petzl shunt for self belaying

i use a petzl shunt for top rope self belaying: single dynamic 10.5 mm line anchored like the blazes, and for weight, coil the rope tail so it is just of the ground. Back-up is a separate dynamic rope with fig 8's on the bight pre-tied at regular intervals. I clip em as i arrive and unclip previous ones (always keeping two loops clipped)....

the 'how to use' sheet (in the petzl shunt box) shows that the shunt can be used for top roped self belay. it has two provisos: a) you don't grab the shunt in a fall thus holding it open and perishing, and b) you don't force the thing open by jamming it between yourself and the rock on overhangs. Otherwise, it seems pretty good to me. On the plus side, the shunt, lacking teeth, doesn't chew up the rope, which is good, and it runs well up the main (dynamic) rope and catches falls without drama.

It worries me that the shunt is not mentioned in the many discussions about TR self belay: i assume it is unsafe. why?

As far as I understand it must be used on a static rope for this purpose... apparantly the stretch in a dynamic rope during a fall can put enough stress on the shunt that it can break.

The most recent Soloist thread about this topic was particularly about that device only because I'm only interested in using that device; after much research, commentary, thinking, and considering what I'd be using it for (occasional soloing on easier ground, but including alpine and ice), I decided that it was the appropriate piece of gear for my use. I don't intend to become a master of solo gear, nor a source of a lot of information.

OTOH, much of the basic information about TR soloing and lead soloing should be relatively applicable to a number of techniques and devices.

I cannot say anything about the other devices on the market that could, should, could not, or should not be used for the purpose. In case that was a question directed towards that particular thread.

So what do the big boys use for TR solo on ice? Something toothy I assume?

nathan sweet

The guy I saw using a device was hardly a big boy, more like a loud mouthed asshole, but I believe he was using a protraxion.

Cheers, Christian :?)

I've been into rope soloing for about 6 months. I tend to do 2 pitch routes where I lead using a silent partner and then second using a shunt attached to me via a short sling and a croll trailing about 20cm behind the shunt as a back up. On my old 11mm this set up worked fine - although pulling slack for clipping was hard work. So I got myself a new slinky 10mm rope, the Elderid Hawk. Clipping on the lead is now real easy. For the shunt, small falls on the top rope are held OK, but a fall of 1 meter or so and the shunt slides until stopped by the croll. I find this quite alarming.

So my question, how robust are modern ropes to dynamic loads onto a croll? The idea scares me, but how big a fall will the croll hold before totally trashing the rope?

Also, I heard people talk about the basic, it looks just like a croll so what's different?

Hi Guys,

The croll will fail at 4kN on average (400kg) thats the figure we work around in rope access any way.

Hope this helps

Hi there not posted on this site before, but looking into devices for self belay. Just a word of warning - I have been involved in the rope access industry for 10 years now and just want to point out that a croll is NOT designed for taking dynamic loads. The croll is an ascender, not a fall arrest device, as it has no peak impact force reduction, thus can overload your belay or even strip the sheath off your rope.