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Keeping carabiner in place while climbing with rappel line

Exhumis

Exhumis

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2019
Messages
3,952
Location
Northern Virginia
Those of you that climb with your rappel line and use a biner in place of a quick link, what’s your trick for keeping the biner in place? Generally a quick link will keep some sort of tension on the line due to its smaller diameter and not slacken the loop around the tree but I’m thinking owing to the larger size of a biner the line will just back out and the loop will scoot down the tree. What’s your trick? I have an ohm locker that works well with a quick link but don’t think that’ll work with the larger mouth of a biner.
 
I’ll be following this as well. I stopped using my quick link because I felt like the added weight was causing my tether/rappel line to fall easier. Even after removing the quick link I’m not seeing much improvement. I’m wondering if the stiffness of the rope has anything to do with it. My old tether that came with my JX 3 was much more supple and did not seem to slip down as easily as my new Sterling CI-V.
 
the way I do it is with a mini wire gated carabiner. tried all the shackles, quick links, and tether keepers. the problem is they weigh to much/ to much fiddle. with the mini I am happy. it's climb rated, at some point you have to trust the gear, learn to use it. switching systems constantly has killed more people 6ft off the ground than wire gated carabiners have at 30ft. grabbing something that fell to your feet is more of a risk to me than something that stays in place when you put it there.
 
colin.704 said:
the way I do it is with a mini wire gated carabiner. tried all the shackles, quick links, and tether keepers. the problem is they weigh to much/ to much fiddle. with the mini I am happy. it's climb rated, at some point you have to trust the gear, learn to use it. switching systems constantly has killed more people 6ft off the ground than wire gated carabiners have at 30ft. grabbing something that fell to your feet is more of a risk to me than something that stays in place when you put it there.
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See that was my thought, with it being so heavy any slack introduced into the system and zip down the tree it goes. What biner do you use?
 
I’m using a 7mm Maillon Rapide quick link that Kong sells (lighter than the 10mm+) and it doesn’t slip too bad. @Red Beard turned me on to this Celtic button knot that I made with paracord and use as a tether keeper, and it’s a real “GC” for me. I tried it with 5mm cord and didn’t like it as much. I think it would work well with a super mini carabiner and 3mm cord down to paracord diameter. or if you went with the 7mm QL like I did. It’s not rated any higher than a standard carabiner but it’s small and light. HN2 did some break testing on them and they way over-performed.
 
I’ll be honest, the absolute best tether I have climbed with is an amsteel tether with amsteel swabisch and tender. Never falls down and operates smoother than any rope with Ropeman. Climbing carabiner instead of quick link on that one. Breaking all the rules.
Sometimes I use that and switch to my rappel when I get ready to come down it’s that much better.
 
Scentlok Saddlepants said:
I’ll be honest, the absolute best tether I have climbed with is an amsteel tether with amsteel swabisch and tender. Never falls down and operates smoother than any rope with Ropeman. Climbing carabiner instead of quick link on that one. Breaking all the rules.
Sometimes I use that and switch to my rappel when I get ready to come down it’s that much better.
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Pics?
 
mtsrunner said:
Have you tried the rubber fender washer? It works for me and many others that have tried it.


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I’ve used the orange Nite -Ize gear tie for awhile now and it works well. I’d like to try the fender washer sometime. Do you drill out the middle?
 
HoneyBadger53 said:
Pics?
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hangfree.co

1/4 Full Bury Lineman's Belt

1/4 full buried AmSteel®-Blue results in a 9mm/10mm rope that is much stronger and lighter than your ordinary 9mm/10mm rope. This 1/4 FB Lineman's features a 4.5” fixed loop to be girth hitched onto one side of your saddle and a 3/16 full bury prusik for length adjustment. This Lineman's also...
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Sorry looking for pics but I don’t think I have any of it while climbing. I swapped it in midseason as my backup/for getting around limbs… it’s just so nice to use I find I keep using it.
 
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I have been using the Metolius mini II also with stiff 6mm rope, it has slipped a little but the line easily pushes through to create slack. Jury is still out, but it's the plan moving forward.
 
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