How to untie a stubborn knot
Do you have a welded stuck knot that needs to get untied? Before you reach for the pliers, try this.
On my one of my early big wall climbs on the Prow route in Yosemite, my partner and I had such terrible rope management skills that we often found ourselves completely untying, either ourselves or the haul bag knot, to decluster some horrendous rope mess we had somehow made.
Fortunately, we had a multitool along with some needle nose pliers, which were exceptionally helpful to untie the welded knots.
Hint: it's WAY better to avoid this situation in the first place, you shouldn’t have to be untying like this on any climb if you pay more attention to the rope!
Tips to untie a welded knot
Step on the knot and roll it around a bit on a smooth surface. Maybe that's a very smooth rock, or a floor inside.
If you have a hammer, you can try the same thing with a hammer. Rotate the knot and tap it.
If you don't have a hammer, you can try going caveman on it. Find a smooth rock that's not gonna damage the sling and again, rotate and tap.
image: Vdiff climbing, shared with permission
More thoughts . . .
If you're gonna put a big load on a knot, a butterfly is usually a better choice than a figure 8 on a bight. (And certainly better than an overhand.) The two little “wings” of the butterfly can usually be worked back-and-forth to untie almost anything.
There is a bit of a climbing myth out there that a figure 9 is easier to untie than a figure 8. Opinions on this very, but I've seen some pretty compelling evidence that the figure 8 is actually easier. Here is my article about that, along with a video that tests this idea.
Knots in Dyneema can be extra difficult to untie, and because there is no sheath on the sling, can be easier to damage when you're trying one of these techniques. Use caution. Be ready to throw out the sling if you damage it.
If you are going to use needle nose pliers, start gently and work slowly, so you don't damage the material. Pliers should be a last resort.
Hauling systems: “the Rule of 12”
When you're setting up a mechanical advantage hauling system, the “Rule of 12” can help keep your pulling force properly matched with the strength of the gear.
More AI image fakery, intended to deceive the public, steal from artists, and probably take over the world at some point. Pardon the slightly lame image, that's the best prompt I could come up with. =^)
I recently watched a whitewater rescue video which emphasized "the Rule of 12": never use more than 12 times the strength of one person in a hauling system.
This was a new concept for me. I thought it was interesting, and I want to share with you.
If you exceed the “Rule of 12”, you're getting dangerously close to the breaking point of some components in the system, such as pulleys, prusik hitches, D rings on boats, maybe carabiners, etc.
How does this apply for actual mechanical advantage systems?
1:1 system: don't have more than 12 people pulling at once
2:1 system: don't have more than 6 people pulling at once
3:1 system: don't have more than 4 people pulling at once
6:1 system: don't have more than 2 people pulling at once
9:1 system, don't have more than 1 person pulling
(Yes, some of these examples are not too applicable for most climbing scenarios, like 12 people pulling on a rope at one time, but you get the general idea.)
In the real world, friction decreases the mechanical advantage of any system. In this case, when you want to avoid breaking gear and you may have a lot of pulling power available, that's probably a good thing.
If you're curious, here’s the video.
Aid climbing: How to retreat from mid pitch
If you run out of gear, mojo, or daylight on a long aid pitch, you might need to retreat back to your lower belay. Here's how do that with a minimum of risk and hassle.
This tip comes from the outstanding book “The Trad Climber’s Guide to Problem Solving: Self Rescue Techniques” from VDiff Climbing. I've read several of his books and I definitely recommend them! Available in print and Kindle format. Shared here with permission.
If you can’t finish a pitch when you’re aid climbing, whether it's a lack of mojo, incoming storm or darkness, it might be smarter to lower off and finish it tomorrow.
If you're less than half the rope length of the pitch, you can probably lower down from your top pieces to your partner. However, lowering off has a couple of potential problems.
It puts a bit less than twice your body weight on the lower off point.
It may start tensioning pieces you've already placed in upward and outward directions, which could compromise them.
For those reasons, it might be better to rappel off your haul rope, which for this example, we’ll assume you have. (Plus, if you're more than half a rope length up, you're gonna have to do this.)
Note that with this technique, you are not cleaning the gear as you go down. The next day, to get back to your high point, you ascend back up the haul rope and continue leading; hopefully with increased mojo, more daylight, and an extra shot of coffee.
When you finish the pitch, you fix the lead rope and your second ascends and cleans the gear, like normal.
