Anchoring knot

[lannyman8]

black wall hitch with a stop knot tied in 1 side, the pressure of the rope pulling down will stop the knot from slipping through, when down a flip of the rope will release the pressure and allow the knot to slip through.

bearing in mind though, this would only ever be done if your life depended on having to use the rope again, trapped in mountains blah blah blah....

and that is of course if you cant double it up...

 

[AndyAndy]

Speaking as someone who has done hundreds of abseils while climbing in all sorts of conditions nothing shoud be left to chance. Doubling the rope is the only safe way to retrieve it from the ground - with twice the number of abseils if necessary. That's a rule with very very few exceptions although there is always room to think a way out of a difficult situation. Certainly a knot that releases when not under tension when abseiling is insanity. You can't predict what might happen after you start abseiling - and the chances of broken legs, broken back or death are not a good fun bet.

Bear Gryll's isn't stupid and knows that - thats why if you look carefully at the piece of film he is supposed to be relying on an unwound old rotten rope and a dangerous knot you can see at various points that he has a safety rope running up his jacket sleeve to a harness - you can see the rope under tension and the safety rope itself in his hand at different points. I stopped the film and photographed the "frames" to make sure - in the film with those things visible. That to me is irresponsible as kids or anyone could copy that. Especially when Bear Gryll's knows way better than that.

 

[matt.gp]

From the perspective of a canyoneer here are my thoughts.

Emphasis for me is that you need a retrievable rope system and don't want to simply abseil from a double rope for whatever reason, this may be down to not having a long enough rope or using a descender specific for single ropes which you find a lot with rope access and caving descenders.

If you have adequate rope for a double rope but would prefer to ab from a single strand only then a common method is to use a biner block.

Essentially clove hitch your rope to a carabiner (preferably steel) at the required length and then feed the end of the rope through your anchor point (if it is suitable i.e not likely to cut the rope). Then ab from the single cord and pull the other end to retrieve the rope. Be sure to ab from the correct end and be sure to trust your bolt or anchor.

Certainly in canyoning and when descending from pinnacles etc. it is not unheard of to use 'sacrificial' kit for anchoring. Usually a length of cord or sling coupled with a maillon or rap-ring as shown below. Expect to pay about 2 quid for a new alloy rap ring.

Alternatively when a tree or similar bollard is used as an anchor then a figure of eight and a biner can be used in a similar manner...

http://static-dev-climbing.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Long-Rappel-Short-Rope.jpg

Screw up B ab from C and pull on A to get the rope down.

If A is not long enough then for me, best practice is to use a pull cord. Just a long thin rope or cord for rope retrieval. For example a 200 foot rope with a 200 foot pull cord is lot lighter than having to carry 400 feet of rope. Coupled with a safe technique for rope retrieval and your on to a winner. Just don't use the pull cord for load bearing (asides sack hauling etc).

Lastly, now all sensible ideas have been exhausted there is the sheep shank...

I have tried this in the climbing wall and it works but is lunacy - there will nearly always be an alternative.

Tie the rope to the anchor, then below that tie the sheep shank, load your weight on to the rope and before departure cut the middle strand as in the picture.

SNIP!!!

Don't cut the wrong one and don't unload the rope early and you may live! Unload the rope and you will retrieve all but a metre or so which will remain hanging from your anchor as a warning to others lol!

Have a look here it's quite good:

http://bigfootmountainguides.com/2012/01/31/how-to-use-a-pull-cord-for-rappelling/

And lastly please go and practice in a climbing wall where someone can belay you.

 

[petrochemicals]

given you can tie a reef knot with one working end, (you use the same rabbit for both loops round the fox !) use it under tension and shake it free , or something similar, I have seen something like it on the T.V.

 

[calgarychef]

It's called the steeple mans knot isn't it? I didn't read all the posts and the name might have been mentioned, and yes it uses a sheep shank with the middle cut. I know I sure wouldn't trust my life to it but its still fun to know.

 

[Joonsy]

a few points to consider before abseiling off anything, DO ROPES REACH THE GROUND / IF NOT ARE THERE ANY MORE ANCHORS AND STANCES TO ALLOW REPEAT ABSEIL (no point in abseiling halfway only to find you have no anchor to continue a second abseil, you will be stuck without prussiks to climb back up) / DO YOU HAVE TWO PRUSSIK LOOPS TO CLIMB BACK UP (if not the only way is down when on abseil, you will NOT pull yourself back up hand over hand) / IF ROPES DO NOT REACH THE GROUND AND YOU DO MULTI ABSEIL WITH A BELAY DEVICE/KARABINER THEN TIE A KNOT IN END OF ROPE TO AVOID ABSEILING STRAIGHT OFF THE END OF THE ROPE (many climbers have abseiled straight off the end of a rope to their death through rope not reaching the ground) / USING ROPE ONLY WITH NO HARDWARE OR HARNESS AND DOING A ''CLASSIC ABSEIL'' SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED IF YOU HAVE NO EXPERIEINCE (a ''classic'' abseil with no harness can be painful as rope cuts into you especially on steep ground) / when abseiling if you don't know absolutely 100% what the outcome will be DO NOT TRY IT, the cliff edge is no place to experiment.

 

[shaggystu]

Post #23, matt.gp.

Absolutely superb post, answers the OP fully and in detail and also addresses some of the wonderfully crazy ideas that others have put forward. Do NOT learn safe rope retrieval techniques for abseiling from an internet forum, that's just silly, that's the kind of thing that gets you killed. DO get yourself along to a climbing centre, get some tuition, get some practice, be safe. Threads like this one worry me