Ask me any rope solo questions in the comments below and I'll answer in a seperate video Also if you haven't yet, then check out our Wide Boyz shop here www.wideboyz.com
If you have them id love to see some detailed photos of the anchors you used for these pitches. Also im curious what your prime motivation for solo free climbing is. I imagine that there's a huge personal satisfaction and accomplishment, im wondering how those are different without a partner?
"I did the last part free" Is that free solo? About free soloing: even if the risk is smaller, don't you feel the consequence makes it an "unnecessary" risk?
What are your thoughts on using an elastic band between the rope and the anchor like in this video below. This Japanese climber does it when he rope soloes and I hadn't seen it anywhere else: ruclips.net/video/O41Rnq4o6cs/видео.html If the link doesn't work, he shows it at 2:14. Would that ever be necessary or is the rope dynamic enough for it?
Most Soloists do it with gear from what I've seen, usually free climbing using the rope only as a safety net. People who free solo are pretty rare (soloists in general are rare) for obvious reasons, and usually only do small faces (this is a relatively small face and he could certainly do it at his level if he wanted to, if you can free climb it you can free solo ut), the people who free solo big faces are elite climbers (or suicidal) usually with serious experience on the face. Free soloing in the UK is iffy though, because we have constant (and unexpected rain) even though the rock is often solid. Dampness is also not good for a successful free solo (i.e. one where you don't fall off). It's actually interesting that most free solo climbers who died, didn't die climbing, they usually died in various other extreme sports. There have only been a few elite free solo climbers that died from a fall while climbing this way (and one of the most notable was way out of his prime at 60). Brad Gobright died not too long ago while simul-repelling, most accident's happen on descent, and other free soloists have also died while roped in. So obviously being roped in is safer than not, because at least you can fall without worrying of dropping to your death. But free soloing isn't as risky as people portray it IF they know what they are doing if we go by statistics.
@@AveSicarius …. If the Climber that was “way out of their prime” was John Bacher , he was 52 at the time of his death. It does appear he slipped after topping out. There’s also the anomalies Peter Crofet, who is around 62 & has recently climbed his hardest (tech. Grade) solo to date. There is is the tragically ironic death of Patrick Edlinger. Very well written clarification Brother. Stay safe & climb hard EDIT: I soloed considerably between the ages of 20 -23. Never at my top grade, but we’d do Washington Column (1000’) Half Dome (2000’) & El Cap (3000’) days routinely. The nomenclature to the list was introduced to me by the Great John Bacher. Once children came on the scene my priorities changed considerably. Climbing is a selfish sport & I couldn’t justify the risks anymore
@@AveSicarius "if you can free climb it you can free solo it" no. You have to be able to free climb it every time 100% of the time, or at least weeell within reasonable margins for your risk tolerance. Being able to free climb something once is not sufficient.
I'd be interested in a longer rope soloing video, showing more of the going back down and up again. I watched teamBMC's 26min video of your rope solo ascent of El Cap (awesomely done) and thought that they barely showed any footage of you going back down and up, which gave a weak impression of the tremendous effort involved, despite their verbal description of the process. In general there are few rope solo videos on youtube which show anything but climbing forwards.
Yeh that rope solo video on BMC was produced by me and edited by my friend. I'll bare it in mind to try and capture some more of the down and up tho, it's a very good point. Alot of the effort is kind of lost or missed out.
Happy to see that you also gave up on the direct exit (I did as well). I also stopped under the green slimy chimney, but Jon Egil did not want it 😂.. we traversed another 50 meters to the right and then up a steep hard handcrack that you would have loved. Great effort freeing it solo 👌
It's an awesome vid and i also appreciate that you put footage of Alex Honnold who is the man that put soloing on the map to the public eye and really brought climbing to the publics attention.
Hey Pete amazing send and video! Congratulations! Have you seen Dave MacLeod free solo vids? He uses a drone with object autotracking to get footage of him climbing. He even did a tutorial of how to do it. Could be useful to get one of those to get shots of yourself while doing any kind of soloing
I really want to rope-solo again seeing this, i had a bit of a nasty fall last time... but i think its time to get the rack out again. Thanks for the video
Because Silent partners now require a separate mortgage to get hold of, I've been using a grigri for RS. Would be keen to see you using that system and how it might differ from a silent partner. Have you/would you do the chest harness 'wave' mod or rope feeding mod?
@WungusBill with adequate back ups and redundancy I'm yet to find a better system. It is also pretty much the standard for solo aid these days, and is the recommended device in both Hooking Up and Higher Education. What's the reasoning behind the 'strongly discouraged' or is that just what petzl says?
Get the silent partner it's worth 10X the price. I tracked down the inventors home number before the Silent partner was on the market and offered $1100 for the guy to make me one but he couldn't make it happen because he didn't have easy access to the equipment needed to make one device. This was in the mid 1990's before all the 3d printing technology existed. I think i paid $325 for mine? It saves so much effort and is so much safer than any other method. A clove hitch on a locker is safer than an unmodified gri gri. You can modify a gri gri to make it a safe for solo belay but when you factor in the price of a new gri gri with the research, time, and energy required to modify it you may as well have got yourself a silent partner Avoid the temptation to use it as a remote belay attached to the belay station. It works like magic but of a twist in the rope jams it you better be able to set up an anchor were you are. Whatever you do, if you want to rope solo with the safest and least exhausting shelf belay system available, get the silent partner. Get a climbing shop to hold one for you as you make payments. Any legitimate climbing shop will take mercy on you. There is nothing else out there that comes even close to the performance of the SP.
