Solo Aiding

I finally got my new toy from Tom Shore and had to go for a test run. It is the Solo Aid from Wren Industries. Since Bob moved to Vegas and Michael is usually in the Valley, I decided if I want to do some Aid lines, I will be doing them by my self. I went to the crack on Smooth Sole Slab knowing that it is an easy lead and just sucks up big hexes. There is even a nice horizontal crack at the bottom of the climb to fix the end of the rope for Solo Leads. However, never having used the Solo Aid before, I thought it would be best to have a fixed line from the top for the backup if something went wrong. I setup the fixed line and attached it to my GriGri. Everything else was setup as if I was leading for real. I took this picture about 1/2 up. Lots of gear involved + 2 ropes.

I had the GriGri attached to the static line fixed at the top of the climb. I fixed the dynamic line at the bottom of the route and ran that rope throug the Solo Aid which was attached to both my seat harness and my chest harness with some 8 mm rope. I also tied Figure 8s on a bite about every 20 feet in the lead line and clipped those to a locking D on my harness. Sure, I am over paranoid about backing myself up, but why not if you can. I do plan to lose the fixed static line in the future though. All this mess with the addition of a lead rack, the aiders, and the adjustable daisies, there is a lot of stuff going on.

My only mistake was the way the Solo Aid was facing. It worked fine but I think it works better if you have it reversed from the picture above so the cam lever is facing out.

The Solo Aid handled great. I even lowered myself onto it in a psuedo-fall to make sure it would cam. The device does require you to use one hand to feed the rope but I didn't find this annoying at all. The rope moves really easily when you move the cam lever and locks when you let go.

After a short time, I as at the top of this 35-40 foot climb.

I rapped down and then followed the pitch to clean it.