Mast Climbing (moved)

[kw_martin]

As an alternative, I prefer using a Gri-Gri attached to a climbing harness using a carabiner in combination with an aider (line with a loop for your foot) attached to a halyard using either a Klemheist Knot or a Bachman knot (they both work - I slightly prefer the binding Bachman knot which is a smaller line wrapped around a carabiner - the Klemheist is similar but doesn't use a carabiner). The aider and the Bachman replace an ascender device and aider (see a climbing book). The advantages of using the Bachman are: it doesn't chew up the halyard (or alternatively require hoisting a static climbing line), and it doesn't have to be detached when descending, and therefore acts as an additional back-up. I also attach the belay end coming out of the Gri-Gri to a carabiner around the leg strap of my harness using an auto-block knot (another binding knot - don't use a Petzl shunt - it gets in the way and doesn't unlock easy enough). The Gri-Gri is attached to the belay loop of the harness. Finally, as another backup, I also attach a Petzl microcender to a different halyard (using a longish sling) in case the halyard I'm going up breaks. The aider/Bachman knot are also attached to my harness using a longish sling between the carabiner and my harness. The process of ascending is standing up in the aider (right foot) and pulling the belay end of the line out of the Gri-Gri (using my left hand - my right hand is used to help make standing up easier). Next, I sit on the Gri-Gri and first tighten up the autoblock and then slide up the microcender on the other halyard (not really necessary as it slides up itself, but you do need to slide it down when descending). Afterwards, I slide up the Bachman ready to stand up again and then re-tighten the Gri-Gri. The Gri-Gri is used as the major safety device, and if it happens to jam open (never happened), the autoblock still stops me from falling (it also makes the descent safer when self-belaying using the Gri-Gri - the major reason for the autoblock). In addtition, the Bachman which is attached to the harness loosely (using an additional sling) is another backup, as is the microcender. Finally nothing needs to be changed or detached when descending except taking your foot out of the aider (this is an issue with Jumar ascenders). If I forget to first slide the bachman and microcender down each small descent, it is a simple matter to put my foot back in the aider to re-ascend to get them. When ascending and I need to climb past the other halyard (for re-doing a mast-head halyard - I'm fractional) and can't use the microcender back-up, I use a longish sling going around the mast using a Klemheist knot attached to my harness as a back-up. I slide this up as I go. All of this may sound complicated but works well (at least for me). The binding knots (Bachman and autoblock) slide easily in either direction when not loaded unlike most acenders; and the system has numerous back-ups (three blocks on the first halyard plus the microcender on the second halyard). This method was arrived at after experimentation (I own most common mechanical aids - I'm a bit obsessive in this respect). Please don't try any of the above unless you follow exactly what I am saying and are sure you are competent enough. Many of my experimental attempts (which initially looked good) did not work well at all, so do be careful.