There are plenty of people using GriGris for the purpose, but no way is Petzl going to approve such a common belay device for such an uncontrolled & (relatively) uncommon use as rope soloing. It's lawyers making the decisions, but you can sympathize. If you do it, you on your own. ;) I used a Rock Exotica Soloist for years, and it did catch a few medium lead falls. Has its own drawbacks, tho: requires a chest harness to keep it upright, the feed pressure can get pretty heavy with any sort of traverse, and it won't catch a head-first fall. Which is fine -- you should always tie off short periodically anyhow, with any of these devices or techniques. The Soloist was at its most useful on preset topropes or when seconding your lead pitch; you can cover some ground with it when the rope is above you! Good for running laps on one-pitch climbs: for fitness or to wire the moves & gear placements.. I also did quite a bit of rope soloing using just dropped knots, which is sort of a hassle but doesn't require any fancy kit. Best to trail or carry a second rope. Climb on one rope, tying and dropping knots as needed. Set anchor, fix second rope, rap down it, follow pitch, clipping pre-placed knots on lead rope (and possibly untying them as you drop them). Twist-lock biners are fastest; you can also use plain QDs and just always have two knots clipped. It's still a lot of gear handling. I find re-climbing the pitch easier & more fun than jumaring it, but I rope-soloed easier routes than these peeps (5.10 and under, unless toproping or aiding) and I suck at jumaring.
Brilliant! I basically set my system up the same way, but I don't climb anything at my limit. I personally love using my Silent Partner. I'm always refining my skills, improving rope management and finding new ways to calm my nerves.🤣 Mind blowingly 🤯 fun and scarey. You are a constant inspiration. Thank you.
Nice bro🔥 I have been ropoloing for a few months now with the revo and micro trax as my backup loop. Doesn’t work as well as the silent partner seems to. Always gets me siked to see you and Tom getting after it🔥❤️ you the man
Great video! The bit of you in the chimney is ridiculous and awesome. All you need now is a following camera drone to get the climbing or maybe more realistically a camera on a tripod attached to a cam..? That could capture something from below
Good effort. Great idea to use a traxion under the silent partner as a backup! I've used overhand knots clipped to a biner under a grigri for aid soloing, but it can be a faff and inevitably comes tight when I desperately need slack.
Love the video! Could you talk in more detail about the whole process from planning, to setting up certain devices, to using different anchor spots, etc? I might be too much to do for a video, but it would be cool to learn more about how to prepare for a future rope solo climb. Not sure if you are interested in teaching the basics, but I thought that I should ask :)
Definitely think you should upload some Norwegian Slow TV style climbing videos of these climbs. I could leave it on it the background while I work from home haha.
Super interesting 🙂 I have always used the silent partner through the leg loops and knotted rope in a back pack, I will try the micro traction to hold the rope; if new to the silent partner it needs some falling speed to lock up ( take care on slabs ) super soft catch ! good to see a climb that does not go to plan !
Great video, really enjoyed the instruction from you. Question for the future vid: Rope soloing must be frustrating and tedious at times. What do you do to ensure you have a good time out soloing?
Peter = The Iron Man of Climbing! Most well rounded climber out there. And how about a 25 minute dead hang outlasting all of Storror! Twenty five minutes! Whaaat? Da Man!
Hey, could you go through your process of rope management on anchors, especially with muti-pitch. Let's say on a 30m pitch, do you have a way to rig the rope so that it's ready for the next pitch as you climb it the first time? Or are you totally restacking and re-tieing every time? And then let's say for a 60m pitch. Seems logical to tie the end of the rope in the anchor you just built, go down, then clean and come back up. Are you flaking the rope and then flipping it? I feel like I'm losing time and energy with the transitions. I am pulling the rope way too many times for it to feel like the fastest way. Any other general tips for the between pitches stuff. Trying to get 10-15 pitch climbs done in a day. Everything helps.
Yes great. questions, I've spent a whole bunch of time thinking out the quickest anchor swaps, don't know if it have the best method,but it works well, I'll cover this in the Q and A vid 👍
I happen to rope solo from time to time when partners are scarce. Every time i try to improve the system. I have been taught the method used by the famous italian alpinist Casarotto (basically just a prusik), i find it to be simple yet a bit outdated. I tried different devices but haven't figured out what's best. Why did you choose the silent partner? Did you use any other devices? What would be your second choice? Thanks and keep up with the good videos!
incredible content as always... silent partner, is there a better partner? Hehehe when i started climbing and all I thought about was climbing alone, but I didn't know how and not even if is possible, or even tge name Rope Solo... much research and study until I got to AndyKirkpatrick's wonderful book... what a masterpiece.... right before the pandemic, I did, as far as I am knowing, the first rope solo ascent of one classic route in Pedra Riscada here in Brasil (1110m)... and mate, you are already an inspiration in the cracks and seeing you climbing in rope solo again only gives more and more inspiration... please give us more content like this... =D a question, you don't use backup knots right, just the traxion as catchloop, correct? the idea is never fall, right? hehehehe thanks again for always bring to us amazing ans funny contents Pete... cheers Mate
Hi Pete, how do manage your security when soloing ? I mean by that, do you carry rescue phone , inform some people about what and where you go etc. And how did you learned those skills ? Thanks for the vids & fun !
