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An Alternative Way to Release an Autolocking Belay Device
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Source: "The Mountaineering Handbook" - Craig Connally Contributed by: Marty Comiskey ( martycomiskey@yahoo.com) Best useful for: Top rope Trad x Mountaineering x Description: An autoblocking belay device (i.e. Petzl Reverso, BD ATC Guide) is a convenient device for belaying a second off of the anchor. On occasion it becomes necessary to "release" the device after it becomes "weighted" in order to give slack to the second for climbing purposes and/or to lower the second. If the amount of rope to be released is relatively short and/or the lower is only a small distance, the usual methods to release the device work fine (i.e. use a sling to rig a pulley/ use nut tool as a lever/ use carabiner nose as a lever). However, there may arise a scenario where you need to lower the second a full rope length to the ground due to injury or such. Using the above mentioned methods would be cumbersome and control would be problematic trying to "feather" the sling/pulley or "lever" system for a full rope length. Craig Connally had a suggestion in his book that should be filed away in your "tool box" for such a situation. His suggestion (briefly): - take rope coming off locked belay device and rig a Munter Hitch on a biner located above the belay device and tie it off with a Munter/mule knot You can now more easily lower the second without the constant fiddling with the Reverso/lever set up. Hopefully, you will never need to do this rescue procedure, but if the occassion calls for it, it is a more workable alternative to the "standard" methods. |