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View Full Version : GriGri As an Ascender



Wild One
10-11-2006, 08:57 AM
I'm curious as to wether anyone out there has ever used or seen anyone use a grigri as an ascender. In theroy it should work, but I've never heard of anyone doing it. What do you guys think?

Brian in SLC
10-11-2006, 09:03 AM
I'm curious as to wether anyone out there has ever used or seen anyone use a grigri as an ascender. In theroy it should work, but I've never heard of anyone doing it. What do you guys think?

I've done it tons and highly recommend it.

Especially on traverses, makes "deucy-ing" out, super super easy. Also, if you clean a pitch and need to rappel, voila.

Most folks redirect the rope from the gri gri through a pulley or biner on the top jumar. So, stand up, pull down on rope, in one motion. So slick you might never go back to a standard jugging set up.

Not near as efficient for low angle slabs, to be sure.

-Brian in SLC

jumar
10-11-2006, 09:56 AM
Might be interesting to try that. I've wondered about that when switching to rappel from jugging on a free hang. Make it a lot simpler transition.

jumar
10-11-2006, 10:02 AM
So is it the brake rope that gets passed through the pulley hooked to the upper ascender?

Brian in SLC
10-11-2006, 10:21 AM
So is it the brake rope that gets passed through the pulley hooked to the upper ascender?

Essentially the brake end, yeah. As in, "dude, you're the hand" (comment overheard by someone climbing at Smith Rocks when the belayer asked his partner if he was in a good spot. "Why?" "Cause, dude, you're the hand").

Some folks don't redirect through a pulley or carabiner. But, the motion is much easier it seems to me, when you stand, its natural to pull down from the top jug. Rather than pull the slack out of the gri gri with an upward motion. Plus, you get the mechanical advantage.

If you swap out the gri gri with a mini or pro traxion, and redirect through a top jug with a pulley, you can ascend without a leg stirrup by just pulling the slack out from the pulley. Kinda amazing. Pull slack out, take weight on traxion, shuffle up jug on rope, repeat. When we did Cathedral in the Desert, and jugged out on our fixed lines, I rigged my partner with a traxion. Worked like a champ.

Really well demonstrated in a video (tech tips) which also has Reflections of a Solo Sheep Herder, which is hilarious.

http://www.spadout.com/video.php?t_video=4

Order DVD here (cheap now!):

http://www.ologyproductions.com/geology.htm

-Brian in SLC