Tyrolean traverses

So why would you want to set one up? Well the most obvious reason and by far the most practical use is as a washing line in a campsite, I jest not. There’s two other reasons. Firstly, you might be climbing some sea stack and once you’ve finished your climb you don’t want to ab down and then prussic back up the other side. Secondly, entertainment, lets face it a Tyrolean looks spectacular. A final reason might be that you’re in a campsite 800 miles from home, its ****ing down with rain and you’ve got nothing better to do.

So, what about the practicalities?

If you want to set up a Tyrolean that can actually support body weight then you’ll need more kit and more sophistication. A jumar/ropeman will most definitely not do, the teeth on them will simply cut through and strip the sheath off the rope. A question arises as to what sort of rope you need. Contrary to popular opinion a dynamic climbing rope will be fine as the stretch reduces the load on the anchors, however, for a zip line or for setting up camp site, a static rope is better.

I’ll now describe how to set up a mountaineering Tyrolean as this is simpler than the amusement park variety. Once you’ve got this sorted then adding the various frills is easy. The first thing to do when setting up a Tyrolean is to anchor the one end of the rope to a bloody great big bomber anchor. You then ab down on this and traverse across to your route. You then climb up as normal, however the second should be attached to the rope you want for the Tyrolean (the you just abbed down) as well as the normal climbing rope(s). When you both get to the top you will find you have a rope draped across the chasm. Now you need to find an equally good bomber anchor before fixing the (Tyrolean) rope to it and tensioning. To tension the rope. Rather than just haul on the rope you set up a 3:1 hoist to make things a little easier.  Fix a pulley to the rope using either a prussic (standard prussic or a Kleimheist, but not a French prussic) or an alpine butterfly.

3:1 hoist with Alpine butterfly fixing the pulley to the rope.  T

Now run the rope through the anchor, back to the pulley, through the pulley and back to the anchor again. This creates a 3:1 hoist. Fix the rope to the anchor with a friction hitch.

3:1 hoist with prussic fixing the pulley to the rope (more versatile  when it comes to adjusting lengths of rope but not as strong)

Tension the rope by hauling on it and then tie off the friction hitch. Tying off the friction hitch is easier if you don’t have to maintain tension on it. To do this simply grab the three strands of rope in one hand, this will stop it untensioning, then tie off the friction hitch.

This will hold the rope under load whilst you tie off the friction hitch

The tension doesn’t have to be that great, remember the page about angles and infinite loads.

Tensioned Tyrolean with tied off friction hitch

The first climber now suspends him(her)self and ties one of the lead climbing ropes into his harness so he can drag it behind him and also be belayed by the 2nd whilst on the traverse. A chest harness is handy and two jumars/ropemen are essential kit. Suspension by a pulley rather than a karabiner also makes life easier. Off the first climber goes on the easy bit, down into the sag in the rope. The uphill part is somewhat harder, that’s what the jumars are for. There’s no way you’re going to pull yourself along on your hands, so you use the jumars/ropemen (and you will need two) to haul yourself up the rope. The 1st climber is now safely back and there are now two ropes across the chasm, the 1st tyrollean rope and the lead climbing rope.  The 2nd guy now releases the tension in the Tyrolean rope and ties the ends of the two ropes together and clips these into an old karabiner fixed to the anchor (or wraps them around a tree if you’re lucky enough to have a tree on the pinnacle). The 1st climber now pulls the lead climbing rope tight, sets up a 3:1 tensions the rope and ties it off. There’s now two ropes across the gap but crucially, neither rope is tied to the pinnacle. The 2nd guy can now cross the Tyrolean. Again, jumars are needed to get up the uphill bit and a chest harness is handy. Once safely across, the anchor is released and the ropes can be pulled back just like a normal abseil. Hopefully all you’ve left behind is a karabiner and some tat. Note that unlike a normal abseil you can’t simply thread the rope through the tat and avoid leaving a krab as heat will be generated in the tat when you tension the rope.

The kit list for the Tyrolean is:

1 extra rope

2 pulleys (more is better but you can get away with none, the pulleys reduce friction)

4 ropemen/jumars (prussics can be used instead)

6 karabiners (preferably screw gates), one of which will be left behind

abseil tat

If you’re climbing multi pitch then you should have this kit any way.

If you want to set up an entertainment type Tyrolean, Petzl’s diagram shows how to set one up with a safety rope and a haul rope. Static ropes are better for this sort of shenanigans.

A full on “amusement park” Tyrolean with main rope, safety rope and haul rope. Note that Petzl have used ascenders to fix pulleys to the ropes. I wouldn’t recommend this as the teeth can strip the sheath, use Alpine butterflies or a prussic. Remember that Petzl are in the business of selling kit, you’ll need a mortgage to buy this lot! Their tensioning system is different as they’ve used a 6:1 hoist and a “stop” rather than a friction hitch.

When setting up a Tyrolean in a campsite, choose for yourself which elements you want to incorporate (safety ropes, haul ropes etc.). Static ropes are better than dynamic ropes as good anchors are easier to find (trees) and generally you won’t be high up so low stretch is important.

Belgian Tim on a Tyrolean in a campsite in Switzerland. Main rope, safety rope and haul rope in use.

Disclaimer

It goes without saying that I am totally unqualified and incompetent and nobody in their right mind would take instructions from me for setting up anything so dangerous. That said, if its chucking down with rain, set up a Tyrolean in the campsite so that you can learn for yourself in a safe environment. Or just stick to the washing lines.