Yes exactly those two things. Tell someone where you're going and take a phone. I'm not very good at taking any personal first aid, u should get better at it. Always take a knife 👍
I use the same setup with the Revo as SP. So Revo on belay loop and traxion below it. Regarding chest harness i tried one before but found it annoying so sacked it off...maybe I just didn't get the setup that smooth
Great vid. loads of insight fascinating to watch. Would you rope solo with a grigri backed up with a traxion if (like 99% of the world) you didn't own a soloist?
Hey! Great video💪 Have you used a Revo for rope soloing? Pros/cons? What kind off setup would you use with the Revo, and is there situations you would absolutly not use it and visa versa?
The explanation of the gear and methods is great, but it is a shame there wasnt anyone around to film you climbing ... with a drone. Do that for lots of cracks, edit them together, slap some awesome music onto it ... and you have a great motivational video.
haha yeh some more climbing footage would be nice. it was a total last minute descion for me to film it anyway, i actually wasn't going to bother, so i'm surprised i got anything out of it at all!! glad i did now, as it seemed like a popular video
I see lots of comments about the Gri-Gri for rope soloing but I was wondering if you ever tested the Wild Country Revo? Bought one myself for that purpose but not had a chance to put it to the test yet.
Great to see some rope solo awkwardness :) I imagine that system differences would dictacte the procedure, but how do you manage the potential for backup-knots to get caught in cracks? Is the silent partner just reliable in all fall orientations that you don't need to use them? This wasn't a problem until I went to do multi-pitch crack climbs in Squamish, and then it was a nightmare X(
Put the rope on an ice cream cone style rope bag attached to the anchor but don't knot the other end. Then use a clove hitch on a locker any where the it can be safely clipped, practice being able to unclip and reattach the clove hitch to other parts of your harness in case it is jamming you up. The every 30 to 100 feet you pull out the slacker hanging of a solider gear placement and continue on. Make sure you always have at least 15 feet of slack on the clove hitch back up or you may as well just.belay on a clove hitch. Have fun!
@@grey-yem oh yeah and cost an absolute fortune, think they go for more than 1000$ in the states www.climbing.com/news/rock-exotica-silent-partner-sells-for-1400-on-ebay/
@A R Thanks. That was a really interesting comment. Are they that much better than just a gri-gri+traction? It sounds like you might not be the person to ask though
Your a beast tooo🤜🤛 and when are we going to just have a universal grading system? It's such a headache 🤕😣😩🤯 to me and damn confusing. One system world wide is needed to not confuse people. Especially now it's in the Olympics it just makes sense.
@@WideBoyz i will and thank you it would be nice to understand how to do conversions. Still I think we need to come up with a universal grading system. Maybe a topic for you guys or a video on it too. Big fan and supporter🤜🤛💯
Thanks for the great video. My questions: I am interested in rope soloing. Mostly single pitch. How to start? On a super easy route? Or even with a partner for safety?
Easy route is great, one which is easily or over protected, and a partner around (in particular one knowledgeable of soloing) are great, plus low traffic routes in frequently trafficked areas. This means you have time to mess about without impeding anyone else but if you’re unable to extract yourself or are injured others might be around. Testing the system will be essential, and know how to extract yourself should you but unable to continue the climb. Further, willingness to abandon gear is important because rope soloing takes a long while and is much more effort, thus realizing you have to bail and knowing how to will save your skin and possibly life.
Would love to see another rope solo video from an outside perspective. It would be interesting to see all of the logistics on camera instead of being explained.
Thanks for the insight. Do you (as a reader of this post) think its possible to onsight a 13 pitch 6c (max) and 30m+ pitches in rope soloing, its not really trad because there is a bolt every 4-6m but on slab. And how good would one have to climb for doing this with a little safety. Just wondering, i think i will climb it first with a partner and check it out good if i ever want to do it.
Ropes! ropes! ropes! 😁 what diameter rope did you use on El Capitan!!? And what length!? What is your preferred rope diameter!? What length do you use for different situations!? Do you use the continuous loop method? Do you always go fast and light!? How do you haul, if you ever do haul, even if it’s a light load!!!!?😆 i’m so stoked on your climbing!!!! thanks for the videos Broski!!! And I totally understand if you don’t wanna answer all my questions😜
Hey Pete! If I understood correctly you have to climb down again to get your gear. Would it be possible to have a camera below you on the ground so we could see more of the actual climbing? Love ur videos!
Top work Pete, must be bloody hard to not only rope solo that, but shoot a video at the same time. I know nowt about climbing, I've only been bouldering a year or so, but why do you say you wouldn't choose that rope, you'd prefer something else? Too thin/too thick? Cheers
Haha Yeh it's always more effort to shoot the video at the same time 😅 I'd just prefer something a little-known thicker, purely because it's nicer for jumaring and the rope running over any edges.
Have you had any experience with other devices for soloing that are currently sold on the market? If so, could you list any pros and cons you have for them? (Also, could be good to possibly link the TRS facebook group in the Q&A video's description as another source people can ask questions in, as it would be a tall order to cover everything TRS in a single video!)
Any information of trouble-shooting and problem solving while rope soloing would be good! It sounds like there are plenty of difficult decisions to take...
You can't lead solo on a traxion as it only feeds rope one way. You need a device that feeds rope (i.e. Gives slack like a person belaying would), but yet still locks up when you weight it.
Great video! Questions: do you use backup knots with the SP? If not, is there any backup system (I didn't seen any in the video)? What is your solution against rope back-feeding, when the rope weight pulls it back through the SP? Cheers!
