Who Popularized The Carabiner Brake Rappel?

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slabbo

Trad climber
colo south
Jan 16, 2017 - 06:48am PT
Yikes ! Those brake bars always scared the crap out of me, it seemed like they always needed tension to stay put, though i have used a 1/2" pin instead.

Carabiner brake must have had a great impact 'cause I still use it since the 70's
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Jan 16, 2017 - 07:54am PT
Rich, I see Bob Williams also has a pair of husky-looking gloves to provide even greater friction and protect his palms!

Jaunty pair of knickers, too!
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Jan 16, 2017 - 08:34am PT
1973.... on my second trip to the Valley... a wise old climber took away my Brake Bar and threw it in the trash. He showed me how easy it was for the gate of the one biner to snap off causing the complete failure of the rig.

So I learned how to do it with six ovals... to this day I try to make sure I have six ovals on the rack that can become a good way to rap.

Knowing how to do a body rap is also a good thing.




rgold

Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
Jan 16, 2017 - 09:08am PT
Actually, I came to prefer D-shaped carabiners, at least for the body of the biner brake (it didn't matter what cross-pieces were). The reason was to have an additional friction adjustment: small ends forward gave more friction, large ends forward gave less friction.

The original set-up method involved pushing a bight through the body carabiners and then clipping the crossbar carabiners across underneath the bight. This was always awkward and seemed even more so when D-shaped carabiners were involved. Eventually we realized (duh!) there was a better way to set up the system that avoided all the awkwardness, as in

.

Does anyone remember that the Chouinard catalog recommended that the two body carabiners be oriented with the gates on the same side rather than gates on opposite sides, so that the crossbar carabiner could just be pulled to disconnect the rappel? This always freaked me out and I never did it. I think one purpose was to avoid what most people I knew learned the hard way, that you can lose a pair of carabiners if you just pull the rope out of the system at the base of a rappel.
healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
Jan 16, 2017 - 09:35am PT
Did this not too long ago. Forgot my harness somehow, but we went ahead and did a two-pitch .10b lead tied in to the end of the rope. Rapped on a biner brake (petzl spirits) while still tied in to the end of the rope. A little hassle and a somewhat dubious younger partner, but it went just fine.
Roger Breedlove

climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Jan 16, 2017 - 10:06am PT
I am not sure that I like peering into the dark past when it is so muddled, which is to say, I can remember all of the above rappel methods, but I have no idea which I actually used on actual rappels or when.

In the mid-60s, I remember that I had a leather patch to protect my shoulder from goldline rope burn; but I also drove a 58 VW bus with sliding windows and wore baggy wool knickers, ala Gastlyrubberfat, and reveled in romanticized storybook climbing. That said, I think that we used six-biner brakes in Pinnacles in the mid to late-60s. Also Galen has a picture in "The Vertical World of Yosemite" of rappelling with a carabiner brake on the South Face of Half Dome when he and Warren were caught in a storm in October 1968--the first Yosemite big-wall rescue, I think.

I remember having a brake bar but all I can remember is I thought it as very dangerous since it sideloaded the gate of a single binner--as noted above. (I remember that I had a party trick in which I would open a carabiner and then push the gate sideways with my thumbs so that it passed the gate--Royal freaked out when I did that with one of his new, light weight biners: not that it said anything about the strength of the biner.)

At YMS and RockCraft we taught a six-carabiner brake with each pair reversed so that both gates could not open at the same time. (I was shocked at Chouinard's same orientation of the carabiner. I thought it was a serious lapse for Yvon given that most deaths had occurred with rapelling accidents.) The reversed 6-biner brakes are shown in detail in the 1974 3rd Edition of 'Mountaineering: the Freedom of the Hills."

In the early 70's, Royal promoted a figure-8 doohickey with a funny hook on the top for rappelling, along with Sticht-plates (I don't remember how we attached them to our diaper slings), the thick piece of aluminum with two slots for the rappel ropes, which I think we (his guides) thought was an unnecessary bit of additional gear. That said, the new, "D" shaped binners did not make for easy building of a six-binner brake--I keep old ovals to build rappels.