Here's how to retreat from an aid pitch, step by step.
image: VDiff Climbing, shared with permission
image: VDiff Climbing, shared with permission
image: VDiff Climbing, shared with permission
Big wall gear reinforcement
Yes, your big wall haul bag is already pretty stout, but even heavy-duty gear can benefit from some extra reinforcement. Here’s a straightforward and effective way to strengthen it further.
Haul bags are some of the toughest climbing gear, but even the strongest ones can benefit from extra protection against the wear and tear of big wall climbing.
Here's a low cost way to beef up the areas on your haul bag (or maybe portaledge, or the toe end of your wall shoes) that might get abused.
Wear old clothes, wear disposable gloves, use a disposable paintbrush, and do this outside. It's smelly and messy!
Note, I have not done this myself, but I've used similar chemicals on other projects. This idea and photos are all from Skot; here's the original post from his Instagram.
Disclaimer: my website offers information and ideas, not advice. If you mix this in the wrong ratio and your haul bag falls apart from the solvent, it's not my fault! Try this on a small area of your bag first and see if it damages anything before you paint the entire thing!
Get some Naphtha and Plastidip from the hardware store.
image: @skotswallgear
Mix the two together in a ratio of about 4 parts plastic dip to 1 part Naptha. Use a cheap throwaway brush.
image: @skotswallgear
Paint this concoction onto the area you want protected, in this case the stitching on the haul bag. Dry it thoroughly outside.
image: @skotswallgear
Chalk weakens your rope - by a lot!
Are you concerned about getting chalk on your rope? I wasn't, until I saw this testing video from Edelrid. Short version, chalk can be bad, and it's a good idea to wash your rope regularly.
I'd bet you’re probably not too concerned about getting chalk on your rope.
You might be after you watch this video below.
Edelrid did some interesting testing upon how chalk can damage your rope. An 80 kg weight tied to a short length of rope was repeatedly raised and lowered over a carabiner.
In one test, the rope was clean.
In another test, the rope had chalk rubbed directly on it.
While I recommend watching the whole video, here's a summary:
The clean rope lasted a very long time - 200 cycles and no damage. (Cool, that's how we expect a rope to work.)
The rope with chalk rubbed directly on it showed some clear damage after only 10 cycles! Yikes!
The rope sheath was completely torn after only 16 cycles! Double yikes!
Wash your rope. Keep it in a rope bag, whether outside or inside at the gym. Use chalk with a bit more caution and yes, even you dirt bags, wash your hands sometimes.
There are a lot of great nerdy tech videos like this on the “Edelrid Knowledge Base” YouTube channel and on their website. Give them a follow if you don't already.
Here’s the video.
Drop-proof your pack
When multi pitch climbing, you want to be sure your pack is secure at the belay. Here's a simple way to do that.
Girth hitch a 60 cm sling to your pack when you’re on a multi pitch.
Keep a spare carabiner on the sling.
When you reach the belay, clip the pack to the anchor, and then take the pack off. Doing this makes it pretty much impossible to drop your pack.
Is gate loading an HMS carabiner bad?
Yes, Petzl has a warning about it, and yes, it weakens the carabiner. But, is it something you should worry about? Get the break test results here.
Petzl seems to have a pretty clear warning and not to do this on their website. The skull and crossbones usually gets my attention.
But here on their website, they say it's apparently fine to connect multiple items to a HMS carabiner . . .
So . . . clipping two items is OK, but clipping three isn’t?
We all know that you get maximum strength from a carabiner by aligning the force along the spine and not necessarily the gate. Petzl says the “strength is reduced”.
By how much? Is it really a concern for recreational climbing?
HowNOT2 did a break test on this. With a limited sample size of 1, an HMS carabiner loaded up with several things clipped to it broke around 15 kN.
Is this significantly weaker than the rated strength of the carabiner? Yes.
Given that the largest possible force in recreational climbing is somewhere around 9 kN (and that's for a crazy factor 2 fall directly onto the anchor that 99.9% of climbers will never experience in their life) am I concerned about putting a load near the gate instead of upon the spine? No.
I want to share this as more of an “FYI, carabiners can be weaker than the rated strength if you load them like this”, rather than “OMG, if you do this, Yer Gonna Die.”
Modern climbing gear is incredibly strong and very rarely breaks under normal usage. There's lots of ways to get the whack when you climb. This isn’t one of them.
