The 3 kinds of pulley systems

I'm reading up on pulley systems, and I’m hearing about “simple”, “compound”, and “complex”. What do these terms mean, and which one should I use?

Now, this is heading into slightly more advanced territory, but if you’ve read this far you hopefully still have an interest in slightly esoteric things like this. :-) As to which one to use, there’s not a quick and easy answer.

The one potential issue with the compound and complex systems is that you usually have to reset the pulleys more often as they “collapse” (or, are pulled into each other) when you pull. If you have a large working area, like the top of a crevasse, this is probably not a big deal. If you have a tiny working area, such as a hanging rock belay, then it might be more of a problem.

If you want to geek out on this, look at the YouTube video links at the bottom of the page on compound pulleys and start playing around on your living room floor. That's really the single best way to learn this. You can do it with some parachute cord and a few carabiners, you don't need pulleys or a even a real climbing rope.

1 - Simple system

When you pull the rope, the pulley(s) move in the same direction and the same speed toward the anchor.

As the rope is pulled, the pulley moves toward the anchor at a constant speed. There are three strands of rope going to and from the load and load strand, so this means it's a 3:1 MA. This is also known as a “Z drag”, because the shape of the rope is a “Z”. (If you tilt your head to the left . . .)

• In a simple pulley system, when the rope end terminates and is attached at the anchor, then the MA will result in an even number (e.g. 2:1, 4:1, 6:1, etc.).

• When the rope end terminates and is attached at the load, then the resulting MA will be an odd number (e.g. 3:1, 5:1, etc.).

In the photo below, the rope end attaches to the load, so we have an odd MA number, 3:1.

A 3:1 simple system. The pulley moves at a constant speed toward the anchor.

2 - Compound system

When you pull the rope, the pulleys move in the same direction, but at different speeds toward the anchor.

This can be created by building a 3:1 Z drag, and then adding a 2:1 onto the strand you’re pulling. With a compound system, the mechanical advantage of each separate pulling system is multiplied.

Below, we see a 3:1 on the white rope, and a 2:1 on the black rope. Together, the two systems are multiplied to get a 6:1. Note that the white rope will move the load 1 foot for every 3 feet of rope you pull, while the black rope moves upwards 1 foot for every 2 feet of rope you pull. Therefore, the black rope will reach the anchor point before the white rope, meaning you need to reset the system more often.

Note - If you have 3:1 set up and and need more pull, making a compound 6:1, as we see below, is often a great idea. An example would be crevasse rescue on a two person team, when one person on top may have to do all the pulling. If you have a lot of friction from the rope running through the snow, and/or your partner in the crevasse is not able to assist you, the 3:1 is probably not going to work. Then, the 6:1 is going to be your best friend. Adding the 2:1 only requires one additional pulley and carabiner. Sweet!

Note: For a compound pulley system, you can add the very Crafty Rope Trick (CRT) of building a second anchor that’s farther away. This can allow you to completely collapse the 3 to 1 system before the 2 to 1 system collapses, which means you need to reset the system less often. Granted, this trick is probably more appropriate for professional riggers or maybe search and rescue teams, and not so much for climbers, but it’s still a pretty cool trick.

6:1 compound system, 2:1 on a 3:1.

Two different pulleys move at two different speeds in the same direction.

3 - Complex system

A complex pulley system is one that doesn't quite meet the definition of a simple or compound. A complex system has a pulley(s) that moves in the opposite direction of the load. Complex MA systems are okay, but a simple or compound system is usually a better choice, because they are generally easier to rig and require fewer resets.

Below we have a 3:1 simple system. With the addition of a friction knot (red) and carabiner, we now have a 2:1 pulling on the 3:1. Because this is a complex system, the two components are added together, giving a 5:1.

This is now a complex 5:1 system. When the rope is pulled, both pulleys move toward one another. When the pulleys touch (aka “collapse”), you need to reset the system. Probably not a problem if you have a large area to work in. But if you’re on a tiny rock ledge, you’ll only get a foot or so of lifting until the pulleys collapse, which is going to be a hassle.

Compare this with the compound 6:1 diagram just above. With the 6:1, you get a little more MA, plus avoiding the collapsing pulley problem, so that's why the complex system is usually not the top choice.

5:1 complex system.

A basic 3:1 with a red friction knot added, and the pull strand redirected through it.

Two different pulleys move toward each other at different speeds.

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What's the MA of my system?

I get confused when I look at these fancy diagrams with ropes running in all different directions. How can I figure out what the real mechanical advantage is of a given system?

You're right, things can be difficult to figure out! At one level, you could say it doesn't really matter. If the 3:1 isn't working, you can add or multiply a 2:1 on top of this, and hopefully the resulting 5:1 or 6:1 gets the job done. The number doesn't really matter in the end.

But, since you asked the question . . . Remember our discussion simple, compound, and complex systems from this post? (Go read it now if you have not seen it.)

The answer of “what’s my MA” varies depending on which one of these systems you’re using.

For a simple system, we calculate the MA by counting how many strands of rope are going to and from the movable pulley(s) on the load or load strands. And, always remember, any pulley or carabiner that’s fixed on the anchor only changes the direction of pull, and does not create mechanical advantage. Let's look at a few examples.

Also, in a simple pulley system:

• When the rope end terminates and is attached at the anchor, then the MA will result in an even number (e.g. 2:1, 4:1, 6:1, etc.).

• When the rope end terminates and is attached at the load, then the resulting MA will be an odd number (e.g. 3:1, 5:1, etc.).

There’s 1 strand of rope coming from the load. So, 1:1 simple system (no mechanical advantage gained).

There’s 2 strands of rope going to and from the load. So, 2:1 simple system. (Rope end attached to anchor, even number MA of 2.)

There’s 3 strands of rope going to and from the loaded strand. So, 3:1 simple system. (Rope end attached to load, odd number MA of 3.)

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For a COMPOUND pulley system, the hauling systems are MULTIPLIED together.

For example, this is a 2:1 on top of a 3:1, so multiplied we get a 6:1.

image: https://roperescuetraining.com/raising_6-to-1.php

For a COMPLEX pulley system, the hauling systems are ADDED together.

For example, the image on the right shows complex system. The 2:1 on top of a 3:1 added together gives a 5:1.

image: https://roperescuetraining.com/raising_5-to-1.php

For more on simple, compound and complex pulley systems, see post “The 3 kinds of pulley systems”.

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There‘s also a more math oriented way to calculate your MA. It’s called the “T-method, aka “counting tensions”.

Here are two excellent videos on using the T method to not only calculate the theoretical mechanical advantage but to also account for friction in your system. If you want a deeper understanding of this, this is a great place to start.

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Pulley size and rope stretch

What effect does pulley diameter have on efficiency?

A larger diameter pulley wheel (aka sheave) is technically more efficient than a smaller diameter pulley. But it’s a trade off: a larger pulley has increased bulk, weight and cost. For example, in a 1:1 haul, you gain about 7% efficiency going from a 1.5” pulley to a 3.75” pulley. This efficiency increases with really big loads (600 lbs+) and larger mechanical advantage, such as 6:1 and 9:1. So, it's probably of interest to mountain rescue teams, of moderate interest to big wall climbers, and not very relevant to alpine climbers. As long as you use a good quality pulley, the diameter doesn't matter much in climbing applications.

In the real world, on, say, a crevasse rescue, you're probably not going to notice the difference between a pulley that's 80% efficient versus a pulley that's 90% efficient. Get a small-ish rescue pulley from a name brand company and don’t stress about the actual efficiency rating.\

A trusted “workhorse” pulley is the Petzl Rescue - rated to 95% efficient with a 1.5 inch / 38mm metal sheave.

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In the chart below, note the low carabiner efficiency - about 53%, ouch!

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Is it better to use static rope or dynamic rope in a hauling system?

Steel cable has essentially zero stretch, and offers the highest efficiency. Next best is static rope. Third-best is dynamic rope. Alpine climbers may only have a dynamic rope available, so they may not have a choice. (However, this is one more argument in favor of using a static rope for glacier travel, see this tip for more on that.) Big wall climbers, however have a choice between a static or dynamic haul rope. Static haul ropes are more popular on big walls, and this is one of the reasons, greater hauling efficiency.

When you haul a big load with a dynamic rope, you have to pull all the “stretch” out of the rope before the load even starts to budge. As you might imagine, this is not much fun. Once all the “stretch” has been removed from the rope, if you then pull in a steady constant speed, all ropes are going to behave pretty much the same way. However, in the real world, you're going to have a pull that isn’t so smooth; you're going to accelerate and decelerate. When you do this, the dynamic rope is stretching and relaxing, back-and-forth, and this absorbs energy and lowers your efficiency.

See the graph below. Steel cable, with a large diameter pulley, is about as good as it gets, 98% efficiency. The other four flavors of static rope are all pretty darn close. Note again, the efficiency increases slightly when you go to a larger diameter pulley wheel. Too bad they didn’t test dynamic rope in this experiment, but it was done by a mountain rescue team, and they almost always use static ropes for hauling systems.

image: http://itrsonline.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/McKently2011_ITRSPresentation.pdf

The MOFT - a very Crafty Rope Trick

Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.

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I first saw this tip from IFMGA Rock Guide Karsten Delap. Connect with Karsten at karstendelap.com

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“MOFT” stands for Munter Overhand Feed Through”. It’s a very #CraftyRopeTrick that allows you to pass an overhand knot that’s connecting two climbing ropes directly through a munter hitch (or a Super Munter hitch, which adds more friction) either when lowering or (less common) when rappelling.

