How to Rope Solo: Gear Choices and Pre-Climb Checks for Top-Rope Solo, Lead Solo and Multipitch

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In March 2026, TAKEMOVIE posted a video of himself climbing Star Trek (スター☆トレック), a five-pitch 5.8 at Jōyama on Japan's Izu Peninsula, alone. He explains that because he is using a solo system, after the first pitch he has to go back down to the ground for his pack and then climb back up the rope (video from 5:43).

This is rope soloing: no belayer, just one person protecting themselves with a rope and devices. Part 5, Free Solo and Rope Solo, covered the accident record. This guide covers how it is done: what each of the three approaches looks like, how to choose the gear, where things most often go wrong, and what to check before you start.

It is written for climbers who can already rig a top rope outdoors, rappel and use ascenders. It is an overview, not a course; before you try any tier for the first time, have someone experienced show you in person, and try it first with a separate rope protecting you. The description of HowNOT2's lead rope solo video puts it bluntly: the video is there so you understand what you are looking at, because "you don't know what you don't know."

Choose your tier first

Brent Barghahn, founder of Avant, which makes rope solo gear, says top-rope soloing done right is relatively controlled, lead rope soloing is probably ten times more complex and risky, and on multipitch you need emergency communication and someone who knows your plan (Avant video). That is his estimate, not a statistic, but the order is right: get solid at one tier before moving to the next.

Rules for all three tiers

These apply to every tier and are not repeated below:

1. Tell someone where you are and when you'll be back. Petzl's self-belay tech tip makes this a rule. If you get hurt alone, nobody will notice.
2. Two systems. For top-rope solo that means two devices; for lead solo, a belay device plus backup knots. The top-rope solo accidents the AAC recorded almost all start with "only one."
3. Sit on it on the ground first. A device on backwards or a cam locked open shows up as soon as you weight it.
4. If you want to change your routine today, don't climb. In all three AAC top-rope solo cases covered in part 5, an experienced climber changed their usual setup because of wind, a rush, or a forgotten item. At Donner Summit in 2021, for example, a climber who had used the same system for ten years went from two devices to one because it was windy and he wanted to get home, and free-fell about 50 feet.
5. Carry tools to get down and to get up. Petzl recommends always carrying a descender (such as a GriGri) and an ascender with a foot loop, so you can get out of trouble mid-route.
6. Wear a helmet. The climber in the 2021 Donner Summit fall wasn't wearing one. See Choosing Your First Climbing Helmet.

Gear: start with what the maker allows

First, the uncomfortable part: most of the devices in your hand were not designed for it. The AAC's February 2025 Prescription column said only one device on the market at the time, the El Mudo, was designed for top-rope (and lead) soloing. Everything else is borrowed.

Building a first kit

• Top-rope solo: two progress capture devices, one high and one low, ideally different models; a chest harness; two or three lockers; a descender; a rope protector; and a bag to hang on the tail as a weight. Petzl recommends two different models so you don't make the same mistake twice, such as forgetting to release the cam on two Micro Traxions.
• Single-pitch lead solo: a belay device (a purpose-built one, or a GriGri-style method you have discussed with an instructor), a chest harness, steel carabiners or a maillon, gear for the ground anchor, a stick clip and a rope bag.
• Multipitch solo: the lead kit plus two ascenders (or one ascender and a progress capture device), aiders or foot loops, a full anchor-building rack and a spare rope. For jugging technique see How to Use Aid Climbing Gear.

Rope: lead and multipitch soloing always use a dynamic single rope. Top-rope soloing can use a static rope, which handles edge wear better, but check your device's instructions: the SULU GO allows a static rope only with an EN 355 energy absorber, and the Silent Partner forbids static rope. For choosing a dynamic rope, see Choosing a Rope.

Tier 1: top-rope solo

What the system looks like

The American Alpine Institute explains the division of labor: the top device is extended and managed by a chest harness so the rope flows through it, and the extension keeps the two devices from releasing each other; the second device is there for redundancy.

Rigging the fixed line

Build the anchor itself (two equalized points, edges padded) as for any top rope; see Setting Up a Top-Rope Anchor. The difference is that the rope must be tied off to the anchor, not just run through it: a rope that only runs through will slide out the other side as soon as you load one strand. Three more things change:

• The rope doesn't move, so an edge keeps working the same spot. If you swing, the rope saws back and forth. Pad the edge. AAI's approach is to tie a BHK (a doubled loop knot) in the middle of the rope, clip it to the anchor with two opposite-and-opposed lockers and run one device on each strand, so if one strand is damaged you still have the other.
• Weight the tail. With nothing pulling the rope down, the devices won't slide up by themselves; you have to keep pulling rope through and your falls get longer. AAI suggests coiling the leftover rope and tying it off a few feet above the ground as a weight; with little rope left, Josh Wharton clips on a water bottle.
• The first few meters carry a ground-fall risk. Petzl notes that rope stretches about 10% under load, so on a 50 m fixed line a fall in the first 5 m may reach the ground. Treat the first few meters as unprotected and skip routes with a low crux.

Petzl's two-rope method, done once for real. Besides AAI's two-strand setup above, Petzl's tech tip has a version too: two ropes, one device on each, sharing a single carabiner. In this video, about 10 minutes long, Yann Camus follows it and critiques each step. The player starts at 0:26: the rope's midpoint is tied off at the top so each strand is anchored on its own. Then:

• From 1:38, bumpers on the single carabiner: with anti-rotation bumpers fitted, the carabiner loads correctly.
• From 2:19, the device pair: he uses a Micro Traxion and a Spoc, and has removed the Spoc's cord that holds its cam open. Petzl allows only the Micro or Nano Traxion for this method, so his setup is outside what Petzl covers.
• From 2:40, the chest harness: Petzl says a sit harness alone is enough; he adds a chest harness anyway so the rope runs more smoothly.
• From 4:30, switching to rappel: he calls this part "a little bit sketchy," because he unclips both devices at the same time and relies on a backup knot tied beforehand to cover the gap.
• From 5:10, the rope: use dynamic rope for two strands. Both strands take the fall together, and low-stretch rope makes the catch too hard.