I don't tie back up knots when rope solo free climbing, there is so much to take care of anyway that un tieing knots isn't practical. I'm sure there is a good way by using slip knots, but I've not used them. If I'm on a really hard pitch I'll often tie a knot midway through the rope before i start climbing and incase of a fall and device failure the knot would act as a blocker. This knot i usually just take my best guess in wear to tie it so it doesn't affect any hard climbing, but that's quite difficult when you're on sighting. In terms of belay loop or karabiner failure from device to harness, I don't have a back up. The great thing about the silent partner is that it has 2 attachment points. I've also heard of other people creating a second belay loop on there harness with a piece of cord for a second back up
@@WideBoyz Thank you! And as others mentioned before, your one day solo ascent on El Cap is just beyond my comprehension. I really love your humble approach for climbing, which is quite rare these days.
Not a rope solo question but I heard you say you used to be a tree surgeon Pete and I’m interested to know your experiences as a tree surgeon and how you transferred your skills to rock climbing?
i climbed before i was a tree surgeon, so i'd say many of my skills as a climber were transferred into tree surgery work rather than the other way around. I'm not sure i've actually taken that much from my tree surgeon days and applied it to climbing to be honest
I am not a climber and don't really understand how it works so please don't take this as a dig! Does using the chimney not the original aid route mean that you free'd the wall, and/or the climb but not the route? Does that mean that you can give an alternative route ending a different name and grade? It looked really cool and props to you for doing it the safer way even though it's more effort. One more question... Do you enjoy the abseiling bit?
Yes wall is still freed, as I did it without any aid. However like you say it took a slightly different line at the top. Usually the route name stays the same but in future topos you would just show both an aid line and a free line (or free variation)
I've tested out the Revo. It's much smaller and lighter, but it doesn't function as well as a solo device. But that makes sense i guess because SP was built for solo climbing, whereas Revo was built as a belay device
Ask me any rope solo questions in the comments below and I'll answer in a seperate video
Also if you haven't yet, then check out our Wide Boyz shop here www.wideboyz.com
If you have them id love to see some detailed photos of the anchors you used for these pitches.
Also im curious what your prime motivation for solo free climbing is. I imagine that there's a huge personal satisfaction and accomplishment, im wondering how those are different without a partner?
Have you ever dropped the silent partner? can you explain a little more about the device? And what other devices you've used to self belay?
Why do you use two oval locking carabiners for the silent partner? Isn´t one enough?
"I did the last part free" Is that free solo?
About free soloing: even if the risk is smaller, don't you feel the consequence makes it an "unnecessary" risk?
What are your thoughts on using an elastic band between the rope and the anchor like in this video below. This Japanese climber does it when he rope soloes and I hadn't seen it anywhere else: ruclips.net/video/O41Rnq4o6cs/видео.html If the link doesn't work, he shows it at 2:14. Would that ever be necessary or is the rope dynamic enough for it?
It's great to see someone soloing as safe as possible with a rope and a helmet.
Most Soloists do it with gear from what I've seen, usually free climbing using the rope only as a safety net. People who free solo are pretty rare (soloists in general are rare) for obvious reasons, and usually only do small faces (this is a relatively small face and he could certainly do it at his level if he wanted to, if you can free climb it you can free solo ut), the people who free solo big faces are elite climbers (or suicidal) usually with serious experience on the face. Free soloing in the UK is iffy though, because we have constant (and unexpected rain) even though the rock is often solid. Dampness is also not good for a successful free solo (i.e. one where you don't fall off).
It's actually interesting that most free solo climbers who died, didn't die climbing, they usually died in various other extreme sports. There have only been a few elite free solo climbers that died from a fall while climbing this way (and one of the most notable was way out of his prime at 60).
Brad Gobright died not too long ago while simul-repelling, most accident's happen on descent, and other free soloists have also died while roped in.
So obviously being roped in is safer than not, because at least you can fall without worrying of dropping to your death. But free soloing isn't as risky as people portray it IF they know what they are doing if we go by statistics.
@@AveSicarius …. If the Climber that was “way out of their prime” was John Bacher , he was 52 at the time of his death. It does appear he slipped after topping out. There’s also the anomalies Peter Crofet, who is around 62 & has recently climbed his hardest (tech. Grade) solo to date. There is is the tragically ironic death of Patrick Edlinger. Very well written clarification Brother. Stay safe & climb hard
EDIT: I soloed considerably between the ages of 20 -23. Never at my top grade, but we’d do Washington Column (1000’) Half Dome (2000’) & El Cap (3000’) days routinely. The nomenclature to the list was introduced to me by the Great John Bacher. Once children came on the scene my priorities changed considerably. Climbing is a selfish sport & I couldn’t justify the risks anymore
@@AveSicarius "if you can free climb it you can free solo it" no. You have to be able to free climb it every time 100% of the time, or at least weeell within reasonable margins for your risk tolerance. Being able to free climb something once is not sufficient.
@@robertnewell4054 >climbing is a selfish sport? huh, couldnt you just climb indoors then?
I'd be interested in a longer rope soloing video, showing more of the going back down and up again. I watched teamBMC's 26min video of your rope solo ascent of El Cap (awesomely done) and thought that they barely showed any footage of you going back down and up, which gave a weak impression of the tremendous effort involved, despite their verbal description of the process. In general there are few rope solo videos on youtube which show anything but climbing forwards.
