DMM Pivot for lowering to ground via top belay?
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@jcmchammy@mountains.social thank you so much for the detailed response, that's very helpful!
Let's say you're in a single pitch context where your follower wasn't able to get past a crux, etc., would you then switch to a redirected belay to lower? 3:1 haul?
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@devnull If you're confident to do both of those things, then dealer's choice. On balance, I'd probably pick up rather than down given cruxes are typically a few moves (here I'm kinda assuming you're not totally sandbagging your second with a route they have no chance of sending
). TBH before either of those things, I'd probably start by maybe sticking a prussic on for some leverage and see if I could aid my climber past the crux with a bit of extra support. -
To add to this, simply said: if you pull on the device with a biner it will suddenly release and your climber will plummet. You need a backup before doing this.
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@jcmchammy@mountains.social thanks, I wish I'd thought of that over the weekend!
I will admit that lowering on the grigri (after redirecting the brake strand upward) was very convenient. I guess I was hoping to find a silver bullet from among the surprisingly vast field of belay devices.
(Ontario is grigri country heh)
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Often a munter hitch behind the reverso/atc is used to lower a climber.
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@devnull
As @jcmchammy already mentioned, lowering from guide mode is not that easy.
The YouTube channel JB Mountain Skills has a video of different options.
But as JC said, practice first with a trainer who knows the topic.I would also say, that adding a pulley construct with a prusik + carabiner to the existing guide mode setup is easier and more efficient.
You are then able to give the climber a bit of pull to get over the crux.
Especially useful in multipich scenarios. -
Easiest is to leave the device in guide mode and use it as progress capturing while hauling. You can try to attach yourself with a prusik on the brake strand and weight it with your body, while pulling on the climber's side of the rope. For passing a crux this should be enough.
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If you'd want to lower, this is a bit too complicated for a social media post. Maybe you can find something on youtube
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And of course the climber can also prusik or jug up the rope.
