A lead rope solo free climbing system for single and multi-pitches,

using the GriGri

With focus on sport climbing
Andrea Calligaris, 2019-2020

Revision: 2020/11/03

Index
Disclaimer.............................................................................................................................................3
Contacts................................................................................................................................................3
Glossary................................................................................................................................................3
The system............................................................................................................................................4
Anchor.............................................................................................................................................6
Anchor system 1: Maillon rapide trick........................................................................................6
Anchor system 2: Improved (quicker) maillon rapide trick........................................................8
Anchor system 3: Postponing.....................................................................................................9
Anchor system 4: Tree anchor..................................................................................................10
Main belay system.........................................................................................................................11
How to install the GriGri...........................................................................................................11
Modifying the GriGri (“death mod”)........................................................................................12
Belay loop or tie-in points.........................................................................................................12
Cache loop and Micro Traxion......................................................................................................13
The purpose of the cache loop..................................................................................................13
Where to attach the Micro Traxion...........................................................................................14
Rope (and GriGri compatibility)....................................................................................................15

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 Backup belay system (stopper knots)............................................................................................16
Spare rope management.................................................................................................................16
Additional gear/advices.................................................................................................................17
Climbing.............................................................................................................................................18
Preparation.....................................................................................................................................18
Anchoring......................................................................................................................................18
Feeding the GriGri (cutting and giving slack)...............................................................................18
Elongation of the rope and bad GriGri feeding.........................................................................19
Weather and bad GriGri feeding...............................................................................................19
Clipping.........................................................................................................................................19
Resting...........................................................................................................................................21
Pulling yourself up.........................................................................................................................21
Falling............................................................................................................................................21
Rope drag and quickdraws.............................................................................................................22
Back feeding..................................................................................................................................23
Lowering........................................................................................................................................24
Soft catch / dynamic belaying........................................................................................................25
Top rope solo free climbing system....................................................................................................27
Multi-pitch..........................................................................................................................................30
Miscellaneous................................................................................................................................30
Anchor...........................................................................................................................................30
Managing the rope.........................................................................................................................31
Cleaning the pitch..........................................................................................................................31
Re-climbing the pitch.....................................................................................................................32
Final abseil.....................................................................................................................................33
In-depth information...........................................................................................................................34
Why this system?...........................................................................................................................34
Forces.............................................................................................................................................34
Fall factor..................................................................................................................................34
Pulley effect..............................................................................................................................34
Conclusion................................................................................................................................35
Cross-loading.................................................................................................................................35
Strength of the gear: steel, minor axis, gates, cantilever load...................................................36
How to tighten the maillon rapide.............................................................................................36
Considering other gear..............................................................................................................36
Factor 2 falls..................................................................................................................................37
Factor 2 falls actually never happen..........................................................................................38
How many kN can the human body take?................................................................................38
Force rating of dynamic ropes..................................................................................................38
Rope breaking...........................................................................................................................38
How actually dangerous is a factor 2 fall when lead rope soloing?..........................................39
Anchor: more info..........................................................................................................................39
Other anchor systems: Munter hitch (unsafe)...........................................................................39
Cantilever load on locking nuts and/or on the rock..................................................................39
Rotating hangers.......................................................................................................................40
Belay device: why the GriGri........................................................................................................40
GriGri failures...........................................................................................................................40
Other devices/systems...............................................................................................................41
Improved backup belay system......................................................................................................43

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 Disclaimer
This is a work of an amateur, some information may be completely wrong.
If you die or get injured it’s not my fault.

Everything written here is not invented by me.

If I missed some credits please let me know.

Contacts
• The Facebook group Lead Rope Solo Climbing
• YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreaCalligaris

Glossary
ACL system: system to prevent cross-loading in carabiners; it’s generally implemented with a
second gate (a horn/bar/lever) that stops the device or the belay loop from sliding around the
carabiner.
Cache loop: also called “light loop”, the loop of rope which purpose is to help you feed the belay
device; in this system, the loop between the Micro Traxion and the GriGri. Not the live rope, and
not the spare rope.
CT: Climbing Technologies.
Live rope: the strand of rope attached to the anchor. Term used to discern it from the spare rope and
the cache loop.
Maillon rapide: steel quick link (certified for climbing).
Re-belay: a knot that functions as a backup anchor. If you fall, this one will act as the anchor, and if
it fails, you’ll still have other re-belays or at least your original anchor.
Spare rope: the strand of rope that you leave hanging. Term used to discern it from the live rope
and the cache loop. Also called the “dead rope” (not in this document).

3
 The system

The system is here first described for single pitch. For multi-pitch, see Multi-pitch.

4
Anchor: two options:
• Securing to the first fixed bolt of the route: one end of the rope attached to a Ø 8 or 10 mm
steel maillon rapide (certified for climbing) or a steel carabiner, with a figure-eight knot,
plus some form of backup anchor in order to have redundancy.
• Tree anchor.
Main belay system: Unmodified Petzl GriGri (whichever the model), upside down (for better
feeding), into a steel maillon rapide Ø 8 mm (certified for climbing), into the belay loop.
Cache loop for the GriGri (to make it feed better): Petzl Micro Traxion, installed to the spare
rope, into an oval carabiner, into e.g. a gear loop.
Rope: any rope that is compatible with your GriGri model.
Backup belay system (optional): stopper knots: slip-knots, tied on the spare rope before starting
the climb, with the correct directionality, one every X meters depending on your preference; cinch
each one well or they could untie by themselves due to the weight of the spare rope.
Spare rope management: none, leave it hanging.

5
Anchor
If you secure to the first fixed bolt, having a backup is important: you may trust the GriGri, you
may trust your rope, but you cannot trust a fixed bolt with an unknown history in the same way. In
rock climbing, anchors should always be redundant, and in rope solo it should be the same.

Anchor system 1: Maillon rapide trick

First fixed bolt of the route: one end of the rope attached to a Ø 8 or 10 mm maillon rapide with a
figure-eight knot.

Second fixed bolt of the route: maillon rapide circa Ø 8 mm in place of the (instead of using a)
quick draw: if the main anchor fails, the knot in the rope will jam into the maillon rapide creating a
backup anchor.
To minimize the jerk and the falling distance, optionally tie a second knot (an alpine butterfly is the best option
because it won’t change your available rope length that will elongate during a fall) very close to the second
bolt; I write it for completeness, but in practice you’ll never do it.

6
For the backup maillon, more than 8 mm is too large and during the impact the knot may manage to
pass through the maillon. Less than 8 mm and the maillon becomes too weak.
Even with an extreme fall, the knot will never compress so much that it will pass through the
maillon. Watch some YouTube videos where they pull ropes with different knots, you’ll see how
many kN they can take up. Sometimes the rope itself breaks before the knot does.

I have actually tried falling on it (simulating a first bolt failure), and it works; the maillon was
subjected to a negligible damage, either against the bolt or the rock:

Pro: After you’ve secured yourself with the second maillon you are covered against factor > 1 falls.
Cons: Risk of factor > 1 falls until you’ve setup the second maillon. • Setting up the second maillon
rapide is not the smoothest and quickest thing.

Credits: Jonathan Croom on Mountain Project

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/113949935/working-out-the-kinks-in-lead-solo-
system#ForumMessage-113950526

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Anchor system 2: Improved (quicker) maillon rapide trick
To have a quicker system you could connect the maillon rapide with a dogbone to a locking
biner. That way you can put the rope in the maillon while still on the ground, and have the locking
biner clipped to your gear loop. The locker can cross-load though, so you should use a steel one;
consider one with a bombproof gate (see Strength of the gear: steel, minor axis, gates, cantilever
load).

8
Anchor system 3: Postponing
Don’t tie a backup until a certain point in the route. Then setup a re-belay (in this case it must be a
“blocked” solution, e.g. clove hitch or figure-eight clipping the loop) on the quick draw / carabiner,
on the e.g. third fixed bolt, give enough slack (above the knot) to prevent a factor > 1 fall and/or just
don’t fall until the next bolt is clipped.
Pro: Quick, minimal hassle. Cons: Hazardous and only applicable to certain routes, e.g.:
• A route where the first part is easy terrain, so you start climbing near the ground with a non
reduntant anchor until the third bolt, then you are on a ledge and tie the clove hitch, then you
clip the fourth bolt and only then the route starts to get challenging but at that point you have
a re-belay and no factor > 1 fall risk.
• A route with a bouldery section right at the start and then easier terrain, so you do the
bouldery section near the ground with a non reduntant anchor until you are on a ledge and
can clip the third bolt with the clove hitch.
Assuming the first fixed bolt fails: in the first example you have less chances to fall, but if you fall
it’s a long fall to the ground; in the second example you have more chances to fall, but you are near
the ground.
It must be noted that this method is also risky when lowering down after having completed the
route, because at some point you will remove the last re-belay and your anchor will become a single
bolt.

9
Anchor system 4: Tree anchor
Of course, if there are trees for anchoring, that’s a better and quicker option. Incidentally, that’s
probably the best option on a trad route: alternatives would be a ground anchor on a big boulder or
an anchor with mobile protections at the start of the wall.

A solid option is a tensionless hitch.

Another one is a clove hitch around the tree backed up with a figure-eight. Make sure to tighten the
clove hitch otherwise it could slide up the trunk.

Make sure that the tree is close enough to the wall, otherwise there will be too much live rope right
from the start of the route and you risk falling into the ground due to excessive rope elongation. Or,
extend the anchor with static slings and attach the rope to those with a carabiner or a maillon.