Yann runs Bliss Climbing's solo courses and sells bumpers, and plugs his own products throughout.

Two devices, ideally different models

The top device gets the most debate. CAMP doesn't list fall arrest as a use for the Lift, yet many climbers use it there: Josh Wharton writes in Climbing that it won't go up the rope if rigged upside down, has no button that locks it open, and its toothless lever is easier on the sheath. The Micro Traxion's risk is that with the cam locked open it is just a pulley.

If the chest harness goes around your neck, use thin cord or a breakaway clip. HowNOT2's TRS guide says to make sure whatever you use will break before it strangles you.

A pro climber's complete top-rope solo setup. Australian pro climber Tom O'Halloran's guide runs about 49 minutes. He doesn't sell solo gear, and the description says "this is just how I like my setup. Not a safety course." The player starts at 1:35 with his main device, the TAZ LOV3: it works both up and down, so he can lower himself to rehearse a crux. TAZ sells it as work-at-height gear, and its manual warns against progressing while the device moves downward, so his use is beyond what the maker intends. Then:

• From 2:24, Micro Traxion and GriGri: the Micro Traxion works well but can't go down; from 4:14 he advises against a GriGri as the main device, since you spend all day pulling rope by hand.
• From 9:48, anchors: several knots; from 13:48, a bad example with a figure eight on each of two points and no load sharing.
• From 19:00, rappelling in: first check that the LOV3's safety button is engaged; then re-fix the rope at an anchor on the route, weighting the new system before taking the old one apart.
• From 30:39, the backup device's extension: too long and a main-device failure means a long drop that shock-loads a toothed device; he shortened it and keeps the device held in the right orientation.
• From 35:11, dynamic rope stretch: on a 70 m dynamic rope he ties a few slip knots down the route so the whole length isn't stretching below him.
• From 39:22, going down on a Micro Traxion: he shows the switch to a GriGri, and calls it "safe, it's just a faff."
• From 44:21, before you go: practice first on a belayed top rope, and tell someone where you're going and when you'll be back.

The description lists sponsors (The North Face Australia, Black Diamond Australia and others) and discount codes; the neck lanyard and carabiner keeper in the video are Avant products he bought himself.

A backup knot is the last line, not a second device

Tie a knot below the devices at intervals and clip it back to your harness, so it catches you if every device fails. Keep the rope between the devices and the knot short enough that you wouldn't hit a ledge or the ground sliding down to it. But HowNOT2 tested this on their drop tower: a Micro Traxion jammed open slid down the rope, then suddenly grabbed, and the 4.85 kN catch was about what strips the sheath of an 8.9 mm rope; with the device taped open so the backup knot caught it, the peak force was still high. Their rule: no slack, and a backup device, because a backup knot may not hold you cleanly.

Getting down, and routes to avoid

Stop below the anchor; don't climb past it, or a fall becomes factor 2. Rappel the fixed line with a belay device, and stay attached to the rope through every changeover: Petzl warns that on even slightly overhanging rock, the rope can swing out of reach the moment you let go.

Josh Wharton advises against top-rope soloing steep or traversing routes, where he has bent two ascenders, and against windy days, when the rope blows off and snags.

The Shunt that left the rope, and why the knots didn't help

In September 2021, Craig Faulhaber was top-rope soloing in Colorado on a Petzl Shunt with backup knots below it. In the fall, the Shunt came cleanly off the rope; the rope and knots were intact, and he broke 12 bones (Climbing). Petzl removed self-belaying from the Shunt's instructions in 2012, but a retailer's site still showed the old notice.

The lesson: if the device leaves the rope, the knots below it can't save you. Before using second-hand or older gear, read the current instructions on the maker's site.

For top-rope soloing from rigging to mid-pitch transitions, watch this episode. This HowNOT2 episode runs about an hour, with Brent Barghahn of Avant as the main guide. The player starts at 10:24 with the real-world setup: he fixes the rope to a two-bolt anchor, rappels, and on the way down places a cam below an edge to re-fix the rope, so the rope's bounce from repeated falls doesn't saw over the edge. After that, these segments are worth watching:

• From 15:42, the most dangerous moment: rushing to top out near the anchor, the rope sags into a belly above the devices, and a fall there is factor 1, or even factor 2.
• From 23:46, the backup-knot drop tests: the ones cited in the previous section.
• From 33:03, the CAMP Lift: many people pair it with a Micro Traxion. The test shows that if the Lift sits below another device, the upper device sliding down knocks it open, so it is no backup at all.
• From 37:48, Brent's own setup: Micro Traxion on top, Spoc below. If you pull rope up by hand and then cinch from below, you hold the upper device's cam open; cinch from between the two devices instead.
• From 49:38, switching to rappel mid-pitch and back: from 52:04 he warns that when you reach a re-fix knot you should stop, not shove the devices up into it.
• From 54:54, the GriGri: it doesn't auto-feed, so you keep pulling rope through by hand, which adds the risk of falling on slack.

40:57–42:25 is a shop ad, and the 5.13d climbing from 45:31 has almost no commentary; skip them if you're short on time. Brent runs Avant, the episode says it was made with Avant, and some of the gear is sold by Avant and the HowNOT2 shop. He has also cut off the cord on his Spoc that holds the cam open, which is his own modification.

Top-rope solo, step by step

1. Walk to the anchor from above, protected near the edge.
2. Build the anchor, tie the rope off to it, pad the edges.
3. Rappel to the base, noting which edges the rope crosses.
4. Weight the tail.
5. Rig both devices and the chest harness; sit-test on the ground.
6. Climb, moving the backup knot up as you go.
7. Stop below the anchor. Rig your descender and weight it before removing either progress capture device (the order in Petzl's two-rope method).
8. Rappel to the base and pull the rope.

Every changeover follows the same rule: put the new system on and weight it before taking the old one off. When HowNOT2 shows switching to rappel mid-route and back, the system is briefly quadruple-redundant; as Brent says, you have to put everything on and take everything off anyway, so you might as well do it in the safest order.