Yeh that rope solo video on BMC was produced by me and edited by my friend. I'll bare it in mind to try and capture some more of the down and up tho, it's a very good point. Alot of the effort is kind of lost or missed out.
A helmet mount GoPro just to show your view would be cool.
Well said bro full details in the technical side to use as a guide. Brilliant idea 🤜🤛
@@WideBoyz Could you get a tripod for your GoPro? You could leave the tripod to film at the base of a pitch to get you going up/back down again
Seriously thank you for the solo breakdown. Been sort of confused for a while now..
No problem. Any other questions, ask in the comments and I'll make a seperate video answering them
We need more humans with Pete's energy. Dude is always just so positive and upbeat
Unreal episode incredible!!
Thanks 😀
Happy to see that you also gave up on the direct exit (I did as well). I also stopped under the green slimy chimney, but Jon Egil did not want it 😂.. we traversed another 50 meters to the right and then up a steep hard handcrack that you would have loved. Great effort freeing it solo 👌
Yeh that top crack needs a clean. It would go free if it wasn't covered in that dry flakey lichen 😅
Such a nice explanation on the concept of Solo climbing! Thank you so much for the effort Peter!
no problem
More rope solo videos filmed exactly the same way as this!! Very informative and exciting to watch you in the climb working it out
It's an awesome vid and i also appreciate that you put footage of Alex Honnold who is the man that put soloing on the map to the public eye and really brought climbing to the publics attention.
Well done Pete. Great effort.
As a non climber, I learned more in this video than any other video. Thanks Pete!
No problem, thanks for watching
Hey Pete amazing send and video! Congratulations!
Have you seen Dave MacLeod free solo vids? He uses a drone with object autotracking to get footage of him climbing. He even did a tutorial of how to do it. Could be useful to get one of those to get shots of yourself while doing any kind of soloing
Yes I've seen tht video actually. Something like that would have worked well for this route, when it have plenty of time on my hands!
Really enjoyed the episode! Great stuff.
Thanks glad you enjoyed. Cheers for watching
I really want to rope-solo again seeing this, i had a bit of a nasty fall last time... but i think its time to get the rack out again.
Thanks for the video
Incredible video --- thanks + congrats on the FFA!
I'd love to hear about your sketchiest or scariest rope solo experience.
Thank you for laying out all the different kinds of solo climbing! Great video to direct people to that do not know the differences.
Even though there was no actual climbing i loved watching the thought process for climbing it
Thank you for doing this video! Awesome to hear and see your process and considerations during a rope-solo.
No problem. Thanks for watching 😀
This was hella interesting. Currently on my second watch as there was so much great info to take in!
Brings back memories of just how tedious: trad cracks; and roped soloing can be. Nice video though,thanks.
Good effort Pete! Its good to see this set up, educational and inspiring. Thank you
Because Silent partners now require a separate mortgage to get hold of, I've been using a grigri for RS. Would be keen to see you using that system and how it might differ from a silent partner. Have you/would you do the chest harness 'wave' mod or rope feeding mod?
@WungusBill with adequate back ups and redundancy I'm yet to find a better system. It is also pretty much the standard for solo aid these days, and is the recommended device in both Hooking Up and Higher Education. What's the reasoning behind the 'strongly discouraged' or is that just what petzl says?
Get the silent partner it's worth 10X the price. I tracked down the inventors home number before the Silent partner was on the market and offered $1100 for the guy to make me one but he couldn't make it happen because he didn't have easy access to the equipment needed to make one device. This was in the mid 1990's before all the 3d printing technology existed. I think i paid $325 for mine? It saves so much effort and is so much safer than any other method. A clove hitch on a locker is safer than an unmodified gri gri. You can modify a gri gri to make it a safe for solo belay but when you factor in the price of a new gri gri with the research, time, and energy required to modify it you may as well have got yourself a silent partner Avoid the temptation to use it as a remote belay attached to the belay station. It works like magic but of a twist in the rope jams it you better be able to set up an anchor were you are. Whatever you do, if you want to rope solo with the safest and least exhausting shelf belay system available, get the silent partner. Get a climbing shop to hold one for you as you make payments. Any legitimate climbing shop will take mercy on you. There is nothing else out there that comes even close to the performance of the SP.
There are plenty of people using GriGris for the purpose, but no way is Petzl going to approve such a common belay device for such an uncontrolled & (relatively) uncommon use as rope soloing. It's lawyers making the decisions, but you can sympathize. If you do it, you on your own. ;) I used a Rock Exotica Soloist for years, and it did catch a few medium lead falls. Has its own drawbacks, tho: requires a chest harness to keep it upright, the feed pressure can get pretty heavy with any sort of traverse, and it won't catch a head-first fall. Which is fine -- you should always tie off short periodically anyhow, with any of these devices or techniques. The Soloist was at its most useful on preset topropes or when seconding your lead pitch; you can cover some ground with it when the rope is above you! Good for running laps on one-pitch climbs: for fitness or to wire the moves & gear placements..
I also did quite a bit of rope soloing using just dropped knots, which is sort of a hassle but doesn't require any fancy kit. Best to trail or carry a second rope. Climb on one rope, tying and dropping knots as needed. Set anchor, fix second rope, rap down it, follow pitch, clipping pre-placed knots on lead rope (and possibly untying them as you drop them). Twist-lock biners are fastest; you can also use plain QDs and just always have two knots clipped. It's still a lot of gear handling. I find re-climbing the pitch easier & more fun than jumaring it, but I rope-soloed easier routes than these peeps (5.10 and under, unless toproping or aiding) and I suck at jumaring.