Pro: Quick, easy, efficient • Protected as soon as you clip the first bolt, like when climbing with a
partner. Cons: You don’t always have trees to anchor to.

Tree anchor: clove hitch backed up with a figure-eight (actually you should tie the figure-eight
closer to the clove hitch).

10
Main belay system
See Belay device: why the GriGri.

How to install the GriGri

The climber is the anchor (the live rope); the brake hand is the cache loop (which then goes
into the Micro Traxion). Always double check.

The GriGri can be attached to the belay loop either normal or upside down.
Upside down has the big advantage that it’s very easy to give slack and to high clip. It feels less
safe, but it is not. However it increases the chance of making the mistake of clipping the spare rope
instead of the live rope, so be aware of that and always make sure of which strand you’re grabbing.

1) Normal
2) Upside down
Why does it feed better?
Because everytime you pull, the two strands of rope are coming out parallel like when you belay a
partner and you give him slack without using the thumb trick; or like when giving slack with a
tubular device. Both when pulling upwards or downwards, having the GriGri installed upside down
allows the two strands of rope to be parallel to each other and so they feed better.
Instead, with the GriGri oriented normal, when you pull upward, you will push against the "back of
the GriGri" (that part that they mod for the chest-harness-method) and this makes it feed worse.

To improve feeding, you may want to additionally use a chest harness (or other means) to keep the
GriGri upward as demonstrated everywhere on the internet. Keep in mind though that in this case
the GriGri will not work for upside down falls (because the rope won’t touch the cam so it won’t
engage – the effect is even worse if the GriGri is modded), so stopper knots become mandatory.

11
 3) GriGri hold upward, Matt Hunter
on YouTube

If you create a chest harness manually with slings, use the non-chocking harness:

karstendelap (Instagram)

Even if you go with this method, you don’t necessarily need to climb with the rope in a backpack,
you can still use the Micro Traxion solution.

Modifying the GriGri (“death mod”)

Modifying the GriGri (the famous “death mod”) is only needed for the chest-harness-method.
Installing the GriGri upside down and choosing the right rope makes it unnecessary to mod the
device, which would actually be dangerous if you don’t use the chest-harness-method.

Belay loop or tie-in points

Clipping into the tie-in points is only for the chest harness method, since it helps a bit with keeping
the GriGri in place.
But if the GriGri is left hanging, then it's better to clip it to the belay loop, othwerwise the tie-in
points will kind of twist while falling: not a big deal but it’s stressing the harness in an unusual way.
12
Cache loop and Micro Traxion
Pretty common system.
«This is the method I use for 100% of my free climbing, as it can all easily be done one-handed.»
Pete Whittaker, https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/skills/how_to_rope_solo_-
_with_pete_whittaker-11160

To create the cache loop I use the Micro Traxion; I have no experience with other similar devices,
but any kind of pulley should work too, like the Wild Country Ropeman.
The Micro Traxion feeds very well though and is… micro.

The purpose of the cache loop

Your belay device will feed bad because it tends to lock due to the weight of the spare rope. To
solve this, use a Micro Traxion installed backwards to the spare rope and clipped to e.g. a gear loop
in order to create a cache loop that eliminates the weight of the spare rope. Now the GriGri will
automatically feed as you climb upward, as long as the cache loop is free of any hindrance. When
the cache loop runs out of rope, simply pull it to get more rope from the spare rope.

The live rope will pull with its weight too, but that tends to be less of a problem until the live rope
becomes quite long; for that, see Back feeding. And when you give slack to clip, you will grab the
live rope so your hand will eliminate its weight. More on this maneuver in Clipping.

It’s important to understand that without stopper knots the Micro Traxion is not acting as a backup:
in fact, in order to give slack to the GriGri, it is working backwards; if the GriGri fails and slams
the Micro Traxion, it can potentially push it down and you will fall to the ground if you don’t have
stopper knots.
However, it’s also true that the cache loop, while not directly acting as a backup, when it’s very
short it will get in tension and “awake” the GriGri even if it initially slipped, acting as a brake hand.
Even with a long cache loop, as soon as it reduces its length during the fall, at some point it will be
so short that it will start to create tension. So that’s additional safety. As you can see the interactions
are pretty complex.
See Backup belay system (stopper knots).

13
Where to attach the Micro Traxion
The most common setup is to attach it to a gear loop.

Other options have been able to flare up heated debates in the forums. Options that have been
mentioned:
• Waist belt of the harness, either on the front, side, or back
• Belay loop, therefore close to the GriGri (apparently sometimes used by Pete Whittaker)
• Leg loop (on the crotch, to prevent the buckle to release!)

The positioning of the Micro Traxion is key and complicated because of its influence on a lot of
aspects:
• The management of the cache loop and the chance of getting friction against the rock/feet
and lock the GriGri.
• The backup system, e.g. the stopper knots.
• The difficulty of grabbing the cache loop and pulling, in respect to all the possible stances
that you find yourself in while free climbing.
• The likelihood of the cache loop ending up between the legs or wrapping one leg (and is this
actually a problem or not? - up to debate)
• The locking mechanism of the GriGri (because of tension/stiffness and direction of the
cache loop) and therefore the likelihood of preventing or helping the GriGri to catch a fall
(up to debate).
• The bulkiness of the resulting setup (e.g. the belay loop option).
• The clutter and the arrangement of the different strands of rope, meaning the live rope, the
part of the cache loop going down, the part of the cache loop going up, and the spare rope.
• The cache loop hindering the quick draws and other gear on the harness.
• The specific case of a stance with a high knee, where the cache loop may end up resting on
the thigh. Here yet other variables come into play: if the GriGri is attached to a carabiner it
may be the one resting on the leg, while with a maillon (shorter distance) it may be the
cache loop.

14
If you plan to use stopper knots or other backup belay systems, you probably want to attach the
Micro Traxion with a steel carabiner / maillon too; but there is more to know: see Improved backup
belay system.

I personally setup the Micro Traxion on the back of my harness and while climbing I keep the cache
loop between my legs.

Rope (and GriGri compatibility)

The version of your GriGri and different diameters and stiffness of the rope may give different
results in how the GriGri catches and how smoothly it feeds.

On the market we currently have GriGri 1, GriGri 2, GriGri 2019 (called by some GriGri 3),
GriGri + (Plus).
The GriGri 1 feeds pretty well but it needs thick ropes (~ 10 mm), and can only be found second-
hand. The other GriGri models are pretty much all the same and you can use skinner ropes with
them.

About ropes, the smaller the diameter, the better it feeds, but it may take more time to lock.
However, rope stiffness may be another important factor: not its elongation and impact force
properties, but its pliability. So you have to try different brands.
As for the impact force, in theory, the less kN the better, because we don’t have a dynamic belay
(see Soft catch / dynamic belaying). However, if the route is easy and full of ledges, you may
actually want to fall the shortest distance, even if you come to a hard stop. So it depends on the
terrain that you usually climb. In my experience you shouldn’t go higher than 8,6 kN impact force.

I’ve personally tested GriGri 2 and GriGri 2019 and found no significant difference in feeding,
even though I use the latter because it’s lighter and the release handle gives more control. As for the
rope, I use a Petzl Volta 9,2 mm Duratec Dry.

15
Backup belay system (stopper knots)
It’s important to understand that without stopper knots the Micro Traxion is not acting as a backup: in fact, in
order to give slack to the GriGri, it is working backwards; if the GriGri fails and slams the Micro Traxion, it
can potentially push it down and you will fall to the ground if you don’t have stopper knots.
However, it’s also true that the cache loop, while not directly acting as a backup, when it’s very short it will get
in tension and “awake” the GriGri even if it initially slipped, acting as a brake hand. Even with a long cache
loop, as soon as it reduces its length during the fall, at some point it will be so short that it will start to create
tension. So that’s additional safety. As you can see the interactions are pretty complex.

With the backup belay system (and with rope solo in general), less hassle means less safety. It’s up
to you to decide what to do for each climb.

The most used backup belay system is tying stopper knots on the rope before starting to climb. In
case the GriGri fails to lock (if you believe it can ever happen), this will prevent falling to the
ground.

Petzl doesn’t recommend the stopper knots solution because:

• Only one rope, so no redundancy: repeated rubbing against the rock can quickly cut your only rope;
counter-argument: this is in the context of top rope soloing, where e.g. the rope is tied to a tree anchor and
it goes down a ledge. In lead rope soloing the rope doesn’t move so, in this regard, it’s actually safer than
climbing with a partner. If you’re not using two ropes to climb a given route, you don’t need to do that
when lead soloing either.
• Need to have both hands free to make the knots; counter-argument: this is in the context of top rope
soloing, so it doesn’t apply, in fact we tie the knots before starting the climb.
• In case topping out is necessary to exit the route, retrieving a rope with many knots in it could be
complicated or even dangerous; counter-argument: this is in the context of top rope soloing; also: tsk!
• Significant potential fall length; counter-argument: that’s true, but that’s why it is a backup system: in 99%
of cases we should not need it; when we do, a big fall is a good compromise.
• The ascender is not designed to sustain the impact on the knot; counter-argument: this is in the context of
top rope soloing; since we’re leading, we need a strong non-toothed device, so we don’t use an ascender,
we use the GriGri. It can sustain up to 17 kN against a stopper knot (see the chapter Belay device: why the
GriGri.
https://www.petzl.com/INT/en/Sport/Appendix-5--Analysis-of-solutions-observed-in-the-field---Use-of-a-
single-ascender-with-knots-in-the-rope-

Stopper knots are a gigantic hassle to untie while you are free climbing, so you have to find a good
compromise about how far you tie them between each other. If the route is vertical or slightly
overhang, with no ledges, you could tie the furthest knots even further between each other, because
the higher you are on the route, the higher you can fall without hitting the ground.
Slip-knots are way easier to untie (just pull); they tend to untie by themselves due to the weight of
the spare rope, but if you cinch them good you should be fine. However you have to be 100%
sure that you tie them with the right directionality.

