Stupid theoretical climbing question

So in my fantasy world I always imagine having to make my way solo over a sheer drop off with no other way around. EG: too far to hike around, land features prevent passage, time, etc.

So I always imagine breaking out a swiss seat and some anchors and making my way down. Good so far.

My questions: what happens to my rope/anchors? Is there a way to set the rope so I can pull it down when I reach the bottom? How much rope do I need to carry to descend 50 feet? 100? Is there any way to do this quietly if not quickly? Such as a type of anchor that doesn't require pounding in with a hammer.

I apologize because I know these questions are probably absurd, but it's a problem i've always wondered if there was a solution to.

I'm assuming you know how to safely rappel and select a rappelling anchor. If not, go take a class. They'll teach you how to do this too if you ask.

The end of the story is that something is staying at the top unless you find a good natural(or manmade and pre-existing) anchor like a smooth but firmly seated and massive boulder or a pipe you can run your climbing/rappelling rope around.

You just run the rope around the anchor, or through a piece of webbing you've ran around an anchor, or through a carabiner you're saying goodbye to, until the midpoint of your rope is at the anchor.

It's not a bad idea to figure 8 the ends together before you chuck them or some such solution to prevent your untimely death. By that I mean tie them. It will ruin your life immediately if one end has fed faster...you'll find yourself realizing what happened as you plummet to your death. Look over the edge. Make sure both ends are safely at the bottom. Getting stuck off the ground will also ruin your day if not your life.

Then simply run both lines through your descender(purchased or created from locking carabiners...but it's so much better to just buy the relatively cheap and light piece of aluminum and rappel using both pieces to brake.

At the bottom, untie the ends and pull one until the rest falls over the edge.

There's nothing loud about it. Buy more rope than the exact amount you need. If it's a fifty foot rappel, and you're doing this with a 100 ft rope, you're guaranteed to be out of rope five feet off the ground. Never mind how far from the edge your anchor may be. But yes the concept is that whatever length of rope you need...you need twice that.

Finding a suitable anchor is,or at least should be the major time consumer. But given that you had to ask...take your damned time and do it with someone who knows enough to keep your from killing yourself a few times first. It's dangerous, but not unsafe if done properly(if that makes sense outside of my own thoughts.)

@OP, if you watch some of the reruns of Bear Gryls with the celebrities. He does this all the time.

Once was an anchor made of a large grove of bushes, so right there your rope would have to be a -a lot- longer because he was basically tying around a very large mass. Not unlike having to get around a large boulder, then to the cliff, then down 50'x2. You could be looking at 200' to go 50'.

Another time he was in hard snow. He dug a channel that was also basically boulder sized. Imagine a big arc a foot deep and say 15' from edge. the rope would have to cut through the that 15' of snow/ice to fail.

Another was a tree I believe.

At any rate, several of those episodes used the technique you describe in different environments.


here is one at 9:50 --- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ8_cx3gxws

At 36:00 is another right on the ledge and you can see how much extra rope he still needs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUQKSkKc5-Q

In my fantasy world, I always knot a bunch of shemaghs together and climb down, prison-escape style. :cool:

But seriously, having enough gear to rappel safely down a 50' (or more) sheer face is a lot of space and weight- more than I'd want to carry unless I'd planned on doing so at the outset. Also, if you've never rappelled before, you should. It's a learning experience- I wouldn't want to try it for the first time with nobody around.

You would need rope twice the length you wish to descend, plus some extra length to make it from the anchor to the cliff face. This is because you rappel on a double line for safety. I know for ice climbing you can bore holes at opposing angles (say, 45* into the ice, and 90* apart) to the ice face that meet in the middle. You pass the rope through and rappel down. If you have to rappel further than you rope length permits, anchor off and bore new holes. If you are doing multi-pitch ascent/descent this method does not leave any gear behind. For rock, it gets more complicated for multi-pitch descents. You cannot always count on having suitable natural anchors.
Here is a good reference (not to substitute quality training):
[URL="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaineering:_The_Freedom_of_the_Hills"]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaineering:_The_Freedom_of_the_Hills[/URL

There are lots of tutorials online on how to make a retrievable rappel anchor. Here's a simple example:
http://www.backpacker.com/view/photo...hor/#bp=0/img1

I'll echo the other posters and suggest professional training if you want to do this for real, however...A 50ft fall would be no joke.

