Page 156 - Rappelling

lanyard. The worker pulls on this (and can use a the entire time. One trick I teach to military special
foot sling for steep terrain if needed) simultaneously forces is to clip the rope from the brake side of the
pulling up slack through the ABD. It’s a simple sys- Rig up to a small pulley at the mechanical ascender,
tem, but very safe and effective, as the ABD remains so now you can pull down on the rope as you stand
on the rope both for descent and ascent, and the up, each time with a 2:1 pulley hoist, using brain
backup ASAPsorber is in place on the safety line over brawn.

Here the worker has clamped a mechanical ascender to the yellow rope, attached to his harness with
a lanyard made of nylon rope. The Rig descender stays on so that he can use it to take up the slack
as he ascends the rope; it locks off when he hangs on it. If the slope were steeper, he could attach one
etrier to the top ascender and use the foot sling to stand in, pulling up rope through the Rig descender
as he simultaneously stands up.

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