Succeeding on both accounts, I shared a video of a prototype with some friends last week and the response was universally positive. One longtime caver encouraged me to post it here as he has never seen or heard of something like this discussed or done before.
Features
It slices!
It dices!
And more importantly... it automatically starts and stops the rope, controls the speed dynamically with the climber, and automatically adjusts/tensions itself up when you start. Getting on/off is no more complex than normal.
Usage
- Hop on
- Hold the belay side and climb up, as you do this both the upper and lower tethers (see below) are automatically tensioned.
- “Look ma, no hands!” Let go and climb!
- Get tired? Stop climbing. It stops with you.
- Down a coffee? It speeds up with you, then slows down or stops when you crash.
- All done? Grab the upside down ascender, push down, and float to the ground.
The System
It starts with the basic self-belay setup with an upside down rack directly above the climber (I'm using 4 bars), a pulley rigged above and a little bit away from the rack to feed the rack, and the tail of the rope falling back to the ground for belay. I have to give credit to the kind folks on this forum who presented photos and descriptions of that setup. It has worked very, very well for me.
To that base system, I added the following:
- An upper tether, which routes from the front attachment point on the climber's harness to a pulley at the ceiling between the rack and the pulley holding the rope (i.e. slightly offset from the rope to prevent interference), then routed to a biner at an anchor on the floor below the belay side of the rope, and back up to a klemheist or french wrap (I've tried both with good results) on the belay side of the rope. This tether forms a big Z rotated 90 degrees. *This tether stops the rope when you stop.*
- A lower tether, which routes form the back of the cimber's harness to biner attached to a floor anchor underneath the climber, then up to an upside-down ascender residing just above the klemheist or french wrap. This tether forms a V. *This tether releases the friction knot to resume motion as you ascend.*
- Together, these two act as a surrogate hand to automatically belay you and maintain your position in midair. Particularly helpful if you have your treadmill in a tight space (my space is only 18' tall) and don't mind the feeling of not going anywhere and climbing in place and/or if you don't have access to a willing belayer when you wish to practice.
- Not having to self-belay, this can leave your hands free for other things...
Here's a short video of it in action: