I’ve been very busy the last few weeks, as I’ve just had the US rights to Psychovertical returned to me (when a book goes out of print, you get the rights back), meaning I can publish a much-improved new version.
Andy - do you recommend an old school oval steel screwgate carabiner (or mallion) for the self belay device? The story is really good reminder for backup tie in knots...
The extent of my fat bumbly adventures was self belayed solo up idwal slabs (don't laugh) using lots of simple clove hitches on krabs as self belay - as an experiment to see how it worked (and i had no mates to do real climbing). The going up, down and back up thing every pitch had me pretty knackered by the end - very "bin man" workout - but I enjoyed the "system" aspect of it.
I like a mallion, but a lot of people seem to use modern lockers that have anti-rotational bits these days, although they are much bulkier than an 8mm maillion. People have also been using spliced dyneema loops, so there's no worry about cross loading.
Andy - do you recommend an old school oval steel screwgate carabiner (or mallion) for the self belay device? The story is really good reminder for backup tie in knots...
The extent of my fat bumbly adventures was self belayed solo up idwal slabs (don't laugh) using lots of simple clove hitches on krabs as self belay - as an experiment to see how it worked (and i had no mates to do real climbing). The going up, down and back up thing every pitch had me pretty knackered by the end - very "bin man" workout - but I enjoyed the "system" aspect of it.
I like a mallion, but a lot of people seem to use modern lockers that have anti-rotational bits these days, although they are much bulkier than an 8mm maillion. People have also been using spliced dyneema loops, so there's no worry about cross loading.