Some climbers got the idea of combining the GriGri with the running clove hitch (see Other devices/systems);
the idea is that the running clove hitch can do the work of both the cache loop manager and the backup belay
system, therefore eliminating the need for stopper knots.
However, in practice, it’s terrible: the running clove hitch works best with thin ropes, but the GriGri is best
reliable with thick ropes; the running clove hitch works best when there is back feeding, so by pulling the
carabiner to give slack, you only pull from the cache loop; however, using the GriGri, it holds the live rope a
bit, so sometimes you end up cutting slack by mistake.
Basically it makes more sense to use the running clove hitch as your only self-belay system.

Spare rope management

Climbing carriying a rope in a backpack is annoying on harder pitches, and you don't feel "free"
enough in your “free climbing”.
16
«I've never carried the rope whilst rope soloing and after many pitches of climbing, I've still yet to
have any rope tangles. If you stack well, it will feed out well.»
Pete Whittaker, https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/skills/how_to_rope_solo_-
_with_pete_whittaker-11160

Additional gear/advices
Using the following gear/advices is up to you. Your decision may be based on your experience, the
route that you’re about to climb and other factors.
• People on the internet are adamant about always using stopper knots (generally calling them
“backup knots”). There are accidents where people rope soloing had their life saved by their
stopper knots. We could differentiate between belay device failures and setup mistakes. The
most quoted accident:
Tom Randall, carabiner broke in factor 2 long fall:
http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13200305300
Notice that he didn’t use the ACL feature of the DMM Belay Master carabiner (more
about this carabiner in Considering other gear). Therefore, this is a setup mistake; the goal
of this document is to describe a good setup in the first place. So we’re left with belay
device failures.
I, personally, trust the GriGri mechanism 100%, especially when combined with the cache
loop system. See chapters Belay device: why the GriGri and Backup belay system (stopper
knots) for more information.
• Helmet: while falling you may hit the head. Also, especially in multi-pitches (but not only!),
you may get hit by falling rocks.
• Keep your smartphone in a pocket (not in the backpack) to call for help, especially if you’re
alone in the crag or you’re doing a multi-pitch route.
• A Reverso (or similar device) clipped to your harness, to have something else to lower down
with in case things go wrong.
• A ready-to-use lanyard or daisy chain. This will help you in so many different cases.
• Especially on multi-pitch trad or multi-pitch aid, consider improving your backup belay
system to cover the case where your belay device and/or the carabiner it is attached to break
and completely detach from you: see Improved backup belay system.

17
 Climbing

Preparation
Tie the figure-eight. If you use stopper knots, tie them now, at least every five meters. Install the
GriGri. Install the Micro Traxion on the spare rope with the right directionality.
Prepare the anchor and temporarily attach it to a gear loop. Make sure that you don’t cross the live
rope with the cache loop. A good way to prevent this is, assuming you have the Micro Traxion on
your right, to keep the anchor hanging on the left gear loop.

Anchoring
Climb free solo to the first fixed bolt and attach the anchor. Remember to close the gate.
Now you have to climb to the second bolt. If you fall here there is a risk to do a factor 2 fall. To
prevent that, just have some slack, so it will be a factor > 1 fall but not 2. Of course, the more slack,
the more you’re likely to fall to the ground. The best thing at this point is to just not fall.
While factor 2 falls are not the end of the world, it’s better to avoid them because they’re not
pleasant and the rope can only stand around five falls that have a factor of circa 1,7. See the related
chapter Factor 2 falls.
Climb to the second fixed bolt and setup the maillon rapide and the rope through it. Remember to
close the gate.
If there is a serious chance of falling in the first part of the route and/or if it’s very hard to clip,
switch between the different anchor systems until you find the one that better suits the route.
Of course you could also setup the anchor system first, climbing by using whichever means (french
free, Kong Panic, clipstick, etc.), then lower, regain your energy, and start climbing the route from
scratch with the rope already clipped to the second bolt. Then don’t claim a redpoint though: lead
rope soloing being harder shouldn't grant you any loophole.

Feeding the GriGri (cutting and giving slack)

You have to cut slack yourself, since there is no human belayer. You may want to cut slack after
you high clip and after you’ve climbed upward when the last clipped quickdraw is above you. You
can easily cut slack with one hand. To do that, you pull the cache loop near the GriGri, to steal rope
from the GriGri, like when belaying a top roping partner.

To give slack instead, first you pull the cache loop near the Micro Traxion to give rope to the cache
loop, stealing it from the spare rope; then the GriGri should simply feed as you climb upward.
If you use stopper knots, when a knot is about to jam into the Micro Traxion, of course you have to
untie it with one hand before attempting to give slack to the cache loop.

The cache loop needs to be free of any hindrance. Friction against some rock feature, your
legs, feet, etc., can lock the GriGri.

Sometimes, even when it seems that everything is ok and the GriGri should feed, it may not, simply
because it locked before and now it needs help to unlock: just lower your pelvis a bit or manually
unlock the cam, and you’re free to go.

18
Elongation of the rope and bad GriGri feeding
After the rope has been strongly elongated, the GriGri may not feed at all anymore, because the
rope is in tension. Example scenarios:
• Hangdogging for a long time, especially after having cut slack with quite strong pulls; a
single fall and then soon re-climbing is not a problem.
• Top rope soloing (and falling) and later wanting to lead rope solo: you really need to retrieve
the rope and let it "rest" on the ground for a while, otherwise your next lead rope solo
attempt will be a nightmare. Or setup the top rope solo system accordingly (use one end of
the rope to the exact length of the route and then lead rope solo using the other strand).
• Setting up a system to compensate for the back feeding (e.g. clove hitch, munter hitch) and
pulling way too much. As you keep climbing, the GriGri will lock.

Hangdogging with a lanyard to avoid tensioning

the rope.

Weather and bad GriGri feeding

High humidity can make the GriGri difficult to feed.

Clipping
After the factor-2-risk section, proceed to climb normally as you would do in a lead free climb with
a partner, clipping the quick draws / mobile protections as you go.
Make sure that you clip the live rope, not the spare rope or the cache loop. That would be the
equivalent of not having clipped at all. In the same fashion that you grab your knot when you

19
climb with a partner to make sure that you have grabbed the rope above the last quick draw to
prevent Z-clipping, grab the rope that comes out of the correct side of the GriGri (the live rope
side).
Also make sure that you don’t pass the live rope through the cache loop by mistake: after a
certain point you won’t be able to climb up and you will have to go back to fix your mess.

Clipping a quick draw that is around your waist level is fairly easy and safe. However, most of the
time climbers clip a quick draw above their shoulders (“high clipping”) so that when they perform
the next move, if they fall it will be like on top rope – they will fall a smaller distance. The problem
with this approach is that if you happen to fall while you are about to clip, you will fall with a lot of
slack in the system and therefore you will take a scary fall.
To be precise, the fall distance is actually the same of waist-level-clipping but you start from a lower point,
therefore you end up lower on the route, which is especially dangerous when there are ledges or when you’re
close to the ground.
Also, consider the fact that you may give more slack than what is needed: in that case even the falling distance
itself will be greater.
This downside is easily tackled by finding a good enough stance, scrolling the arm, and clipping
quickly with determination.
On the other hand, with this lead rope solo system the chance of falling while high clipping is
higher because there are more things that you have to do in order to clip (you have to increase the
cache loop size, and maybe even manage the loop by moving it around so it doesn’t get friction)
and because the GriGri may lock itself while you are trying to give slack.
This is how you can improve the situation:
• Install the GriGri upside down (see How to install the GriGri), so it’s easier and faster to
pull rope out from it, both downward and upward.
• Give enough rope to the cache loop before initiating the clipping process, making sure that
the cache loop becomes long enough that you won’t have to go back to fiddle with it again
(you need to eyeball).
• Again, make sure that the cache loop is free of any hindrance. Friction against some rock
feature, your legs, feet, etc., can lock the GriGri.
• If possible, you can give rope to the cache loop with one hand and then clip with the other
hand, so you don’t tire a single arm.
• Pull slowly. If you pull too quickly the GriGri will lock. When you’re desperately trying to
clip you will probably pull too fast. This system needs you to be in control in your climbing.
Anyway, smaller rope diameters will allow you to pull quicker without locking the device.

With the GriGri installed in the standard way (not upside down), it’s harder to give slack. You need to grab the
live rope near the GriGri and pull it down. Pull slow, or do quick and short movements.
You will need to eyeball how much slack you need, and it’s typical that it’s never enough: if it doesn’t reach the
quick draw, drop the live rope and start giving slack again. It’s better to have more slack than trying to clip and
noticing that you don’t have enough rope, so: give quite an amount, clip, rest the arm, and then cut the
excessive slack if needed.