Top-rope solo pre-climb check

• Anchor on two equalized points, edges padded, rope reaches the ground
• Both devices the right way up, cams engaged, each on its own locker at the harness point its instructions specify (never a gear loop)
• Upper device held up by the chest harness, with a breakaway at the neck
• Weight on the tail
• Sat on it on the ground: both devices grab
• Descender and ascending tools on you
• Someone knows where you are and when you'll be back

Tier 2: single-pitch lead solo

How it differs from top-rope solo

In lead rope soloing, the rope's tail is anchored at the base. You tie into the other end, run the rope through a belay device on your harness, clip protection on the way up and feed out rope as you climb. When you fall, the device locks and you take a lead fall.

Three things change:

1. A static system catches you. No belayer hops to soften it, and Andy Kirkpatrick says impact forces can be higher. The Silent Partner manual adds that climbs tend to feel about one number grade harder solo.
2. The ground anchor must hold an upward pull. When you fall, the rope yanks the ground anchor upward.
3. Slack creeps in by itself. Once you are high enough, the weight of the rope below can pull rope back through the device (backfeed), building up slack you don't know about.

The ground anchor

Kirkpatrick says that without an anchor that holds both upward and downward loads, you have no system at all; on trad he aims for three solid pieces in each direction. On sport routes, a common method is an inline anchor: stick-clip the rope into both the first and second bolts, with a steel locker on the first. If the first bolt fails, the knot on the rope jams at the second bolt's connector (bergundsteigen, 2026, written by Avant's founder).

March 2015, Owens River Gorge, California. A climber was stick-clipping bolt to bolt, hanging from only one bolt at a time. The old bolt snapped and he died in a fall of about 25–30 feet. The AAC concluded that clipping more than one bolt, or a true self-belay from a ground anchor, would have prevented it (AAC report).

In Taiwan, most bolts at Longdong have been replaced with 316 stainless or titanium, but a few old 304 bolts remain, mostly in the First Cave. Check the anchor material in the TOCC route database before you go and keep old bolts out of your ground anchor; see Bolts Fail.

For how a lead rope solo system goes together, watch HowNOT2's second episode. Same Brent, nearly an hour and a half, with no official chapters. The player starts at 46:18 with the ground anchor: he asks "do I trust my life to one bolt?" and then uses a long stick clip to link two bolts in line from the ground. Other segments:

• From 16:56, the GriGri+'s two modes: Brent uses top-rope mode, because lead mode's stiffer spring may not catch a slow, sliding fall.
• From 27:42, upside-down drop tests: a dummy falls head-down onto a GriGri+, a modified GriGri, a Pinch and a NEOX; the unmodified NEOX hits the ground. At 36:36 they add that any of these devices could drop you to the ground when inverted; the dummy just didn't happen to produce it.
• From 38:29, building cache loops: a webbing loop on the harness makes a load-bearing gear loop, and clove hitches go on it one by one, short to long, with the last one never removed.
• From 44:02, backfeed: when the device feeds too well, rope slides back to the ground anchor and piles up. He clamps it every so often with Avant's own Soft Cinch.
• From 57:34, climbing at Index: the clipping rhythm, a cache loop tangled around a leg, and smacking the device to free slack when it stops feeding on a traverse.
• From 1:17:25, getting down from the top.

31:51–32:51 is a shop ad. The video says outright that all these devices are used outside the manufacturer's spec, Brent's own GriGri+ has been modified with an angle grinder, and several Avant products appear. The description says plainly: this is not a tutorial.

Choosing the belay device

• Purpose-built devices: the discontinued Silent Partner wraps the rope in a clove hitch around a centrifugal clutch that locks when the rope runs fast, whatever position you fall in; Kirkpatrick calls it the best soloing device ever made. Newer options are the El Mudo and France's Roc Solo, which Climbing's review says can catch upside-down falls.
• GriGri-style methods: the most widely used approach today, but Petzl states the GriGri is not a self-belay device and does not authorize modifying it for better rope feed. Barghahn, who uses this method, writes in bergundsteigen: "THIS SYSTEM LIKELY WILL NOT CATCH UPSIDE-DOWN FALLS! Always use backup knots." Roc Solo's founder designed his device after a GriGri failed to engage and he decked from low on a route.
• A clove hitch on a locker: the cheapest and safest, since the knot is always tied; Kirkpatrick says it works well for big-wall aid, but anything faster than a snail's pace becomes a pain, so it doesn't suit free climbing.
• Don't lead on progress capture devices. Kirkpatrick says ascenders, including Traxions, can badly damage the rope in a fall. Edelrid's tests show that a toothed pulley taking a factor-1 fall near the anchor can sever the rope completely.

Attach the device with two carabiners, or a steel maillon to avoid cross-loading. In a Half Dome fatality the AAC published in 2006, the GriGri was found rigged for a rappel from the top anchor and never engaged; the AAC could not say whether he rigged it backwards or re-rigged it to rappel before clipping in, but either way the device was no use (AAC report). Once rigged, sit back on it on the ground.

Roc Solo vs Silent Partner, compared for real. In this video, about 13 minutes long, Yann Camus takes real falls on a new Roc Solo and a discontinued Silent Partner and measures friction with a range of ropes. The player starts at 10:13 with his conclusion: with the right rope he'd pick the Roc Solo every time; on a fat 10.5 mm rope the Silent Partner may be better, since it was designed for thicker ropes. Other segments:

• From 1:19, a defect in a new device: when his Roc Solo arrived, it wouldn't release once he sat on the rope, so he couldn't rappel; it went back to the factory in France for repair. Sitting on it once on the ground is how you catch this kind of problem.
• From 4:05, falls on old rope: two real falls on a very old, thin rope that feels "just like shoelace."
• From 5:16, friction tests: with some ropes the Roc Solo pulls so stiffly that he calls it unacceptable.
• From 11:09, how to choose: a GriGri when he expects to fall a lot and work moves; the Roc Solo for routes with downclimbing, traverses and roofs. He says the Roc Solo will catch an upside-down fall, but you still need a backup.

