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Lightest SRT or Rappel

S

skyjacker

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2018
Messages
1,270
Location
Oklahoma
I thought I would share the lightest SRT or Rappel package I could come up with. There's no sacrificing safety for weight here. All the products listed below that are for life support are fully rated. I did a ton of research and found the lightest equipment for the job. I'm not including the throw weight because I only use this for preset tree's. I use a 10 oz Notch throw weight to preset. The throw line below is used to throw and retrieve.

SRT
Kong Futura Left Hand - 125 g
CAMP USA 5mm Stainless Steel Oval Quicklink - 21g
Petzl Footcord - 40g
Sterling HTP 9mm 40 ft - 756g
SMC Rigging Ring - 26g
2 x Grivel Plume NUT K3N - 37g each
Sterling HollowBlock 13.5 in - 25g
Mad Rock Safeguard - 154g
Z-Packs 2mm Z-Slick Line 50ft - 48 g

Total - 2.8 lbs

1554065064340.png

Rappel
Sterling HTP 9mm 40 ft - 756g
SMC Rigging Ring - 26g
2 x Grivel Plume NUT K3N - 37g each
Sterling HollowBlock 13.5 in - 25g
Beal Air Force 1 - 36g

Total - 2 lbs

1554065648116.png
 
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Your set-up is very similar to mine. I have a Petzl ascender, yours is around 1.5 ounces lighter. I don't use a rigging ring or quick-link so that saves some weight but I am using 30' of paracord to pull my system down, I'm sure your slick-line is lighter. Petzl throw line would save some weight over your slickline but doubt it would last as long.
 
Edited the OP. I forgot to note, I'm only using this for presets. For now anyway. I still carry a retrieval rope just in case I show up to the tree and the preset paracord is iffy. For me It's worth the 48g for the hike out to the presets.
 
rakbowhunter said:
Very nice. Have you heard of the Sterling 8mm Oplux rope? It's very pricey though. Not sure on the weight vs the HTP.
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It's about half the weight i think. More stretch which has plusses and minuses. More likely to be out of spec with gear.
 
rakbowhunter said:
What's the difference between that and rigging/rescue?
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Even rigging/rescue is marginally out of spec if it's a true 8mm.

It likely works fine for our purposes - i just want to be careful about declaring things "in spec" (especially when our uses are somewhat off-label anyway).
 
Static rope will be best and likely worth the weight. Most climbing rope has a significant amount of stretch that works against you during the ascent. Climbing rope is designed to stretch during a falling scenario. Not something you want for rappelling or ascending.


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So I crunched the numbers on 9mm HTP vs 8mm Oplux for weight savings and stretch.

Weight
40 ft of HTP = 756 g
40 ft of Oplux = 512 g
Difference of about 32%

Stretch
HTP = 0.8%
Oplux = 3.3%
Difference of about 78%

So Oplux is about 32% lighter and has about 78% more stretch. If I switched, to Oplux I'd save about half a pound for 40 ft. But have way more stretch. I can't find anywhere that sells Oplux by the foot. It looks like Oplux is roughly twice as expensive and I'd have to buy 100 ft. Oplux seems to be made for tactical use. I think 9mm HTP fits really well for our application for the weight, stretch and price.
 
can I ask why ou guys aren't using the safeguard to descend? I am a rookie SRT guys and have been using that. Is it inferior? Should I be using something else?
 
I've been looking into some other options for rappelling. I'd like to get to a 1 to 1.5 pound rappel setup. Might switch to Oplux or something similar around 8mm for rappelling only. A few companies make a 6mm rap line. But if you read into the manuals they recommend a double rope rappel. If this is the case I would have to carry about 80 ft of rope instead of 40 ft and then weight gap starts to close.
 
DanielB89 said:
can I ask why ou guys aren't using the safeguard to descend? I am a rookie SRT guys and have been using that. Is it inferior? Should I be using something else?
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I am using the safeguard to descend when I SRT. The rappelling rig in the OP is for when I'm using another climbing method and just want to rappel. But you could use the safeguard for rappel only. I just chose to purchase a lighter rappel device for rappel only.
 
DanielB89 said:
can I ask why ou guys aren't using the safeguard to descend? I am a rookie SRT guys and have been using that. Is it inferior? Should I be using something else?
Click to expand...

Guess I’m the minority on this thread. I love the Safeguard for the ascent but prefer to use an ATC for the rappel. I always have my ATC for a backup in case I dropped my Safeguard so usually I use it instead. It’s a much smoother rappel and was purpose built for that use.


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weekender21 said:
Guess I’m the minority on this thread. I love the Safeguard for the ascent but prefer to use an ATC for the rappel. I always have my ATC for a backup in case I dropped my Safeguard so usually I use it instead. It’s a much smoother rappel and was purpose built for that use.


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Click to expand...


I have never touched an ATC, but I know that my safeguard isn't the smoothest slide down yet. I was assuming it was because of my lack of experience with it. When you're descending and it goes a little faster than you are desiring and attempt to slow down but come to a sudden stop, it can be painful.

I may look into an ATC
 
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