There may be a few (probably rare) times when you may need to do this, such as:

• You partner is injured 100+ meters up. They are not able to rappel on their own. You tie two ropes together, and lower the injured person 120 meters at a time using an MOFT. You then pull up the ropes and rappel normally. (Or, if it's a serious injury, fix the rope, rappel the single line and come back later and get your rope.)

• You, experienced climber, are on an alpine route with two relative beginners. On the descent, there’s a long section of fourth class rock and 50 degree snow that the beginners cannot easily manage unroped, but you can safely down climb.  You tie both the beginners in close to the end of the rope and lower them both down two rope lengths / 120 m off of a bomber anchor, with a MOFT. When they are on safe ground, you then break down your anchor, untie the rope, toss it, and down climb. Instead of six rappels, you’ve done one lower and a down climb. Everybody down fast, no rappelling, no beginners having to pass the knot. 

• You and your partner are descending a big wall route with your haul bag. You’re within two pitches of the ground. You tie two ropes together and lower the pig to the ground, using an MOFT to pass the knot.  You secure one end of the ropes to the anchor. Partner 1 raps to the ground on a single strand, passing the knot on the way.  Partner 1 unties the rope from the pig. Partner 2 pulls up the rope and does two raps to get to the ground. Because, rapping with the pig is generally a hassle and best avoided when possible.

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Notes . . .

• This is a fairly advanced maneuver that you absolutely need to practice before you try in the real world. It’s definitely strange, at least it was for me the first few times I tried it, and I did not find it very intuitive. In fact I had to do it a few times in slow motion to really understand what was going on!

• Practice both the lower and the rappel. The concept is pretty much the same, the execution is slightly different.

• First off, for lowering practice, you need some tension on the rope to really do this right. The easiest way is to have a friend just lean back with body weight on the rope a few feet away (on a flat floor please, not on a cliff the first time you try this!)

• Second, you’re going to be lowering and rappelling on a munter hitch. Be sure you know how to tie it, and how to lower on it. Use a friction hitch backup attached to the brake strand of the rope, and clip the hitch to your belay loop with a locking carabiner.

• Third, this requires a large diameter HMS, pear-shaped locking belay carabiner. Sidenote, if you want to learn what “HMS” means, click here.

• Good choices for a carabiner would be the DMM Boa, Black Diamond Rocklock (photo below) or similar extra-wide carabiner. Do not try this unless you have a wide HMS carabiner, or else the knot could get stuck.

• This works best on skinnier ropes. Any rope under about 9.5mm should be fine.

• Photo: CAMP Core Lock on the left, Black Diamond Rocklock on the right. You need a large HMS carabiner like this for the MOFT.

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Here’s how it works for lowering. (It’s pretty much the same for rappelling.)  

• Tie two ropes together with a flat overhand bend.

• Tie your partner in one end of the rope.

• Tie a munter hitch onto the large diameter carabiner on the anchor master point, and start lowering your partner. Back up your lower: put a friction hitch on the brake strand and clip it to your belay loop. (For clarity, not shown in the photos below.)

When the knot connecting the ropes arrives at the carabiner, continue lowering (or rappelling) slowly. Try to assist the tails of the rope through the carabiner, but do it carefully so your fingers don’t get caught. Yes, the overhand bend will pass THROUGH the Munter hitch and carabiner! (Like I said, Crafty Rope Trick for sure!)

If you're lowering someone, if they can stand up for a moment and take the weight off the rope when you do this, it’s a lot easier.

If you did it right, once the knot passes through, you’re going to have what looks like a strange looking mess of three strands of the lowering rope coming down from the carabiner, looking something like this. Don't worry, that's what it’s supposed to look like.

The “U” shaped loop of the munter is caught on the overhand bend. Yes, this looks like a mess, but there’s an easy fix. When you’re practicing, this is the part you may want to do slowly to see what’s going on.

Try to keep this loop small. The larger it is, the more you're gonna drop your partner which they probably won't like.

Important safety note! Do NOT reach through the loop of the rope to grab the tails, you could lose a finger! Instead, reach below the loop, take the two tails, and carefully push them through the loop.

Once you have the two tails passed through the loop, pull on them. Warn your partner before you do this, they’re going to drop a little! At this point, if the person being lowered can lean into the rock or slightly unweight the rope for a moment, that makes is a bit easier.

The more the knot has passed through the carabiner, the more they will drop, so as seen below, ideally don’t let that overhand knot go more than about 6 inches / 15 cm below the carabiner.

Now, the munter hitch will magically POP back onto the carabiner, and you can continue lowering. Yes, it looks like an optical illusion, as in “what the hell did I just see!?” Try it a few more times in slow motion to see what’s really happening. It's quite amazing!

It might be a little exciting for your partner if they hear a popping noise and the rope suddenly drops a foot. This scenario will be a much less dramatic if you can have your second lean in on some kind of a stance to momentarily take their weight even partially off the rope. Actually, with dynamic ropes and your partner being 60 meters below, they may not even feel it.

Also, it's probably best to do this when using a standard dynamic rope. If you do this with a semi-static rope, the extra little drop can put additional force on the anchor, which is generally not a good thing.

Some people seem concerned that this will shock load the anchor. That's not gonna be a problem, because you've got 60 meters of dynamic rope below you. Yes some of the stretch is taken out, but it's still going to be very gentle on your anchor. If your anchor is more than halfway decent, this is not an issue.

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Finally, here's a nice Instagram reel that shows how it's done. They’re using a double fisherman's to connect the ropes, which is even more bulky than an overhand, and it still works fine.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by vladislav (@babikov_vlad)

Rappel backup: avoid a prusik above your device

Adding a friction hitch (such as a prusik or autoblock) as a rappel backup becoming more widely accepted. More conservative climbers might use one pretty much always. Other people prefer a back up when:

• beginners are rapping

• your hands are cold

• the rope is wet

• rapping on a single strand or a skinny rope

• if you need to swing or pendulum to reach the next rap station

• rapping with a heavy pack

• when you can see the rope is clustered / hung up and you need to free it

• if you’re not sure where the next rap station is

Or any combination of these factors. In other words, pretty much any situation other than a rap  in perfect conditions.

So, what’s the best way to rig a rappel backup? With an autoblock tied below your device.

The older school method was to add a prusik to the rope ABOVE their rappel device. So the theory goes, if they lose control of the brake hand on rappel, the prusik will catch them. This sounds reasonable, but this method has a few problems.

1 - If the prusik knot is above your rappel device, for it to lock up, it needs to hold all of your weight. With the knot below your device, it only needs to hold the same amount as your brake hand, which is minimal.

2 - Once it’s weighted, the rappeler must remove their entire body weight from the knot in order for it to be released, which if you don't know a few Crafty Rope Tricks, is actually kind of hard to do. (Bonus tip - One fast and easy way to remove your weight from loaded prusik is to pull one foot up underneath your butt, wrap the rope a few times around your foot, and stand up.) With the prusik below the device, you can very easily weight and unweight the prusik as needed. 

3 - For the prusik to slide freely, the non-brake hand must be on it or perhaps above it during the rappel to slide it along. To catch on the rope and stop the climber, the non-brake hand needs to be off the prusik. Problem: In the event of a loss of control, our instinct is to grab tighter on the prusik or the rope above it, not let go of it. This grabbing keeps the prusik loose, prevents it from cinching it down on the rope, and may cause the climber to accelerate down the rope and . . . SMACK!

4 - Another old school method was to attach the back up hitch to your leg loop. This is definitely not recommended, because your weight will end up hanging from the leg loop, which could flip you upside down, yikes!

(The one time when it might be a good idea to attach a prusik hitch ABOVE your rappel device before you start your rappel is if you know you’re going to be passing a knot. However, this is an very rare situation for most climbers, and usually can be avoided entirely if you know a crafty rope trick like this one.)

The image below is how you probably do NOT want to rig your rappel.

A better rappel backup method is to use an autoblock knot with an extended rappel. Here, the backup knot is tied below the brake hand rather than above it. If the brake hand comes off, the autoblock immediately grabs the rope and stops the climber. The auto block and extended rappel are covered in depth at this tip.

Here’s a photo from that post to show you the difference. Note the rappel device is extended away from the harness with a locking quickdraw (one of various ways to do this), and the autoblock knot is below the rappel device.

What’s a “closed” rope system?

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You may have heard the term “closed rope system” in various books and websites. However, I’ve rarely seen it clearly defined, so let's talk about it.

A “closed rope system” means that both ends of the rope have a knot of some kind in them. It’s best practice to make this the default system for pretty much every climbing situation. 

A closed rope system can take many forms. Here are a few:

• A stopper knot in the free end(s) on a rappel or when top rope belaying,

• The end of the rope clipped or tied to a pack, rope bag or similar. This is helpful for single pitch top roping. If you start pulling the other end of the rope, you’ll immediately notice the other end is clipped to a pack. This avoids the extremely common problem of pulling the stopper knot up the route out of reach, whoops! Consider using a clove hitch instead of a bight knot. Once you unclip the hitch, the rope is free to pull. See above photo.

• Your retraced figure 8 tied directly to your harness,

• Both rope ends clipped to the anchor, as you might do with the “J loop” technique on a multi pitch rappel,

This is a simple habit that can prevent the end of the rope from ever going through a belay or rappel device, two common causes of climbing accidents.

