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Rappell Question

kyler1945

kyler1945

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
6,920
Location
Willis, TX
Does anyone have any experience rappelling with the 6mm petzl or comparable small diameter rescue ropes?
 
A single strand 6mm rap may be a little dicey. Not sure what you are using but a Black diamond ATC is rated for a 7.x mm rope. May need to do a double strand rap on 6mm. I rock climb alot & wouldn't rap on a single or dbl 6mm . But YMMV.
 
kyler1945 said:
Does anyone have any experience rappelling with the 6mm petzl or comparable small diameter rescue ropes?
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Tensioned rope cut
It isn’t just the breaking strength that I get concerned about. A rope under tension cuts with amazing ease. The thinner the rope, the easier it shears. I think weighted 6mm rope wouldn’t need much of a nick and then you take a fall. Canyoneering guys go down to 8 mm and that’s pretty small. I’ve been rappelling on 9mm and that seems like a pretty good balance for me.
 
You'll want a leather glove for your braking hand. Rope that small will burn your hand in a heartbeat. Remember: Low and slow! It's better to find out it doesn't work at 3 feet than 30.
 
I used 9mm Sterling HTP all of last seasons to rappel, I felt like it was a good compromise between size, pack ability and strength. I can't go smaller because my Grigri is limited to 9mm. I carried around 60' all of last year and it wasn't an issue at all.

Why are you using 6mm? Do you already have the rope and are trying to repurpose it for saddle hunting? I spent I think about 60 on my rope and that was with a sewn eye and shipping, I'm not sure it's worth saving a little cash, it is your life support after all.
 
donnieballgame said:
I used 9mm Sterling HTP all of last seasons to rappel, I felt like it was a good compromise between size, pack ability and strength. I can't go smaller because my Grigri is limited to 9mm. I carried around 60' all of last year and it wasn't an issue at all.

Why are you using 6mm? Do you already have the rope and are trying to repurpose it for saddle hunting? I spent I think about 60 on my rope and that was with a sewn eye and shipping, I'm not sure it's worth saving a little cash, it is your life support after all.
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This is appealing to me. How does the grigri grab on the 9mm sterling htp? Let’s say you passed out and free fell. Would it grab good and stop you, no doubt?
 
pesqimon said:
This is appealing to me. How does the grigri grab on the 9mm sterling htp? Let’s say you passed out and free fell. Would it grab good and stop you, no doubt?
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I used a grigri for a while on 9mm sterling htp. It worked fine but needed some tending. It is great once it is weighted and set. My rope could feed pretty freely unweighted and sometimes I would get unintended slack in the system. I felt if I lost my balance it wouldn’t catch right away and I could fall a few feet till it caught. It isn’t designed for that type of dynamic force. Grigri instructions show how to tie it off so slack doesn’t feed into the system.

I had a Petzl rig for tree work and I like it a lot better. It is rated for ropes 10.5-11.5mm but works well on my 9mm rope. It holds the rope well, you can lock it down, and it doesn’t slip slack into the system. It is a little bigger, a little heavier, and costs a little more but I like it better. You can get the rig in black if you look around. Standard color is gold.
 
I already have the grigir though :D

For simplicity, if I ever go with rappelling to get down a tree I might just use a fig8 or a piranha if I want to get fancier.
 
pesqimon said:
I already have the grigir though :D

For simplicity, if I ever go with rappelling to get down a tree I might just use a fig8 or a piranha if I want to get fancier.
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The grigri is great for rappeling on the 9mm htp, I just make sure I have everything tended at all times. I hang on a separate tether and hook it up when its time to go down.
 
redsquirrel said:
The grigri is great for rappeling on the 9mm htp, I just make sure I have everything tended at all times. I hang on a separate tether and hook it up when its time to go down.
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Yeah I love my setup, Grigri is great, big thing is don't push line into the system, make sure you have a brake hand on the rope at all times and let the system pull the rope. Someone had a video of a guy rappelling with a grigri and he was pushing the line into the grigri and he fell pretty quickly.

I don't know how it would respond if I passed out, I tend to go down pretty slow so I think it would catch pretty quick, hard to say, certainly don't want to test that one out, lol. Maybe if someone was belaying me, I would try it, not sure if my wife knows how to belay.....hmmm.
 
Petzl sells a 6mm RAD system for cross country skiers. It's a rescue setup. I was just curious if anyone had experience with that rope/hardware, or some of the other suppliers that have similar.

I'm familiar with most of the options we all use, and have experience climbing rope. Just looking for some insight on specific experience with that setup.
 
Get an ATC, or tube style belay device. Way more friction than an "8" style. Gri gri are great, they suck with wet, cold, or grimey rope...
 
kyler1945 said:
Petzl sells a 6mm RAD system for cross country skiers. It's a rescue setup. I was just curious if anyone had experience with that rope/hardware, or some of the other suppliers that have similar.

I'm familiar with most of the options we all use, and have experience climbing rope. Just looking for some insight on specific experience with that setup.
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This is an emergency setup. You'd fry the hell out of the rope with regular use. It uses a tid bloc style mini ascender, which has angled teeth for grip vs. a full cam/pinch style ascension system.
 
Vtbow said:
Get an ATC, or tube style belay device. Way more friction than an "8" style. Gri gri are great, they suck with wet, cold, or grimey rope...
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Curious about your thoughts on the Grigri, whats your experience with it, rock climbing, belaying, hunting? I used it all season, rain, snow, hot and cold and it was awesome, no issues at all, other than really cold fingers, lol. I did try the Madrock Lifeguard and didn't like it as the rappel wasn't as smooth as the grigri. That is only one season and only hunting but I did rappel on almost every hunt and SRT on many of those hunts.
 
donnieballgame said:
Curious about your thoughts on the Grigri, whats your experience with it, rock climbing, belaying, hunting? I used it all season, rain, snow, hot and cold and it was awesome, no issues at all, other than really cold fingers, lol. I did try the Madrock Lifeguard and didn't like it as the rappel wasn't as smooth as the grigri. That is only one season and only hunting but I did rappel on almost every hunt and SRT on many of those hunts.
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I prefer an atc on an extension with an autoblock backup bar none for single or double line rappels. Easier to slingshot off of, work with both static and dynamic, simple, light, easy to add 3:1 or other high angle rescue setups to the system without untying, nothing mechanical you're relying on...
 
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+1 to what VTbow said. Extending rappel makes it so much nicer . Add a autoblock (or prussic) as a safety to brake strand & it is a great set-up.
 
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