the ground was very difficult. Looking forward to trying this with a cliff/wall to lean against.
 
nick said:
Wow. Ascending is hard!! I setup a rope in my back yard with about 15-20 feet of fee hanging space. All of my prusiks worked great but damn is it hard to move the harness loop up while standing in a leg loop! I don't think I have the upper body strength to do it more than a few feet. It's gotta be way easier to do this up against a wall, right? going from laying back in the harness to standing on a leg loop over and over is a beast!
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I told you it was one hell of a work out!!

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Other than his total inexperience, and it being late enough that he didn't see the normal bolt anchors over on the wall, the autoblock was the cause of the accident. He took a very short rappel class from a local Springdale business which champions autoblocks. and who sold him his. An autoblock, as has been suggested, is much more likely to cause problems rather than solving them, I see it only as a crutch for those who are insecure about their limited rappelling ability, which makes it even more dangerous. And it is never appropriate in a waterfall, or on a 15 ft rap.
 
I'd preface this reply by first saying that I myself HATE using the below the rap device auto blocks. I only use a VT prussic above my device on big rappels, in dry canyons, that I haven't done before, and the start is really awkward. Other than that, I'm now comfortable to not have one unless I just have a funny feeling!
When things get caught in the device, which they can and do, a rappelled needs to know how to get it unjammed.
I see some talk about ascending in the thread so hopefully I'm not just re-saying what someone else said earlier but if the man in the accident had known how to ascend the whole tragic end could've been avoided. Simply step up in a prussik or rope grab of some sort and pull the jam out.
Another option is a releasable anchor, which is only effective with someone up top, would be a simple way to just get someone down to the ground by lowering then they can get unjammed.
Those are a few things I know relative to the Subway incident.
 
I'm going to have to agree with Brutus, not just because we are friends. I use the VT above my rap device, that way there is no possible way it can get jammed in my device. I also believe that attaching to a leg loop is not a good option as they are not designed to be used for rappelling. It seems to me that in a fall a leg loop would break easier than a belay loop. I personally attach a VT to the top of my totem when a back up is needed. I also carry a Ropeman ascender just in case.
 
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