Think of closing your rope system with knots the same as wearing a seatbelt when driving. 99.99% of the time you're never going to need it, but that one time you do, you're going to be damn glad you had it.

And, it's worth mentioning again, pretty much always close the system when rappelling. (The exception to this might be a one pitch rappel and you can clearly see the ends of the rope or on the ground.)

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Comments . . .

Some people object to tying knots in the rappel strands, saying they “don't want the knot to get stuck”. I’ve never understood this. Unless you have unusually deep rope-eating cracks right below you, the first person down should easily be able to stop, pull the knot out of whatever crack it might be in, and toss it on down the cliff. A key rule of rappelling is to never go below any rope that’s stuck. The first person down should fix any issues and lower the rope properly.

If it's a crazy windy day and you're worried about getting your knotted rope stuck in some far-off rock crevice, you have some options. You can lower your partner with both ends of the rope, or the first person can saddlebag the rope.

Think of it this way: how many people have died from a knotted rope end getting stuck? Compare that to, how many people have died from rappelling off the end of the ropes?

Do you have a rope that's “long enough”? Don't be complacent. Say you’re climbing a 25 meter route and you have a 60 meter rope. No problem, you think, I have an extra 10 meters of rope. But, if your belayer backs up from the wall or walks downhill, or maybe the climber decides to pendulum off to one side and clip a redirect piece of gear, or something strange like that, you might suddenly end up short when lowering off. Having a knot in the end of the rope, or having the belayer tied to it, eliminates this potential accident. Always close the system, even if you're doing single pitch sport climbing and initially appears you have plenty of rope to lower off your partner.

When your rappel ends on the ground, have the first person down untie the stopper knots. You’re on the ground, so obviously they’re no longer needed, and they need to be untied to pull the rope. So, get into the habit of having the first person do this. This helps prevent that all-too-common mistake of starting to pull the rappel rope with a knot still in one end, yikes!

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For a rappel, consider tying your stopper knot at least 2 feet from the end of the rope. By doing this, you give yourself enough extra rope to at least tie an overhand. This gives you something to clip your tether to, in case you screw up and reach the knot. If you don't do this, yes, you did prevent the catastrophe of rapping off the end of your rope, but now you might be kind of screwed, because you maybe can't do much else.

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Think you’d never make a mistake like this? If it can happen to Alex Honnold, it can darn sure happen to you.

In 2016, Alex was dropped by his belayer because they were using a 60 meter rope on a 70 meter route, there was no knot in the end of the rope, and his belayer was not tied to the end of the rope. Whoops, open rope system!

While the belayer was lowering Alex, the end of the rope zinged through their Grigri and Alex fell onto some “gnarly rocks”. Luckily he only suffered mild injuries. Other climbers in the same situation have died.

Read the accident report here.

CalTopo pro tip - stacking map layers

(If you want to learn the basics of using CalTopo, start with this tutorial video.)

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If you’ve spent any time around the navigation department of Alpinesavvy, you know I’m a huge fan of CalTopo.

Here’s a lesser-known CalTopo ninja trick you may find helpful - stacking map layers. 

In CalTopo, you can stack two or more map layers together on the screen, and then with a slider bar or typed in percentage, change the opacity of each layer. (If you've ever used photo editing software like Photoshop, you're probably familiar with this idea.)

Stacking allows you to see features of interest in two different map layers at the same time. I rarely view more than two map layers at the same time, and definitely not more than three, otherwise you’re going to go cross-eyed trying to find the view you want.

Procedure:

1. From the main screen at caltopo.com, zoom to your area of interest.

2. Mouse over the map layer in the top right corner, and choose “Stack New Layer”

3. Choose a second map layer from the drop down to lay over the first one.

Let’s start with a satellite image base layer, for land cover, and overlay it with Open Cycle, which shows trails. Let's set the opacity of the Open Cycle later to 60%. You can do that with the slider bar, or by typing the percentage directly in the box as seen below.

In the screen grab below, we see the south side of Mount Saint Helens. You can clearly see which trails are in forest cover and which are not.

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Let’s try a combination of satellite view, showing crevasses, stacked with slope angle shading, showing steep areas and possible avalanche terrain. 

The settings for that from the top right corner would look like this:

Here’s the SE side of Mt. Hood. You can see crevasses and areas of steep, moderate and low slope angle. This could help you create a route that avoids crevasses and stays off of steep terrain.

With both of these on the screen, you can draw a line that hopefully avoids most of both. In CalTopo, right click, choose “New > Line”, then hold shift, and click and drag draw a freeform line. 

You can then export this line as a GPX file for use in actual navigation in the field.

I think you get the idea. Dive in and play around with this.

And, if you find it worthwhile, I strongly encourage you to support CalTopo with an annual subscription of just $20 a year. Doing this helps ensure this great software continue to be available for us all to enjoy.

Avoiding snags when pulling a rappel rope

When rappelling, you always have a choice as to which side of the rope to pull. While on many routes it doesn’t matter, on some raps it may be the difference between having a stuck rope and/or a very difficult pull. Look carefully at every rappel you do, and try and identify potential problem points before pull the rope.

• Generally, try to pull the rope AWAY from any obstacles it may hang up on. For example, say you’re about to pull a single rope rappel, and you look up and notice a potential rope-eating shrub, block or crack below and slightly to the right of the anchor above you. Pulling on the left strand of the rope will cause the rope to fall to the left a bit, hopefully away from the potential hang-up point.

• If you’re doing a double rope rappel, you need to anticipate problems BEFORE you rig your rope. Get into the habit of looking down at the cliff below you before you thread the rope. Do you see a shrub or rope eating crack to the left? To keep your rope away from that, you probably want the knot on the side on the anchor away from that obstacle (or, to the right as you’re looking down.)

• Look up at the rope as you're pulling it. If the rope gets hung up on something, you might be able to see how it got hung up, which could help you solve the problem.

• If you’re on the ground when you pull the rope, you’ll almost always get a better angle of pull if you walk as far away from the wall as possible. If there's a snag point, say on the left as you're looking up, step away from the wall and to the right as far as you can. This can decrease risk from falling rock, and minimize friction.

image: From the book “down”, by Andy Kirkpatrick. Used with permission. andy-kirkpatrick.com

• On steep terrain, give the rope an extra flip or sharp tug just AFTER (not before) it slides through the anchor. This can cause it to fall farther away from the rock, further avoiding snags. Avoid the common mistake of giving a tug on the rope BEFORE it goes through the anchors. Doing this can cause the free end to whip around the other strand and make some random evil friction hitch that can block your rope. (I know this from painful experience . . .)

• But on lower angle blocky terrain, (or in high winds), it might be better not to do this and just let the rope slither down the rock under its own weight.

• If the anchor below you is off to one side, say the right, you should set your rope so the pull is in that direction. If you don't, the ropes can cross at the anchor and create a lot of extra friction.

image: From the book “down”, by Andy Kirkpatrick. Used with permission. andy-kirkpatrick.com

• If the wind is coming strongly from a certain direction, rig your rope to pull it into the wind. Or, in other words, if the wind is coming from the left, pull the left strand. Doing this makes the tail blow away from the pull strand, which reduces friction and hopefully avoids wind-induced rope mayhem.

• If you’re rapping in terrain where rope snag potential seem to be everywhere, you're probably better off doing a series of shorter raps using a partial length of the rope. It can be a better choice to have more rappels, but less chance of getting your rope stuck.

• Maintain control of the “up” strand until the last possible moment. This can be especially important on overhanging, traversing, or windy situations. If you get lazy with this, it's all too easy to have a stopper knot still in the end of the rope, you losing control of it, and having it swing out of reach. Big problem.

• In terrain with high snag potential, another option is lowering the first person and having the other end of the rope tied to them. This of course does not help with pulling the rope, but it can get it down more efficiently.

• If you’re doing short rappels in terrain with a lot of rope snag potential, try this: If you have plenty of rope at the lower anchor, pull down as much rope as you can before the final person goes on rappel. This reduces the chances for a hangup or rockfall when the rope is pulled and before it goes through the anchor, because less rope overall is moving through cracks, over blocks, around shrubs, etc.

Team of 3 in moderate terrain? Try end roping

Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.

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Scenario: You have a team of three climbers and one rope. You’re in moderate technical terrain - low fifth class rock with good climbers, 4th class with occasional “steps” of harder moves, a open big slab, or fairly steep snow. The terrain falls lies that in-between spot, ranging from “No prob, I can solo this!”, to, “Hmm, I think I want a rope!”

This might be a good time for end roping.  

Look! It’s our friend Sticky! She’s back, and climbing with her 2 pals. Hi Sticky!

This is a technique often suited to alpine climbing, where you may have many pitches of easy to moderate climbing, and speed can become more important. It’s best not to use it on much anything higher than mid 5th class.

The leader heads out as usual, but the two followers tie in close to each other near the end of the rope. (End roping, get it?) The leader then belays up both followers at once.

The “end” follower ties in to the rope end as usual with a rewoven figure 8 knot. The “middle” follower, about 4-5 meters away from the end person, ties in with one of several ways, more below.

With the middle person on a large bight of rope, it gives them some freedom of movement. If the end person falls, the middle person may not be pulled off because of this loop. And, it means the followers do not have to be moving at the exact same rate.

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A few things to note:

• You need to use a single rated rope, not a skinny twin or double.

