Solo adventures are a cool skill to have coz you never get stuck at home wanting to climb but there is noreal substititute for a real human belayer (no, your android phone doesnt qualify! ). Setting up anchors for solo top-roping is time consuming and a pain in the butt, but hey, it beats sitting at home - right?

For more advanced training you can contact Ross Suter ross@highadventure.co.za or the MCSA should have a listing of qualified intsructors. Please ensure that your chosen teacher has the proper DEAT qualifications, there are too many unqualified fly-by-night operators out there! A couple of serious accidents have happened when unqualified ppl have taken others on 'guided' climbs.

Good input Xmod & Nic

All beginners/ people who have not had much training in hands on anchor building would be well advised to heed your advice! As has already been mentioned one should ensure that one knows what you are doing...this is not a good area to get inventive! Regularly one hears guys saying that they do something in their own special way...& though this could be an excellent solution there are no guarantees unless another who is trained to assess these scenario's is consulted.

I am not trying to be protectionist of old timer values or say that new ideas are not great - just get your methods checked out. It is not enough in this game to have lots of book knowledge - you really need your anchors & system to work - it's a bit like rescue work - by the time you realise you have made a mistake it is almost impossible to reverse it!

I would caution that if you are going to climb on your own that you make absolutely 100% about your anchors (preferably 3 as mentioned above)- Xmod has made some brilliant points about the actual method & the fact that if you screw up no one will be there to help you. So please be very thorough about your methods & system!

Mostly I would like to remind all of us that if you are unsure about something then the high & lonesome is not the place to discover that you do not know how to do something!

Climb safe guys.

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Really, its not that bad...I think it's my shoes...

HEY GUYS,

SET UP AN ANCHOR AT MY LOCAL CLIMBING WALL AND GAVE THE SHUNT A GO ON DOUBLE DYNAMIC 10.5 ROPE AND HAD A BACK UP LINE WITH FIG EIGHTS EVERY FEW METERS AND HUNG THE ROPEBAG ON BOTH ROPES ABOUT A METER ABOVE THE DECK, TO ORIENTATE THE SHUNT AND HOLD IN POSITION I USED A CHEST HARNESS(AS YOU WOULDA LARGE SLING) USING SHOCK CORD ATTACHED TO THE BINER WITH SHUNT ON BELAY LOOP, WELL I WAS AMAZED AT HOW SMOOTH THE FEED WAS AND IT HELD ON EACH PRACTICE FALL WITHOUT SLIDING DOWN AN INCH, IT WAS LIKE FREECLIMBING WITH THE SECURITY OF A ROPE. I REACHED THE ANCHOR AND HAD A SLING GIRTH HICHED TO MY HARNESS AND USED A LOCKING BINER TO ANCHOR IN, THEN ATTACED MY ATC BELOW THE SHUNT AND THEN REMOVED THE SHUNT,TOOK UP SLACK ON BELAY DEVICE, REMOVED BINER TO ANCHOR AND REPELLED DOWN, RESETUP AND DID A FEW LAPS!!! SO MY QUESTION, IS THERE A BETTER WAY TO SWAP FROM SHUNT TO REPELL BUT STAY SAFE? COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

HAPPY CLIMBING

DYLAN

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"WHERE IS THE THICKET, GONE , WHERE IS THE EAGLE , GONE ..... THE END OF LIVING AND THE BEGINING OF SURVIVAL! "

Hi Dylan, yes, re-read my recommendations.
Leave the shunt directly attached to the harness belay loop with a non-turning biner. The ATC is attached with the extension sling. This is slightly more tricky than attaching it below an extended shunt as you need to draw up slack to get it on the rope, BUT, again, you should avoid extending the shunt for climbing purposes, read the manufacturer's instructions. You can still use shock cord to keep the shunt up and eliminate the slight fall one would experience otherwise. NOTE if you fall at an angle or upside down the shunt will NOT LOCK!!!!

I dont understand why you weighted the back-up rope, surely you would want the knot you're clipped to to come up with you to the next knot above. Use two locking biners for the back-ups so you can clip the next knot without first releasing the one below.

The net is NOT the place to learn new techniques. Find someone who knows their shit really well to teach you, your life depends on not screwing up in an emergency situation when you may be flustered, confused or need to act very quickly.

Fix your 2 ropes hanging as you usually do.

Only use your Shunt on 1 rope, it can handle it and will run up smoother.

When you get to the top, just hang of the shunt and put your ATC on. Crank up from the top anchors, take up a bit of slack on the ATC and down you go, holding your shunt in.

Abseil as usual on the ATC - plenty enough friction through 10.5mm rope.

This will save time not having to take the shunt off every time...

When in doubt, stay in bed!

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Gustav
Roc 'n Rope Adventures
Waterval Boven
013 257 0363
rocrope dot com

hey xmod and gustav thanks i appreciate the advice and it is taken to heart i did not weigh the back up line with the ropebag only the two lengths of dynamic through the shunt( fealt it would be more friction in a fall but as gustav said one will work). i would not be comfortable to have the shunt extended as the manual and previous comments make this clearand it fealt much better held upright with shockcord from the belay loop and therfore no slipage when it catches the fall. the wall i am climbing is not overhanging and not that high so i have biners attached as you said so i can alternate and thus always be attached to the backup line. i was also thinking that removing the shunt could be extra work but was thought of using it to back up the repell as you have suggested, thanks guys and had a partner with me anyway just wanted to expand my knowledge. after a few secioons and being pumped its nice too rest and belay my buddy for a bit anyway

happy climbing

dylan

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"WHERE IS THE THICKET, GONE , WHERE IS THE EAGLE , GONE ..... THE END OF LIVING AND THE BEGINING OF SURVIVAL! "

If you can't get holf of a Silent Partner or device designed specially for this and have to use a shunt, at least get one of these new Gridlock carabiners, it works brilliantly with Shunts and Gri-gri's:

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Gustav
Roc 'n Rope Adventures
Waterval Boven
013 257 0363
rocrope dot com