Remove rope twists with an ATC
This tip and video come from AMGA Certified Rock Guide Cody Bradford.
While sadly Cody is no longer with us, his Instagram continues to stay up and is a great source of tips like this, check it out.
Twists (aka pigtails) in your rope are a hassle, and you need to get ‘em out.
The source of pigtails is often a mystery. Some possible causes might be:
Munter hitch rappel or lower with poor technique
Lowering off an anchor with quicklinks lying flat against the rock
Unwrap a new rope in a hurry
Or just some random rope weirdness!
Here's a simple and fast way to decluster your spaghetti pile.
Clip a carabiner and a tube style belay device (here the DMM Pivot, my fave) to a bolt, some rock pro, tree branch, whatever, about head high.
Flake the rope onto the ground.
If you have the space, try to stretch the rope out to most of its full length. (A grassy field or park works well for this.)
Why stretch out the rope? Because as you pull the rope through your device, the twists start migrating toward the end. If the rope is all stretched out, these twists can more easily work themselves out the end of the rope instead of making a gigantic tangle as will probably happen if you flake the rope into a pile. (Ask me how I know about this . . . )
Feed the rope through the belay device and carabiner, and pull the rope through. When you get to the twists, continue pulling through the device, giving a few shakes and shimmies as needed.
As the rope is pulled through the small diameter of the belay device, the twists move to the end of the rope and should work themselves out. If your rope is REALLY messed up, you might need to repeat this.
Pigtails in your rope can be more than a minor annoyance. It’s especially important to remove them when you're pulling a rappel rope.
If you don't, the strands can twist together or cause other weirdness, making your rope very difficult to pull, or maybe even impossible. Check out this description and photo from @aledallo91.
“. . . a crunch created during the recovery of a rope on a broken descent on two anchors that forced me to abandon it, as it was impossible to recover from the intermediate stop. Then I went back up to save my baby. ❤️
This ball was formed by itself in recovering the rope, due to the twisting of the last meters of the same.
Experience that teaches the importance of checking that the rope is always well stretched and free of slots and twists before attempting the retrieve.”
Like most climbing techniques, it’s a better show than a tell. Here’s a short video from Cody showing how it’s done.