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Originally Posted by Shagnasty

So in my fantasy world I always imagine having to make my way solo over a sheer drop off with no other way around. EG: too far to hike around, land features prevent passage, time, etc.

So I always imagine breaking out a swiss seat and some anchors and making my way down. Good so far.

My questions: what happens to my rope/anchors? Is there a way to set the rope so I can pull it down when I reach the bottom? How much rope do I need to carry to descend 50 feet? 100? Is there any way to do this quietly if not quickly? Such as a type of anchor that doesn't require pounding in with a hammer.

I apologize because I know these questions are probably absurd, but it's a problem i've always wondered if there was a solution to.

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Take a Lesson then more lessons from a quality climbing school. A free hanging rappel is incredibly intimidating if you've never done it. You need the correct gear period. Some rappel devices work better on skinny ropes vs thicker ropes, Are you climbing on this gear also? Static vs Dynamic rope you need to know the difference. Can you make a retrievable anchor? Sure screw it up and You will Die Very Painfully I might add. Take a lesson then more.

I live Jackson Wyoming the Teton Range was my playground, Did and seen a lot of stupid shit in the mountains, rappelled off just about anything from new gear, trees, shrubs, Old climbing pins(Hey Arron how'd you get down off that route? Rapped of a old pin it was bomber, Me dude there were two last week must have come out) I'll leave freaking brand new anchors, What's your life worth? $50 of left gear or more?
Stay away from cocky gym climbers Most are clueless in real world. Red rocks Nevada great place, same with City of Rocks in Idaho, I had to call out people for shit anchors, When it's my life or my partners I'm pretty freaking vocal.. Lost to many friends.. Mother Nature Can be a Bitch.

If you're asking these questions you should really take a class. The web simply isn't a great place to learn skills. Okay to get some ideas, but simply no oversight and supervision; mistakes kill when you're vertical.

Rappel rings are much cheaper to abandon than carabiners. Simple aluminum rings that you can tie webbing through and leave behind. Allows you to pull down the rope with little friction. Pulling it directly through webbing creates a lot of heat from friction. Bought a bunch after abandoning 6 carabiners while rappelling down a huge face in the North Cascades.

Remember to tie a knot at the end of the line so you don't rap off into space. Happens regularly.

If you're 100% dead set on being able to retrieve everything take a class or two from a canyoneering school. Only people I've seen build safe anchors that can be pulled from the bottom.

Mammut makes a kit specifically targeted towards low weight, small size, but it's only intended for going down:
https://www.mammut.ch/US/en_US/B2C-K...0-01460-2016-1

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Originally Posted by fyrediver

Remember to tie a knot at the end of the line so you don't rap off into space. Happens regularly.

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I was watching some vids on youtube one day about basic climbing skills and such. This one guy was making his vid and the background was basically the open cliff or boulders, I forget what exactly it was. All of a sudden you see this flash/blip... and he keeps talking and bit and then says, did someone just fall? Sure enough.. and I think the guy actually lived. If I remember correctly I think he grabbed the wrong side of an unknotted rope. Can't seen to find the video now.

As others have stated the easiest thing to use are aluminium descending rings, about $3 a piece and a piece of webbing. This is your anchor that is tied around a tree or other sturdy object and left in place. I have actually put together an emergency rappel kit.

Here is the link to an old thread about it.

https://www.m4carbine.net/archive/in.../t-136933.html

You would use the rope doubled, so that when you are at the length of it, you anchor off and release one end of the doubled rope so you can pull it through the anchor. Then re-anchor at your current position in order to continue your descent.