Page 170 - Rappelling

Mini ascenders like the Petzl Tibloc, left, and the Wild Country Ropeman, right, can be used in lieu
of friction hitches for rope ascending.

Jumaring and protection, typically by ascending the fixed
rope the leader has tied off, leaving the leader free
The original mechanical ascender was the Jumar, to haul up the haul bag on a separate rope. Unlike
a Swiss-made invention that revolutionized rope prusiks, jumars can be removed and reattached to a
ascending in the 1960s for the golden age of big rope very quickly, a process required when the rope
wall climbing in Yosemite. Before jumars, climb- is clipped in and under tension at the carabiner
ers laboriously prusiked up fixed lines on big walls. clipped to a point of protection.
With the advent of jumars, not only was it easier Now there are a wide variety of mechanical
and faster to ascend fixed ropes, but cleaning a ascenders on the market, but since the Jumar was
pitch also became more efficient. Cleaning a pitch the original design the name became generic, and
on a big wall is a task for the follower, where they the act of “jumaring” became a generic verb for
remove all the gear the leader has placed for aid ascending a rope with mechanical ascenders.

Rope Ascending Techniques 159

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