If your arms are giving up and you can’t hold onto the quick draw, use your last bit of energy to cut
the slack, then keep the hand on the brake side of the rope while you fall. These two things will
make you fall for a lesser distance. Don’t grab the live rope: you risk burning your hands.

If the cache loop is too long, its purpose will vanish; also, the longer it is, the more likely it will get
friction against the rock features and it may lock the GriGri. So, if it is too long, open the Micro
Traxion’s cam (only one hand needed) and the weight of the spare rope will clean the loop. This
only works when the spare rope has a bit of weight, which is when you are at least around the
second fixed bolt.

20
If the GriGri still locks too easily, check:
• Elongation of the rope and bad GriGri feeding
• Weather and bad GriGri feeding
• Rope

Resting
When you want to rest (giving up or working a section), if you are at the level of the quick draw or
below it, cut all the slack, then hold the brake side of the rope with one hand and simply "sit" on
your harness. This allows the GriGri to lock immediately.
Don’t hangdog for too long: see Elongation of the rope and bad GriGri feeding.

Pulling yourself up
If you fell and you want to go back to a section, you have to climb the rope. You cannot do it as you
do it with a partner because the live rope is fixed to the anchor so you cannot do the “pulley move”.
Assuming that you don’t have jumaring devices in your harness when you do single pitches at the
crag, you need to grab both strands together (the one coming up to the quick draw and the one
coming down) and pull yourself up with the help of your feet on the rock. Once you reach a quick
draw, grab it and cut slack to the GriGri. Now you can “sit” on your harness, rest and repeat. If the
terrain is easy, simply climbing may be easier.
If you are hanging far from the wall, consider lowering until you can grab both strands.
Don’t hangdog for too long: see Elongation of the rope and bad GriGri feeding.

Falling
If you know that you are about to fall, you can quickly grab the brake side of the rope (the cache
loop): this is not necessary but it allows the GriGri to lock immediately and possibly to cut some
slack before initiating the fall.
If you do an unexpected fall you won’t be able to do this (and you shouldn’t attempt it) but the
GriGri will catch you anyway.

Since you don’t have the dynamism of the human belayer, the falls will be harsh in that you will
smash against the wall, so remember to always put the sole of your feet towards the wall as a
cushion, to avoid hitting your head, hands, or hips.

Do some test falls (without holding the rope) in order to get your subconscious to actually believe
that the whole system do work and that the GriGri does catch. You can start with small falls below
the quick draw, then increase the fall distance.
The first test falls will be scary, but then you will be able to climb, even on difficult routes, with no
fear and trusting your system. If you never test the system you will always have doubts about it and
you will climb in fear.

When falling, sometimes you may instinctively grab the rope with your hands. When climbing with
a partner, this does not give any advantage, but it also doesn’t have any particular negative effect
since the rope is directly tied to your belay loop. In lead rope solo however the GriGri (and
therefore the climber) is falling through the rope; this means that you will burn your hands.

21
So you have to learn to avoid grabbing the rope when falling in lead rope solo.
It also means that it can actually arrest a very long fall though, so, preferably with gloves, it can
prevent you from hitting a ledge or the ground. Still, it’s obviously better to prevent the long fall, by
knowing what you’re doing and by managing the back feeding (see Back feeding).
Grabbing the rope is even more dangerous if you use a device like the Wild Country Revo. You will
not reach the required speed and therefore the device won’t engage.

Rope drag and quickdraws

In lead rope soloing there is no rope drag when climbing up, because the rope doesn’t move, you
move through it. Therefore you don’t have to bring with you the weight of the rope, which is a nice
advantage when climbing.
However, there is rope drag when falling, because there is always a bit of slack in the system; and if
you take a fall on a zig-zag route the fall factor will be a bit higher, especially on the top protection.
Moreover, there is the problem of Back feeding.

Why do we use quickdraws?

Other than comfort, the main reason is that with a single carabiner it's very easy for the rope to open it and
escape.
Moreover, you wear out only the carabiner that goes to the bolt, the other one stays clean for the rope to flow.
However, if there are a lot of angled quick draws, you can reach the edge case situation (with a high impact
force value) where the belay device works less because the rope tends to block due to the friction in the
intermediate quick draws (ed. only applicable to dynamic belay devices and being belayed with a partner).
More drag means higher impact force when falling. However, more drag means less fall distance and therefore
less probability of hitting the ground. See Fall factor 0.3 in:
https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Forces-at-work-in-a-real-fall

You could use single carabiners in place of quick draws but it’s still better not to, because the rope
could open the gate and escape the carabiner. You could use lockers, but it’s slow. Also, there is a
higher risk of cross-loading them when you fall, compared to quick draws (which always maintain a
good orientation).

22
You can however use lockers for re-belays since you are tying a knot on them (see Back feeding),
although it’s safer if they are made of steel.
You certainly want to use quickdraws in trad climbing, otherwise you will pull the gear out, and in
case of a fall on a zig-zag route there will be a higher force on the top protection.

Back feeding
The higher you climb the more you will get back feeding (the cache loop starts to feed through the
GriGri due to the weight of the live rope). This means that you’ll have more slack than what you’re
expecting, and if you fall you will fall for more meters. It also means that the live rope is pulling
down, so the GriGri will feed worse.
Solutions: pull the live rope to tension, then tie a:

• Clove hitch on the quick draw. This can be done with one hand.
You can use a locker in place of the quick draw: when you fall after the next clipped bolt,
the carabiner will turn upside down and this will add very few inches to the fall compared to
a quick draw (which is longer).
Pro: Can be tied with one hand • After a fall, back feeding is still prevented. Cons:
Potential factor 2 fall before clipping the next bolt; the fall factor can however be
lowered by having enough slack above the knot (i.e. giving enough slack with the
GriGri before and while climbing up) • Hard to untie after having fell.

• Munter hitch on the quick draw, leaving a bit of slack below the knot. This can be done
with one hand. The munter hitch is enough to prevent the live rope from pulling down, but
in case of a fall it will allow the slack to slide a bit, so it won’t be a factor 2 fall on that
quick draw.
You can use a locker in place of the quick draw: when you fall the carabiner will turn upside
down and this will add very few inches to the fall compared to a quick draw; even if you do
want the fall to be longer, the added dynamism will only come from the sliding slack, not
from the quick draw flipping.
23
 Pro: Can be tied with one hand • After a fall, back feeding is still prevented • No factor
2 risk before clipping the next bolt, but then requires adjusting the slack again • The first
fall (only) will be slightly dynamic.

• Slip-knot just above the quick draw. The direction would be such that when you fall it
would pop. With some practice it’s possible to tie it with one hand.
Pro: No factor 2 before clipping the next bolt, but then requires re-tying • If you fall it
will untie and you will use the entire rope length to soften the fall. Cons: After a fall,
back feeding is not prevented anymore. • Hard to tie with one hand.

• Alpine butterfly knot just above the quick draw.

Pro: If you fall you will use the entire live rope length to soften the fall • After a fall,
back feeding is still prevented • After a fall, any next fall will still use the entire live rope
length to soften the fall. Cons: Hard to tie with one hand.

If you want your fall to be the shortest possible (because e.g. there is a ledge below you), then you
actually do not want to use the full rope length to soften the fall, so it’s better to use a munter hitch
and give the amount of slack you prefer, including none.

When lowering after having completed the route, if you have difficulties untying a clove/munter
hitch, unclip the quick draw from the bolt and just leave it on the rope, lower to the ground and
retrieve the rope from the live rope end, so you can untie the knot on the ground and retrieve the
quick draw.

Lowering
Directly with the GriGri, after unlocking/removing the Micro Traxion. You can actually even leave
the Micro Traxion as it is if it doesn’t bother you.
Untie any remaining stopper knot as you go.
With an upside down GriGri nothing changes:

24
 Lowering with an upside down GriGri

If the first fixed bolt is significantly high, removing the anchor can be a bit troublesome. One
solution is: clip a quick draw to the anchor bight (where the maillon rapide is attached to) and
secure it to your belay loop. Lower a bit in order to release tension on the maillon and to load the
quick draw. Now you can safely remove the maillon rapide. At this point you’ll find yourself in a
self-lowering-with-the-GriGri technique situation (https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Self-
lowering). The only difference is that in the recommended technique the rope should be attached
directly to your tie-in-points. Simply lower with the GriGri and you are safe on the ground.

Lowering after having removed the

anchor

Soft catch / dynamic belaying

Since there is no human belayer to jump when you fall, the only dynamic part in your system is the
rope itself, so the falls are a bit more harsh and you slam against the wall. Nothing crazy though,
25
placing the feet forward as a cushion works fine. Or you can use Beal ropes which stretches a lot,
but you risk hitting a ledge or something if you're doing easy routes.
Some solo climbers try to simulate the soft catch with various systems. This is especially useful in
trad climbing where you may have insecure protections.
The simplest solution is to tie a munter hitch on the third bolt or above and leave some slack.
However this works one single time only and the effect is not outstanding.
Others tie a backpack or other weights at the base of the anchor to simulate the body of the belayer.
Another solution is screamers, which however works one time only too.

26
 Top rope solo free climbing system
Top rope soloing may be used to study your routes or quickly reclimb them. It’s easier and safer to
try your projects in top rope.

Petzl’s tech tips (starting from https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/To-read-for-self-belaying) are

certainly a good read, but then of course you need to get real and practical and use less bulky and
less redundant systems.