• This is ideally for rock and maybe steeper snow. For ice climbing, you always want your seconds on separate ropes and end roping is not a good choice.

• The anchor needs to be especially stout, because it could potentially be loaded with the weight of two people with a little slack in the rope.

• If the last person falls, it’s possible they will pull off the middle person. Because of this, it’s best if the strongest climber of the two followers is on the end of the rope.

• This is really only a safe system up to low fifth class for most people. For more difficult terrain, you probably need a different rope system.

• If you're in an area where the rope is going to be potentially loaded over sharp rock edges, keep in mind that you could be putting a double load on the rope if the seconds fall together.

• This works best if the route is pretty much straight up. If you start any kind of a traverse, a slip by either of the two followers will probably result in a fall for both of them.

• Communication between the belayer and the followers needs to be clear and obvious, in case something goes wrong. If the route is long, it goes out of sight around the corner, it's a windy day and it's hard to hear each other, or all of the above, this may not be the best technique.

• The large loop connecting the middle person to the rope is a bit of a trade off. The loop can give you more freedom of movement, but it also can also be a tripping hazard. Use your judgment here. A smaller loop (1-2 feet) might be a better choice depending on terrain, skill of the climbers, if you have crampons or not, etc.

Use some common sense. If the consequences of a fall are low, meaning the terrain is a slab or snow or not very blocky, and it goes pretty much straight up, and your climbing team is skilled enough to mean a very low chance of a fall, this technique will probably work fine.

Anything more advanced or difficult than this, you're probably better off using a two rope system and bringing up each climber on a separate rope.

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There are a few ways for the middle person to connect to the rope. Here’s one that's pretty straightforward - tying in directly to your harness with the rope. There are a few ways to do it. This example uses a bowline knot.

1 - Tie an overhand knot, leaving a large bight of rope about 5 feet long.

2 - Pass this bight through the two tie in points on your harness, and tie a bowline knot. (Yes, you use both strands of rope, and this might look a little funky if you've never done it before. It's the exact motions as tying a bowline with one strand of rope.)

3 - Finally, secure the tail of the bowline with a locking carabiner to the loop through your harness.

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Another option is to clip this bight of rope to the middle’s belay loop with two carabiners, opposite and opposed, with at least one being a locker. (If you are feeling a bit bold, one good locker with the carabiner properly aligned with no chance of cross loading is probably okay too. It's really up to your personal level of acceptable risk. Me, I like two carabiners.)

Cross loading the carabiners is the main thing we're trying to avoid here. There are several ways to avoid this:

1. Use the belay loop rather than the harness tie in points, as this minimizes tri-axial carabiner loading.

2. You can tie a clove hitch in the bight loop and crank that down on your carabiners.

3. You could use a nifty new-school locking belay carabiner, like the Black Diamond Gridlock, that has a clip that captures the carabiner so it can’t be cross loaded.

Basic set up: overhand on a bight with 2 opposite and opposed carabiners.

Add a clove hitch and cinch it down to hold the carabiners in place.

Or, go with the sweet Black Diamond gridlock or similar carabiner designed to resist cross loading.

image: blackdiamondequipment.com

Which way should you face carabiners on quickdraws?

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Sport climbers generally agree on a few quickdraw “best practices”:

• You always use the same carabiner for the bolt hanger. Reason: Any metal nicks or burrs from the steel bolt hangers never touch the rope.

• If you have a bent gate carabiner, it goes on the bottom. Reason: Faster to clip.

• The spine of the bottom carabiner should face in the direction you’re climbing.  Meaning, if the route heads to the right, the gate on the bottom carabiner should face to the left. Reason: if you fall, the force goes against the strongest part of the carabiner; the spine, not the gate.

• Quickdraw slings (aka “dogbones”) almost always have one sewn loop that’s narrow and snug, and one loop that’s larger (or with Petzl draws, a little rubber thingie called the “String”, see image at the top of this page.) The narrow snug loop or rubber String/thingie always goes on the bottom carabiner. Reason: If it were on the top, the carabiner could rotate and be loaded in a weak position. See image below.

image: petzl.com

But, what about this: which way the BOTTOM gate should face?

Should it be the OPPOSITE direction as the top carabiner, or the SAME direction?

Some famous climbers say “opposite” (without really being able to articulate why). Alex Honnold says, “I don't really care”. Adam Ondra says “same direction”.

But consider: every major gear manufacturer (that I've ever seen) has the carabiners facing the SAME way.

Why is this?The clever climbing gnomes at Black Diamond have some answers. They offer two reasons for facing your draws the same way.

1. There's a chance that the top carabiner could be rotated into a position where it is not properly loaded along the spine, and potentially even unclip; this is like the Petzl warning diagram above.

2. It helps you clip faster and more efficiently when you're pumped, scared on lead, and your reptile brain has taken over. With gates facing the same direction, you can grab the draw and place it faster with a glance at the top gate, ensuring the bottom gate is facing the correct direction.

3. Bonus reason: Adam Ondra always rigs his quickdraws with gates facing the same way. That should tell you everything you need to know.

This content and general tip idea first came from the Black Diamond website. You can read the whole article here.

6:1 compound pulleys in the real world

Say you’ve built a 2:1 mechanical advantage (MA) system or 3:1 MA system, and it's not quite doing the job. You need some greater pulling force, so how do you do it? Here are two approaches that combine a 2:1 and a 3:1 to make a 6:1 MA system. If you find yourself in a one person rescue situation, a rig like this might be required.

Both of these examples are known as a compound pulley system. With a compound system, you have one simple system pulling on another simple system. The pulleys move in the same direction, but at different speeds, than the load.

In a compound system, the hauling systems are multiplied to get the final mechanical advantage. In both of these examples we have a 3:1 multiplied by a 2:1, so the resulting theoretical mechanical advantage is 6:1.

With a 6:1, you need to pull 6 feet/meters of rope in order to move the load 1 foot/meter.

Enough with the terminology and theory, let's see how to build these for real. If you want, go get your gear, lay it out on the floor and follow along. (Please don't pull heavy furniture around in your house, it's rough on the floor. =^)

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Let’s start with a 3:1 system, then add a 2:1 on top of this to get a 6:1.

This is one of many different ways you can set this up, with various combinations of hardware, pulleys, rope grabs, etc. This has a Petzl Mini Traxion progress capture pulley at the anchor. You could use a regular pulley and prusik loop here as well.

Let's start with a basic 3:1 Z drag.

Step 1 - Clip some cord onto the anchor master point. Here it’s an untied cordelette. It could also be the far end of the rescue rope itself.

Step 2 - Tie a prusik in the hauling strand as shown and clip a carabiner and pulley (if you have one) to it. (If you don't have a second prusik loop, you could tie a clove hitch in the white rope. You would have to retie at every time you reset the system, but it works.)

Step 3 - Clip the cord into the pulley and pull.

That's it, a 2:1 on top of a 3:1, resulting in a 6:1 theoretical mechanical advantage.

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Here’s a similar setup, but reversed. We're going to start with the 2:1 and add a 3:1 on top of it, resulting in a theoretical 6:1.

Again, this is one of many different ways you can set this up, with various combinations of hardware, pulleys, rope grabs, etc.

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Let's start with the basic 2:1. Note that in this 2:1, the red Traxion progress capture pulley is on the load, rather than the anchor. This can be advantageous in certain rescue situations.

Step 1 - Clip a carabiner into the anchor master point, and clip the pulling rope to this carabiner. (This changes the direction of pull and does not add any mechanical advantage.)

Step 2 - Add a prusik to the pulling strand near the load.

Step 3 - Clip a carabiner (and a pulley if you have it) to the prusik.

Step 4 - Clip the haul rope to the pulley, and pull.

You’ve added a 3:1 on top of a 2:1, giving you a theoretical 6:1 system.

If you happen to have another pulley, add it to the redirect carabiner that's on the anchor. If you have only one pulley, it’s in the correct place; on the prusik that's closest to your pulling hand.

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Finally, here is a great video by IFMGA Certified Guide Jeff Ward showing the 6:1 “Z on a C” System applied to crevasse rescue. (His rigging is slightly different than what I shared above and that he has the progress capture above with him and not down on the climber, but other than that the system is identical.)

Show me the 9:1

OK, I’m on a SAR team and need to know fancy systems, or I’m a river guide who might need to pull a wrapped raft off a midstream boulder, or I like to drive offroad and need to know how to pull my truck out of the ditch. I'm ready for the 9:1! How do I do it?

Well, if you’ve read this far, you're ready for the fancy stuff. A 9:1 is a compound system, with a 3:1 stacked on top of another 3:1. Remember, with a compound system, the forces of each section are multiplied together to get the final MA, so a 3:1 on a 3:1 gives you a 9:1.

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Important: if you have a high mechanical advantage system, say 6:1 or 9:1, and you are REALLY pulling on it (several strong people) to move a serious load (stump, car in the ditch) you may be getting dangerously close to the safe working limit of some of your equipment, such as a pulley or carabiner.

If you’re in this situation and feel you need to apply more pulling force, it’s probably a good choice, provided you have the equipment, to set up a completely separate system, may be on a new anchor, and pull simultaneously on both systems. 

Granted, recreational climbers should pretty much never find themselves in this situation, but if you’re pulling out a stump or your truck, keep this in mind.

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Many people (like me!) find looking at a diagram of a 9:1 makes their head spin. But as we like to stay around here, it's a better show than a tell. When you see it demonstrated properly it's actually pretty simple. Here is a nice video that shows you how to do it.

