Question for you SRT guys.

What type of descender do you guys use? e.g. Rack, grigri, Pezl ID, Petzl Stop.

I use a Grigri but also have two Racks and Small rappel ring. So many alternative. I prefer the Grigri for the cost and easy to use. Gave away my Figure-8 because it twist the ropes to much for short trees. In very tall trees that allows the rope to untwist freely then they work fine. (I think).

I use a rescue 8 or Petzl Piranha. I like the Piranha for the ease of friction adjustment and for the fact that it can be installed on the rope without removing it from the main delta. This is a huge plus if you are a bit butter fingered like I can be at times.

http://www.treeclimbing.com/content/view/159/114/

Contrary to common belief, you do NOT have to use a Petzl carabiner with this device. I've used 'biners from Black Diamond, SMC, CMC, Kong and others. as long as they fit snugly in the hole, you're good to go.

I'm a Grigri fan.
-moss

moss wrote:

I'm a Grigri fan.

Except it won't work for those of us using 1/2 inch rope.

No need for 1/2 in. rope if you're climbing SRT. Plenty of strength with 7/16 or even 3/8. The main reason for 1/2 inch in DRT is the better hand grip. Using ascenders for SRT makes grip a moot point.

Davej wrote:

moss wrote:

I'm a Grigri fan.

Except it won't work for those of us using 1/2 inch rope.

What Baker said. If you want to \"dual purpose\" your 1/2\" rope for DRT and SRT then the large size Petzl I'D will do the trick. It is expensive though.
-moss

moss wrote:

Davej wrote:

moss wrote:

I'm a Grigri fan.

Except it won't work for those of us using 1/2 inch rope.

What Baker said. If you want to \"dual purpose\" your 1/2\" rope for DRT and SRT then the large size Petzl I'D will do the trick. It is expensive though.
-moss

The I´D is great but beside beeing expensive it is quite heavy and BIG... we named it the \"half chicken\"

I´m using the Grigri since 10 years now, relyable and simple piece.

moss wrote:
What Baker said. If you want to \"dual purpose\" your 1/2\" rope for DRT and SRT then the large size Petzl I'D will do the trick. It is expensive though.

Yes I've heard the I'D is foolproof but it's too big and expensive for me. I'm going to experiment with a figure-8 this Spring. Maybe I can use two fig-8's to twist and then untwist!

is the grigri used for descending SRT only or will it work on DRT systems

thanks!
michael

Any descender can be used DRT. Technically. One end of the rope is attached directly to the main D of the harness via a figure 8 or other appropriate knot. The rope then goes up over the TIP and down through the descender of choice. The descender must also be attached to the main D. After that, it's just like a single rope rappel.

This technique can be used anywhere you may want to rappel off of something and then pull the rope down to you. One thing you need to be sure of though, is that you have enough rope to make it to the bottom ! A rope length of more than twice the the height of the tip/anchor is needed

thanks baker. yea I've always descended using the blakes hitch. just purchased a rescue 8 and a Grigri so am going to experiment with both. I wonder which will twist the rope the least, my rope is long so there is a pile at the bottom in most situations (it won't spin out as there is at least 100 feet of excess piled)

one more question for the experienced here:

I plan to keep my blakes tied on loosely for backup. should it be above or below the rescue 8 (or the Grigri depending on which one I use)

mrand wrote:

one more question for the experienced here:

I plan to keep my blakes tied on loosely for backup. should it be above or below the rescue 8 (or the Grigri depending on which one I use)

Just to let you know, I've found the Grigri to be a poor tool for DRT descent. You have to practically hold the tail above the Grigri and manually feed it to make downward progress. I guess I don't weigh enough but I suspect the same would be true for any climber, the DRT load dynamics (distributed across two legs of the rope) which allows safe descent with a hitch defeat the Grigi, it wants all of the load (as in SRT descent) not part of it.

I would put the F8 below the hitch. Again, this is because the loading dynamics for DRT are much different than SRT. For SRT you would want the hitch below the F8.
-moss

In general ( my experience)
The F-8 will twist the rope more than the Grigri but you can try both and see what you find out.