Heaps - 14 September 2012

[Kuya]

Heaps is tip-top full of water. Log jams didn't provide any reason for worry. All were bypassed rather quickly. The "log soup" on the other hand was quite a bit more technical than expected. All in all, Heaps was a BLAST and in prime condition! We did the canyon in 4/3 wetsuits and were warm the whole time. Took the two of us from 9am to 9:30 pm to do the hike from Camp site #4 to the last shuttle bus. We were taking our time and enjoying the canyon very much, it was also our first time through Heaps. It took us a couple of hours to safely descend the last 500ft to the emerald pools. We were glad to get down alive and with out any problems. (The Z-rig on my totem with a backup prusik knot worked awesome on my 9.3 Imlay rope)

[Mountaineer]

(The Z-rig on my totem with a backup prusik knot worked awesome on my 9.3 Imlay rope)

Curious, how did you rig your totem for a Z? Did you go all the way to your leg and back up and then down again, or just down to a carabiner on your leg? Throttle mode or figure 8? If you had a pic showing your setup that would be great!

[Kuya]

Here is a picture of how to do a z-rig with the totem. This picture demo's how to do it with two strands, I did it with one and attached a prusik to my leg loop. I will try and show a picture of that later.

58947

[Iceaxe]

I don't think I would rig a Z-rig that way (at least if I am seeing the picture correctly). You have trapped yourself into using the Z-rig the entire length of the rappel and if the friction is too much you are screwed. One of the major benefits of the Z-rig is it's extremely adjustable where you can go from standard rappel, to leg loop to z-rig and back as more or less friction is required.

This also shows why I hate the Totem (besides it's size), to many options that are not as good as doing it correctly to start with. The best use I can think if for a Totem is paper weight or bottle opener. YMMV

58949

[2065toyota]

I have used this numerous times but never done 2 opposed biners above the ATC. Is this for safety? More Friction? Thanks

[Iceaxe]

I have never used two opposed biners, I assume this is a safety issue for nonlocking biners. I always use one locking biner on the leg and a second locker at the top. I swiped the pic from the web because it does a good job of showing a proper z-rig.

FWIW I don't even carry any non lockers.


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[Brian in SLC]

I have used this numerous times but never done 2 opposed biners above the ATC. Is this for safety? More Friction? Thanks

Safety and friction. Article/sketch was in a climbing magazine. If you were on a steep wall, rappelling a single line especially with a pig (heavy haul bag), you'd want to darn sure have your friction dialed... I rapped off a wall in Zion after fixing a couple of pitches, one of which was fixed with a 7mm tag line. Dumb and didn't do that again. Rappelling single strand with a load off a static 7mm wasn't a great idear...and...jugging back up the next day even dumber...

Live and learn...

[Brian in SLC]

FWIW I don't even carry any non lockers.

I do and use them quite often. Had to beat up a Petzl Attache in Europe that was hopelessly screwed shut. Crazy.

For some tethering, and, for rigging friction on the fly, I like the non-locker wire gates much better. Fast in and out, and, no chance to get stuck closed.