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For
more information |
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Wren
Industries
714-B
Scarlet Drive
Grand Junction, Colorado 81505 USA
970.254.8961
Phone
970.254.8962
Fax
Email |
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Wren
Industries: Silent
Partner |
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Roped solo climbing is a form of
advanced technical climbing and should only be done by
very experienced climbers. Roped soloing has
been described as, "Twice as dangerous, three times
the work and four times more scary than climbing with a
partner." We're not talking about fixing a
line from above and clipping knots once in a
while. We're discussing roped solo climbing while
out on the sharp-end, either free-climbing and/or
aid-climbing. Climber Online is not advocating or
teaching roped solo climbing. We, at COL, are
simply giving a review of one commercially available
mechanical tool which is targeted towards
soloists. It is up to the individual to research
various roped soloing techniques, procedures and the
inherent dangers associated with each method. |
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| Roped solo climbing has been around for a
very long time. Articles discussing roped soloing
systems appeared in Summit Magazine and other
publications during the early 1970's. Since then,
numerous roped soloing systems have been developed,
tested (intentionally or unintentionally) and
modified. Some of the results were better than
others. Some of the results were
catastrophic. The one caveat the roped soloist
must always adhere to is: Always have a backup to
the primary self-belay system. If your primary
system fails for whatever reason, your backup system
should keep you from hitting the ground or a
ledge. It's really no different than a skydiver
having a backup parachute. |
| The Silent Partner by Wren Industries grew
out of an idea by Mark Blanchard. He rope soloed
many El Capitan routes using the clove-hitch
technique. This technique is very secure when
aid-climbing but is difficult to use when faced with
sections of free climbing where the two-handed rope feed
of the clove-hitch is inappropriate, difficult or
dangerous. Mark had the idea of a running
clove-hitch that would lock-up in the event of a fall,
but feed smoothly while moving at a moderate pace (i.e.
free climbing). His first prototypes were empty
wine bottles on wooden sticks! After a development
period, he patented the Silent Partner and began
manufacturing the device. Liability concerns
forced him to license the manufacturing of the Silent
Partner to Wren Industries Limited (originally Rock
Exotica). |
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| For a very detailed, online
instruction/users manual and description, please
reference - Silent
Partner Manual. You will need Acrobat Reader
to read, view or print the manual. You can get it
free from Adobe
Systems. COL strongly recommends any
interested user to study this manual prior to purchasing
or using the Silent Partner. The Silent Partner
was reviewed by one of the big climbing magazines.
It had a picture of the device with a rope threaded
through it UPSIDE DOWN! Pay attention to what you are
doing when using the Silent Partner. |
| The Climber Online staff finally has
enough experience (lead falls while free and aid
climbing) with using the Silent Partner that we feel
comfortable writing this review. The first bomb
that we are going to drop is the price, $225.00 as of
the date of this article. We've seen it listed for
more. Now that the retail price sent 75% or our
readers to the showers we'll drop the second bomb:
It top-rope solos like crap. We were never able to
get the right feed through the device regardless of how
much or how little weight we added to the bottom of the
fixed line. It consistently hung-up in the midst
of difficult free moves and was a pain to free it up
with one hand. Now that we're down to 10%
readership we'll give you the upside. And there is
a ton of good news on this device. |
| When free climbing with the Silent
Partner (SP), we found that it fed beautifully and there
was hardly a noticeable difference between using a
regular belayer when on relatively steep terrain.
On lower angled rock, the trailing lead line (not to the
anchor) sometimes hung-up on protrusions and caused the
clove-hitch to tighten. This would lead to stiff
feeding and would require manual loosening of the
running knot. The way around this would be to
stack the free (trailing) lead line in a pack and have
it feed over your shoulder. Every now and then,
the weight of the rope leading to the anchor would begin
to pull the free side through the SP. The simple
solution is to tie off once in a while to a bomber piece
of gear or two. A nice feature of the SP is that
it does not require a chest harness. You can
rappel with this device, but we found it only useful for
short rappels. Use your favorite rappel device for
full length raps. |
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Detail
of the Silent Partner (open)
with the running clove-hitch. |
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The Silent Partner catches falls
wonderfully. Jumping off a climb, even with backup
knots is unnerving. Our first, intentional tests
resulted in some minor rope burns to the hands.
The natural reaction is to grab the rope. DO NOT
DO THIS WHILE USING THE SILENT PARTNER. The
clove-hitch never fully tightened because the device
never reached lock-up velocity and our testers stopped
at the backup knots. |
| After a couple of rope burned
hands, the SP worked great. The falls that occurred
unexpectedly while climbing were caught very smoothly
and just as quickly as with a regular belayer. The
softness of the stop was highlighted when one of our
testers was aid climbing. While standing on a 0 RP
and above another 0 RP, the one he was standing on
broke. The first 0 RP held the fall without a
Yates Scream Aid! This is a nice feature while
climbing above dicey protection. |
| In one case, an expected
short fall turned into a longer fall when the Silent
Partner ran through an extra six feet because a wired
nut on the rack somehow got caught up in the running
clove-hitch. Not only did the fall go further than
expected, the rope sheath was frayed for approximately
four feet. The device stopped the fall before the
backup knot and the rope did not get a core shot.
As a safety note, make sure you keep the rack away from
the SP at all times. |
| If you need to lock up the
device to rest on steep rock, it is a little
tough. Bring a fifi-hook and/or prussiks/ascenders
to rest. |
Here are some of the technical details:
| Product |
Weight |
Height |
Width |
Depth |
Chest
Harness Required? |
| Silent
Partner |
1
pound |
6.6
inches |
2.8
inches |
2.7
inches |
NO |
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| Conclusions:
The size of the Silent Partner can be considered a
plus or a minus, depending on your point of view.
It's larger and heavier than any other mechanical rope
soloing device on the market but we're talking about 8
ounces difference or less. The bulk of the SP
actually gave us a sense of security. You may see
this differently. The size makes it easier to
wrestle out a rare snag in the system with one hand
rather than dealing with a similar situation using the
regular clove-hitch method or Solo-Aid (also by Wren
Industries). The SP does not pinch the rope like other
mechanical roped soloing devices (i.e. Solo-Aid) and is
therefore much more 'rope friendly'. The Silent
Partner, generally, feeds as well as having a regular
belayer while lead climbing. Use another method
for top rope soloing. The price ($225) is steep,
but what quality pieces of climbing gear are
inexpensive? For those with the want and need,
price should not be an issue. The fact that you do
not need a chest harness helps simplify the whole
system. Falls are stopped very softly with low
impact forces compared to the mechanical devices or knot
tying methods. Taking tension is difficult on the
lead rope. Tie a fifi-hook to your harness or use
prussiks to hold yourself. Rappelling is doable,
but not the best application of the Silent
Partner. Use your regular rappel device.
Overall, Climber Online rates the Silent Partner a strong
BUY for those who would make use of this advanced
device. Climb safe and always backup the Silent
Partner as you would with any other method of roped
soloing.
Where to get it: Go directly to Wren
Industries or to your local climbing shop. |
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