NZcaver wrote:chh wrote:Heavier people and Stops will have different experiences as I've said, though I think mostly because of the braking mechanism. Without one I think it's just a matter of varying friction with biners. I've carried some heavy packs with me, and have also done two person loads on my Simple. Though I rely heavily on my second braking carabiner here or even a third in the case of a 2 person load, I've not had a problem with standard 11mm caving ropes. However, I can totally appreciate not wanting to use the braking carabiners 100% of the time and opting for a different device (like the rack) that would mitigate this problem.
This is the first I've heard about using multiple braking carabiners to add friction to one descender. How does that work?
One time I had to increase friction when using a Anthron Stop on an 8mm rope, but I just tied a Munter on my braking carabiner.
The way I do it (I believe it's the same way indicated in "Alpine Caving Techniques" but I haven't got a copy to hand in order to check on this) is to clip the second carabiner to the rope above the descender. Then clip the controlling part of the rope, which is passing through the first braking carabiner in the usual position, into this second carabiner.