Yann runs solo courses and a gear brand. From 12:39 he suggests a GriGri if money is tight, a use Petzl does not allow.

A Korean example: lead soloing on a Trango Vergo, which the maker forbids. This video by Korean professional climber 김종식 at Seoul's Bulamsan runs about 13 minutes, in Korean, with Korean-English captions during the system explanation. The first five minutes are outdoor climbing at Bulamsan; from 5:14 he explains the system in an indoor gym. The player starts at 5:14, where he says the Vergo is his preferred device. Then:

• From 5:30, the ground anchor: the rope end is tied to a bolt at the start, or to a tree if there isn't one; from 6:06 he says you can't trust the device alone, so he also clove-hitches the rope at the first bolt.
• From 7:10, keeping the device upright: the Vergo only pays out rope when its handle is lifted, so he removes the black cap from the handle and ties it to his chest with thin cord.
• From 9:39, a test fall: from 10:03 he warns that if fear makes you yank rope upward to clip in a hurry, the device locks; pull slack from below instead.
• From 10:26, rope weight: about 10 m up, the weight of the rope behind you makes it pay out poorly; he fixes the rope every two or three bolts.

Trango's instructions say "NEVER use the VERGO for rope soloing or self-belaying" and forbid modification; removing the cap breaks both rules. The description links to his climbing school's courses and says soloing is very risky and you must master the system first.

Backup knots and slack

The Silent Partner manual gives concrete numbers: no more than 40–50 feet of rope between the device and a backup knot, and at least two backup knots at a time. Kirkpatrick adds: tie and clip the new knot before removing the old one, and calls the backup knot the one component you should never omit.

Take in slack regularly. Barghahn suggests cinching the rope every few protection points, or every six meters or so.

How a manufacturer sees lead rope soloing. EDELRID's risk-analysis video runs about 22 minutes. It follows a risk-assessment format, ranking from smallest to largest the seven risks that lead rope soloing adds to partnered leading, and for each one covers what can happen, the countermeasures, and how much risk remains. It is all explanation and diagrams, with no actual climbing. Four segments are worth pausing on:

• From 4:40, preventing backfeed: clove hitches on intermediate protection, an elastic prusik, a small elastic loop on the carabiner, or a carabiner insert sold by small makers; each has trade-offs.
• From 6:02, impact forces: without a belayer being pulled along to soften the catch, falls near the ground anchor are hard. The countermeasure is shock-absorbing slings (screamers) between the rope end and the ground anchor and on the first few pieces.
• From 10:20, device function: in the standard, assisted-braking devices are "braking devices with manually assisted locking." Lead rope soloing has no brake hand, and the cache loop falls along with you, so in their tests the whole cache loop was often pulled through before the device locked. The video gives no countermeasure for this one.
• From 15:58, the ground anchor: a locker clipped to a bolt hanger tilts when the rope goes slack, and under load again the gate can be crushed. They recommend tying the rope directly into the anchor, or using a quick link with a positioning element.

The conclusion says lead rope solo accidents are rare because few people do it, mostly on easy routes and slowly, not because it is safe.

Getting down

Barghahn trails extra rope, enough to run through the top anchor, so he can come down without a big transition at the top. In HowNOT2's episode, the top-out goes like this: clip in direct to the anchor with a PAS, descend on that rope cleaning the draws on the way, then pull the rope as usual. Always knot the tail.

In a 2019 accident in Squamish, Canada, a climber demonstrating his GriGri solo system sat back on a chest-high cam; it pulled out because the load came outward, and his lower pieces were too low to stop a ground fall. He landed on his back and broke a vertebra (AAC report). If one piece pulling means you hit the ground or a ledge, back that piece up.

Lead solo, step by step

1. Build the ground anchor, confirm it holds an upward pull, and attach the rope.
2. Put the device on your harness, tie the other end of the rope into your harness, and clip in two backup knots.
3. Sit-test on the ground: the device locks.
4. Climb and clip protection; take in slack every few pieces and move the backup knots up as you go.
5. At the top, clip into the anchor with a PAS first.
6. Run the descent rope through the anchor, rig your descender and weight it, then take the lead-solo device off.
7. Descend, cleaning the draws.
8. At the base, strip the ground anchor and pull the rope.

Lead solo pre-climb check

• Ground anchor holds an upward pull (sport: first two bolts clipped inline)
• Other end of the rope tied into your harness
• Device the right way round, attached with two carabiners or a steel maillon
• At least two backup knots clipped to the harness
• Rope bag or pile flaked so it won't snag
• Sat on it on the ground: the device locks
• Decided where you'll take in slack and which pieces must be backed up

Tier 3: multipitch solo

Each pitch three times

After each pitch, build an anchor at the top that holds both upward and downward pulls, fix the rope, rappel to clean the gear, rig your ascending system and only then strip the lower anchor, then climb back to the top by ascending or top-rope soloing. Kirkpatrick puts it this way: each pitch is climbed twice and rappelled once, so the same ground is covered three times, and "there is no partner to check your work." On his Eiger solo attempt, building suitable belays often took over an hour per stance.

Alone on a five-pitch route in Japan, every decision about where to end a pitch is yours. In Japan, TAKEMOVIE runs this cycle on Star Trek at Jōyama. The video is about 18 minutes; the first four cover the crag and the approach, which takes under half an hour from the parking lot. The player starts at 5:43, where he explains why, after the first pitch, he goes back down to the ground for his pack and climbs back up the rope. Then:

• From 7:57, ending a pitch early: partway up pitch two there is a ledge with two bolts, and he stops there, only to find from the topo afterward that he hadn't reached the end of the pitch. He calls it a mistake.
• From 10:39, building his own anchor: pitch three ends without an anchor, so he builds one from a tree and the next pitch's bolt.
• From 13:17, linking pitches: feeling good, he links pitches four and five.
• From 13:29, a party above: a group of four is rappelling from above; he decides they'll take a long time and keeps climbing. From 13:53 he says small stones hit his helmet and warns that this pitch has loose rock.
• From 15:45, the descent: you can rappel from a bit higher on the left or walk the hiking trail from the summit; this time he walks.