And, if you're the diagram type, here’s a pretty slick example of a 9:1.

image: https://roperescuetraining.com/raising_5-to-1.php

CalTopo pro tip - slope angle shading

If you're new to using CalTopo mapping software, watch this video tutorial to get started.

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Note: this type of slope shading is made with an elevation model that may not show all relevant features and potentially hazardous avalanche slopes. It can be a useful tool for macro level trip planning, but is not accurate enough to completely assess potential avalanche hazard across all types of terrain.

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Say you’re planning a canyoneering trip, climb, backcountry ski tour, or snowshoe trip.

• Canyoneers want to locate possible waterfalls.

• Climbers and skiers want to (hopefully) avoid potential avalanche slopes.

• If you’re a good skier, you want to find a long run that’s reasonably steep but not ridiculous.

• If you're on a long cross country hiking or climbing trip, you want to generally choose the path of least resistance and lowest angle slopes.

Good news, the best backcountry mapping software CalTopo has you covered.  

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Zoom into your favorite mountain area, and choose a base map.

Mouse over the map layer box in the top right corner, and click the drop-down next to Base Layer. I think the default map layer is MapBuilder Topo. This is my go-to map layer and a fine place to start, because it shows topography, contours, updated trails, and shaded relief.

Just under that you'll see some checkboxes in the category “Map Overlays”.

Check the box next to “Slope Angle Shading”, as seen below.

You should then see a color coded overlay added to your base map, showing approximate slope angle.

• Yellow > orange, 27 to 35 degrees, low angle and pretty mellow, probably safe to travel on.

• Red > purple > blue > black is 35 t o 60+ degrees, progressively steeper and possible avalanche terrain. 

You can print this out, draw in a track of your intended route or import a GPX track you already have.

Canyoneers or photographers, looking for secret waterfalls? Find a stream drainage that goes over an area of blue/black. That's likely going to be a waterfall.

Here’s a view of the north side of Mt. Hood, with the Forest Service base map. Note the marked waterfalls on the map, that correspond with the stream running over an area of blue/black shading.

Here are a few more screen grabs. 

Mt. Adams

Mt. Rainier

Need to lower from an ATC guide? Try the "LSD"

Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.

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This tip is from a few great sources: IFMGA Guide Karsten Delap, book from Marc Chauvin and Rob Coppolillo, “The Mountain Guide Manual”, and a video from AMGA Rock Guide Cody Bradford

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Black Diamond ATC guide, a “plaquette” style belay device.

Plaquette style belay devices like the Black Diamond ATC Guide and Petzl Reverso are great, allowing smooth rappels, to be rigged as an ascender, and to autolock when belaying your second. But they do have one major drawback - if you need to lower your second, it's generally not safe, easy, nor intuitive to do so.

Doing this incorrectly has led to numerous accidents; read about one of them here.

Here’s a Crafty Rope Trick (CRT) that's about the easiest method you’ll find to lower your second off of a plaquette. Note that this does not require any seldom used, hard-to-remember rescue geek knots like the Munter Mule Overhand (MMO), nor any sudden unweighting of the belay device that might cause your second to wish they wore their brown pants that day.

Plus, it has a great name - the “LSD” or “Load Strand Direct” lower.

Note: this method does require your follower to unweight the rope for a moment and give you a small bit of slack. In just about every climbing situation, this will be possible. Even so, I can already hear the peanut gallery out there, yelping “OMG, what if they’re unconscious! What if they fell on a traverse and are hanging out in space or on a 5.15 blank wall?” True, in those two scenarios this not going to work. However, those two situations are so incredibly unlikely to happen, it's certainly safe to learn this as your primary lowering technique. And, be smart about it - if your second might have a chance to swing out into space, you should probably be belaying with some other method all together, like with a Munter hitch, which is super easy to lower on anytime. (Or use a DMM Pivot belay device, which greatly simplifies the lowering process.)

And, if they REALLY can’t give you any slack, there is another way to do it with a redirected sling, check the video link below.

Safety note: Depending on a few factors, this technique can significantly reduce the friction from your belay device. As mentioned, be sure and practice in a controlled environment such as a stairway to see how it works, and consider tying an overhand on a bight catastrophe knot maybe 20 feet below you when you start to lower, in case you misjudged. As mentioned, always have a third hand back up, and gloves are recommended.

Typically, this technique is used to lower someone a short distance, not the entire length of a pitch. If you want to lower your second a very long way, a better setup may be to redirect the brake strand rather than the load strand. Learn how to do that in this article.

Okay, let's get to it.

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Scenario: You’re belaying your second directly off the anchor from a plaquette style belay device. For whatever reason, they need to be lowered (after they’ve reached the top of the pitch, or from anywhere else, 2 feet or 200 feet.) Here's what you do.

1 - Tie a quick overhand or figure 8 on a bight as a backup knot in the brake strand of the rope.

2 - Put a prusik, autoblock or similar friction hitch on the brake strand, and clip it to your belay loop with a locking carabiner. This friction hitch will back up your brake hand when you start to lower in a moment. This is important, don't skip it.

3 - Untie your overhand or figure 8 backup knot.

4 - Clip a spare carabiner (non-locker is fine) to the anchor master point, with the gate opening facing down. Note that this carabiner needs to be the same size or smaller than the carabiner that’s holding your belay device.

5 - When all this is set up and double checked, ask your second to unweight the rope for a moment. Doing this will cause a little slack in the load strand. Pull up this slack rope, and clip the load strand through the new carabiner on the master point. (Load Strand , clipped Direct to the anchor, = “LSD”, get it?)

6 - Normally with a plaquette, the rope leading to the second exits the device at the top. When the rope is weighted, it presses down on the strand underneath it, locking the rope. By clipping the loaded strand higher on the anchor, it's no longer pressing down on the bottom strand, so the rope is now “unlocked”. Slowly let out slack from the brake strand of the rope, backed up with the friction hitch. You should be able to lower your partner slowly and in control.

You definitely want to practice this in a controlled environment before doing it for real on the rock. The friction might be less than what you’re used to, and you need to be ready for that.

There are lots of factors that can affect how fast the lower is, such as rope diameter, whether the rope sheath is new and slippery or old and crusty, the weight of your climber, the amount of rock/snow your rope is running through causing additional friction, the carabiners you’re using, and other variables. That's why you have the friction hitch backup; if the load starts to move too quickly and your palms are smoking, that hitch is there to stop things in a moment. Wear gloves if you have them. Practice in a controlled environment (like a staircase) before you ever do it for real. If the lower is faster than what you like, you can redirect the brake strand through a carabiner on your rope tie in point, which will add additional friction and slow down the lower.

Here’s the sequence.

Our second is on a standard plaquette belay directly off the anchor. (In this example, the second is directly at the anchor. In reality, the second could be anywhere along the length of the pitch, needing to get lowered.)

Step 1 - Add a third hand / autoblock, and clip it to your belay loop.

Step 2 - Add a second carabiner to the master point. (Non locker is fine.)

Ask your climber to give you a few inches of slack. Clip this slack rope into the carabiner you just added. You’re now ready to lower.

Here's a nice video of the whole sequence in action.

And here’s a video from AMGA Certified Guide Cody Bradford showing a simple technique to use the LSD lower even if the rope is fully weighted.

Transformers! Your ATC belay device is also an ascender

Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of an experienced climber, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.

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First off, a few disclaimers and cautionary notes . . .

• Using a belay device in this manner is not explicitly approved by any manufacturer, as far as I know. Alpinesavvy offers ideas and information, not advice. Use this at your own risk. Instruction from a qualified professional is highly recommended when learning any new belay technique.

This technique can FAIL if you use a skinny rope and a large belay device!

• I was easily able to put this into failure mode with a single strand rappel using an old style Black Diamond ATC Guide, and an 8 mm rope. Under even a small load, the rope strands can become inverted. This causes them to either jam together and you can't move the rope at all, or even worse, the strands become reversed, and you will fall / slide under load. Be sure and test this under a controlled environment with your preferred rope and belay device before you ever try it for real! (This is why you should NEVER use a device like this to rope solo.)

• If using a skinny rope, be extra careful! Matching your ropes to the proper size belay device is always important, especially in this case. Consider using a device such as the Black Diamond ATC Alpine Guide, specifically made for smaller diameter ropes. You have been warned, be careful!

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DMM Pivot belay device

Auto locking plaquette-style belay devices (such as the DMM Pivot, Black Diamond ATC Guide and Petzl Reverso) have become pretty much standard gear. The auto locking feature when belaying your second directly off the anchor has another nifty capability: rope ascender.

Now, you don’t want to use this when you head up a big wall climb, because it does add extra friction and it’s not quite as secure as a dedicated ascending system. But, for improvised rope climbing, such as in a rescue scenario, or if you find you need to ascend a rappel rope for some reason, this is a pretty cool trick.

A few notes . . .

• Doing this is WAY better than the old school method of ascending a rope with two prusik loops!

• The effectiveness of this system, and the ease that you can ascend, greatly depends on the type of belay device you are using, and the rope diameter, how old/stiff the rope sheath is, and some other variables. Generally, if you have a newer smaller diameter rope with a smoother sheath, this is going to be easier. If you have a newer style belay device made for smaller diameter ropes, and and try this with a stiff sheath 10mm rope, you will have a L O T of friction and hassle pulling the rope through the device.

• Practice, practice, practice in a controlled environment before you ever try this in the real world.

