Page 106 - Rappelling

classic “six-carabiner brake rappel system.” Popular favor because they’re lighter and can be used for
through the 1970s it was the standard in the old both belaying and rappelling. However, there are
days of swami belts, hip belays, and oval carabiners. figure eight descenders on the market today that
It works quite well with a double-strand rappel, have the small hole especially configured so that it
and because the rope flows straight and smooth can also be used for belaying like a belay plate.
through the brake system, it doesn’t kink your rope. The figure eight descender does have some
You can vary the amount of friction by using one, advantages over plate and tube devices. For situations
two, or three carabiners as brake bars, depending on where a knot pass will be required, a larger-size fig-
whether or not you’re using a single or double rope, ure eight descender will allow a knot to pass through
the diameter of the rope, the angle of the rappel, the device. A figure eight descender can also be eas-
etc. You can also substitute a single locking cara- ily and quickly locked off by taking the brake strand
biner instead of the first two opposed and reversed (or strands) over and above the device, then down
non-locking carabiners clipped to the belay loop. between the figure eight descender and the load
With today’s modern, lightweight (and tiny)
D-shaped carabiners that most climbers carry on
their rack, the system is less efficient and more dif-
ficult to rig, and the beauty of the symmetry from
the oval carabiners is lost. It may prove difficult, if
not impossible, to clip tiny carabiners across the
opposed and reversed set as the brake bars. So if
you’re rigging a carabiner brake system with non-
oval biners, use the largest carabiners you have
available.

Standard Rappelling Devices

Figure Eight Descender
Forged from high-strength aluminum alloy, the
standard figure eight descender has long been a
common rappelling device, especially with sport
rappellers, because of its simplicity, ease of rigging,
and amount of friction it provides. It can be used
with either a single or double rope. To rig a figure
eight descender, simply thread a bight of rope (or
both strands of rope if rappelling on a doubled
rope) through the large hole and around the “neck”
of the small hole, then clip the small hole into your
harness belay loop with a locking carabiner.
Popular with climbers in the 1980s, the figure
eight descender is less widely used by climbers these
days—largely replaced by the newer tube devices
(like the Black Diamond ATC), which climbers Figure eight descender.

Rappelling Methods and Devices 95

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