When you're alone, whether to wait for the party above is your call alone. The video is a route introduction, the narration never names his devices, and from 16:00 it's a sponsored segment about a food dehydrator. The channel's 2021 system explainer uses a GriGri plus a Micro Traxion, and its description says the GriGri was not designed for soloing and that the technique isn't recommended for everyone; whether the 2026 video uses the same setup, it doesn't say.

Anchors, ropes and ascending

• Both anchors must hold in both directions. The lower anchor is your ground anchor while you lead; the upper one is your anchor while you ascend, and the ground anchor for the next pitch.
• Manage the rope. Kirkpatrick says rope bags are essential for anything longer than one pitch, and stacked so the belay end goes in last. Barghahn warns to knot any extra tail: it is easy to start rappelling on the wrong strand.
• The rope takes more abuse than usual. You climb on it, rappel it and ascend it again; Kirkpatrick carries a 10 mm dynamic rope as a backup in case the lead rope gets destroyed.
• Keep redundancy while you ascend. Use two ascenders plus either backup knots or, as in Avant's multipitch video, a third device (a progress capture pulley), so taking one off to pass a piece still leaves two; Avant skips knots below because they snag. For jugging details see How to Use Aid Climbing Gear.
• Treat traverses differently. If the pitch traverses, Kirkpatrick rappels a separate free-hanging rope instead, to avoid a swing.

For a bolted multipitch alone, watch this one from Avant. Brent Barghahn climbs Golden Dog (5.13a) in Sedona, Arizona. The video is about 11 minutes: footage of a complete ascent from about three years ago, with narration added afterward; the danger ranking at the start is the one quoted earlier. The player starts at 0:53: a two-bolt inline ground anchor rides on his harness, and he clips it as he climbs past. The risk, he says, is that you can't weight the system to test it first. Then:

• From 1:41, linking two pitches: pitch one is short, so at its anchor he hangs on his PAS and resets his cache loops with both hands, but doesn't fix the rope, and climbs on to the top of pitch two. He says that when lead rope soloing, where the rope is fixed is fairly arbitrary, and more rope in the system actually gives a softer catch.
• From 2:27, how many Soft Cinches: he brings only five quickdraws fitted with a Soft Cinch, placing one about every 3–5 m, and uses plain draws for the rest.
• From 2:54, rappelling back: he fixes the rope at the top of pitch two and, on the way down, re-fixes it at a few draws so the jugging goes more smoothly. These days he pulls the rope tail up and ties it to the rope, one less chance of rappelling on the wrong strand.
• From 4:22, ascending: two ascenders plus a progress capture pulley, the setup described under "Keep redundancy while you ascend" above.
• From 5:43, pitch three gets harder: he fixes the rope at its midpoint, leaving half hanging unused and carrying the other half, with a knot in the end; from the belay to the first bolt is a "do not fall" zone. Before leaving, he cinches the GriGri and weights it as a test, and only then unclips his PAS.
• From 9:24, rappelling off: with no one to check him, he knots the rope ends, weights the rappel before unclipping his PAS, and carries extra ascending gear in case he dead-ends partway down.

This is Avant's own channel; the Comfort Catch absorber and Soft Cinch in the video are its products, and the description links to buy them. He doesn't demonstrate trad multipitch lead rope soloing, only saying you should already be a very advanced trad climber before considering it.

A first multipitch lead rope solo in the mountains. This video from Molladalen, Norway, about 15 minutes long, is Øystein Dahl's first multipitch lead rope solo. He had owned his Wild Country Revo for a year before daring to use it. It is early April, the approach is 45 minutes through snow, and there is ice on the route. He deliberately picked a trad ridge of about 200 m that he found easy and had climbed several times. The player starts at 3:51: he has built a trad anchor at the top of pitch two and fixed the rope, ready to rappel and clean. Then:

• From 4:21, a helicopter: a rescue helicopter flies into the valley. It is someone else's accident, not his.
• From 5:15, pitch three goes up a chimney.
• From 9:05, what his anchor looks like: an Alien, a nut and one more piece; next he has to rappel more than 50 m to collect his gear. He expected five pitches, but each one ran longer and he topped out in four.
• At 11:30, he says the system "actually works really well."

It is a small vlog channel; watch it for what the process actually looks like. The narration doesn't say how the Revo is attached, whether he ties backup knots, or what he ascends on, so the system details are only in the footage.

Rope solos on famous routes

The eight videos below are all from 2024 or later: one person roped-soloing a well-known wall, with narration or on-screen captions that cover the system or what went wrong. Watch for the risks and mistakes each climber admits to. The first five are in the US and Norway, the last three in Japan. No checkable rope-solo videos from 2024 on turned up for China, Taiwan or Southeast Asia, and the European ones found have only music and no narration, so they aren't included.

El Capitan, Salathé Wall, in a day. Brant Hysell rope-solos this classic big wall of about 35 pitches on a Silent Partner. The video is about 52 minutes, with commentary from Avant's Brent Barghahn. Brant says that before this he had rope-soloed only about 20 pitches in total. The player starts at 1:22, where Brent explains why each pitch is covered three times. Then:

• From 12:55, the system on the route: Brant says the rope fixed below is your belayer; all told, it's like climbing El Cap twice.
• From 17:00, cache loops: pre-feed a loop of about 6 m of slack and stop to feed again every so often; what really takes time is going back down to clean and jugging up.
• From 27:02, the Hollow Flake: one piece of protection between him and a very long fall, with a long loop of slack, and he still has to remove that one piece to keep climbing.
• From 32:09, long pitches: very long pitches to minimize changeovers, while guarding against backfeed; this is where Avant's Soft Cinch comes in.
• From 44:43, a fall: on the headwall several aid placements pop in a row, and he falls about 9 m; luckily he had clipped a bolt. He says he trusted the gear too much.

The Soft Cinch is Brent's company's product, and the description promotes Bliss Climbing's paid course. The video never states his finishing time; only the title says under 24 hours.