• If you’re on lower angle terrain, you might just be able to step up on the rock and pull slack through your device. If it's steeper, you'll probably need to rig some kind of a step for your foot, which I cover in this tip.

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There are two possible scenarios where you can set this up.

1. Starting from a ledge or flat ground or otherwise good stance

2. When you’re already on rappel

Let's look at each one.

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Method 1 - Rigging to ascend from a ledge or flat ground

Let’s start with the easiest set up, and assume you’re on the ground or a ledge and have a rope you need to climb. This rope can be a single strand or a double strand. (Hopefully this is obvious, but this rope needs to be fixed in some way at the top anchor, either directly tied, or looped through an anchor point like a standard rappel. )

You simply rig your belay device just like you would to belay up your follower directly off the anchor, and clip the “anchor” carabiner to your belay loop. One locking carabiner in the “ear”, which you would clip to the anchor master point (here, the black one), and one locking carabiner blocking the rope the rope (here, the yellow one).

(Note: this system works a bit better if the rope blocking carabiner is round metal stock, rather than some fancy weight shaving I-beam type construction. The rope slides more easily and there’s a bit less friction on the rounded metal. If you have one, use it, if you don’t, no biggie.)

Standard set up, just like you would for a direct belay from the anchor (black carabiner would clip to masterpoint, yellow carabiner blocks the rope, the strand to the “climber” is always on the top.)

Now, instead of clipping the black carabiner on the anchor, you simply clip it onto your belay loop. Now, if you sit back in your harness, the rope should lock off. Slick!

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Method 2 - Rigging to ascend while on rappel

Hopefully this won’t happen very often, but sometimes when rappelling, you need to go back up the rope. Maybe you missed the anchors, or maybe the rope got stuck above you, and you were careless and went below it without untangling the mess. Whatever, it doesn’t really matter, you were rapping down and now you need to climb up. Here’s how to do it.

There’s two different ways this can be rigged. It depends on whether you are rappelling from an extended rappel or from your belay loop . An extended rappel is easier and safer; lots more on extended rappels at this Tip.

Let’s look at each one.

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First off, whenever you’re doing any shenanigans like this way off the deck, tie a hard backup “aka “catastrophe knot”) in the rope below you. This is an overhand on a bight in both strands, clipped to your belay loop. This is insurance; if you screw up any part of the next couple steps, you’re not going to fall to the ground. So do this first. If you were rapping with an auto block, going hands-free to do this is easy. If not, use the old-school Crafty Rope Trick (CRT) of wrapping the rope a few times around your leg to go hands free.

“Catastrophe knot” - Overhand on a bight in both strands, clipped back to your belay loop with a locker.

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Note: Both these methods require you unweight your rappel device for a moment. Hopefully you can find some kind of a stance where you can temporarily unweight the rope. If you can’t do this, you’ll have to get creative. Add a short prusik plus a foot loop and standing in it, or use the Crafty Rope Trick (CRT) of wrapping a few loops of rope around your foot and standing up, temporarily unweighting your rappel device.

Note: For clarity, the catastrophe knot backup is not shown in the following photos.

A - Rappelling from an extended rappel (easier and safer method)

An extended rappel makes this method safer, because you do not need to unclip your rappel carabiner as described below in method B. When you do this for the first time, you might actually amaze yourself, because it’s so fast and easy, it almost seems like a magic trick.

The set up shown below, with one single runner, is one of various ways to rig an extended rappel. The extended rappel is covered in depth here.

(For clarity, this photo doesn’t show an auto block third hand backup below the rappel device. If you only have a short way to ascend, you can leave it on. For a longer climb back up the rope, it's probably better to take it off, as shown in the video below. )

1 - Clip a locking carabiner into the “ear” on your rappel device.

2 - Unweight your device using one of the methods mentioned just above, and clip the “ear” onto your belay loop. Note the gold carabiner and yellow rap extension sling stay attached the whole time.

Sweetness, you’re ready to ascend!

Your extension gives you enough slack for the blocking carabiner to properly work. Nice! One more reason to use an extended rappel.

Bonus: one more cool thing about this method is that if you want to transition back into rappel, all you do is reverse the process. Simply unclip the black carabiner from your belay loop and you are back into rappelling position.

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Here's a nice instructional video that walks you through this step-by-step.

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Here’s a video from AMGA Certified Rock Guide Cody Bradford showing how to do this.

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.

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B - Rappelling from your belay loop

1 - Clip a locking carabiner to the “ear” of your rappel device.

2 - Unweight your device using one of the methods mentioned just above, and clip the “ear” onto your belay loop.

3 - Carefully, and I mean VERY carefully, unclip your rappel carabiner (here, the gold one) from your belay loop, WITHOUT unclipping the rope. If you unclip the rope at this moment, you are completely unattached to your rappel device, so practice this on the ground and do it VERY carefully!

You DID tie that catastrophe knot, RIGHT? This step is DANGEROUS! Pay ATTENTION!

This sketchy and awkward step is NOT required if you're using an extended rappel, as shown above. (Take the hint, use an extended rappel . . .)

When you're done, it should look like the photo below.

You now have your rappel device in the ascending position.

The importance of a "ground plan"

Clear communication and expectations between partners is a vital aspect of safety when climbing. This can become critically important if voice communication is limited by a long pitch, wind, route going out of sight, or other Less Than Ideal (LTI) circumstances.

Spend some time at the beginner routes at your local climbing area, and you’re bound to hear some conversations like the following:

Excited newbie leader, reaching the anchors on a one pitch sport climb:  “Yeah! Wooo! Phew! Belay off!”

Attentive belayer from below: “Are you sure about that? Don’t you want to clip the anchor and lower off?”

Newbie leader: “Oh, hmmm, yeah, right, okay, better keep me on belay. Ready to take? You got me, right?”  

Yes, this is a potentially lethal mistake narrowly averted by an attentive belayer. It has happened: distracted leader calls “Belay Off”, their partner obeys, the leader clips the rope into the anchor and thinks they’re going to be lowered, leans back on the rope, and falls to the ground. Yes, awful. And easily averted by about a 10 second conversation on the ground before anybody starts climbing.

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There are four different things that a leader can do when they reach the top of a pitch.

(For this discussion, let’s leave out big wall climbing, where the leader would usually fix the rope for the second to ascend.)

1. lower off

2. rappel off

3. belay their partner up to their position

4. walk off

Before the leader heads up, take a moment on the ground (hence the name) to confirm which one of these four things is going to happen. 

Sometimes you can easily eliminate one or several of the options. Is there no way to walk off the route? Well, let’s skip that one. Have you already agreed on a multi pitch climb, and for sure the second is going to come up? Well, then that’s pretty settled as well.

But even a standard one pitch route has some choices to make. The most important one is probably if the last person at the route is going to rappel or be lowered, with lowering usually the preferred option.

Whatever the possibilities, you should have complete agreement as to what's going to happen while on the ground, and not yelling at each other back-and-forth on the cliff. 

Now, you can of course change the ground plan later on if for some compelling reason you need to, just to be sure that this change is also clearly communicated to your partner.

The benefits of the pre-rigged rappel

Pre-rigging a rappel (known by some as a “stacked” rappel) is a common technique with guides and clients. But, it has some benefits that crossover well to recreational climbers too.

What’s a pre-rigged rappel? It’s when everyone on the climbing team (or, as many of them as can comfortably fit near the anchor) attaches to the rope at the same time with an extended rappel. Learn about the extended rappel in detail here. The extended sling allows the people waiting to rap to be connected to the rope, but not be yanked around by the rope tension from the person on rappel.

A pre-rigged rappel setup. Orange carabiner on right is rapping first. Blue carabiner on left is pre-rigged and ready to rap the moment the first rappeller is done. (Recommended third-hand autoblock is omitted for clarity.)

Okay, got it. So . . . why would you want to do this?

A pre-rigged rappel reduces risk.

1 - We always give our partner a safety check when we’re climbing up. Why not do the same on the way down? With everyone pre-rigged at one time, teammates can give each other a proper safety check of BRAKES (Belay device, Rope, Anchor, Knot, Extension and Safety backup). Compare this to the traditional rappel method, where the last person waiting to rap rigs up completely on their own, with no one there to give them a safety check. This risk can be increased when an inexperienced rappeler is the last person heading down, which is typical in a two person team - the most experienced person would almost always go first, to decluster the ropes, find and rig the lower anchor, or maybe give a firefighter’s belay to the second person down.  That’s a reason why guides like this method.

2 - Only one “safety” knot needed. Here’s one other interesting safety consideration. If the first person down ties a single stopper knot in either strand, or connects the end of either strand to their belay loop, there’s no way that they can rappel off the end of the rope. This is because the second rappeller, who is pre-rigged, has the rope essentially locked off in their rappel device. If the first person down were to hit one stopper knot or the end of the rope they’re tied to, the rope strands will not instantly slide through the anchor as with a typical rappel.

Note: just being pre-rigged, without having an auto block on the rope, does not always prevent the rope from sliding. With a skinnier rope, or free hanging rappel, or heavy partner or some combination of the above, the rope might still slip through the device if all the load goes onto one strand. So, if you are rappelling with only one knot in the rope, you may want to add a backup to be SURE the rope doesn't move. A simple one is a double strand bight knot (figure 8, butterfly) tied below the device of the second person. See photo below.

