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Aiding Inquisition at Araps 28-Jun-2008 At 5:26:39 PM sliamese

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forget about fifi hook, adjustable daisies are the go! as soon as it gets steep it can be quite hard to get fifi hooks in the appropriate bit of the daisy/biner. they are cheaper than adjustables but you wont regret spending the extra cash!! heres a basic rundown of how ive been solo-aiding;
when your moving up the way its best if you have 4 aiders, makes tricky sections much much easier. i have two 'sets' of aiders, so that theres always two free for the next piece. i have one biner on each aider, one aider becomes the 'high' aider. in the high aider i clip the other aider and my daisy. the biner on the high aider becomes the main biner of that set, being used to clip to the next piece and also back to the chest harness while i use my other pair. this means theres always a pair ready to just grab and chuck on a piece so you can test and stand on it. in terms of belaying i just use a gri-gri. i dont modify mine because theres no need, my friend Nick also just uses this system. i tie one end in as usual and thread the device. i coil all the rope over a metolius rope hook at the belay, making sure the other end is on the bottom and the coils get shorter and shorter so they dont snag on each other. i then set off with the tail in just dangling back to the coil. once im 8m out or so there will be a bit of wait, enough to stop the rope feeding easily. i then just pull up a bunch of slack and tie an overhand in it so i can clip it to myself. this allows the rope to feed easily. also if you have a rope bag you can put on your back, it would be great!! this system allows rope to feed easily enough, and means you dont have to have a chest harness on, because they just suck!! the other key piece of advice is just go out and do it!! talk to others that can suggest good progressions for you. the best way to learn i found was to read as much as i could about it then go out and try different things. it results in a lot of clusterf---s but you'll sort it out!! i just got back from yosemite, having soloed Zodiac and Mescalito on el cap, its the most rewarding thing ever, can highly reccomend it! also being prepared to suffer like a starving third world dog helps!!