Fix your rope to the top anchor (maybe create an anchor yourself in case the master point is not in
the best condition) with a bowline on a bight: the figure-eight is too hard to untie – even so, always
use your own carabiner, so if the knot is very tight you can at least unclip the carabiner and proceed
to abseil.
Then choose your preferred device. If you’re interested in what pro climbers use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCoZBWPCRyI&t=3m42s (Alone On The Wall: Fabian Buhl's
Rope Solo Mission | Living Legends S4 Ep3, EpicTV)
He uses the Micro Traxion. Since you already have it for lead, it makes sense for you to do the
same. I don’t personally use the chest sling, although it may be smart to use it on traverses to reduce
the fall factor, so you don’t risk damaging the rope sheath.
You don’t need a steel carabiner: there is no risk of a cross-loading accident here due to the low
forces in top rope soloing. So use any oval carabiner.

If you need to lower down to a certain section or the ground, you need to install the GriGri. Having
two strands of rope hanging is very useful here, because you can install the GriGri onto the other
one, clip it to your harness, load it, disengage the Micro Traxion with the button (or remove it), and
simply lower down. If you need to do this many times, it’s better to just top rope with the GriGri
itself, even though you would have to cut slack everytime. Or you can just climb leaving the GriGri
attached to your harness and to the other strand of rope, then when you want to lower down you
would only have to cut slack for the GriGri and disengage the Micro Traxion.
Choose your option depending on what you want to do (climb from the bottom to the top in one go
or working a section multiple times).

If you can’t reach the top of the route by walking, you first have to lead rope solo a nearby route or
the route itself by using whichever means (french free, Kong Panic, clipstick, etc.).
When at the top, secure yourself with a lanyard and setup the anchor.
You already have two strands of rope when you reach the top of the route after a lead rope solo.
However, you may want to give more rope to the live rope that you used for leading, in order for
that strand to reach the ground once you will undo the bottom anchor later.

When lowering for the first time, you may want to choose the strand that was the spare rope and
leave the quick draws on the strand that was the live rope, especially if the route traverses.
Remove the bottom anchor that you used for lead rope soloing since you don’t need that anymore.
You may want to clip your backpack or something to the rope to keep it in tension, so the Micro
Traxion will auto-feed in the first part of the route too (higher on the route, the weight of the rope
itself is enough).

When you’re done top roping, ascend with the GriGri and a Petzl Ascender
(https://www.alpinesavvy.com/blog/using-a-gri-gri-to-ascend-fixed-ropes), or just climb; then
secure yourself with a lanyard, dismantle the top anchor, and rappel with the ATC/Reverso on the
two strands.
27
If you’re worried that you will get tired before reaching the anchor, you may want to avoid fixing
the rope to the anchor: just pass it through, and climb by tying the rope to your harness and
attaching the Micro Traxion to the other strand, then cutting slack as you climb. The cons is that it
wears the fixed anchor, so first check the ethics of the crag. Don’t use this system with the GriGri,
it’s way less comfortable.

For the GriGri too, in top rope soloing there’s no risk for a cross-load accident, so, for comfort and
quickness, you can just use a normal carabiner.

Top rope soloing with the Micro Traxion

28
Top rope soloing with the GriGri
 Top rope soloing with the Micro Traxion without
fixing the rope to the top

Anchor: bowline on a bight Anchor: figure-eight and alpine butterfly

29
 Multi-pitch
I’ll only talk the differences from single-pitch.
The system is good for sport, trad and aid.

Miscellaneous
You are not secured to a partner, so you should always tie a knot at the end of the rope in case
anything goes wrong.

Wear your slings nicely, clipping them to a carabiner so they don’t get into your belay device. It
must be noted though that if a sling gets into the cam of the GriGri, it can only potentially lock it
and not release it.

Since you have to lower and jumar every pitch, you can leave on the anchor all the stuff that you
won’t use to climb a given pitch. You can e.g. clip your backpack to the anchor and climb without
it.

Anchor
When you start a multi-pitch route, the first pitch won’t have a fixed bolted anchor on the ground; if
it’s a sport multi-pitch, you can use any of the anchor systems previously described for single-pitch
climbing; if it’s trad, you have to build an anchor yourself.

For the other pitches, build a typical multi-pitch anchor, but make it so that it works both when
pulled down and when pulled up. For sport climbing you are already set up, but if there is a fixed
maillon rapide or any other master point in place, avoid using it and build your own anchor using
the available bolts of the anchor, because the chains are very likely placed in a way that doesn’t
really suit an upward pull.

Do not create a master point and just tie the rope directly to the two carabiners, e.g. with a figure-
eight and an alpine-butterfly.

Now your anchor is already redundant so you don’t need to use the anchor systems previously
described for single pitch climbing.

Of course, as you would normally do, use the dummy runner technique (if you have a master point
or the bolts are vertically placed) or place the first protection as soon as you can in order to avoid
falling onto the anchor while you start the pitch. Use a munter hitch to keep the anchor in tension,
in an upward position. Now, if you fall, the anchor already is in a good orientation and you don’t
risk cross-loading.
Yet another system to avoid falling into the anchor is the “Pluss-Clip”: climb past the belay and
clip in the first good protection / fixed bolt, then go back to the belay. Now you can setup your
belay station and you’re ready to climb the next pitch with the first protection already clipped.
This is definitely the safest system for lead rope soloing multi-pitches, although some may argue
that it’s cheating.

30
 No master point; figure-eight and alpine butterfly

There is a mistake in the picture, see if you can spot it.

Answer: The highest carabiner has the gate facing the rock.

Do not use a clove hitch because in a factor 2 fall it could break the carabiner or damage the rope:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZMEuthPKhA (Yann Camus BlissClimbing - Rope Solo
Anchoring to 2 bolts)

Managing the rope

Before leading, stack the spare rope inside a backpack/bag/sack.
Another option is to butterfly coil the rope and neatly clip it to the belay with a 60 cm sling.
Of course, if you’re on a good ledge you can just leave it on the ledge.

Cleaning the pitch

You have to fix the rope to the anchor, abseil while retrieving some or all gear, dismantle the
previous anchor, and jumar/re-climb to the last anchor while retrieving the remaining gear.

While you’re rappeling, especially if the pitch is long, consider tying off the rope at multiple points,
so when you’ll jumar later, rope stretch will be reduced.

Ideally, you want to leave as much gear in the pitch on the way down and take as much out on the
way up, this saves carrying the whole rack back up the pitch and helps keep you close to the wall
taking some of the stretch out the rope, all of which make re-climbing the pitch much easier. When
you abseil down, just clip your rope back into the gear when you pass it.
31
On some occasions, it can be better to take the gear out on the way down. Well placed/stuck wires
can often be easier to strip on abseil. Pieces of gear that are placed off to the side of the main
climbing can be awkward to retrieve when reclimbing the pitch via jumaring, as there will be lots of
weight going through the piece of gear.
Poor pieces of protection will be worth retrieving on the way down because putting weight through
the piece whilst jumaring could pull it in a strange direction and it could blow on you unexpectedly.
https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/skills/how_to_rope_solo_-_with_pete_whittaker-11160

For rappeling I won’t change the name of the strands of rope: therefore the live rope is the one with
the clipped quick draws.
Since you use the GriGri, you can absail with it. You can:
• Fix the rope to the anchor with a clove hitch / figure eight, remove/unlock the Micro
Traxion, and then simply lower down with the GriGri. While you go down the spare rope,
untie any stopper knot.
If the pitch is traversing and/or overhang secure yourself to the live rope with a quick draw
to avoid swinging.
Pro: Quick, you don’t need to change the belay device • If you are not using stopper knots
for this pitch, it’s even quicker. Cons: You have to untie any stopper knot • If the pitch is
traversing and/or overhang, you have to clip to the live rope to avoid swinging off route.
• Fix the rope to the anchor with a clove hitch / figure eight, remove/unlock the Micro
Traxion, remove the GriGri and install it on the live rope, then lower with the GriGri.
Pro: No need to untie any stopper knot (and those still tied can be reused later) • You will
never swing off route. Cons: You have to detach and re-install the GriGri • If you want to
leave some gear to retrieve it later when you are jumaring, you have to unclip it and re-clip
it.

Re-climbing the pitch

The most common method for 'reclimbing' the pitch is to jumar your fixed line back the belay.
Jumaring is easy, but due to its repetitive nature, after a few pitches it can start to become tiring. If
you are doing multiple pitches of climbing, then you might want to think about the most efficient
way of carrying your bag/supplies/water. On single day ascents, your pack will probably be light
enough to carry on your back whilst jumaring. However, if you are covering steeper terrain it can
be nice to do a 'mini haul' instead of trying to jumar with it on your back. Attach your pack to the
end of your fixed line, jumar the line, then use a Traxion to easily 1-to-1 haul your pack up. If you
are going for longer than a day, then you will need to take a haul line and use normal big walling
haul techniques. The hauling should always be done as the last part of the process.