3 - In addition, this technique can reduce risk when doing multiple double rope rappels. A common reason for people to avoid the basic safety practice of “closing the system” and tying knots in BOTH strands on long multiple rappels is that when you thread a lower anchor and then pull the rope, the strand that’s going up to the previous anchor and then falling down obviously cannot have a stopper knot in the end. Pulling this rope strand back up, tying a stopper knot, and then re-throwing it takes time, and for that reason is sometimes skipped. With a pre-rigged rappel, because you only need a “safety” (stopper knot or tied directly to it) in one end, the first person down can thread the lower anchor, tie the one safety knot that’s needed, and then pull the other strand through the top anchor. This lets you rappel with greater speed and efficiency, and still have the assurance of never rapping off the end of your rope.

4 - Finally, if you find you’re rappelling in the dark and only have one headlamp (whoops!), this technique allows both people to set up using the one light. (Yo, you should always have a headlamp!)

A pre-rigged rappel improves speed.

I’ve read a bunch of articles and web discussions on the pre-rigged rappel, and curiously no one seems to mention this benefit. You get everyone down the rappel faster. Why? Because it eliminates the downtime of waiting for climbers to rig the rappel one by one, because several people can rig up at the same time. After rigging up, everyone can be on the tensioned rope (if you have a decent ledge to stand on) without being yanked around because of the extension. The moment the Rapper 1 goes off rappel, they quickly feed a couple meters of rope through their device and Rapper 2 can head down immediately. The movement of climbers down the rope is pretty much constant, with no waiting for someone to rig. (Of course this downtime is much less with skilled climbers, but it can be an eternity with a larger group of beginners.)

To be fair, let's look some potential downsides of pre-rigging.

1. The first person down can’t do a test pull to see that the ropes pull smoothly, because the person above is essentially locking the rope in place. If you have any doubts about pulling the ropes, you might not want to use this method, because pulling the rope without issue is more important than adding a small degree of speed and reduced risk by pre-rigging.

2. If you need the full length of the rope, and the exact middle is not on the anchor, and you’re relying on the sloppy technique of your stopper knot hitting your rappel device to move the rope ends while you’re rapping, you may end up short of your anchor. (This is unusual and can be avoided if you use good technique and simply put the middle of the rope on your anchor, but I heard a story of someone having this problem, so I thought I'd mention it.)

3. If the second person down rigs an extended rappel, but also puts their third hand / autoblock on and clips it to their harness, that usually means the second will be yanked around by the rope under tension. There's an easy solution to this. The second puts their autoblock on the rope, clips the carabiner to it, but does NOT clip it to their harness until the first person is off rappel and feeds some slack.

Should you use a pre-rigged rappel every time you rap? I’ll leave that choice to you, but if you look at the substantial rewards over the small downsides, you may well decide it's a good idea. Many very experienced guides do this as common practice, so you may want to consider it too.

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Bonus speed trick: the safer simul rappel

With 3 (or more) people, a pre-rigged rappel lets two people rappel at one time, each on a single fixed strand. This gives pretty much all the benefits of a classic simul rappel with greatly reduced risk. (I learned this clever tip from IFMGA certified guide Rob Coppolillo.)

(Generally, the standard method of simul rappelling is not recommended for lots of reasons, covered in detail at this article.)

Picture this: a party of 3 (or more) is at the top of the route, and you want to get everyone down as quickly as possible. (Let’s assume you have a stout anchor that can easily hold the weight of two people.) Everyone pre-rigs their rappel at the same time.

• The last person down rigs for a standard double strand rappel, with an extension.

• The other two people (here on Grigris, could be any device) each attach to a separate single strand of rope. These two can rappel at the same time. Because each strand is fixed by the pre-rig of the last person, the risks of a normal simul rappel are pretty much eliminated.

Here's one way to rig it for four people.

Here's how it might look for five people. I think you get the idea.

Obviously, normal precautions need to be taken - knots in the rope ends to close the system, and especially, an anchor that can without question handle the weight of two climbers. Please, this is an advanced technique. Experiment and practice with this on flat ground in you before you ever try it for real.

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Caution: stacked rappel with a Grigri(s)

There is a caution on the Petzl website against doing a stacked rappel with a Grigri. From the website:

“With the GRIGRI + from 2017 and on, and the GRIGRI from 2019 and on, unblocking and a consequent fall can occur if the rope is heavily loaded below the user. Unblocking can occur if the rope is loaded with a weight equal to or greater than that of the person rappelling on the GRIGRI.

Examples of dangerous situations:

• Multiple people rappelling in sequence, GRIGRIs pre-installed on the rope. If the person waiting in turn to rappel has their GRIGRI pre-installed on the rope, it can be inverted (and thus unblocked) by the weight of the person rappelling below them. So it will not be operational when the second person wants to start their rappel.

• Bottom belay: the person performing the belay maneuver must not hang on the rope.

• Rescue from below: The rescuer must not ascend the rope of a person who is stuck on rappel.”

Below is a stacked rappel with a Grigri. When the first person down starts loading the rope, (apparently, in some cases) it can cause the rope to invert on the top person. (I tested this briefly and could not cause failure, but I certainly trust the Petzl engineers on this one, so don't do it!

image: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Rappelling-with-the-GRIGRI?ProductName=GRIGRI-PLUS

Related to this, Petzl also cautions against a firefighter belay, or someone ascending a rope when someone above them has a Grigri.

image: https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Rappelling-with-the-GRIGRI?ProductName=GRIGRI-PLUS

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Awkward anchor rigging option

The stacked rappel works best when you have a solid anchor that’s about chest height, and a nice ledge to stand on. However, if you have an anchor that's more awkward, or even on the ground, like the base of a tree, here's an alternative way to set it up so the second person doesn't get yanked around.

In some circles, this is known as a “J-rig.”

1. The second person (top) sets up their rappel.

2. The first person (bottom) pulls up about 2 meters of slack rope, ties a double strand clove hitch and clips that to the anchor with a carabiner. Here, I'm using the blue wide HMS locker, but it doesn’t have to be a locking carabiner. (You could also use a double stranded bight knot, such as an overhand or figure 8, but those are going to be a bit harder for the second to untie after being loaded.)

3. This creates an isolated double strand loop, so the second person doesn’t get yanked around.

4. When the first person reaches the lower anchor, the second person unties the clove and rappels normally.

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Lets you rappel single strand with a Grigri

I briefly covered this above, but let's have a closer look. A pre-rigged rappel effectively gives you two independent fixed strands of rope. This means that the first person down can rappel on one strand with a Grigri. (Note, the rappel extension that would normally be on the top device is not shown here for clarity.)

Note, many people think that the rappel device alone is enough to secure the rope, but that's not necessarily true. If the rope is new, thin, slippery sheath, etc. the weight of the first person can creep the rope through the top device. The auto block is important, it prevents rope creep. (You could also tie a BHK, as in the photo above, which will nicely secure the rope.)

This set up is a little unusual; be sure and practice it with your partner on the ground before you try it for real.

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Here’s a nice instructional video from the Seattle Mountaineers that covers one way to set up the extended rappel. Start the video at 4:50 to see how a pre-rigged rappel is set up with two people.

Sewn daisy chain as a gear sling

Leash, lanyard, tether, daisy . . . Lots of different names for pretty much the same thing, a short sewn bit of webbing that connects you to the anchor, especially handy when you’re rappelling. (When you are going UP a route, it's generally best practice to use the rope you’re tied in with to directly connect to the anchor, not a leash.)

And no, I have absolutely no idea why this is called a daisy chain . . .

Modern “personal leashes”, such as the Metolius Personal Anchor System (PAS), are made of connected full strength loops. Use them for just about any kind of connection to the anchor, clip two adjacent loops, make a rappel extension, whatever, it's going to be bomber no matter where you clip it.

Metolius PAS. Each sewn loop is full strength (22 Kn)

image: metoliusclimbing.com/pas_personal_anchor_system.html

But, before the PAS came along, many climbers used a sewn pocket daisy chain as a personal leash. Even though this is designed for aid climbing and bodyweight only, the convenient pockets were too tempting to pass up. And hey, the sling as a whole is rated to 20+ Kn, right? 

Sewn pocket daisy chain

Well, these pockets disguised a potentially lethal problem. Each pocket is sewn with bar tacking that's only rated to about 2 Kn (about 440 lbs.) Clipping one pocket is okay. But clip two pockets and put any sort of a serious load on it, you could potentially break the sewn bar tacks and be completely off your anchor! Large problem!

Clip ONE loop on a sewn pocket daisy? No worries.

Clip TWO adjacent loops on a sewn pocket daisy? Break those bar tacks and you’re gone, YIKES!

Fortunately, most modern climbers are aware of this potential problem with pocket daisy chains, so many folks have a semi-retired pocketed daisy that’s now collecting dust in the bottom of the gear bin. Well, here's a possible use for that.

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The sewn pocket daisy makes a pretty sweet gear sling!

Hook it around your shoulder, and adjust it by clipping a carabiner or a quick link in the loop that fits your body. 

Now, you have a bunch of sewn loops available, which keep all of your gear from bunching together, the main problem of the traditional single gear sling.

One more tip, for big wallers: A sewn pocket daisy like this is great for securing gear (rock pro, shoes, water bottles, stuff sacks) at your bivy/portaledge.

Backside clove hitch: transition to rappel

The video is from IFMGA Certified Guide Karsten Delap. Connect with Karsten on Instagram, his website, and YouTube.

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Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.

