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The scenario


What do we do?

Also covers: "How to abseil without a descender device?"

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related:… – Ben Crowell Mar 23 '14 at 21:22
up vote 21 down vote accepted


enter image description here


It works like a belay plate (but in reverse) so if you hold your hand close to your leg it will release. Moving it forward locks the slip knot. You can use a munter with two ropes (or one rope in half) or a single rope.

Here's a video describing the whole process in detail.

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diagrams showing how to construct a carabiner brake











Further information

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@Steed: Note that with this device you brake by lifting your hand up I don't think this is right. See this article: Also, biners C and D both have their gates facing away from you, so if you were to lift the rope, it seems to me that it could risk opening the gates. The braking position is also shown on this video at around 8:15 . – Ben Crowell Mar 23 '14 at 15:57








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Climbing Magazine has an article about this situation. The basic game plan is to build an improvised tube device with four carabiners. The picture from the article is pretty clear:

carabiner rappel device

You can also do a carabiner wrap. It really is as simple as it seems you just wrap the rope around the spine of a carabiner until you get the friction you need/want. This will twist your rope though which is something you wanted to avoid.

carabiner wrap

Of course there are those that want to complicate things and make them fancier...

three biner wrap

With the three carabiner wrap you might be able to decrease friction as you go down the rope like a rack device. I've never used this technique so I can't say for sure.

Of course depending on the angle of the rock or your level of daring you can do it with the rope alone as has been discussed here.

Dulfersitz method

natural/south african method

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Re second-to-last: "free rappelling" this way is historically one of the more dangerous climbing activities. With most of the others, even if you let go entirely there's some braking, and it's relatively easy to regain control should that happen. With a simple rope wrap, especially a single rope, you can lose all protection quite suddenly. Unless you're a military type and are under fire, so clipping in/out could cost you or a buddy your lives, Not Recommended. – keshlam Mar 3 at 0:02
I presume I don't have to remind everyone that leather gloves are essential, but I'll do so anyway. Rope-burned hands make lousy brakes. – keshlam Mar 3 at 0:03
@keshlam agreed. Gloves that can't be melted from the rope's friction are always a good idea. Also it is always a good idea to have as many safe guards as possible and a large margin for error. Like you pointed out free rappelling has a virtually no margin for error and basically no safe guards. – Erik Mar 3 at 0:14

Carabiner Braking Device

You can make a braking device using only carabiners, which is how things were done before tubular devices, or braking plates:

enter image description here Source: Freedom of the Hills

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Isn't this just a shorter duplicate of my answer? – Ben Crowell Mar 3 at 15:47
@BenCrowell - Well... If I had known this question existed I would've marked the other one as a duplicate. I never posted my answer on this question, I posted it here:… – ShemSeger Mar 3 at 22:03
I'm guessing these questions have been merged. – Liam Apr 20 at 7:28

If you have an ice axe, you can make a setup similar to the standard "carabiner braking device" - use the ice-axe instead of the additional carabiner.

With this setup, you can get away with using just one carabiner. Also, (not directly related to the question) it helps if you cannot use your braking device because your rope got soaked with water and froze.

A disadvantage of this system is, it's less safe - the ice-axe may slip off because it's not secured in any way - so you should constantly check that it's not sliding out.

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Curiouser and curiouser! /Alice in Wonderland/




So you can use this instead of a figure eight.


  • It doesn't need extra carabiners
  • It doesn't twist rope that much





PPPS. Yes, this was used in practice.


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