SOLOING TECHNIQUE.(Fixed Rope Solo-Simulation.)

If your determined to climb solo,best do it in the safest possible way,and adopt a good ongoing standard of improvement and best-practice!?Climbers are generaly a fairly responsible lot if only because we dont want to end up as strawberry jam at the foot of a mountain.Or end up being labeled a complete muppet,cragfast and whimpering,being lowered off your great adventure by a cheesed-off Mountain Rescue Team!?
As i live in Sussex,UK and only have summer sandstone and chalk to play on?I developed the following "Solo Aid System" to practice with new gear alone and in moderate safety.Used properly,its a great way to (a) gain confidence at higher grades or on unfamiliar problems,unencumbered by loads of gear.(b)climb safely with equipment on a fully simulated solo climb.I have no doupt that there are better ways to do this?But this has worked for me for many years and never failed me yet.As with all my technique,what you see is the latest of the evolutions in my soloing-practice system.It is the way i do things at present,and i am not suggesting that anybody else should use it!
LOCATION.
I allways choose an unfrequented climbing area with ungraded routes or crags of little importance,so as not to bug the local natives.Climbers justifiably get a bit bitter and twisted if your dragging fixed-ropes all over their favourite crags?!As usual let someone know where you are climbing(see Route Plans blog)its good practice and common sense.
ACCESS.
Make sure the top of your crag is easily reached from ground level,and easy to walk down from when you top-out.Make sure there are plenty of good "bomber" anchor points for your fixed-rope.If the ground at the top is soft,you may consider using a "Ground Pin" anchor system?These are available from Peter Gwilliam of "Specialist Training Consultants"  a great company that i can thoroughly reccomend,who will even train you how to use this kit?!You would allso do well to visit Tom Gwilliam,s blog for further info and a great range of useful gear.

Rig a bomber anchor-system as you would for a Group Abseil,with good safe access and egress points,making sure the system is secure from tampering!If you have a partner along ,take turns guarding the anchors if there is human traffic around.





Allthough i allways use a 9.5mil Mammut,Static-Rope for this procedure.I like to "dynamise"the system a little with a "Energy Dissipator" device as an added safety measure.These are brilliant little,inexpensive items of gear that may well save your life!And are allso available from Peter and Tom!I dont know of anyone outside the Rescue and Rope-Access Industry that uses these,apart from myself?But i would not now be without one,especialy for this system!

Energy Dissipator.

Having rigged the anchors,i then abseil down the route to get a good close look at it.I feed the rope from a Rope-Bag as i go and where possible i use the "Australian Abseil" to get a better perspective of the route overall! Done correctly the Aussie-Abseil is safer than the standard-abseil and far more controlable.The instructors who claim this is "less" safe than the standard technique are talking "total bollocks",and probably dont know how to do it properly!
This abseil allso enables one to move more slowly under better control,so that you can stop at will to  kneel and locate fragile mountain plant micro-systems you wouldnt want to damage.

You allso get a much better view of "holds, rugosities,and points of protection" for use on ascent?!At the foot of the route i weigh the Rope Bag with a few pounds of rocks,and tie it to the end of the rope.This keeps the rope from following you up when ascending and allows you to traverse many metres either side of the route,should you feel inclined?It is in effect a simple counterweight that wont hinder you whilst climbing.

The personal ascent rig consists of a good Alpine Harness connected to a Petzyl-Shoulder Harness ,with a Petzyl-Croll in between fixed by maillons(a BASIC can be used for Left handed people).An ASAP on a Lanyard can allso be considered?But only for this static system.For a "Free Climb"ascent no other kit  need be carried other than a Helmet,an ATC belay device,4xScrewgate Krabs,Prussics,and a couple of slings to effect a mid-route reverse should it be needed?!This is allso a great rig to practice "Dry Tooling" with axes and crampons,and rigging Hanging-Belays or Bivvies .

Peggy demonstrating full rig.

 

TO ASCEND.
Clip the fixed-rope into the Croll,ensuring to place a screw-gate karabiner through the safety holes of the Croll to lock the rope securely behind the cam!Ascent can then commence making sure the rope is free-flowing through the device.Stop climbing a few feet off the stance,and check that the "Cam-Anti reverse" is locking firmly on the rope before proceeding.Check this action periodicaly from a protected position during the climb.

DISMOUNT & ABSEIL PROCEDURE.

Cease climbing and fix a Klemheist-Prusik on the rope "above" the Croll at about eye-level.Larksfoot a 2metre sling to this to make a etrier-step for the foot.(adjust as required for an easy step up.)

Pull up a foot of slack rope below the Croll and fit into the Belay-Device on the harness Belay-Loop.Run the dead-rope below the belay device through a French-Prusik brake on the(left or right)harness leg-loop.Shunt the Prusik brake upwards to remove as much slack between Belay-Device and Croll as possible!

Then remove the rope locking krab from the Croll and clip it on the harness gear loop.Reach up above the Klemheist and gripping the rope firmly?Step up on the sling and disengage the Croll from the rope!Lower your weight on to the belay-device(ensuring the leg prusik is locked),remove your foot from the sling and dismantle the Klemheist prusik and return it allso to your harness gear loops.You are now in a standard abseil position,and can descend by easing the Leg-Prusik Brake!

