Essential Skills: Pre-Rigging RappelsA safer way to set up rappels
By Dale Remsberg
http://www.climbing.com/skill/pre-rigging-rappels/
Are you a climber who thinks double-checking your partner’s harness and knot is a good idea prior to launching up a route? Me too. That’s why I’m always mystified to see so many climbers ignoring such safety checks when coming back down.
Imagine you’re at the top of a multi-pitch climb and a few rappels are the only thing between you and a nice walk out. Usually what happens is the most experienced person rappels first to find the next station, position the ropes, and deal with any other issues that arise. At the next station she yells “off rappel” and leaves her less experienced boyfriend to fend for himself. This always makes me nervous—it leaves too much room for mistakes due to fatigue and darkness.
Pre-rigging is the solution—it minimizes any chance of a faulty rappel setup.
(1) First, prepare your rappel slings. I like to use a use a 48-inch(120cm) nylon sling with an overhand knot tied into the middle, creating two big loops. Nylon slings are great for this purpose because they absorb energy and are very durable. This is also a great way to use a personal anchor tether; however, daisy chains were not designed for anchoring and should not be used to pre-rig rappels.
(2) Girthhitch the sling into the tie-in points on your harness, and then clip your rappel device into the inner loop in the sling/(3) The knot creates a “shelf ” that will hold the device about 20 inches away from you.
(4) The outer loop can be clipped to your harness (preFERAbly to your belay loop), ready to clip into each rap anchor. Using this setup, rig both climbers’ rap devices onto the rappel ropes, one above the other. With the extension, the climber waiting at the top station will have room to move a bit and won’t be jerked around by the ropes as the first person descends.
(5) A secondary advantage to extended slings is your aUTO-block backup cannot slip up and hit the device, thus rendering the backup useless.
Knot the ends of the ropes to avoid rapping off them. My preference is a barrel knot (half of a double fisherman’s). If there is much wind, consider saddle-bagging your ropes by looping them through a sling clipped to a gear loop on your harness, and thus keeping them with you as you descend.
Both people are now rigged to rappel, and two sets of eyes have double-checked all the set-up. Down you go.
必备技能：预置下降操作
一种更安全的下降方法
编译 芽子
你是否觉得在开始攀爬前检查搭档的安全带和绳结是个好的习惯呢？我也是这样认为的。这就是为什么我很纳闷有很多攀岩者在开始下降前却忽略这样的安全检查。
试想一下这个场景：一对小情侣，刚刚登顶了一条多段结组的攀登线路，只需完成下降就称得上完美了。一般来说，这种情况下最有经验的人会最先下降，负责找到下一个保护站，安置好绳子，应对出现的各种问题。在这个故事中，女孩先行下降，在到达了保护站后，她对男朋友大声喊“下降完成”，然后让她那个没有什么攀登经验的男友自己看着办。每到这时，我就会忧心忡忡——在日落西山且感到筋疲力尽的时候，出现错误操作的概率是非常的大。
预置的下降装备是解决之法——它将下降时的错误操作概率减到了最低。
（1）首先，准备一条下降用的扁带。我喜欢用一条120cm的尼龙扁带，在扁带中间打一个单结，这样就形成了两个大绳圈。这里用尼龙扁带很有优势，它即结实又可以吸收力量。用环装菊绳也是很好的方法，但是菊绳是不可以这样用来做下降用的。
（2）用套结将扁带链接在安全带的攀登环上，然后将下降装置扣入与攀登环连结的那个绳圈里。
（3）这样，那个单结就在离你20英尺远的地方形成了一个可以挂下降装备的“挂点”。
（4）然后可以用主锁将另一个绳圈扣在安全带的装备环上（如果可以，也可以扣在保护环上），这样就可以随时口入每个锚点。这样就可以将两个攀岩者的下降装备都装在下降绳上，一个在上，一个在下。加上绳子的弹性，在第一个人进行下降时，等在保护站上的另一个人也有活动空间，更不会被下降到绳子缠上。
（5）延长扁带的另一个好处就是用于备份的抓结不会向上滑动碰到下降器，从而失效。
在下降的绳尾打个结，以防下降时滑脱出去。我比较喜欢打桶结。如果下降的时候风很大，可以将绳子盘搭在一根扁带上，然后再将扁带扣在安全带的装备环上，这样在下降的时候，绳子就会一直跟着你了。
现在，两人都已经预备好准备下降了，两双眼睛也都互相检查了所有的设置。那就“走你”吧！