El Capitan, Lurking Fear, aid climbing that ends in a retreat. TAKEMOVIE aid-solos this 19-pitch route, sleeping on the wall in a portaledge. The video is about 33 minutes, in Japanese. The player starts at 9:24, where he explains the system for non-climbers: fix the rope at the bottom, climb up, lower down cleaning the cams, then jug back up; repeat 19 times and you reach the top. Then:

• From 6:20, a disclaimer: he says plainly that his system uses the gear in ways the manufacturer doesn't recommend.
• From 17:32, hauling: go down for the gear, come back up, haul, and repeat.
• From 19:34, a traverse: climb across normally, then hang on a rope tied to the previous piece and jug back, sending the pack right the same way.
• From 28:34, the retreat: he brought only two days of water; from 29:07 he gets dizzy every time he stands up, judges that continuing invites mistakes, and rappels from pitch 9.

The narration never names his devices; the description lists a GriGri, a Micro Traxion and more, all as Amazon affiliate links. He describes himself as an amateur, not an expert, with no certification.

Zion, the first four pitches of Spaceshot: free and aid, with hauling. Daniel Bell's video, about 43 minutes long, explains its gear more clearly than any other in this batch. The player starts at 2:00 with his kit: a GriGri+ in top-rope mode, facing out and held upright, with Avant's lead rope solo harness and Flex Link, a knot in the end of the rope, and a buddy check he does on himself before leaving. Then:

• From 10:11, hauling: he recommends clipping a quickdraw to another piece, so something still catches the load if the whole haul system fails.
• From 12:37, the anchor: he builds a four-piece trad anchor.
• From 16:17, a snagged cache loop: caught behind the lead line; at 17:03 it happens again, and he says it's bad when you don't notice and keep climbing.
• From 25:20, someone else's webbing: he won't trust webbing left at an anchor without first clipping his own carabiner.
• From 37:34, aid on pitch four: a bounce test rips a nut out: "that's why we bounce tested it."

The first line of the description is a link to buy Avant gear, and most of his gear is Avant's; self-belaying on a GriGri is outside what Petzl allows. The first two minutes are the bike approach.

Red Rock's Mount Wilson, a two-day trad climb. Eli Catanz rope-solos Inti Watana into Resolution Arête to the top of Red Rock's tallest mountain, sleeping on a ledge partway. The video is about 24 minutes, and he doesn't name his belay device. The player starts at 0:57, where he explains rope soloing in plain terms: every pitch is covered three times. Then:

• From 3:02, it's harder alone: managing the rope between moves means holding positions much longer; at 3:50 he falls at the crux.
• From 7:01, a stuck rope: the rope wedges in a crack below, so he lowers to free it and climbs that pitch two extra times; on day two it jams again.
• From 7:40, fixing on the way down: every so often he clove-hitches the rope to a bolt or piece while rappelling to clean, because even in sandstone the edges worry him.
• From 8:59, the ledge bivy: he stays tied in while he sleeps.
• From 16:07, an unprotected stretch: on soft, crumbly rock he can't find anywhere to anchor the rope and climbs on unprotected until he can build an anchor and rope up again at 16:54. That stretch is effectively unroped; don't copy it.

The description has no sponsored links.

Norway, the north wall of Kjerag, in under 24 hours. This Wide Boyz video, about 35 minutes long, sets out to free an A2 aid route that hasn't been freed yet; it's about 1,000 m from the fjord to the summit. The player starts at 0:44: he says he's alone but has a rope, and this is not free soloing. Then:

• From 9:49, two ropes: he trails a lead line and a spare; the key is long pitches and fewer changeovers, and on ledges he restacks the rope.
• From 12:07, the first changeover: rappel back down, then jug back up.
• From 18:33, a closed system: he never leaves a loose rope end; every end is clipped to something, forming a loop, so he can't rappel off the end.
• From 20:35, rockfall: two big rockfalls at the mid-height ledge, and debris hits him; after that he moves through the grassy section fast without the rope.
• From 28:23, a device stops working: grass clogs his ascender.

He doesn't name his devices. The channel belongs to Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, and the video doesn't say which of them this is; the description advertises their own crack-climbing course and gloves.

Japan: Mizugaki, Chōwa no Gensō, a granite multipitch classic. The Japanese channel Carving My Way solos this popular 5-pitch 5.10a classic on Mizugaki's Jūichimen-iwa. The video is about 23 minutes, in Japanese, with on-screen captions labeling each step, so the flow is easy to follow without Japanese. He says it was his first big goal after starting trad multipitch soloing. The player starts at 4:09: after pitch one he goes down for his pack, then jugs back up the rope while cleaning the gear. Then:

• From 1:13, no protection at the start: there's nowhere good for gear low on pitch one, so he climbs unprotected up to a tree before placing anything.
• From 2:08, the anchor: he says it's a cut anchor and he doesn't really trust it.
• From 9:59, climb or jug: he says in places it may be easier to just climb back up than to ascend the rope.
• From 15:55, the wide crack: he pushes a big cam up the whole way.
• From 20:21, the last pitch: it's so long that more than half the rope is out, so he can't rappel straight to the bottom to clean and has to do it in two goes. At the end he says the hardest part of the route was jugging back up.

He doesn't name his belay device, and the description has no sponsored links.

Japan: Shakujō-dake, Sahō Kante, an alpine wall in the Northern Alps. The same channel, about 10 minutes. This popular route on Shakujō-dake's Zen'ei-heki takes gear the whole way; he stops after pitch 7, where he says many parties finish. The player starts at 1:15: the first anchor, then cleaning and jugging back up. Then:

• From 2:57, a wobbly anchor: the anchor pieces wobble, and he's glad he brought extra gear to back them up.
• From 3:59, linking two pitches: using half of a 60 m rope.
• From 5:39, sparse protection: an old piton seems pointless to clip, and in the end he has to trust one dubious placement and climb on.
• From 7:44, getting tired: he says the jugging is getting much harder.

He doesn't name his gear; the guidebook in the description is an Amazon affiliate link.

