Five rappelling techniques you should know

Do you know how to get down? 5 rappelling techniques

Rappel Devices Create Friction

Most modern "plate-style" rappel devices work equally well, but some do a better job of creating friction (control) and dissipating heat. Since rappelling creates heat, rappel devices which have larger surface areas will dissipate heat better and keep the device from getting so hot that it could damage the sheath of a rope.

A rappel device should also keep the two strands of rope from twisting in a way so that pulling them down after a descent would be impossible. Most modern devices do this for you with a separate slot for each strand which helps keep the ropes seperated and less likely to create unusable tangles.

Outlined below are a few of the more common and useful methods of rigging rappel devices for descent in the rock or mountain environments. Every climber should have a variety of methods at their disposal depending on conditions and available equipment.

The belay loop is the strongest part of the harness. When a carabiner is attached to the belay loop instead of being clipped directly into the harness, it is stronger because it is not being triaxally loaded.

The belay loop also extends the rappel device further away from your body, helping your back-up function better and allowing you to keep both hands more easily on the brake side of the device. Two hands on the brake strands doubles the amount of control you have versus the method of one hand above and one below the rappel device.

Holding the rope between the legs more easily allows one to use the inside of the leg to create additional friction when necessary.

Fingerless, leather belay/rappel gloves also provide an extra element of control by reducing rope burns and adding friction.

Adding Friction

Sometimes even with a double-rope rappel, due to a climber's weight, wet or icy conditions, or the diameter of the ropes (common with today's single 9.5 mm lines), more friction is necessary to safely control one's descent.

A very simple method to create additional friction when rappelling is shown below:

By adding a carabiner below and above the belay device and therefore adding a few extra bends in the rappelling rope, significantly more friction is gained and therefore more control.

(Click to Enlarge)

Back-ups are added protection

The first form of back-up is to tie knots at the bottom of your rappel ropes, keeping you from sliding off the ends. For added safety, many climbers back-up their rappel on the brake hand strands with a friction hitch attached to the harness.

By having this hitch on the rope, it could prevent you from zipping down to the end of your rappel in the event of an injury from rockfall, lightning, seizure, etc, and by being able to go "hands-free", a back-up hitch allows you to stop and untangle the rope or pull it off of ledges using both hands and adding much more safety.

Traditionally, back-ups were applied with a prussik hitch that was connected from the climber's harness to the rope above the rappel device. Although this method works adequately on lower angle terrain, it has the disadvantage of becoming fully weighted more easily and on steep terrain this can make releasing the back-up very difficult.

The more user friendly method for putting a back-up on a rappel rope is to apply the friction hitch below the rappel device on the brake-hand side, connected short to the leg loop.

A prussik hitch made with 5 or 6 mm cord works well in this application; pure nylon has a higher melting temperature (better) than the higher tensile strength materials.

A 24" sewn shoulder-length nylon sling also works well when girth-hitched to the leg loop then tied with an auto-block hitch (shown) which is connected back to the leg loop.

Be aware that both of these friction hitches will not engage if they come in contact with the rappel device so they must be relatively short loops. If you are attaching your back up to your leg loop make sure that the leg loop is also full strength.

Extending the rappel device

Extending the rappel device with a 24"or 48 "sewn sling or a "daisy-chain" that is girth-hitched to the harness via the belay loop has some distinct advantages.

This method puts the rappel device further from the body which lessens the risk of catching clothes or hair in the rappel device and more importantly, with more room below the rappel device both hands can more easily control the brake side of the ropes.

Be careful that the rappel rope does not burn the extension sling- the method shown with the red sewn sling creates a redundant extension . This could also be a good reason to use a locking carabiner on your back-up: In case it is fully supporting your weight!

A close-up of the two loops created by the overhand knot which seperates the 48" sewn sling into two redundant loops.

The outer loop is typically used to connect to rappel anchors and this is the perfect place to put a large diameter locker which can be fitted around many slings at anchor stations.

If the rappel device carabiner is clipped through both loops and the anchoring carabiner locked back into the belay loop, a more redundant extension sling is easily created.

The rappel extension using a thick, sewn daisy chain material that is girth-hitched directly to the belay loop.

The locker on the end of the daisy that is connected to the harness gear loop is available to connect to the next anchor on multi-rappel descents.

Creating your own rappel device

Back in the day you were not allowed near the cliffs until you knew how to make your own harness tied from webbing and how to make a rappel device from just non-locking carabiners. The beauty of the "carabiner brake" method is that it can be easily constructed and the amount of friction can be adjusted by simply adding or subtracting carabiners from the rope-contacting "brake-bar" part of this technique.