Page 168 - Rappelling

the rope is twisted a few times below the anchor, or
if the rope is wedged tight in a crack. You’ll need to
prusik back up the ropes to fix the problem.
Another scenario is on a multipitch rappel where
either you’ve lost your way and can’t find the next
anchor, or your rope is too short to reach the next
ledge or anchor. You’ll need to go back up the rope
and figure out another option.
In both of these scenarios you’re dealing with a
doubled rope (two stands), and the best method is
simply to tie friction hitches around both strands of
rope. A prusik or klemheist knot is a good choice
for rope ascending. If you don’t have any prusik
cord at your disposal (a 5mm or 6mm soft nylon
cord works best) and only have slings, the klemheist
knot is preferable. A nylon sling is a better choice
than a Dyneema or Spectra sling for a friction hitch,
since nylon grips better and has a higher melting
point than Dyneema or Spectra.
There are myriad prusiking methods, but I’ll
describe only one here, because I believe it is the
fastest, simplest rig, requiring the least amount of
gear. All you’ll need are two prusik cords, three
regular length (24-inch) slings, and three locking
carabiners.
The basic setup for improvised rope ascension
is to tie two separate friction hitches, the top one
attached directly to your harness with a 24-inch
sling and the other used with a foot sling (and also
attached to your harness with a sling). The proce-
dure is a simple, inchworm-like technique. Stand on
the bottom sling and slide the top friction hitch as
high as you can reach, then immediately sit back in
your harness, with your weight on the top friction Prusik rig with cord. The top cord was rigged by
hitch. Now that you are more-or-less comfortably taking a 5-foot length of 6mm nylon cord and
hanging in your harness, move the bottom friction tying a loop in both ends, with the top loop large
hitch up until your leg in the foot sling is bent at a enough to tie a prusik knot. The bottom length of
90 degree angle at the knee. Stand up in the sling, cord is 11 feet long, tied with loops on both ends
using your hands for balance by grabbing the rope and a larger loop in the middle to accommodate
with both hands below the top friction hitch, and the prusik knot.
slide the top friction hitch up again as high as you
can reach. Remember, don’t grab the body of the

Rope Ascending Techniques 157

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