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I Returned My Crash Pad So I Could Do More Rope Soloing

I mentioned three weeks ago that I bought a crash pad after not having bouldered for several years. I bought it mainly because it’s hard for me to find partners that want to climb as often as I climb and that also have the time flexibility that I have.

Well, I never went bouldering. In the last few weeks I’ve been climbing in Moab and several areas around Salt Lake, but I haven’t gone bouldering. I just wasn’t psyched to boulder. 

Now, I have done some toprope soloing with my Gri Gri recently and really enjoyed it. I spent some time this morning researching the setups that other people use to TR solo and found that the most-recommended is the dual Petzl Mini Traxion setup. This is what the setup looks like:

[photo source]

You anchor the rope at the top of the climb, hang something from the bottom of the rope that keeps the rope somewhat taught, and then attach the Mini Traxions as shown in the photo. As you climb, the rope runs through both pulleys and if you fall, the camming action of the pulleys kicks in and they hold you on the rope. (You really only need one pulley but the second is a backup.)

So I took my crash pad back to REI (it was unused) and got two Mini Traxions instead. Now whenever I can’t find a partner, I’ll do some toprope soloing. 

I plan on doing some TR soloing later on in the week (in between a trip to Moab tomorrow and to Zion on Saturday) and will let everyone know how it goes.