Toprope-Solo: Setup with the Roll’N’Lock

This post is just an idea and a small impression. It is not meant to be a complete guide for secured solo climbing! Rope solo climbing, in particular, is dangerous! Here is a system I used for a long time when I first started with Top-Rope Solo. I hadn’t yet found any information on the RollNLock, so I added two prusik loops to the system, which made the setup quite cumbersome and complex.

Equipment (my old system)

Of course, this activity can be done with various devices. These are the devices that I have used.

Setup

You can either hang a bag with some items from the end of the rope, or bundle the excess rope together.

If you want to use the rope for rappelling or pulling it up later, you can hang the bag or backpack with the weight using a Fifi hook on the rope. When you reach the top and pull on the rope sharply several times, the weight detaches from the rope.

If there is a risk that the knot might jam while pulling it up, you can hang the Fifi hook in a prusik loop. However, with a thin prusik loop, the hook detaches quickly.

As safety devices, I like to use the Rollnlock from Climbing Technology because it has no teeth and is gentler on the rope. The system is redundant by using two of these clamps and a prusik loop above each clamp. If needed, I also use two strands of rope and add another ascender (like a Ropeman 2). It’s important that the lower ascender locks even when loaded from above. The Petzl Shunt is NOT suitable as a backup here!

Conclusion

I mainly used this somewhat over-redundant system when I first started with self-belaing. Since I couldn’t find any information on the Roll’N’Lock at the time, redundancy was particularly important to me. After all, it is not recommended to hang two clamp devices on the same carabiner.

Once I gained more experience with the Roll’N’Lock, I stopped using the prusik loops. In the worst-case scenario, the loops could slide into the rope clamp on dirty or icy ropes and block their function. This only happened to me once, when the entire rope was covered in snow and ice.

Additionally, in certain angles, the Roll’N’Lock clamp doesn’t grip properly and won’t lock! Therefore, I now only use it in systems where both the clamp and the rope can be held as straight as possible.

As a backup system below the Roll’N’Lock, I later added a Petzl ascender. It’s a good idea to use devices with different mechanisms.

I have since modified the system. You can find the current and other systems under „Secured Solo Climbing“.