7:46 p.m. on October 3, 2001 (EDT)
First, the usual disclaimer - Climbing is hazardous to your health. It can result in serious injury, death, dismemberment, and other undesirable things. Soloing is even more dangerous. Only insane persons even consider soloing (as the dawg said below). Do not climb solo, roped or unroped.
Ok, having said that, OGBO mouths off on what he does over the past few decades that have included a bunch of solos on rock and alpine (no, OGBO may be senile, but he doesn't solo on glaciers, especially when they have potentially hidden crevasses).
Rule number one - just as "the leader must NEVER fall," the solo climber must NEVER fall. This implies that you should never solo on anything that is close to your limit. So if you climb 5.12 on lead on trad without ever falling, you should probably limit yourself to 5.9 or easier on top rope solo, 5.8 on lead rope solo, 5.7 on unroped solo.
Rule number two - falls do happen, so consider what the consequence will be when (not if, but when) you fall. Will you crater? Is your pro adequate?
Rule number two implies that you should practice a few falls with your chosen method of protection. What does it feel like when you come off unroped and deck? What happens to your system and what does it feel like when you fall toprope, or on lead?
Rule number three - always back up any belay system you use when solo. For example, when you first try top rope solo, use a second rope with a different system (one with a Soloist and the second with a clove hitch, for example, or one with some device and the second a top rope belay from your regular belay slave). Same thing for lead solo - use a backup top rope for your first tries. The idea here is to get your rope management system down pat in a safe manner. Once you get the system smooth, then use other forms of backup - on top rope solo, use a following clove hitch so that if your modified grigri fails (or slips on that wet rope from the sudden rainstorm), you go no farther than the clove hitch. Same type of thing with lead rope solo - clove hitch a loop or two that gets taken up as you climb, then move the hitch when you get close while standing in a stable spot. Wren's web site has some illustrations of rope management for their 3 products that will work with other products and systems.
Comments on systems - Like the dawg, I don't really understand your description of your system, but as far as I do, it scares me. If I were at your crag and saw you, I suspect OGBO would mumble in his beard something like, "that there setup don't look too swift, sonny, sartenly sumpin' I would never use," and then slink away to the parking lot to avoid being part of the body recovery team. Have you ever tried practice falls on it (backed up, of course)? If not, I would do a bunch of test falls, just to see how it behaves at various fall distances. Prussiks slip when loosened to move them then subjected to a sudden load (i.e., don't re-lock as they should). You might try one of the other prussik-like knots, but be aware that they can slip, too. And when sliding, the prussik loop (and other similar ones) can and does burn through from the friction.
I've tried using Petzl's Basic and a couple other ascenders. With the Petzl and a couple others with aggressive teeth, I found that the shock load from a fall noticeably damages the sheath of the rope (the newer Ropeman and the Tibloc are two others with aggressive teeth). Others with less aggressive teeth (original Jumars) slide a bit, and on wet and icey ropes, sometimes don't even do more than a bit of slowing. Ascenders really only work on top rope, anyway (Petzl comments on this on their website). That should be obvious, since the direction you want them to slide is the same direction the rope will point through the ascender when you fall from above your last piece of pro.
I have been using a Silent Partner for the past couple of years in the dry. Yes, Brandon, it is bulky and heavy, a real pain in off-widths and even vertical to slightly overhanging faces (by the way, are you really the Brendan I was with up in AK a few years back and ran into last Feb at the TeleFest in Bear Valley?). However, I have found it pretty dependable in test leaps, er, falls. Thankfully, I have yet to take a real fall. But then, I have only taken one leader fall in my life (a 40-footer from an overhang - when I called "falling", my belayer replied, "yes, I know!"). I don't intend to take any more (Rule Number One!). I don't count my unroped slide down a 45 deg ice couloir, which is my only use of self-arrest in anger.
The SP, as far as I have been able to determine in trying things out, is the only device that works in a wide range of falls (plus the clove hitch, but you have to feed the clove hitch and the SP feeds itself). Most of the others don't work if you turn over when falling or fall on a traverse. Even the SP has to get up to speed to lock the clutch (which means you have to train yourself to NOT grab the rope when falling).
The SP doesn't work when the rope is wet or icey. In fact, when conditions are icey, Wren says the centrifugal clutch can freeze and not lock. So for ice, I fall back on the clove hitch (ooops, bad pun. But that leads to Rule number four - never, ever, under any circumstances, solo on waterfalls or chandeliers, or any ice or snow.).
Sorry, folks, but I don't like grigris just in general. Yeah, ok, they work. But they are just too specialized for me. But I admit that the Old Guy has used one, and (foolishly, stupidly) borrowed someone else's modified one just to try for soloing (Rule number five - never ever under any circumstances trust someone else's modifications of hardware, especially when it is something that violates the manufacturer's warranty). It worked, but not as well as other systems I have tried. The nice thing about the SP is that once you learn to use it correctly, it's like having a good belayer who anticipates your moves. The grigri (and clove hitch) require a bit of attention (always in the midst of the crux move, of course).
As you have guessed by now, one of the major reasons for climbing several steps below your limit is that every system requires a bit of fiddling, even when practiced extensively. The SP is about the smoothest, but you still have to fiddle with the backup loops from time to time. It takes a bit of practice to avoid having to make the adjustments in the middle of the crux move.
Ok, true confession time - OGBO has violated every one of his aforelisted rules at one time or another (except for the rule about never falling when soloing -- ok, ok, there was that one slip on ice, but we were unroped, and it was only 45 degrees, and I did self-arrest after only 80 feet vertical distance).
(the Ancient Curmudgeon draws himself up, leaning on his titanium ice ax, hawks out a long streamer which ends up hanging from his beard, and says in a finally clear albeit quavery voice ...) Young Man, just remember my rules. Pay particular heed to the one about trying practice falls with your system. And also the one about backups. Oh, yeah, and the one about climbing solo well below your limits. Then maybe you too will be able to give unwanted advice to some young punk hotshot when you have managed to survive through 5 decades of climbing.
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