Rope soloing 101 Part 4

WARNING: This blog is not meant as instructional text, and is simply a description of how I rope solo. Rope soloing is highly dangerous and demands a great deal of experience and good judgment, and in many ways is more dangerous than free soloing due to an increased reliance on “systems”. Anyone wishing to rope solo should already have extensive knowledge of all the systems and equipment needed, as well as a sound knowledge of themselves, their limits, and the reality of making a mistake. Bottom line: Don’t rope solo.

In this final instalment of this series on rope soloing I’m going to cover the best system yet developed: the continuous loop. This allows you to tag your rack, reduce clutter, and feel less weighed down by the whole business of roped soloing.

The basics of the continuous loop

With this system, instead of clipping both your haul line and your lead line to the back of your harness (which in effect means trailing three ropes: the haul line and two strands of lead line), you have one rope going up from the belay and one rope coming back down to it.

The down rope is generally “docked” in some way, meaning you only carry the weight of the up rope on your harness. This load can be reduced further by tying the rope off to pieces or suspending it from prusiks. The system dramatically reduces tangles and clusterfucks, and allows the rack to be tagged directly to the rope, reducing the burden on the soloist while giving access to extra gear—vital on hard walls.

The set-up (without tagging)

The ideal continuous-loop set-up is a large rope bag (rucksack style) and a single 100-metre rope. One end is tied to the belay (the up rope), while the other is tied to the haul bags and then backed up to the belay (the down rope).

Starting at the down-rope end, stack the rope into the rope bag until only the up end is free. Clip into this with your soloing device or knot, take a few metres of slack, tie a backup knot, and begin soloing.

As you climb, the rope feeds out. Once it passes through your device it becomes the up rope. On reaching the belay you tie off the rope, then abseil down the down rope to the belay and complete the normal solo routine of hauling and cleaning.

Most climbers will use two ropes in this system—a dynamic lead rope and a static haul line—joined together. Two rope bags work best, with the joining knot (usually a double fisherman’s) sitting between the bags so it won’t snag. On steep routes the knot doesn’t usually need protection; on slabs some climbers shield it with plastic, but I’ve never bothered.

Using a dynamic rope as the haul line adds an extra margin of safety. If the lead line were to be cut, you’d still be attached via the down rope through your backup knot and device (if using a Silent Partner).

As with all rope soloing, be obsessive about rope stacking and make sure the up and down ropes don’t twist while leading.

Continuous loop tagging

There are many variations on tagging with the continuous loop, but this is the basic system.

Take a small haul bag big enough to hold a rope bag and your spare rack. This is your tag bag. Set it up to hang from a fifi hook.

The bag is connected near the rope-joining point in two ways: via the fifi hook and via a backup attachment directly to the rope. I usually connect the fifi to a prusik loop threaded through the extraction hole of the hook, which allows adjustment and avoids bulky knots.

A second attachment below the prusik—either another prusik or a knot—acts as a backup. The distance between them must be long enough that the tag bag lifts off the belay when you pull on the down rope while leading.

With this set-up, the tag bag is used to stack the lead rope, while the haul line sits in a static rope bag at the belay. It’s vital to keep the belay tidy, with the haul line running cleanly to the tag bag and the lead line running cleanly from the bag to you.

Say you’re twenty metres up and need more pegs. You pull up on the down rope until the tag bag lifts off the belay, haul it up, clip it to a solid piece, and take what you need. You then re-stack the rope so the section nearest your backup knot feeds out first. In effect, you’ve lifted your rope bag, reducing the load on your harness.

You can repeat this process as often as needed, with less rope to re-stack each time as you climb.

The main danger comes on traversing pitches, where the rope may feed out of the bag and pull the fifi free, dropping the tag bag to the end of the rope—bad news if you’re standing on a copperhead.

There are two solutions. The first is to use a directional fifi (such as the Petzl), which locks when pulled down but releases when lifted. The second is to use a slippery knot in the lead line that unties as you climb but locks if the bag falls.

Tag bag design

Some climbers keep the rope bag and tag bag separate. I prefer a single streamlined unit to avoid tangles, but this means keeping the inside tidy—no loose nuts or slings waiting to snag the rope.

I’ve found the continuous loop and tagging system invaluable for solo climbing. It removes much of the physical burden and allows you to climb lighter without sacrificing access to gear.

The only time I wouldn’t use tagging is on faster routes where the rack is small and speed matters more than weight. In that case I’d still use the continuous loop, but carry everything on my harness.

If you have questions, feel free to get in touch.

Further reading

• Rope Soloing 101 #1
• Rope Soloing 101 #2
• Rope Soloing 101 #3
• Rope Soloing 101 #4
• A Hunk of Cold Metal
• Soloing Protection Question
• Winter Soloing
• Solo Bungee Cord Question
• Edge of Myself