With regard to the question, I think that Beck or Erb, both of whom were active Valley climbers in the mid-sixties can say when they started using brakes.
Tom Turrentine

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
Jan 16, 2017 - 10:21am PT
first rappelled at Boys Brigade summer camp in 1966 (14 years old) on a 3/4 inch manila line and dulfersitz- nearly crushed my balls.

next got pants with leather crotch and sewed patch to shoulder for goldline rappels in 1967 from telephone pole in front of home, (and tyrolian traverses between trees ) and any other wall I could find

-all how to information gathered from from photos in books (mostly in Alps)

took climbing lessons through a sports shop in Los Gatos from Bob Summers in 1969/70 (16 years old) and learn swami belt, with Swiss seat and 6 carabiner rappel on multi pitch in Yosemite

finally forest leg loops in 72??, full harness in late 80s??? also tried aluminum break bar and stitch plate in 1980s, figure 8 for a couple of years (but twisted rope)

began spending all money on gear and trips to valley, and preferred mostly multi-biner rappels for at least 15 years, using locking biners and extra cross biners for friction when working on walls
Nick Danger

Ice climber
Arvada, CO
Jan 16, 2017 - 10:27am PT
When I started climbing in the summer of 1966 in Colorado Springs, we used a bowline to tie into the end of the rope (goldline rope) and the diaper sling with loops around the waist and up through the crotch clipped with one biner to rappel with (eventually using a locking biner for this when I could afford one). To this biner was clipped a second biner with a third biner used as the brake bar. My first biners were steel because they were cheaper than those new fangled aluminum biners. The aluminum brake bar was available at the local climbing shop (Mountain Chalet) run by Muff Cheney (a fabulous climber in his own right), and I eventually bought one and used it when I felt flush enough to be able to own a piece of equipment that served only one function. That didn't last long and I went back to using two biners as brake bars because they gave me more friction and a slower descent. Eventually the whole apparatus was replaced by a figure 8 descender many years later. I have no idea what ever became of that first goldline rope, though.
Brokedownclimber

Trad climber
Douglas, WY
Jan 16, 2017 - 11:07am PT
I started climbing in 1959 as a consequence of having several housemates being interested in it. The University of Colorado had a Summer Mountain Recreation program through the Physical Education department. BITD,they had a 5 week Rock climbing school, and it was normally taught by Cary Huston (Huston Crack on Cob Rock fame). The Rock School had almost uniformly adopted the diaper seat and single carabiner-over the shoulder belay system and that was being taught in their classes. Brake bars or braking systems were known at the time, but most guys simply had leather rappel patches sewn to their climbing parkas (easily obtained at Holubar's). My first exposure was from Big Bob Lagrange, and he used crossed carabiners. Not all were suitable for that use in the early 1960s, but the availability of the military surplus "Army Aluminum" high strength oval carabiners allowed them to become the Gold Standard for use in braking systems and as brake bar substitutes. By the mid 1960s, dedicated brake bars were readily available at the usual mountaineering supply shops in Boulder (Holubar's and Gerry Mountain Sports). The Rocky Mountain Rescue Group was using a 2 carabiner braking system for lowering Stoke's litters, composed of 2 oval carabiners with brake bar joined by another doubled pair with gates crossed for strength
and safety. About 1970 and thereabouts, figure 8s were becoming widespread as well.

Added as a P.S.: it was ~ 1960 or 1961 that I was introduced to the crossed carabiner version of a brake bar.
NutAgain!

Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
Jan 16, 2017 - 11:08am PT
Maybe a silly question here: what's the point of doing a biner brake as opposed to simply using a Munter hitch with only a single biner? Is it to minimize twisting/tangling the rope?
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Jan 16, 2017 - 11:28am PT

I also remember using the figure-8 a lot for both belaying and rappeling, and the stitch-plate.
Roger Breedlove

climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Jan 16, 2017 - 11:52am PT
In other words:

"In modern Yosemite Climbing rappelling has proved more dangerous than leading. To promote equal sharing of risk for all members of a climbing team, not just those who lead, easy detachment from the rappel brake can be obtained if the two body carabiners are oriented identically. This orientation facilitates easy detachment at the end of the rappel as well any combination of events which could cause the brake carabiners to pull to one side while rappelling, such as maneuvering over a ceiling.

Reducing the risk of frustration is an important element in safe climbing. Unfortunately, in the case of an accidental detachment while a climber is rappelling, the braking carabiner will fall free of the carabiner brake and could be lost or damaged. To prevent any frustration that the lose of this carabiner might create with the remaining members of the climbing team, a prusik knotted sling can be clipped into the braking carabiner to retain it upon system failure. The carabiners attached to the dead climber should be inspected carefully to insure that no damage has occurred which might render them unsafe for use."
Mighty Hiker

climber
Outside the Asylum
Jan 16, 2017 - 12:14pm PT
This is one of those times when you wish for a multinational and multilingual forum, where we could hear more about these things from climbers in Europe. They were climbing and descending long, steep cliffs even before 1914, and certainly in the 1920s and 1930s. They undoubtedly ran into the same problems with attaching to the rope - that is, that any waist or chest tie in causes asphyxiation, if you hang from it for long. And for descending, and in rescues.

It seems possible that the earliest sit harnesses, however improvised, and the earliest brake rappels, were developed in Europe and then improved upon in North America. Was the Whillans harness the first commercially produced sit harness, and the Stitch plate the first commercial rappel/lower device?

The single carabiner rappel, with or without brake bar, never seemed secure to me. When we adopted the carabiner brake, we used the 2 x 2 x 2 system, with all gates opposed, and for really steep situations, 2 x 2 x 3. But a carabiner brake only works if you have some sort of sit harness.

I liked Steve's story of using a tree for a Munter.
Jan

Mountain climber
Colorado & Nepal
Jan 16, 2017 - 12:20pm PT
A Reference for that quote please Roger B ?
Roger Breedlove

climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Jan 16, 2017 - 12:34pm PT
Hi Jan, Happy New Year.

I think the quote is from Heroes an otherwise lost play by Aristophanes, c. 400 BC. Not sure. Might be apocryphal.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 16, 2017 - 02:30pm PT
Winged klettershoes worked well for those folks while descending from the lofty spots. LOL
Fossil climber

Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
Jan 16, 2017 - 04:06pm PT
I have a strong inclination that Royal started the 6 biner brake, though I couldn't swear to it.
Starting in 69 we taught it at YMS routinely. One pair of biners clipped into harness or leg loops, one more pair outboard of them ( all gates reversed so far), then a pair across those, both hard side up serving as the brake. Sometimes used it with a single biner bar for less friction. Always felt very secure with it.
donini

Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
Jan 16, 2017 - 04:22pm PT
Lack of other options along with the fact that oval carabiners worked well. The important thing is that old systems and equipment passed into the dustbins of history as better things came along.
Fossil climber

Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
Jan 16, 2017 - 04:37pm PT
NutAgain -

As I recall the Munter hitch worked a lot better on kernmantle than on the old laid nylon, which tended to twist - especially the gold line.
rgold

Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
Jan 16, 2017 - 05:09pm PT
what's the point of doing a biner brake as opposed to simply using a Munter hitch with only a single biner? Is it to minimize twisting/tangling the rope?

You are presumably talking about now.

BITD, the carabiner brake system showed up well before the Munter hitch, so it wasn't as if people were deciding between them.

That said, there are still some advantages to the carabiner brake method.

1. As mentioned, far less twisting of the rope.

2. Works without any screwgate carabiners.

3. Works with carabiners that are inappropriate or downright dangerous with a Munter hitch---there has to be enough size to keep the turns of the Munter hitch comfortably far from the gate.

5. Wider range of friction adjustment (by adding crossbar biners).
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