Stuck rappel rope? Try the “rubber band” trick
Yep, stuck rap ropes suck. The “rubber band” is a #CraftyRopeTrick to (hopefully) get your rope down.
You start to pull the rap rope, but can’t get it moving. Try this.
You and your partner grab opposite ends of the ropes and pull, hard. One of you keeps the “pull” pressure on, while the other suddenly releases their end. The “rubber band” effect of one end of your dynamic rope “springing” upwards often will get a stubborn rope moving.
You can do this with a Grigri or similar belay device; this might let you apply a bit more force to the rope instead of just pulling with your hands.
How much is a kilonewton? A great visual
Next time you're feeling less than thrilled about hanging off of that single sling, here's a good visual reminder of how strong it actually is. It. (Hint: it’ll hold 22 people who probably weigh more than you do. )
You see it on the labels of your carabiners, slings, rock, and rock protection: “Rated by the CE/UIAA to 22 kN”.
If you stayed awake in physics class, you might know that a kilonewton is a metric unit of force, equal to the weight of about 100 kg, or 225 pounds.
But even that gets a little dry.
You have a skinny 8 mm Dyneema sling in your hand.
It says it's rated to 22 kN . . .
But you still doesn't have a real sense of how much that is.
It turns out 100 kg is about the average weight of one NFL (American) football player.
So, imagine this: A skinny 8 mm Dyneema sling, rated for 22 kN, could hold about 22 football players all hanging from it at the same time!
Isn’t that’s kinda crazy to think about! Yes, most all climbing gear is impressively strong!
Next time you or your partner is concerned about that skinny sling breaking under your body weight, or maybe rappelling off of a single quick link that's rated to more than 40 kN, think of a whole pile of football players hanging off of your gear instead just you.
Hopefully you'll feel better. =^)
Fun facts about that gear label . . .
The “N” is capitalized in “kN” because it refers to the last name of Sir Isaac Newton.
There are only three countries in the world that don’t use the metric system: Liberia, Myanmar, and ‘Merica. Metric measurements are the international standard of pretty much everything, especially climbing, and that's what this ‘Merican is using.
What about that CE rating, what’s that? CE is an acronym from the French, "Conformité Européenne," which is French for “European Conformity”. Basically, it means that the gear meets certain safety regulations established by the EU.
How about the UIAA rating? UIAA stands for “Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme”, which translates to International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation. They developed globally recognized standards for climbing and mountaineering equipment. The UIAA label means it’s been tested by an accredited third party and meets the UIAA requirements.
Stack your coiled rope in a sling
What to do with that extra rope at the belay? One simple method is to make a butterfly coil and clip it to a sling. There are a couple of different ways you can rig the sling; learn ‘em here.
To manage extra rope at your belay, whether it's the lead rope or a haul rope, one simple method is to butterfly coil the rope and put it in a sling.
This makes a tidy package of the rope, keeping it within reach, and out-of-the-way.
I find this to be vastly more convenient and less hassle than the more common method of making a butterfly coil, and then plopping on top of your harness tie point.
There are a couple ways to coil the rope into a sling. The one you choose might depend on conditions and what you intend to do with the rope after you coil it.
Method 1: Basket hitch the sling around the coils
This is the more common way to do it, and better for lead climbing because the rope will feed out nicely as it’s not pinched.
The use of two carabiners is optional, but handy. Green is clipped to the anchor, and purple is clipped to green. This lets you unclip purple and lower the sling if needed without ever unclipping it from the anchor.
Method 2: Girth hitch the sling on the coils
This method can better if it’s a really windy day, or you’re at your big wall bivy, and you want to snug the ropes down for the night and don't want coils flopping around or falling out. Probably not a good choice for lead climbing, because the rope will be hard to feed out.
Treat your cams nicely - wrap with a sling or strap
When you're in a hurry, it’s tempting to drop all your cams into a pack, cram some more gear on it, and get on down the mountain or to your next route. Downside, that makes a higher chance of damaging something delicate. Here's an alternative to keep your cams happier in your pack.
When you put cams in your pack, clip them to a long-ish sling, let them all hang down together, and then wrap either the sling around them (or my preference when I remember it) a ski strap.
The trigger wires are delicate, and can be damaged or even broken if you casually toss all of your rack into your pack and then cram more stuff on top of it.