Brilliant! I basically set my system up the same way, but I don't climb anything at my limit. I personally love using my Silent Partner. I'm always refining my skills, improving rope management and finding new ways to calm my nerves.🤣 Mind blowingly 🤯 fun and scarey. You are a constant inspiration. Thank you.
We love you rambling about climbing and stuff!
Pete, you are inspirational.
🧗♂️💪💪💪loving the tech description and how to & why.
Cheers 🙂 and thanks for watching as always!
Get involved! Get green! Great video, Pete. Fun to learn about rope soloing!
As a climber new to rigging and setting up gear, This was a great video. Love the vids as always!!
I love the explanation of soloing is just clips of Alex. Like yeah, Alex is basically the only guy who really does this and still alive haha
RIP Brad Gobright :( Wasn't even the soloing that got him. Tie your rappel knots folks.
RIP
Nice bro🔥 I have been ropoloing for a few months now with the revo and micro trax as my backup loop. Doesn’t work as well as the silent partner seems to. Always gets me siked to see you and Tom getting after it🔥❤️ you the man
Answered a lot of questions I had about rope soloing! Thanks for the video.
Another video on its way soon answering allerede the questions about rope soloing that viewers have asked, so watch out for that one 👍
Hey, great to see all of the technique in use. A2+ might need cleaning and a partner? Good luck.
A2+ needed to be cleaner. It looked possible if clean
Nice video, thanks! I like you talking gear, but some live rope solo climbing through a gopro in between would've also been nice. Cheers!
Cool video, gives a great perspective for what goes into rope solo. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching
Super cool to get this many details on the belay 👍
This video is worth its weight in gold simply for the explanation of different types of solo climbing!
Yes I thought that needed explaining as I know it's confusing to many 😀
@@WideBoyz I will send people to this video whenever I need to explain to someone, hahahaha
Also, good job on the first free ascent ! 👍👍👍
Great video! The bit of you in the chimney is ridiculous and awesome.
All you need now is a following camera drone to get the climbing or maybe more realistically a camera on a tripod attached to a cam..? That could capture something from below
Great video! Thanks for taking the extra time to film this.
And now I feel the need for a bottle of "Bris". They should sponsor you 😁
Good effort. Great idea to use a traxion under the silent partner as a backup! I've used overhand knots clipped to a biner under a grigri for aid soloing, but it can be a faff and inevitably comes tight when I desperately need slack.
Love the video! Could you talk in more detail about the whole process from planning, to setting up certain devices, to using different anchor spots, etc? I might be too much to do for a video, but it would be cool to learn more about how to prepare for a future rope solo climb. Not sure if you are interested in teaching the basics, but I thought that I should ask :)
Wondered where you'd been. Great climb👍
I'm here for the good stuff, rope soloing and abseiling!
Haha excellent! Love a good abseil
@@WideBoyz the rambling too ;-)
Definitely think you should upload some Norwegian Slow TV style climbing videos of these climbs. I could leave it on it the background while I work from home haha.
Bish Bash Brilliant, cheers for another epic video!
Super interesting 🙂 I have always used the silent partner through the leg loops and knotted rope in a back pack, I will try the micro traction to hold the rope; if new to the silent partner it needs some falling speed to lock up ( take care on slabs ) super soft catch ! good to see a climb that does not go to plan !
Great video, really enjoyed the instruction from you. Question for the future vid: Rope soloing must be frustrating and tedious at times. What do you do to ensure you have a good time out soloing?
Great video, would have loved a look of the view from the top it looked beautiful there
Peter = The Iron Man of Climbing! Most well rounded climber out there. And how about a 25 minute dead hang outlasting all of Storror! Twenty five minutes! Whaaat? Da Man!
Thanks for the great content I learned a lot watching this video cheers!!
i am starting to get this style a little better especially the part with upward anchor system for ground belay keep up the good vids
this is the content we the people need
Mr Honnold actually looked nervous clipping that gear.
Hey, could you go through your process of rope management on anchors, especially with muti-pitch. Let's say on a 30m pitch, do you have a way to rig the rope so that it's ready for the next pitch as you climb it the first time? Or are you totally restacking and re-tieing every time? And then let's say for a 60m pitch. Seems logical to tie the end of the rope in the anchor you just built, go down, then clean and come back up. Are you flaking the rope and then flipping it? I feel like I'm losing time and energy with the transitions. I am pulling the rope way too many times for it to feel like the fastest way. Any other general tips for the between pitches stuff. Trying to get 10-15 pitch climbs done in a day. Everything helps.
Yes great. questions, I've spent a whole bunch of time thinking out the quickest anchor swaps, don't know if it have the best method,but it works well, I'll cover this in the Q and A vid 👍
I happen to rope solo from time to time when partners are scarce. Every time i try to improve the system. I have been taught the method used by the famous italian alpinist Casarotto (basically just a prusik), i find it to be simple yet a bit outdated. I tried different devices but haven't figured out what's best. Why did you choose the silent partner? Did you use any other devices? What would be your second choice?
