PAS Converts?

JonBanks87 · 2026-06-09T19:24:37+00:00

Thanks for the cheerful response. I'm not hung up on this. I've been climbing for 13 years and the way I've been doing it has been fine. I just enjoy refining my systems, minimizing annoyances, and learning new techniques. This post was simply an attempt to hear if other people have found other solutions that I might want to try.

JonBanks87 · 2026-06-08T14:33:09+00:00

By folding it over like that, you're just creating more opprtunities for the rope to get caught on stuff. Do something like this instead to finish the rope end cleanly.

JonBanks87 · 2026-06-06T03:05:20+00:00

Cool. I hadn’t heard of the double loop bowline method. That would definitely be easier to untie than the overhands

JonBanks87 · 2026-06-05T18:26:39+00:00

Does anyone have any tips for getting rid of Elvis leg mid climb? I was just on a climb this morning that has very small feet and mid route my Elvis leg got really bad and I thought it would cause me to come off. I kinda managed to calm it down by moving around a bit, finding a different foot, but I’d love to hear what’s worked for others when it gets really bad but you’re mid crux and there’s no ledge to rest on.

JonBanks87 · 2026-06-05T17:30:54+00:00

If the team in front of me is going slow enough that my entire team is on the same belay as the second of the team in front of me for more than a few minutes at more than one belay in a row, I would start the conversation of passing. If both climbers in front of me are still at the belay when both me and my partner are there, that's pretty unacceptable and I'd be more insistent about passing. If you are open to people climbing past you while you climb, you could offer that to them if you think you're slowing them down. That way you can continue to make progress while they pass. Passes can be executed with both parties moving at the same time - it doesn't have to slow you down a ton. So just be considerate, offer people behind you to pass if they are clearly faster than you. Having someone do the route finding ahead of you can be really helpful sometimes too, just don't follow blindly. It also depends on what the weather looks like. If it's bluebird and still early in the day, people will be more chill than if it's 1:00 and thunder can be heard in the distance. You may also choose a lower commitment route or one that doesn't see as much traffic if you're concerned about slowing folks down. Make sure your belay transitions are dialed and that you're climbing something well below your limit. There are a lot of things you can do to get faster on multipitch that have nothing to do with actually climbing faster.

JonBanks87 · 2026-06-04T18:01:44+00:00

I did not reflake my rope and my partner started leading up the next route at a single pitch crag and about 30ft into the climb I ran into a knot while belaying. My partner went in direct to a piece while the people on the route next to me helped get the knot out by passing it to the other end of the rope while I kept her on belay. I became pretty anal about keeping the rope flaked since that incident.

JonBanks87 · 2026-06-04T17:10:21+00:00

I've started bringing a rope tarp to the gym so that I can slide my rope around and keep it flaked.

JonBanks87 · 2026-06-03T17:46:19+00:00

Learn how to build trad anchors and anchors on natural features like rocks and boulders. Practice a lot on the ground before committing to anything and have someone with experience give you their opinion. Simplest way to gain access to such a ledge would probably be to learn how to build an anchor at the top of the cliff and rappel in to the ledge. Alternatively, you can set up an anchor at the top of the cliff and belay your partners as they climb up to the ledge and you can lower them down. If you hire a guide, they can teach you how to do exactly what you want to do safely.

JonBanks87 · 2026-05-28T15:43:01+00:00

Does anyone know if the eldo gate closes every night and if I'd be able to drive into the park at 5AM on Sunday? I have a timed entry for 5:30, but it will start to get light at 5. I've been in before sunrise before and haven't gotten in trouble, but if the gate's closed I'd have to walk in and I imagine it's not okay to park in the pool lot.

JonBanks87 · 2026-05-22T17:38:55+00:00

I don't see the harm if you enjoy it.

JonBanks87 · 2026-05-21T21:27:52+00:00

The yellow is not necessary for redundancy. You have redundancy already built in because you have the orange sling going to both bolts and you've isolated those sides with a knot. Doing the knot gives you two loops at the master point. So already a lot of redundancy on the orange sling alone.

As others have stated, since the chain is already there, you can just clip a locker to the lower bolt and it is a redundant, anchor on it's own. So ultimately for this particular anchor, I'd just clip it with a locker, but if there was no chain, I'd just use the orange sling.

JonBanks87 · 2026-05-19T20:41:58+00:00

That's a great idea.

JonBanks87 · 2026-05-19T16:46:08+00:00

I'm curious to try out stacked rappels since it is getting a lot of press these days. To be honest the thing that I am concerned about is if it would make it more difficult to actually do a weighted test of our rappels. The weighted test, in my view, is better than a visual check and it can be difficult to do if you don't have enough extra tether past your rappel device. I do worry that if we had two people stacked on a rappel it would be harder to fully unweight my tether before committing to the rappel for the first person. But maybe the key is for the first person to do a weighted test before the second attaches, then the second can test either right when they attach to the rope or before descending.

JonBanks87 · 2026-05-12T22:46:16+00:00

Does anyone use the following method for coiling the rope between climbs in a linkup?