Another way to 'reclimb' the pitch is to literally climb it again. You can use top roping solo
techniques and just Mini Traxion your fixed line back to the belay. My preference is to jumar “real
pitches” of climbing and then Mini Traxion anything that feels like scrambling. Jumaring can be
more difficult and time-consuming when the terrain becomes very easy.
https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/skills/how_to_rope_solo_-_with_pete_whittaker-11160

If you use the first method (jumaring), since you have the GriGri, you can climb the rope with it
and an ascender:
https://www.alpinesavvy.com/blog/using-a-gri-gri-to-ascend-fixed-ropes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u785RZPrM-c (“Using A Mechanical Ascender To Climb A
Rope | Climbing Daily Ep.1554”)

32
If you want to use the latter method (reclimbing), make sure that the rope is hanging down and is
not lying on a ledge: it needs a bit of weight to stretch and not be loose in order for your device (e.g.
the Micro Traxion) to automatically feed during the first part of the pitch.
You can use the GriGri so you don’t need any changeover, however you need to cut slack
everytime.

Final abseil
When you’ve completed the whole route, you can do a typical absail. But since you have the
GriGri with you, you can use it to absail, if you want.
• Automoulinette (self-lowering) technique (https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Self-
lowering).
• Descend on a blocked rappel (https://www.petzl.com/INT/en/Sport/Belaying-and-
descending-on-multi-pitch-climbs-on-a-single-rope). With this technique you can lower for
the entire length of your rope, so you can avoid bringing another rope with you (you just
need a retrieval cord, very light).

33
 In-depth information

Why this system?

While deciding on a lead rope solo free climbing system, I wanted to reach these goals:
• I wanted a system I can fall into. I don’t want a system that I can only use with the mentality
«I better not fall.»
• Climb routes at my redpoint and project level.
• Least hassle possible, with a reasonable sacrifice on the safety side.
• Works both for single and multi-pitch: one single system for all the situations.

Why lead and not top rope?

Because:
• You can redpoint a route only if you lead it.
• Depending on your area, not many routes can be accessed from the top, so you need a lead
climbing system anyway.
• In solo multi-pitch climbing you have to lead.

Forces

Fall factor
First of all, it should be noted that talking about the fall factor only makes sense in the context of a
blocked rope (secured at the anchor). The system you are climbing in defines how meaningful it is
to use the fall factor concept.
When climbing with a partner, you may belay the leader with:
• a dynamic belay device such as the Reverso: the belay device lets the rope slide into the
device itself dissipating most of the fall energy into friction, which is heat.
• a static belay device (auto-locking) such as the GriGri: the produced energy in a fall is
absorbed less by the rope and mostly by the weight of the belayer. If he weights less than the
climber he will be forcefully pulled into the air, if he weights more he can step forward or
jump. In both cases this is dynamic belaying.
So, when climbing with a partner we generally have a dynamic belaying situation. Here it doesn’t
make much sense to talk about the “fall factor”, more about belay devices and techniques.
In lead rope solo the belayer is a fixed anchor, and the belay device (in this case) is the GriGri. This
makes the system completely static, therefore the fall factor concept can be used.
Notice that if we choose non auto-locking belay devices, since we cannot use our hand to activate the device,
we would have to use some system that have them locked in a default state, and that will make the device not
dynamic at all, but most importantly it may even sever the rope. See Other devices/systems.
Also see Factor 2 falls.

Pulley effect
The top protection is the one that takes most of the impact force. Less on the climber, and even less
on the belayer.

With a dynamic rope, in a fall on a blocked rope and with one quick draw, on the climber end of the
rope you can get a maximum impact force of 12 kN (see Factor 2 falls). Due to the friction of the
34
quick draw (assuming a friction coefficient of 1,5) the impact force on the anchor end of the rope is
8 kN. Therefore the quick draw is subjected to the sum of the two forces: 20 kN.
Club Alpino Italiano manuals, 2014

This is the pulley effect.

In a lead rope solo system the belayer is the anchor, and the belay device is attached to the climber,
but the top protection is still what takes most of the impact force.

The same mechanical advantage we use in pulleys works against us when we’re on the end of a rope. Because
at the point where the rope returns, normally a carabiner, the force of the fall is increased by approximately
66% (it would be doubled except for the friction of the rope against the metal).
So, starting with our 9 kN maximum shock force with a dynamic rope, the force on the carabiner becomes 15
kN in a fall with a fall factor of 1.9. That’s a lot. You better hope it’s a good anchor or placement.
Now apply that same math to a static rope: the factor 1.9 fall, with its normal shock force of 18 kN, becomes a
shock force of 30 kN (multiply 18 kN by 1.66). In this case, you couldn’t even count on a stout tree. And it
wouldn’t matter if the anchor held, because something else would undoubtedly fail.
https://www.camp4.com/fall-factor-explained/ (from Petzl Catalog: http://www.petzl.com)

Conclusion
The difference between lead rope solo and climbing with a partner, regarding the forces that happen
during a fall, is that in lead rope solo we have a static belaying system, so the impact force is
dissipated mostly by the rope elongation (“mostly” because a bit of slack is always present).
Therefore the impact forces are slightly higher but still absolutely safe. For trad climbing though it
must be considered that the stress on the last mobile protection is higher.
However there’s also the problem of cross-loading: see the next chapter, Cross-loading.

Cross-loading
When climbing with a partner, you basically never cross-load because:
• Belaying: you can keep an eye or just feel how the GriGri is attached to your harness and
re-adjust in case; for additional safety, you can use a carabiner with an ACL system.
• Anchor (both multi-pitch anchors and top rope anchors): once your anchor is setup
correctly, the carabiners won’t move (much) and will stay loaded on their stronger major
axis (the one opposite to the gate).

However, when you lead rope solo:

• Belaying: you cannot constantly check your GriGri and on harder pitches you cannot free
your hands; even if you can, it’s bothersome to bustle about the system.
• Anchor: your anchor is moving all the time while you climb up. When using a normal
carabiner as the anchor, it may very easily rotate such that the gate is pressing onto the
bolt/rope. Falling in that situation is dangerous.
Also, the carabiner can get stuck into the rock, getting stressed in bad ways (e.g. cantilever
load) to the point of breakage.
Proofs that carabiners can break during rope soloing:
• Tom Randall, carabiner broke in factor 2 long fall:
http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13200305300
Notice that he didn’t use the ACL feature of the DMM Belay Master carabiner (more on
this carabiner in Considering other gear).
• Kyle was rappelling "Aussie-Style" with a youth group of young men and women. He was
using a Hughe Banner auto-locking caribiner and a figure eight. During the descent the
caribiner is thought to have failed due to two main possibilities: The gate was cross-loaded
with the figure eight in a lever position, or rope cross over occurred over the gate of the
35
 caribiner. in either case, enough inward force was created to cause the the locking gate of
the caribiner to sheer through and remain in the open position. As a result, the rope AND
figure eight came free of the caribiner, and Kyle fell 80 feet to his death.
http://www.rockclimbing.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?
do=post_view_flat;post=664763;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;
That’s why it’s important to carefully choose which gear to use and how to use it.

Strength of the gear: steel, minor axis, gates, cantilever load

The first solution that you may come up with to prevent cross-loading is to use stronger gear: steel
is the obvious option. However, for attaching the GriGri they are bulky and heavy and the device
moves around and is further from your waist than with a maillon rapide; for the anchor, the
carabiner can get in bad positions and stress the gate (Cantilever load on locking nuts and/or on the
rock). The gate is not bombproof even in steel carabiners; there is the option of using e.g. Z359.12
ANSI carabiners (credits: Matty C Skinner).

A maillon rapide is generally suggested for lead rope soloing.

You will notice that very different maillons all have 10kN as the minor axis value. They are not
really breaking at 10kN though, they just start to deform, and it may be hard or impossible to
manually open them after the accident.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7rg20Fy4cc (Slack Snap - QuickLinks cross loaded are all
rated the same??? by HowNOTtoHIGHLINE).
Basically that value is the WLL (working load limit) and not the BL (breaking load); the latter is
generally 5 times higher.
As you can see in the video, the deformation happens quite soon, but to actually break the maillon it
takes way more load.
That said, another important thing about maillons is that maillons tend to always slide in a non-
cross-loaded position due to their shape.

So we can say that using a maillon is the safest option, but the slowest one, so they’re good for
attaching to the GriGri, while steel carabiners are the quicker option so they’re good to setup your
anchor system while climbing, and depending on how much paranoid you are you may want to pick
one with a bombproof gate.

How to tighten the maillon rapide

Hand tightened is enough, and avoid tightening too hard too. Using a key is only needed for
permanent anchors because with time and meteorological events it could unscrew.

If you can’t open the maillon, after ensuring that it’s the correct direction, use your shirt so your
fingers don’t slip. If you always mistake the opening direction, use adhesive tape to help you with
that.

Considering other gear

We could use a non-steel carabiner with an ACL system. Be sure to clip the
GriGri in the correct way (it goes on the side of the carabiner that has the ACL
bar), see the picture. For the anchor, the bolt goes in the small part.
However, this setup can still cross-load in case it’s the belay loop itself that
cross-loads the carabiner (for the anchor, it’s the rope bight). Also, generally
these type of carabiners are HMS. HMS carabiners are bad, because even when
not cross-loaded, if the load slightly moves on the gate side it can only sustain a force equal to the
minor axis breakage value, generally circa just 7 kN:
36
https://m.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Examples-of-dangerous-carabiner-loading-

In the example picture there is multiple stuff attached to the same carabiner, but if we’re talking
about lead rope solo anchors, the problem can happen with only the rope attached, especially thanks
to the help of the nearby rock features (see Cantilever load on locking nuts and/or on the rock);
carabiners are not very good at sliding back into the ideal position. An oval carabiner would be
slightly better, because it better spreads out the load, so we could go for the CT Pillar Pro SGL. But
the ACL system again only covers one nose of the carabiner. One carabiner with a seemingly decent
ACL system is the DMM Belay Master 2. It is an HMS carabiner but its ACL system seems so
complete that it doesn’t matter. Sadly there are reviews online that report that the plastic guard
can open by itself, making the whole design pointless.
An alternative could be the Mammut Crag Smart HMS, but the cantilever load problem still
remains.