Japan: Ogawayama, Eboshi-iwa Left Ridge, starting without the rope. The same channel, about 20 minutes. The guidebook splits this long route into 18 pitches, and it's popular with alpine-minded climbers. There's little narration; the on-screen captions carry it. The player starts at 1:55: he starts pitch one in approach boots with no rope; partway up it steepens, he switches to climbing shoes, and further up decides a fall would be bad and only then ropes up. He calls it a mistake, and a caption says he seems to have rushed and should deliberately place protection at moments like this. Then:

• From 5:20, jugging back up after cleaning: the device is visible on the rope.
• From 15:32, a stuck rope: the rope jams in a crack and he has to go back for it.

On a long route, the easy stretches tempt you to skip the rope. This video captures both the temptation and what follows.

Multipitch accidents

• Zodiac, pitch 1, Yosemite, 2017: a climber aid-soloing on a Silent Partner had a nut blow about 10 feet below the anchor; in all, six placements pulled or failed, and he fell about 110 feet and stopped level with the first bolt. He later noted that because he was soloing he hadn't extended placements with quickdraws, which may have made a cam more likely to pull (AAC report).
• The Shield, El Capitan, 1992: the climber fed out 10–15 feet of slack for a free section, then switched to aid on a marginal piece without taking it back in; the piece pulled and he fell onto a ledge with an open ankle dislocation. His own conclusion: it is much easier to solo at your limit on aid than free (AAC report).
• After Six (5.7), Yosemite, 2021: a rope soloist took a pendulum fall on pitch two and hurt his neck, needing a rescue. The AAC wrote that extra gear might have made the fall shorter and less severe (AAC report).

In all three, nobody was there to say "you haven't taken in that slack" or "put another piece in." Multipitch soloing means being that person yourself.

Multipitch solo, step by step

1. At the base, build the lower anchor (holding both upward and downward pulls) and attach the rope as your ground anchor.
2. Lead the pitch, build the top anchor and clip in with a PAS first.
3. Fix the rope to the top anchor and knot any extra tail.
4. Rappel to the lower anchor, cleaning as you go; where the rope crosses a bulge, re-fix it below to reduce wear (HowNOT2's lead solo episode from 56:36).
5. At the lower anchor, rig and sit-test your ascending system before stripping the anchor.
6. Ascend to the top, keeping two lines of protection all the way.
7. Restack the rope and start the next pitch.

Multipitch solo pre-climb check

• Picked a route you've climbed that is well below your limit
• Every anchor holds both upward and downward pulls
• Rope bag stacked, tails knotted
• Ascending system with two lines of protection at all times; changeovers practiced on the ground
• A retreat plan: where you can rappel off, and whether the rope is long enough
• Headlamp; turnaround time set before dark
• Emergency communication; someone knows your route and return time

Where to start

1. Practice each tier with a belay backing you up. For top-rope soloing, have a partner belay you on a second rope alongside, with a little slack so your solo system takes the load first; for lead soloing, rig a separate top rope above you.
2. Move to the next tier only when the current one is solid. Do many clean top-rope solo sessions before thinking about lead.
3. Learn from someone who does it. This site's Self-Rescue Basics and Multi-Pitch Basics are prerequisites, not a replacement for hands-on teaching.

Walk through the system at home first. Nitant's video, about 11 minutes long, uses a small backyard tree as the anchor to simulate a whole single-pitch lead rope solo, from rigging the ground anchor to lowering and stripping it. The description says it is not a tutorial but how he prepares before going out. The player starts at 5:40 with cache loops: the rope next to the device must carry no weight, or the rope hanging below will pull the GriGri into locking; size them so you can drop one loop at each clipping stance. He shows three ways: a slip knot, a clove hitch, and a progress capture pulley with a knot behind it. Other segments:

• From 0:21, handing the belayer's jobs to the system: catching the fall, feeding and taking in rope, and a device that reliably locks.
• From 4:15, rigging the ground anchor: clipped with a stick clip, and the rule is "no unnecessary, unattended, unaware slack."
• From 8:18, an upside-down fall: the GriGri feeds out the whole cache loop and stops only at the backup knot.
• From 8:37, lowering off: how to strip a two-bolt inline ground anchor. Clip your PAS to the quick link before unclipping the bolt carabiner, or you'll slide all the way down.

His GriGri+ hangs upside down on his chest, held by thin cord; Petzl allows neither self-belaying nor the modification. Most of the gear is Avant's, and the description has no sponsored links.

Practice: three scenarios

Answers are below each one; think first, then look.

1. Your two Micro Traxions are the same model. Before you top-rope solo today, what do you check?

2. You want to lead solo a sport route. The first bolt is 3 m up and there are no trees or gear placements at the base.

3. You are on pitch three of a multipitch solo, it is getting dark, and two pitches remain.

Series recap

The series started with the overview, then deep water soloing, big walls and aid climbing, ice climbing, alpine climbing, free solo and rope solo, and finally this guide. Part 5 covers why climbing alone on a rope still goes wrong; this one covers how to block those failure modes one at a time.

Further viewing: gear-testing and instruction channels

• HowNOT2: run by Ryan Jenks. It started in 2016 as highline safety instruction and grew into breaking climbing, caving and canyoneering gear, plus the Bolt Busters series that pulls bolts out of real rock. Its value is in the cases beyond the rated number: knots, wear, old gear, bad placements. Limits: most tests are slow pulls on a home-built rig with one to three samples, and Ryan himself calls it entertainment, not science; the channel is backed by an online gear shop, and some tested items are sold there.
• Hard Is Easy: run solo by a climber who signs as Ben, a former software developer. After watching a hard catch slam a climber into the rock in Tonsai, Thailand, he designed his first experiment; the channel now focuses on experiments and physics explanations about belaying, ropes, carabiners and belay devices, with several recent episodes filmed in Mammut's lab. Limits: most experiments are his own design, not EN/UIAA standard tests. The channel hasn't covered rope soloing, so this guide doesn't cite it.
• EDELRID Knowledge Base: launched in 2025 by the product and education team at the German manufacturer EDELRID. Pull, drop and sharp-edge tests in their lab, with kN figures. Limits: a manufacturer channel, mostly showing its own products.
• TAKEMOVIE: a Japanese climbing and mountaineering channel covering big walls, portaledge camping and multipitch rope soloing at Mizugaki and Jōyama. Limits: the videos introduce routes and styles of climbing; they are not technique lessons.
• Avant Climbing Innovations: the channel of Brent Barghahn's gear company, which makes trad, multipitch and rope solo equipment. Limits: most of the gear shown is its own.