Thanks and keep up with the good videos!
incredible content as always... silent partner, is there a better partner? Hehehe
when i started climbing and all I thought about was climbing alone, but I didn't know how and not even if is possible, or even tge name Rope Solo... much research and study until I got to AndyKirkpatrick's wonderful book... what a masterpiece.... right before the pandemic, I did, as far as I am knowing, the first rope solo ascent of one classic route in Pedra Riscada here in Brasil (1110m)... and mate, you are already an inspiration in the cracks and seeing you climbing in rope solo again only gives more and more inspiration...
please give us more content like this... =D
a question, you don't use backup knots right, just the traxion as catchloop, correct?
the idea is never fall, right?
hehehehe
thanks again for always bring to us amazing ans funny contents Pete...
cheers Mate
Thanks for sharing
That was a lot of usefull explanation, thanks m8
What a great climbing video! The most interesting climbing video with no climbing ever!
haha cheers
Best video so far! Question(s):
What are your view on grigri as solo device?
What is the best thing about SP?
Hi Pete, how do manage your security when soloing ?
I mean by that, do you carry rescue phone , inform some people about what and where you go etc.
And how did you learned those skills ?
Thanks for the vids & fun !
Yes exactly those two things. Tell someone where you're going and take a phone. I'm not very good at taking any personal first aid, u should get better at it. Always take a knife 👍
Oh and it learnt how to rope solo from a book called Me Myself and I, plus a bunch of practicing 🙂
@@WideBoyz thanks for the answers !
Would never be brave enough 😂
But it's good to see that knowledge comes with practice.
this was actually pretty educational. i'd love to see more like this but a bit slower for the first-timers
a chimney always seems like what I did as a kid in our narrow hallways 😅
Love the episodes🙌🏻
Thanks for watching 😀
Cool explanation.
Hey man! would love to see your system set up with the Wild Country REVO, and why or why not use a chest harness for rope solo free climbing. Thanks!
I use the same setup with the Revo as SP. So Revo on belay loop and traxion below it. Regarding chest harness i tried one before but found it annoying so sacked it off...maybe I just didn't get the setup that smooth
Great vid. loads of insight fascinating to watch. Would you rope solo with a grigri backed up with a traxion if (like 99% of the world) you didn't own a soloist?
Gri gri or Revo. The traxion doesn't back anything up. The traxion is used too help smooth running of the solo device
@@WideBoyz ahhh of course, you mentioned it on a gear loop! 🤦🏼
Hey! Great video💪 Have you used a Revo for rope soloing? Pros/cons? What kind off setup would you use with the Revo, and is there situations you would absolutly not use it and visa versa?
Love the video!
The explanation of the gear and methods is great, but it is a shame there wasnt anyone around to film you climbing ... with a drone. Do that for lots of cracks, edit them together, slap some awesome music onto it ... and you have a great motivational video.
haha yeh some more climbing footage would be nice. it was a total last minute descion for me to film it anyway, i actually wasn't going to bother, so i'm surprised i got anything out of it at all!! glad i did now, as it seemed like a popular video
I see lots of comments about the Gri-Gri for rope soloing but I was wondering if you ever tested the Wild Country Revo? Bought one myself for that purpose but not had a chance to put it to the test yet.
Great to see some rope solo awkwardness :) I imagine that system differences would dictacte the procedure, but how do you manage the potential for backup-knots to get caught in cracks? Is the silent partner just reliable in all fall orientations that you don't need to use them? This wasn't a problem until I went to do multi-pitch crack climbs in Squamish, and then it was a nightmare X(
Put the rope on an ice cream cone style rope bag attached to the anchor but don't knot the other end. Then use a clove hitch on a locker any where the it can be safely clipped, practice being able to unclip and reattach the clove hitch to other parts of your harness in case it is jamming you up. The every 30 to 100 feet you pull out the slacker hanging of a solider gear placement and continue on. Make sure you always have at least 15 feet of slack on the clove hitch back up or you may as well just.belay on a clove hitch. Have fun!
Epic chimney!
Voiceover over footage of you climbing with the silent partner, etc. about what those things do and how they keep you safe would be really cool
I've got a video coming in a few weeks time with that 🤙
More technical how-to videos please
You need to find a silent parnter at the end of a rainbow first.
@@dougthebuilder1 Are they hard to find?
@@grey-yem oh yeah and cost an absolute fortune, think they go for more than 1000$ in the states
www.climbing.com/news/rock-exotica-silent-partner-sells-for-1400-on-ebay/
@A R Thanks. That was a really interesting comment. Are they that much better than just a gri-gri+traction? It sounds like you might not be the person to ask though
Your a beast tooo🤜🤛 and when are we going to just have a universal grading system? It's such a headache 🤕😣😩🤯 to me and damn confusing. One system world wide is needed to not confuse people. Especially now it's in the Olympics it just makes sense.
Yeh so many grading systems. If you check out Rockfax grading chart, they have a fairly decent conversion for you 👍
@@WideBoyz i will and thank you it would be nice to understand how to do conversions.
Still I think we need to come up with a universal grading system. Maybe a topic for you guys or a video on it too.
Big fan and supporter🤜🤛💯
Thanks for the great video.
My questions: I am interested in rope soloing. Mostly single pitch. How to start? On a super easy route? Or even with a partner for safety?
Easy route is great, one which is easily or over protected, and a partner around (in particular one knowledgeable of soloing) are great, plus low traffic routes in frequently trafficked areas. This means you have time to mess about without impeding anyone else but if you’re unable to extract yourself or are injured others might be around.
Testing the system will be essential, and know how to extract yourself should you but unable to continue the climb. Further, willingness to abandon gear is important because rope soloing takes a long while and is much more effort, thus realizing you have to bail and knowing how to will save your skin and possibly life.