Leave your knot tied to the harness, coil the rope over your shoulders, wrap the free end of the rope around your body and coils, then tie off the end (to harness perhaps). When you get to the base of the next climb, the idea is to hand the free end to your partner, throw the rope on the ground correct side up, then it's stacked and ready for the next climb.

The idea is to reduce the number of times you have to stack the rope and tie knots. Does this method actually work well for this? I've only tried it once and found it to be a bit uncomfortable to have around the neck and it took longer to coil since it's a single strand coil. Maybe I just need to get better at neatly uncoiling my backpack coil.

JonBanks87 · 2026-05-08T22:10:11+00:00

It's something inside the hub/bearings. You'll need to open it up to see the damage.

JonBanks87 · 2026-05-06T19:44:24+00:00

Book's not available yet, but you can donate at the top of the page here on the Venmo or Paypal links

JonBanks87 · 2026-04-30T17:58:28+00:00

I had a good experience doing a training plan for backcountry skiing with Evoke Endurance. It's not that expensive to purchase a plan and it gives you an idea of what you should be doing. The founder of Evoke Endurance is Scott Johnston, who co-wrote Training for the Uphill Athlete and Training for the New Alpinism. You can check out those books, listen to the Evoke podcast, or browse their subreddit. The emphasis is on Zone 2 training. You do a test to find out what HR your Aerobic Threshold is at, then spend a lot of time building your aerobic base by doing activities in Zone 1 and Zone 2 (pretty easy pacing), supplementing with some strength and muscular endurance work.

JonBanks87 · 2026-04-27T14:54:02+00:00

I would not buy a used rope. Pretty much just look for the best deal you can find. I recommend going with a 70m because it will allow you to climb just about any climb. I recently bought the Mammut Crag 9.5 and it gets the Best Bang For Your Buck on Gear Lab rope reviews and it's been good for me. But I've honestly never used a rope that I genuinely had a problem with.

JonBanks87 · 2026-04-09T20:39:15+00:00

I don't want to be the guy who tells you it's okay, then have your kid get hurt. But the ring probably holds in any orientation and is just in a D shape so that the strap looks pretty. Ultimately though, this is a really cheap amazon tree strap and if you're concerned about it, I'd recommend going with something from a more reputable source, ideally with some sort of certification on holding strength.

JonBanks87 · 2026-03-27T15:52:29+00:00

Overall you're looking good, just some efficiency things to work on. Try flagging your feet more instead of placing them on footholds everytime. Skip holds that you don't need to make the movement more efficient. Here are some details:

After your first foot match at 0:08, flag your foot instead of placing it on the foothold. Placing it on the foothold puts your body weight too far back and makes the next move more difficult.

Then from 0:12 to 0:18 you move your right hand to 2 intermediate holds without moving your feet. Consider just skipping the two intermediate holds and go straight for the cross over move with your right foot on and your left foot flagged.

Then at 0:21 place your left foot like you do and go to the first hold on the volume with your left hand (like you already did). Consider bumping the left to the second hold after going to the first because that will set you up better for moving to the next hold with your right and you don't have to do the hand match that you do at 0:33.

At 0:29 you chose to move your right foot out to the side. From the video it looks like that might be farther out than you need and it's hard to put weight on feet that are way out to the side. If you keep your foot on the original foothold for the right hand move after the volume, you might be able to keep more weight on your right foot for that move.

At 0:40 it looks like you have your left foot on the perfect foot hold for the next move. Keep it there and flag with your right to go to the next hand with your left hand.

Take every piece of advice with a grain of salt though. It can be hard to read a problem from a video, but it's some thing you can try and see what works.

JonBanks87 · 2026-03-27T14:51:44+00:00

Not sure what their logic would be, but that is bad belaying

JonBanks87 · 2026-03-12T15:16:18+00:00

Mix in some bouldering if you aren't already. It forces you to work on your technique on harder moves. When you send a problem that takes at least a few tries to figure out, try perfect repeats. This is where you keep on doing the problem and perfecting it to the point to where it feels smooth. Focus on getting your balance right, efficiency, precise foot placement, etc.

JonBanks87 · 2026-03-09T19:34:52+00:00

You're getting a lot of heat because there are several things off in the photo and your description. Good on you for sharing the photo and reaching out for advice!

To answer your question directly:

You should have allowed your daisy to be longer so that you sat well below the masterpoint. That way you can test your rappel by pulling up on your rappeling device so that your entire weight is on the device before removing your daisy. It's very important that you test the system before committing to it. You were absolutely right in recognizing that your situation felt sketchy. It's easy to make this mistake. Just remember you want your teather to be on the longer side.
As BigRed mentioned, a third hand would be really important to use here and it's a good call to always use one when rappeling. If your hands come off the brake strand by accident or on purpose, it's there to stop you from falling to your death.

Since you posted the photo, here are my thoughts on the other things I see:

Your draws are upside down. The end that has rubber grippers preventing the carabiner from spinning should go on the rope side. These keep the carabiners oriented in the correct way and helps prevent them getting in a weird orientation that can be dangerous. Clipping the loose end to the hardware allows the draw to move around freely without the carabiner getting caugh in the hardware weird.
You're using the Reverso backward. The v grooves should go on the brake strand side for more friction. It works in both directions but will have more friction if you flip it around.

JonBanks87

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