Update Log

• 2026-10-24: added three Japanese videos (Mizugaki, Shakujō-dake, Ogawayama) to "Rope solos on famous routes"; added a Korean Vergo lead-solo video at Bulamsan to the device section, and Trango Vergo's position to the gear table.
• 2026-10-24: added a "Rope solos on famous routes" section (two El Capitan routes, Zion, Red Rock and Kjerag in Norway), plus four technique videos in the fixed-rope, two-devices, device-choice and where-to-start sections.
• 2026-10-24: expanded the introductions to all five embedded videos with timestamps, skippable segments and limitations; added TAKEMOVIE's 2021 system explainer; embedded Avant's multipitch video in the multipitch section with a segment guide.

References

• Self-belaying is not authorized for GRIGRI, GRIGRI + and NEOX (Petzl)
• Self-belay: solo climbing with one or two fixed ropes (Petzl tech tip)
• Toprope Solo Techniques (American Alpine Institute, 2025-11)
• How to Fix and Follow Climb (Josh Wharton, Climbing, updated 2026-03)
• Top Rope Solo guide (HowNOT2)
• Shunt accidents while toprope soloing (Climbing, 2022-01)
• How To: Lead Rope Solo (Brent Barghahn, bergundsteigen #134, 2026-04)
• Rope Soloing 101 Part 1 (Andy Kirkpatrick)
• Rope Soloing 101 Part 2 (Andy Kirkpatrick)
• Rope Soloing 101 Part 3 (Andy Kirkpatrick)
• A New Rope Solo Device Replaces the Legendary Silent Partner (Climbing, 2026-07)
• Roc Solo (Roc Amadeus)
• El Mudo (Stonecrag)
• SULU GO (AlternativeCurrent)
• SPOC instructions (Edelrid)
• Lift and rope-clamp instructions (CAMP, manualzz copy)
• Silent Partner User's Manual (Wren Industries, manualzilla copy)
• Impact of dynamic loads on self-locking pulleys (Edelrid Knowledge Base)
• Lift datasheet (CAMP)
• RollNLock (Climbing Technology)
• The Prescription—Top-Rope Solo (American Alpine Club, 2025-02)
• Fall On Rock, Bolt Failure – Rope Soloing (Accidents in North American Climbing, 2016)
• Ground Fall – Inadequate Protection (Accidents in North American Climbing, 2020)
• Fall on Rock, Inadequate Protection, Misuse of Equipment (Grigri), No Hard Hat — Half Dome (Accidents in North American Climbing, 2006)
• Roped-Soloing Fall – Protection Pulled Out (Accidents in North American Climbing, 2018)
• Protection Pulled Out, Inadequate Self-Belay (Slack in Rope) (Accidents in North American Climbing, 1993)
• Fall on Rock—Roped Soloing, Inadequate Protection — Manure Pile Buttress (Accidents in North American Climbing, 2022)
• 伊豆・城山のマルチピッチクライミングルート『スター☆トレック 』 (TAKEMOVIE, 2026-03, in Japanese)
• ロープソロ技術を考える -Rope Solo System- ②「実践編」 (TAKEMOVIE, 2021-01, in Japanese)
• How do you climb by yourself... SAFELY??? (HowNOT2, 2024-07)
• Send without friends: Lead Rope Solo (HowNOT2, 2024-07)
• Lead Rope Solo from a manufacturer's point of view (EDELRID Knowledge Base, 2025-03)
• My first Lead Rope Solo multi pitch - Molladalen Series (Øystein Dahl, 2025-04)
• Multipitch Climbing Without a Partner (Avant Climbing Innovations, 2026-06)
• Climbing EL CAPITAN ALONE in under 24 hours (The Gravity Lab - Brant Hysell, 2024-07)
• 世界一有名な巨岩『エルキャピタン』に一人で登りたい男の挑戦 _Lurking Fear (TAKEMOVIE, 2024-05, in Japanese)
• Spaceshot Rope Solo P 1-4 | Zion (Daniel Bell, 2026-06)
• Solo Climbing the Tallest Mountain in Red Rocks NV (Eli Catanz, 2026-02)
• Soloing the North Wall of Kjerag in under 24hrs (Wide Boyz, 2026-08)
• How I Top Rope Solo - a fairly complete guide (Tom O'Halloran, 2025-12)
• Petzl’s New Top Rope Solo Method | Sketchy? (Yann Camus, 2026-03)
• Roc Solo vs Silent Partner - I Was NOT Expecting This! (Yann Camus, 2026-09)
• Mock Lead Rope Solo at Home // How the System Works (Nitant, 2026-05)
• 【瑞牆山マルチ】調和の幻想 ソロクライミング (Carving My Way, 2024-06, in Japanese)
• 左方カンテ | 7Pまで | 錫杖岳 | ソロ (Carving My Way, 2026-06, in Japanese)
• 烏帽子岩左稜線 ソロクライミング 【全18ピッチ完登】 (Carving My Way, 2024-04, in Japanese)
• 나홀로 암벽등반 시스템: 로프 솔로 리드 클라이밍, Vergo와 함께 (K Climbing Company, 2024-04, in Korean)
• VERGO instructions (Trango, PDF)
• LOV3 product page (TAZ)
• LOV3 instructions (TAZ, PDF)
• Free Solo and Rope Solo
• How to Use Aid Climbing Gear
• Setting Up a Top-Rope Anchor
• Bolts Fail: How to Judge Whether an Outdoor Bolt Can Be Trusted