Learn How to Rig a Carabiner Brake for Rappelling

You're out climbing in Yosemite Valley and five pitches up your latest route you take your belay and rappel device off your harness to pull the rope out after belaying your buddy up the last pitch. Before you know it, it's slipped from your hand and you see the device bouncing down the wall below...ping, ping, ping and it's off into the forest at the base.

Do you know how to rappel off a climb if you accidently drop, lose, or forget your rappel device? There are a few ways to get down, including the Dulfursitz or body rappel, the Münter hitch, and the carabiner brake. Of the three, the carabiner brake method is the best and safest method.

Back when I started rock climbing in the late 1960s, the carabiner brake method was what almost everyone used to rappel. Few rappel devices, besides the figure-8 descender, were available then. The carabiner brake is fairly simple to rig and you only use carabiners, which you always carry with you when climbing.

Check out a couple new articles I posted this week on About.com about rappelling with a carabiner brake. The Carabiner Brake Method explains what a carabiner brake is and why it's the best way to rappel if you lose your rappel device. Next read How to Rig a Carabiner Brake and learn how to make a carabiner brake with six carabiners. Then get out on your local cliff and practice so next time you lose your rap device, you can safely rappel down.

Photograph above: Know how to rig a carabiner brake and you'll safely rappel off all your climbs. Photograph © Stewart M. Green.