Then there is the Petzl Omni: its omni-directionality for loads

is intriguing. But its manual says that cross-loading it is still
dangerous: cross-loading in this case means that the load is
pulling the gate, see the picture. It says that it can take up to
15 kN in that position, but very likely less if the gate itself is
stressed. In fact its specific intended use (chest harness)
avoids stressing the gate. So, thumb down.

Then there is the Petzl Ring Open, but it needs a key to lock/unlock, so not very practical.

Factor 2 falls
In this chapter we talk about factor 2 falls in the context of lead rope solo climbing.
Please first read Forces and Cross-loading.

Factor 2 falls can happen in the first part of the route, before you clip the second bolt, unless you
use a tree anchor.
It can also happen in multi-pitch if you fall on the anchor, and in trad and aid climbing if all your
protections fail and you fall on the anchor.

37
Factor 2 falls actually never happen
It must be said that full factor 2 falls are rare to happen in real life: your body is not a 80 kg metal
block in a drop tower. So what you get in the worst case scenario is e.g. a factor 1,8. Also, by just
having some slack before starting the fall, the factor decreases even more. When we talk “factor 2
fall” in climbing, it’s just an approximation.

How many kN can the human body take?

The human body can only handle, for a brief instant, a shock force of 12 kN without risking serious
injury.
https://www.camp4.com/fall-factor-explained/

This value comes from military studies on paratroopers: the human body can withstand a maximum
deceleration of about 15 G, or 12 kN for an 80 kg mass.
https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/How-was-the-max--impact-force-of-12kN-determined-

1. The existing legal limit of 8 kN for the Maximum Arrest Force in the industrial , personal fall arrest systems
applies exclusively to the shock load (MAF) directed into the sub pelvic area and acting upwards along the
spine.
2. The MAF of 8 kN (the existing limit) may lead to a serious injury or a fatality when applied perpendicular to
the spine, from the back towards the front in the waist area (+X). Such loading may occur in some ladder fall
protection systems, unless the length of the link between the user and the system’s rail (or a wire rope) is
severely restricted.
3. The MAF of 8 kN (the existing limit) may lead to a serious injury when applied laterally, perpendicular to
the spine, from the side in the waist area (Y). Such loading may occur when the FAS is attached to the side D-
ring on the harness.
4. Not all of the currently available North American and European personal energy (shock) absorbers can be
considered safe for the MAF acting along the +X or the Y axis.
https://www.fallpro.com/fall-protection-info-center/online-articles/maximum-arrest-force-limit-in-fall-arrest-
systems/

The absolute limit is 15 g.

For upside down falls, the deceleration however is just 4-6 g.
Anyway, applying the mass of 80kg, the physiological safe limit becomes circa 12 kN.
That’s why the UIAA-CEN regulations says that the ropes must elongate for at least the amount
necessary for the maximum impact force to be not over 12 kN (on the climber end of the rope),
and that they need to hold up at least 5 high impact falls with a mass of 80 kg.
Club Alpino Italiano manuals, 2014

Force rating of dynamic ropes

The force rating indicates the maximum amount of force the rope can deliver to a falling climber,
measured in kilonewtons (kN), under test conditions designed to simulate a hard fall (ndr factor
1,77); typical live ropes range from 9 kN up to an Arborist's 24 kN. The force rating is often
misunderstood by climbers, because all other climbing gear is rated by the breaking strength (in
kN) of the material. Whereas a higher rating (indicating greater strength) is desired for other gear,
for dynamic ropes a lower rating is generally desired, as this indicates it would give a “soft catch”
that is less likely to injure the climber or break or dislodge protection or anchors.
http://www.alpineexposures.com/pages/faq-climbing-ropes-explained-test-uiaa

Rope breaking
[...] In practice, live ropes rarely if ever break due to a fall alone - all documented rope failures
involve the rope being cut or damaged, for example by abrasion against a sharp rock edge.
Source: Sterling Rope Guide to Rope Engineering, Design, and Use.
38
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_rope

How actually dangerous is a factor 2 fall when lead rope soloing?

Ropes are actually designed to work in this extreme case (ndr fall factor = 2), in which they have
to guarantee that the induced strain is in any case tolerable by the human body.
Club Alpino Italiano manuals, 2014

It’s not dangerous unless you fall directly on your back/spine, or upside down, or you badly hit the
rock or some ledge (obviously).
The lower the impact force of your rope, the better.
Anyway, the rope can only take 5 of such falls before it should be trashed (or at least it looses most
of its elasticity). On the contrary, it can take hundreds upon hundreds of factor < 1 falls.

Anchor: more info

You don't always have trees for anchoring, therefore the main anchor system is securing to the first
fixed bolt of the route.
Fixed bolts take pulls in all directions and generally take up 20-30 kN. They are made to be the top
protection in the previously described pulley effect, together with a quick draw. This means that
using them as a rope solo anchor is going to stress them less than their normal use.

Other anchor systems: Munter hitch (unsafe)

On the second fixed bolt, use a locker and tie a munter hitch, leaving some slack. In case of failure
of the first bolt, the figure-eight of the main anchor will jam against the munter hitch.
This has been proven to fail by Matty C Skinner.

Cantilever load on locking nuts and/or on the rock

Most fixed bolts have a locking nut and/or the bolt itself protrudes the rock. This is not a problem
for the quick draws hanging downward, but our anchor carabiner / maillon rapide will hang upward,
creating a cantilever situation against the locking nut / bolt (see image from Petzl to give you an
idea – even though that is downward).
The strength of a carabiner in this case can be less than 30 % of the major axis strength.
https://www.petzl.com/INT/en/Sport/Examples-of-dangerous-carabiner-loading-#6.porte
A Ø 10 mm steel maillon rapide will cover this problem.
Most glue-in bolts are eye bolts or similar, and they do not have a protruding bolt or a locking nut,
so they do not present a cantilever load problem; still, cantilever loading can also happen against the
rock itself, depending on its features. So in this case too it’s best to use the Ø 10 mm maillon or a
steel carabiner with a bombproof gate.

You could choose a Ø 8 mm too, but the point at which they bend is lower and so in a very big fall,
while they won’t break, you may find yourself unable to unscrew the gate. See Strength of the gear:
steel, minor axis, gates, cantilever load.

39
 Examples of cantilever load

All these considerations only exist because of the risk of a factor >1 onto the first fixed bolt. In fact,
the highest impact force is on the top protection because of the pulley effect, therefore the anchor
won't get a high impact force. For this reason, even a cantilever loaded carabiner non-tensioned-
upward could be considered safe. But because we risk to do a factor >1 on the first fixed bolt, it's
better to use a maillon rapide or a steel locker with a bombproof gate.

Rotating hangers
After a fall, the hanger where your anchor is attached to could rotate. Always bring with you a nut
tool with the key to tighten/unscrew the nut and reposition the hanger.

Belay device: why the GriGri

Keep in mind that whichever device you choose, you will always need to manage the weight of the
spare rope, either with a cache loop or with the rope-in-the-backpack method; especially if the route
is long.

Silent Partner and Soloist are not produced anymore. My choice is the GriGri because I feel it’s the
safest and comfiest option.

The GriGri can be easily manually locked by just grabbing the brake side of the rope (in our case
the cache loop) and sitting on the harness. This is a great advantage for when you’re having
difficulties or are working a route, that many other devices don’t have.

With the GriGri you can immediately lower down when you complete the pitch, which is extremely
comfortable in the crag, and even more so in multi-pitch climbing (see Cleaning the pitch for
various abseiling techniques).

GriGri failures
Petzl doesn’t want you to use it for self-belay (https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Self-belaying-is-prohibited-)
because:
• The climber does not hold the brake side of the rope; counter-argument: IMHO the GriGri actually works
without the help of a human hand, it’s just that Petzl wants to cover the you-never-know for their own
sake. The various GriGri accidents that you hear happened in crags are because the belayer pressed down
the cam while giving slack and never released the thumb.

40
 • The device may jam into the rock and prevent from locking; counter-argument: if it’s stuck onto the rock,
you are stuck too, i.e. not falling. If it’s only temporarily stuck, then you will begin to fall again, the cam
will free (or the handle will release), and the device will lock. If you are scratching on a slab, at a certain
point you will start to fall backward anyway and any jamming will resolve.
• The device may be blocked against the positioning system (positioning strap); counter-argument: this is
referring to top rope soloing, where they use more than one device and they attach them with a sling or
something: in this lead rope solo system we clip the GriGri directly to the belay loop.
• The device may be blocked against other things; counter-argument: same thing applies. On multi-pitch,
just wear your slings nicely (see the chapter Multi-pitch).

There are videos on the internet demonstrating various slippage, but given enough rope the GriGri
eventually catches.
Moreover, the cache loop, while not directly acting as a backup, when it’s very short it will get in
tension and “awake” the GriGri even if it initially slipped, acting as a brake hand. Even with a long
cache loop, as soon as it reduces its length during the fall, at some point it will be so short that it
will start to create tension. So that’s additional safety.