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Using the backside of the leader’s clove hitch is a great way to transition from climbing to descending.

Advocated by IFMGA Guides Marc Chavin and Rob Coppolillo (authors of the excellent book “The Mountain Guide Manual”) this method uses the climbing rope coming off of the leader’s connection to the anchor as the primary anchor point for the follower, as opposed to the second clipping a tether to the anchor master point.

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Lots of multi pitch routes require a rappel to get down. For many climbing teams, this transition period, from moving upwards to moving downwards, can be a bit of a cluster. 

The traditional method is each climber using a tether/PAS to connect in close to the anchor, each person untying from their respective ends of the rope, threading the anchor and then each person rigging for a rappel separately. This can be awkward at tight stances, and often takes a LOT longer than necessary, especially with less experienced folks.

The backside clove hitch elegantly address some of these issues.

(Another term I've heard for this method is the “Backside Rappel Feed”, or BARF. I love it, but it hasn't caught on yet.)

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It can take a bit of creative visualization to try to imagine how this works in your head. I have to say it took me a while before I got it figured out. But once I did, and realized the subtle benefits that come from this system, I knew it was going to become a regular part of my rappel routine.

I strongly suggest you try it on flat ground with a partner a couple of times to get the hang of it, and watch the video at the bottom of this page!

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What are some benefits of the backside clove hitch?

1 - Cluster free anchor. By having the follower clipped to the backside of the leader’s rope, there’s no need for multiple leashes clustering up the anchor. You have plenty of room to stretch out and move around a bit, assuming the ledge allows you to do so. Your position isn’t limited by a short tether or PAS.

2 - Always using the dynamic rope to connect everyone to the anchor. Ropes are stretchy. Generally, tethers and slings, not so much. Stretchy is good. Use it when you can.

3 - (Close to) zero chance of dropping the rope. For a two person team to transfer to a rappel, of course one end of the rope needs to be freed up to pass through the anchor. With the backside clove hitch, this is simple: because the leader’s end of the rope is securing the entire team to the anchor, the follower’s end of the rope will always be the one threaded through the anchor. The leader remains tied to their end during the whole process. Rule number one in setting up a rappel is don’t drop the rope, and this method pretty much ensures that can never happen.

4 - Faster and less risky rappelling. After the follower threads their end of the rope and and pulls to the middle point, both climbers can rig for rappel. A low risk and fast way to do this is to rig an extended rappel with both climbers doing so at the same time.  The extended rappel means climbers can check each other, which reduces risk. Because they both rig for rappel at the same time, and also increases speed, because the second can begin their rap the moment the first person is at the next anchor. 

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Here’s the general procedure:

1. When the leader is securely attached to the master point with the clove hitch, they tie a clove hitch or a loop knot (overhand, fig 8, butterfly, your choice) on the backside of their clove hitch connection. This hitch/knot gets a locking carabiner.

2. The second arrives at the anchor, and clips this locker to their belay loop.

3. The leader takes the follower off belay, and removes the belay device from the anchor.

4. The second unties, freeing up a rope end.

5. The team threads the rope end through the anchor, pulls it to the middle point, and tosses that strand.

6. Both climbers rig an extended rappel and a third hand backup.

7. Both climbers are now secured by their extended rappel. The second removes the hitch/loop knot and carabiner from the backside of the leader’s clove hitch. The leader unties, tosses down the second strand of rope, and cleans the anchor.

8. Do a safety check, and rappel.

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In the video below, the second climber rappels first. However, there can be some advantages for the leader descending first. Here, the leader remains tied in the entire time, the second rigs their extended rappel above the leader. Doing this has a few extra benefits:

• The leader can’t rappel off the end of the rope, because they are tied to one strand and it's blocked from above by the second.

• It's a bit less rope management, because you only have to throw one strand instead of two.  

• You only have to tie a stopper knot in the one strand that you're throwing.

Whether you choose this method can depend on factors like the stance, team experience, and single pitch or multi pitch.

image: screen grab from https://youtu.be/feuVDCnS4g0

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So, that's about it, It’s a fairly simple concept, that can make your transitions faster, smoother and safer. But it may require a big re-think of the way you're probably doing things, so absolutely practice in a controlled environment and see if it works for you.

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As with most climbing techniques, it's a better show than a tell. Check out the video below from IFMGA Guide Karsten Delap showing the entire process.

In the video, Karsten also shares another clever use for the backside clove hitch method: removing twists from the rope.

If, for whatever reason, when the second arrives at the anchor there are twists in the rope, the second can temporarily clip to the backside of the leader’s clove as described above, untie from their end of the rope, remove the twists, and tie in again.

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What's the mechanical advantage? It's relative!

The illustrations in this article, used with permission, come from the excellent website RopeLab, run by Australian rigging expert Richard Delaney. RopeLab has a ton of great material for anyone who wants to dive into ropes, rigging, and mechanical advantage, check it out! There's a fair amount of quality free information, but getting an annual subscription unlocks the entire website. You can also connect with Richard on Instagram and his YouTube channel, where he has loads of concise, informative videos.

These diagrams come from a Ropelab online mechanical advantage quiz, which you can find here.

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Okay, clever rope wizards and mechanical advantage fans. Here are some questions and diagrams that might leave you scratching your noggin.

A standard principle in mechanical advantage systems is that any change of direction that's on the anchor only serves as a redirect, and does not add mechanical advantage. Well . . . that's true most of the time, but not when the “load is also doing the lifting.”

The mechanical advantage of the system depends not just on the rigging. It depends on who is doing the pulling - a person who’s “in the system” or a person who’s out of it. Let's look at a few examples.

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1 - This image shows someone standing on the ground attempting to raise their partner. What’s the Ideal Mechanical Advantage of this system (ignoring friction)?

image: https://www.ropelab.com.au/ropelab-quiz-1-mechanical-advantage/

Answer: It's a 1:1 mechanical advantage. The person on the ground is pulling the weight of the person hanging from the rope 1:1 through a redirect. No mechanical advantage is gained. The person on the ground needs to pull 1 meter of rope to lift their partner 1 meter, so it's a 1:1.

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2 - This image shows a person attempting to raise themself by pulling down on the rope. What’s the Ideal Mechanical Advantage of this system (ignoring friction)?

image: https://www.ropelab.com.au/ropelab-quiz-1-mechanical-advantage/

Answer: Exact same rigging as before, but this time the person hanging from the rope is doing the lifting. This time, the mechanical advantage is 2:1! For the climber to go up 1 meter, they need to pull 2 meters of rope through their hand, so the mechanical advantage is 2:1.

Richard Delaney, from the YouTube video link at the bottom of this page: “Mechanical advantage is technically the ratio of the applied force to the input force.” There are two strands of rope holding the climber’s weight. If the climber weighs 100, that means each strand is holding 50. If the climber pulls down on the rope with a force slightly more than 50, they will start to move up. This means the applied force is 100, and the input force is 50, so therefore we have a 2:1.

Does this leave you scratching your head? It did for me when I first saw it! Next time you see a sport climber after a fall, pulling down on the belay rope to lift themselves back up to their high point, this is how they’re doing it, with a 2:1.

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3 - Let's take this idea a step further. This image shows someone attempting to raise their partner by pulling down on the rope. What’s the Ideal Mechanical Advantage (ignoring friction) of this system?

image: https://www.ropelab.com.au/ropelab-quiz-1-mechanical-advantage/

Answer: 2:1, with a redirect through a second anchor point. There are two rope strands supporting the climber’s weight, so it's a 2:1.

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4 - This image shows a person attempting to raise themself by pulling down on the yellow rope. What’s the Ideal Mechanical Advantage (ignoring friction) of this system?

image: https://www.ropelab.com.au/ropelab-quiz-1-mechanical-advantage/

Answer: 3:1. Just as in example #2, if the person pulling on the rope is the same as the load, the mechanical advantage increases, even though the rigging is exactly the same. In this case, there are three rope strands supporting the climber’s weight. For the climber to move up 1 meter, 3 meters of rope needs to be pulled, so the mechanical advantage is 3:1.

Back to Richard’s explanation of the ratio of input force to applied force: We have THREE strands of rope holding the climber’s weight. If the climber weighs 100, that means each strand is holding 33. If the climber pulls down on the rope with a force slightly more than 33, they will start to move up. This means the applied force is 100, and the input force is 34, so therefore we have a 3:1.

Isn't that interesting? The mechanical advantage of the system depends not just on the rigging, but on where the pulling force is coming from.

Here’s a climbing application of this principle.

Below is a screen grab from a video featuring IFMGA Guide Jeff Ward ascending out of a crevasse. He's using this 3:1 mechanical advantage system to help him climb the rope. I have an entire article on this clever ascending system, read it here.

Here's the set up. This works way better than the traditional “go up the rope with two prusiks” method.

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Here's another way to think about it, in a horizontal plane.

You're out 4x4 wheeling in your truck, and you get stuck. You take the winch cable from the front of your truck, put it around a tree anchor, and then bring it back and connect it to your truck. You turn on the winch and slowly pull yourself out. What is the mechanical advantage?

If you clip the end of the winch cable to the tree, you would have a 1:1. But if you attach it back to the truck, you create a 2:1, because the load (truck) is also doing the pulling.

image: https://www.ropelab.com.au/ropelab-quiz-1-mechanical-advantage/

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Here's a nice video from Richard Delaney from RopeLab that further explains the concept. Richard has a great YouTube and website with lots more rope goodness like this, check it out.