The Soloist is designed to belay a climber while solo climbing. A directional cam allows rope to feed through automatically as the climber advances, yet locks solidly in a fall, without rope damage. The Soloist is suitable for lead climbing or top roping and you can also rappel with it. The Soloist comes with a detailed instruction manual which must be read and understood before using the device.- This is not a device for novice climbers.
- It requires a strong understanding of advanced rigging techniques.
- The Soloist must be used with a chest harness because it will not lock when inverted, i.e. it will not reliably catch a head-first fall. This means that certain moves, such as heel hooks, should not be attempted if there is any chance of the hands blowing.
Online Resources:Similiar Products: Wren Industries Silent Partner, Wren Industries Solo Aid |
Reviews
| Bill Ott | Untitled Review | | 
Voted 3/5 | Used the Soloist on top-rope only. It was very useful, in fact my first successful 5.10a climb was while using this handy tool. Never thought to use it for rappeling. It would be nice to hear from anyone who has used it as a rappel device. | | Posted Jun 26, 2002 1:42 pm |
| smithkennedy | Untitled Review | | Voted 4/5 | I have used it for toproping, rapelling, and leading. It works pretty well, but long pitches will make the rope really whiz through the thing, which will mean you have a lot of slack out, so you need to keep an eye on it a bit. I found this out on a multipitch climb.
I have even taken a whipper on it while sport climbing by myself. It worked just fine. It does have the problem that it doesn't hold you in an inverted fall, but if you put knots every 20-30' or so, this can limit the danger here, although can increase the annoyance factor a bit.
I once bumped into a person at the City of Rocks who had blown off reading the manual, and had been using it totally incorrectly. Read the manual!!! Use a chest harness!!! | | Posted Sep 29, 2002 7:30 pm |
| PHenry | Soloist on ice | | 
Voted 4/5 | I have recently started using a soloist for top roped ice climbing. It works as intended,
but is not fool-proof--see smithkennedy review. Read & follow the manual ! | | Posted Feb 7, 2008 11:46 pm |
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