The American Death Triangle in the real world Recently (Feb 2018) I wrote a blog on the forces involved in the American Death Triangle. I questioned if there were some occasions we can use this style of rigging. Note: I would recommend reading this first article before diving into this one: American Death Triangle and […]
Deploying the rope for a big canyon pitch Using rethrow and out of the bag techniques Over the past few years, we have been descending some bigger canyons. By this I mean the pitch is longer than half the length of your rope, e.g., 30m for a 60m rope. On these big pitches, it can be […]
Have you ever been told never to use the American Death Triangle for 2-point anchor rigging as it has a pulley effect on the anchors and is considered ‘bad’ or is ‘dreaded’? In this article, we will consider the American Death Triangle in more detail and see what’s going on. What sparked my interest was […]
Ice Anchor Testing Fox Glacier Every year, Fox Glacier Guiding takes thousands of people onto the Fox Glacier. As part of their operation, they guide people on hikes around the glacier where they use ice screws for hand lines (safety lines) and for top rope ice climbing where they use a mixture of ice screws […]
Double fisherman’s vs. overhand rethread Tying Prusik loops with a bend for your Prusik Minding Pulley For tying Prusik loops I have always used the double fisherman’s bend. However, the double fisherman’s is bulky and as a result, never sits quite right on the body of the Prusik Minding Pulley (PMP). I decided to try […]
A knot that drives you around the bend! On a cave excursion through Bulmer cave system (New Zealand) I noticed, on two occasions, a single sheet bend rigged at the top of a fixed handline but being used as if it was a bowline knot. I suspect the person rigging these handlines meant to tie […]
Rig a big canyon pitch Over the past few years, we have been descending some bigger canyon pitches. By this I mean the pitch is longer than half the length of your rope where you need to join another. You may get away with doubling your rope until the day you need to do a rescue, and […]
Get more friction with a double Munter A number of organisations (e.g.ski patrols and glacier guiding) use a 6mm Spectra or Dyneema line for escape or access. The upside of using this type of system is it is lightweight and easily carried all day. One of the downsides is that you need to use a […]
This article has been updated in 2020 with all the bends retested and lots more information on variations including small and large diameters. Check it out: Which bends for joining ropes update – CLICK HERE Which bend for joining ropes? Testing and analysis of flat bends used for rope retrieval As part of writing the Canyoning […]
Abseiling: 5 ways to improve. Lessons learnt from abseiling in a canyon. When I first started canyoning several years ago I had to adapt my abseiling (rappelling) technique to this environment. A few things were the same and many things were different (or as is often said ‘same-same but different’). I had come from a […]