Failure against a stopper knot:

Failure: in case of failure, the GriGri 1 breaks itself against a stopper knot at no lower than 17 kN.
Belay: testing a fall factor 2 with a mass of 80 kg, the GriGri 1 arrests a fall and is NOT damaged,
up to at least a circa 10,4 kN fall.
“Hang 'Em High: How Far Can You Trust Your Belay Device?”, Marc Beverly, BS-EMS, M-PAS,
Stephen W. Attaway, Ph.D.

Another known failure is when you use a very big carabiner: it could rotate and enclose the GriGri
preventing the cam from engaging. This happens with the GriGri 1; later versions of the GriGri
prevent this problem by design, having a slight bend over the cam that will push away any
obtrusion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFPNDgGNBR8&t=415 (Yann Camus BlissClimbing
video)
Still, a maillon is your best bet (see Strength of the gear: steel, minor axis, gates, cantilever load).

Other devices/systems
Note: I have no personal lead rope solo experience with any device other than the GriGri 2 and the
GriGri 2019.

This is a very quick and incomplete overview. Please visit, for a start, the Facebook group Lead Rope Solo
Climbing to learn more. Also, there will always be new devices, it’s your job to stay updated and maybe even
do your own experiments.

I’m here especially highlighting the cons of other devices/systems, but keep in mind that climbers are
successfully using some of these. In the end it’s a personal choice and you have to find what works best for
you.

By type:
• Trango Cinch, Trango Vergo, Mad Rock Lifeguard: they rely on rope orientation change to
activate; less safe and they won't catch upside down falls, but feeds well, because the path of the
rope is straight, like in the Soloist.
• Petzl GriGri, Edelrid Eddy, Beal Birdie: they rely on the friction of the rope running around a
cam to rotate the cam. Safer but feeds worse.
• Non auto-locking belay devices like the ATC or the Reverso: since we cannot use our hand to
activate the device, we would have to use some system that have them locked in a default state,
and that will make the device not dynamic at all, but most importantly it may even sever the
rope. The GriGri and other belay devices are made such that the constriction of the rope is

41
 never directly proportional to the applied force (the GriGri doesn’t lock completely but leaves
some space so that whatever the blow, the rope doesn’t sever.
Moreover, when used in guide mode, they may not catch inverted falls.
• Petzl Ascension, Petzl Micro Traxion, and any other toothed device: these devices can be used
for top rope solo but not for lead rope solo, because they may damage the rope sheath, and they
may even break because they can’t stand the impact forces of a lead fall.
• Friction hitches (Prusik knot, Klemheist knot, etc.): too much friction to the point that they can
damage the rope.
• Professional gear for construction work or arborists, e.g. the Camp Goblin: they generally
require 10 mm ropes or above and they’re meant to be used on a static rope that is hanging from
the above, so you are not supposed to take lead falls on these type of devices.

By device:
• Silent Partner and Soloist: out of production; the Soloist does not catch upside down falls.
• Petzl GriGri: treated in this document.
• Wild Country Revo locks only when a certain falling speed is reached (so you fall more meters),
and it’s not easy to manually lock it.
Modification for faster lockup: https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/116598492/revo-
rope-solo-spring-modification-for-faster-lockup
People on the internet also report that it can strip the rope in factor 2 falls, and unlocking it may
be very difficult to the point that you may have to secure yourself and remove the device.
Dude on the internet: «I also found the Revo to be much more sensitive to back feeding. I
finished a pitch or two not realizing I was essentially free soloing because there was so much
slack that had been introduced into the system.»
• CT Click Up: people on the internet report that it can fail to lock in lead rope solo.
• Edelrid Eddy: it seems it can fail in a lot of situations: “high clip failure”, a short cache loop
could prevent it from locking, etc.
• Guide mode: using the Reverso or any tubular belay device in guide mode (belaying-the-second
mode) makes the system static and as explained above it risks to sever the rope in a lead fall.
Moreover, it may not catch inverted falls.
• Petzl Microcender didn't lock, dude saved by stopper knot:
https://www.climbing.com/people/mortality-salience-how-a-rope-soloing-fall-made-me-rethink-
my-climbing-obsession/
• Petzl Shunt: greater danger on sloping terrain where pressure against the device can impede
locking. The device will not lock if the user grabs the device during a fall.
https://www.petzl.com/INT/en/Sport/Appendix-1--Petzl-does-not-recommend-using-only-one-
ascender-for-self-belaying-

By system:
• Running clove hitch: works best with thin ropes. Has its place in alpine climbing.
With this method: https://www.alpinesavvy.com/blog/the-improved-clove-hitch-rope-solo it’s
easier to give slack. Anyway, it’s slow, you have to give slack in advance, sometimes by pulling
the “slack-carabiner” you end up cutting slack by mistake, when you fall it’s very hard to loosen
the knot, and if you happen to get your fingers between the carabiners while falling… ouch.
Alternative improvement by Yann Camus: Petzl Ring Open, two lockers with opposing gates,
one locker to give slack.

42
 Yann Camus' running clove hitch during a
test fall

• Garda Hitch: it tears the rope sheath, it has been tested on YouTube.
• Stopper knots only: only good as an emergency lead rope solo system.
Pass the rope through one maillon attached to the belay loop and only use stopper knots
(preferably pre-tied) to stop your falls. It’s a good idea to use two maillons, one with a colored
adhesive tape, in order to make sure to grab the live rope and not the spare rope.
Pro: Easy to clip, however you still have to manage the weight of the spare rope • No device to fiddle with, only
stopper knots, quick to untie if you use slip-knots • Very safe, assuming you have tied enough slip-knots and you
cinched them good. And with the right directionality. Cons: The distance of the fall can be long, depending on how
many stopper knots you tied and where you are on the route • Falls are pretty harsh. • After a fall the stopper knot
will be very hard to untie • If you happen to grab the rope below the quick link while falling, you can squash your
fingers • You still need a cache loop / backpack anyway because of the weight of the spare rope, which is more
weight than normal due to all the stopper knots, meaning you have more spare rope hanging. • The feeling of not
having (almost) anything on the belay loop can make it easy to proceed with the climb without realizing that you
are not clipped to anything, especially after having done some maneuvers • Damages the rope?

Improved backup belay system

If you do plan to use stopper knots, let’s analyze what happens in case the GriGri completely fails
to lock. The Micro Traxion, while not being the main backup, will take part in the backup belay
system happenings by finding itself compressed between the GriGri and the stopper knot; it could
even break and the system will still work.
In this test (factor > 1) the Micro Traxion is slightly damaged but it survives:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLar6eXD40E (Micro Traxion Testing for Lead Rope Solo, Yann Camus
BlissClimbing)
Therefore you may think about attaching the Micro Traxion to a gear loop. However, in case of
GriGri failure you risk damaging the gear loop and possibly the harness. Moreover, if you attach to
the waist belt of the harness or the belay loop (preferably with a steel carabiner because of cross-
loading) you are also (kind of) covering another case of failure, which we will now deal with.

43
 Micro Traxion on the waist belt of the
harness.

The stopper knots cover the case where the GriGri fails to lock and slips through the rope.
However, another possible failure, in multi-pitch trad and multi-pitch aid climbing, is that the
GriGri and/or its connector break and completely detach from you after a huge factor 2 fall onto the
anchor. This scenario may be fatal because the Micro Traxion becomes the only thing you are
attached to, so, together with the stopper knot, it becomes the backup belay system: for this backup
system to work, you have to clip the Micro Traxion into e.g. your waist belt of the harness
(preferably with a steel carabiner because of cross-loading), but the Micro Traxion is a small device
and it may simply explode against the stopper knot.

Anyway, using a maillon rapide for the GriGri and using the GriGri itself, which is a very strong
device (see Belay device: why the GriGri), is more than enough to prevent this second case
scenario. If you still want to be safer (for example because you use a different belay device and/or
you don’t attach it with a maillon rapide – maybe because it doesn’t fit, e.g. the Revo) you have to
add yet another backup or improve the backup:

• Use a steel maillon rapide (Ø 8 mm or more) that will jam into the stopper knot before the
Micro Traxion does.
To avoid having a mess in your belay loop, you could clip it into your tie-in points. Of
course the rope has to pass through such maillon.

• (Only practical for aid climbing) Clip yourself into backup knots (overhand on a bight), into
your belay loop or waist belt of the harness. You don’t need the Micro Traxion anymore.

44
 Pete Whittaker with his Silent Partner and
pre-clipped backup knots.

Possible methods:
◦ Clip all the backup knots before you start climbing, each on a different carabiner. When
climbing, when the knot is about to jam into the GriGri, unclip and undo the knot.
Pro: Minimal hassle when untying. Cons: Lots of loops of rope attached to your
harness, making it heavy, unbalanced and clustered • Cannot use steel carabiners /
maillons because too much weight.
◦ Clip into the next backup knot every time. You will use two carabiners. When climbing,
when the knot is about to jam into the GriGri, retrieve the rope (with the help of your
teeth if you don’t have free hands) until you can grab the next backup knot, then clip it
into the free carabiner in your harness. Now you can unclip the other one and untie the
knot.
Pro: You can use steel carabiners / maillons, since there’s only two of them. Cons:
Swapping knots is a bit of a hassle.
Don’t use slip-knots, you would pull their bight and fall to the ground.
It must be said that using steel carabiners / maillons for this setup is probably useless since
the big impact has already happened, so a lot of force has already dissipated.

These solutions create full redundancy in this single rope system.

45