Would love to see another rope solo video from an outside perspective. It would be interesting to see all of the logistics on camera instead of being explained.
Thanks for the insight.
Do you (as a reader of this post) think its possible to onsight a 13 pitch 6c (max) and 30m+ pitches in rope soloing, its not really trad because there is a bolt every 4-6m but on slab.
And how good would one have to climb for doing this with a little safety.
Just wondering, i think i will climb it first with a partner and check it out good if i ever want to do it.
Great video! Question: do you tie a backup knot beyond the Silent Partner & if so, how do you implement this?
Thanks for going into all the pesky logistics!!
no probs
Ropes! ropes! ropes! 😁 what diameter rope did you use on El Capitan!!? And what length!? What is your preferred rope diameter!? What length do you use for different situations!? Do you use the continuous loop method? Do you always go fast and light!? How do you haul, if you ever do haul, even if it’s a light load!!!!?😆 i’m so stoked on your climbing!!!! thanks for the videos Broski!!! And I totally understand if you don’t wanna answer all my questions😜
Hey Pete! If I understood correctly you have to climb down again to get your gear. Would it be possible to have a camera below you on the ground so we could see more of the actual climbing? Love ur videos!
Yes I was thinking of doing this but then didn't want to run out off memory card. I need to take two cards
Top work Pete, must be bloody hard to not only rope solo that, but shoot a video at the same time.
I know nowt about climbing, I've only been bouldering a year or so, but why do you say you wouldn't choose that rope, you'd prefer something else? Too thin/too thick?
Cheers
Haha Yeh it's always more effort to shoot the video at the same time 😅
I'd just prefer something a little-known thicker, purely because it's nicer for jumaring and the rope running over any edges.
Have you had any experience with other devices for soloing that are currently sold on the market? If so, could you list any pros and cons you have for them?
(Also, could be good to possibly link the TRS facebook group in the Q&A video's description as another source people can ask questions in, as it would be a tall order to cover everything TRS in a single video!)
Any information of trouble-shooting and problem solving while rope soloing would be good! It sounds like there are plenty of difficult decisions to take...
Loved it!!
what type of rope do you use ? what diameter?
I could listen to Pete talk about his cams all day
Spot on lads
What’s your view on just using 2 micro-trax or 2 roll-n-locks vs a dedicated soloing device?
You can't lead solo on a traxion as it only feeds rope one way. You need a device that feeds rope (i.e. Gives slack like a person belaying would), but yet still locks up when you weight it.
@@WideBoyz Gotcha, thanks!
The green chimney 🌿🤟
Great video! Questions: do you use backup knots with the SP? If not, is there any backup system (I didn't seen any in the video)? What is your solution against rope back-feeding, when the rope weight pulls it back through the SP? Cheers!
I don't tie back up knots when rope solo free climbing, there is so much to take care of anyway that un tieing knots isn't practical. I'm sure there is a good way by using slip knots, but I've not used them. If I'm on a really hard pitch I'll often tie a knot midway through the rope before i start climbing and incase of a fall and device failure the knot would act as a blocker. This knot i usually just take my best guess in wear to tie it so it doesn't affect any hard climbing, but that's quite difficult when you're on sighting. In terms of belay loop or karabiner failure from device to harness, I don't have a back up. The great thing about the silent partner is that it has 2 attachment points. I've also heard of other people creating a second belay loop on there harness with a piece of cord for a second back up
Oh Yeh and back feeding, I'll tie off onto a piece mid pitch, where I think it is necessary, to take the weight off the rope.
@@WideBoyz Thank you! And as others mentioned before, your one day solo ascent on El Cap is just beyond my comprehension. I really love your humble approach for climbing, which is quite rare these days.
Would you whip on that 2-piece anchor?
How do you deal with backfeeding?
yes the two piece anchors are bomber.
for back feeding i'll tie the rope off to a piece mid pitch when i feel like it starts to backfeed
Not a rope solo question but I heard you say you used to be a tree surgeon Pete and I’m interested to know your experiences as a tree surgeon and how you transferred your skills to rock climbing?
i climbed before i was a tree surgeon, so i'd say many of my skills as a climber were transferred into tree surgery work rather than the other way around. I'm not sure i've actually taken that much from my tree surgeon days and applied it to climbing to be honest
How much experience do you have with daisy soloing? Do you plan to do it on the future or do you stick to rope soloing?
I am not a climber and don't really understand how it works so please don't take this as a dig! Does using the chimney not the original aid route mean that you free'd the wall, and/or the climb but not the route? Does that mean that you can give an alternative route ending a different name and grade? It looked really cool and props to you for doing it the safer way even though it's more effort. One more question... Do you enjoy the abseiling bit?
Yes wall is still freed, as I did it without any aid. However like you say it took a slightly different line at the top. Usually the route name stays the same but in future topos you would just show both an aid line and a free line (or free variation)
Oh yes and abseiling is good, that's a rest, it's the jumaring back up again which is the pain in the arse, haha
Interested that your still using the old-school silent partner. Have you considered moving to anything newer such as the Revo?
I've tested out the Revo. It's much smaller and lighter, but it doesn't function as well as a solo device. But that makes sense i guess because SP was built for solo climbing, whereas Revo was built as a belay device
@@WideBoyz Fair enough. Do you think there's anything that gets close to the SP that's currently in production?
I don't want to lie, this was way too complicated for me to understand, but interesting nevertheless.
I appreciate this video a lot.
great video but I wish you had shown us each of the anchors.