Abseiling with grigri and prusik knot

[Joris]

Hi all,

first of all, I do tree climbing just for fun.

I use my grigri to descend and also a prusik knot as an extra safety.

So I descend 1 meter, stop, take the prusik knot with me, descent another meter, stop…. And so on…

it takes way more time, I know, but thats ok for me!

is it safe?

will the prusik safe my life in case the grigri slips/fails?

greetings

 

 

 

[Steve Bullman]

What is the reason why you can only descend 1m at a time?

[Joris]

Because of the length of the prusik rope

[Steve Bullman]

3 minutes ago, Joris said:

Because of the length of the prusik rope

Can’t you just slide it down as you go? If the grigri fails and you let go of the prusik it should bite. Or just replace the grigri with a good old fashioned fig8 

[Joris]

Thats possible but not really comfortable since I need both hands to descent with the grigri.

but do you think the prusik will hold?

thanks for replying btw!

[Steve Bullman]

Providing the prusik is dress and set correctly and you are using the approximate cord size then yes it should hold 

[Robin Jacob]

GriGri’s are very common in the rock climbing and mountaineering community. I have never heard of anyone feeling the need to back one up, and I’ve never heard of one failing under normal conditions, ie single person load. Belayers catch huge falls with them. I wouldn’t back one up unless there were extra factors to consider, such as a narcoleptic or epileptic user 

[Joris]

12 minutes ago, Robin Jacob said:

GriGri’s are very common in the rock climbing and mountaineering community. I have never heard of anyone feeling the need to back one up, and I’ve never heard of one failing under normal conditions, ie single person load. Belayers catch huge falls with them. I wouldn’t back one up unless there were extra factors to consider, such as a narcoleptic or epileptic user 

Hi, thanks for your answer!

I really believe the grigri is save enough, but in my opinion the prusik knot/rope is a simple extra safety to add. 
I also make knots underneath me every 3 or so meters just in case. Is that a good idea since i’m using a static rope?

[Joris]

20 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Providing the prusik is dress and set correctly and you are using the approximate cord size then yes it should hold 

Oke, thank you! 

[peds]

That sounds like a hell of a lot of faff. I assume you've got one hand on the grigri and one on the lower rope? Have your prusik on a shorter loop, below the device, and milk it at the same time as you descend with your downhill hand.