This process should be practiced several times just off the stance before proceeding further,to fully familiarise oneself?!Dont make an idiot of yourself by getting stuck halfway up your own rope!!:-)

Any questions on the above blog?Please comment or email me personaly!

Good climbing,

Rob. 

ALTITUDE SICKNESS.(A personal revelation.)

Ive never been happy with sportsmen taking performance enhancing drugs.But i understand why they do it and confess to gulping down more than a few over the years.Ok,so it wasnt to win medals and stuff but the summits i chased were as important to me as olympic gold to any athlete!And for some i would have sold my imortal soul.In 1976 on Mt,Bangeta in Papua,New Guinea i poleaxed flat on my face at 3700mtrs and woke up frostbitten and alone at 3am,not knowing if i was "arthur or martha"!

This was my first flirtation with Altitude Sickness,and the "bunny boiling"bitch hasnt let me alone since.That one didnt kill me but ive had some close calls since then.The last one was on the easy Via-Ferrata of the Berner Schwartzhorn in Switzerland 2003
that i was using as a warmup scramble for Eiger,Austrian Route.I had trained madly for months previously in the UK prior to Switzerland and was as fit as i can ever remember!I made the summit and got down under my own steam but i had all the signs of HACE and a doctor in Grindlewald confirmed it.

 I went on that season to summit Eiger by the Mittleggi Route dosed to the gills on Acetazolomide,and pissing for England all the way down to the station!You could not get lost on Eiger that summer.all you had to do was follow my "yellow snow"trail to Eigergletscher Hotel?! A great many studies have been done on altitude sickness.Three brilliant books by "Thomas Houston.md"(Going Higher.),and a 400 man study of world scientists a few short years ago on Everest(sth col).All excellent science,and huge amounts of data collected,but no conclusions reached.
What did we get out of it? Well Charlie Houston recently died leaving behind an incredible body or research theory.(RIP Charles.And thanks man!?)And a shitload of biology students got stunning Phd,s,with a nice trip to Nepal thrown in!?But not much else really?!
Then a couple of years ago two Swiss scientists(Andreas Huber & Jaquelene Pilcher)were studying "Inherited Blood Clotting Factors"and noticed that there were high blood clotting levels in people suffering from altitude illness in the Swiss Alps.(see-SAC mag-DIE ALPEN.April 2003)They concluded(very sensibly)that inherited clotting levels played a greater role in altitude illness than originaly thought?And that got me to thinking?!

Altitude Sickness,(AMS,HACE,HAPE.)are circulatory probs!The general gist is,that your blood turns to syrup due to an overproduction of red blood cells trying to compensate for your bodies inability to absorb oxygen.In short,you end up dying of a heart attack or stroke if you dont come straight down after the symptoms kick-in!Allso the way you die can be incredibly prolonged,agonising,and unpleasant.(not exactly a winner is it?)
So i thought to try a standard treatment of symptoms only!
I started with Acetazolomide capsules(standard dose at onset.)with moderate success at 4000metres as a prophylactic before ascents?How it works is still not completely understood and invloves a complex understanding of blood chemistry.It allso bestowed upon me the new alpine "Superhero"status as the "Peemaster!"Guiding lost climbers to safety with my trail of yellow snow! Next i tried Ginco-Biloba which did bugger-all except endear me to the flatulant vegetarians and new-age "snake-oil" salesman that charge a fortune for this crap!!

Then came "Viagra"!!Which was kinda useless for AMS but great fun for my peripheral circulation!It did what was promised in the paperwork,but scared the hell out of two Swiss soldiers that i shared a cave-bivvy with on a winters night below Altells!They kept the fire going all night,and never put their SIG-Rifles down even once!! It was allso totally useless for mountain sickness problems!
It then made sense to try a course of "Dispersible Aspirin"75mg daily,as a blood thinning and anti-clotting agent in line with the "Huber-Pilcher"research?This was quite safe as i fall into that age category of heart-risk.There was a marked improvement when i used this last year!The clincher however,was a routine NHS-Cholesterol check by my friendly MO?It was found that my levels were extraordinarily high,even for a 63yr old man?(9.5)What realy bugged me is that i am super fit,6ft.1in,13stone of bone and muscle,and i train religiously four days a week?
A phone call to my elder sister in Italy revealed a history of high cholesterol on mothers side of the family.(my sisters problems mirrored my own!)And so there was a familial link with unstable blood chemistry.Two weeks ago my Doc started me on Statins(Simastatin.40mg)As a result of this my performance has improved 100%,and i have extended my training regime.Prior to the tests i showed no signs of raised levels at any time in my life!It may be that many people who suffer problems at altitude may have an underlying cholesterol problem?I am not saying that high levels are a cause of altitude illness?I am saying that altitude illness is primarily a circulatory problem,and that an inherited predisposition to high cholesterol circulatory imbalance,could well contribute to its cause!Those who suffer even in a minor way from altitude problems,would do themselves a great service a simple Cholesterol and Clotting-Factor blood test?It could be nothing,or it could save your life and improve your climbing enjoyment?! Go do yourselves a big favour!?
I will do a follow-up on this!Please comment or email me for questions! Rob.:-)