Vertical caving terminology and methods > SRT basic terms
Methods of abseiling that do not use a descender. Instead, the rope is wrapped arount the body in such a way that the body creates enough friction. All of them can leave scars from rope burns. Most of them do not provide a convenient way to rest. All methods are far less safe than using dedicated equipment, and cannot cope with rebelays or deviations.
With the classic abseil (formerly known as the "hot seat"), the rope passes between the legs, under one thigh, over the hip on that side, crossing the chest over to the opposite shoulder, then behind the shoulders, and down the back of the arm, where it is held in the hand. The friction can generate a lot of heat, particularly between the legs, which should not be underestimated when training without wearing an oversuit. Perhaps useful if you like roasted peanuts. This method is sometimes called the Dülfersitz, but this is not actually the method that Hans Dülfer invented. With the shoulder abseil, the rope is held in one hand, passes around the back of both shoulders, then wraps around the other arm if needed to add more friction, and is then held in that hand. The rope may be wrapped around neither or both arms depending on how much friction is needed. They are generally used only on very short, sloping climbs, with the classic abseil being suited to steeper slopes than the shoulder abseil. The classic abseil has traditionally been used for free-hangs. However, in almost all cases, these methods should be avoided, and dedicated equipment should be used instead.
Several other body abseil methods were previously in use, but are generally not used any more, often because they are too prone to failure, or cause too much discomfort or serious rope burns. The vast majority need a natural fibre hawser laid rope to generate enough friction, preferably a fairly thick rope or a doubled rope. The gym abseil has the rope held in the hands, then wrapped behind one leg (starting on the outside edge of the thigh), and around the foot, with the other foot trapping it (like the method used to climb a rope in gym classes). To avoid burns, the rope must not be slid through the hands, the hands must take turns to grip while the other is moved a short distance down the rope. This method is quite dangerous and has resulted in several mountaineering deaths, as the rope can slip out between the feet, and the hands then have to do all the work, rapidly resulting in severe burns. It is also painful on the calf that it wraps around. An even less reliable variation of this is to cross the feet over, with the rope running between the thighs, behind one calf, then pinch the rope in the gap between the feet. This method is more prone to the rope slipping out of position, resulting in a loss of grip, but is sometimes taught in gym classes, when using very thick ropes. It is not safe enough to use for abseiling.
The leg wrap has the rope passed between the legs and wrapped once around one thigh, back between the legs, under the same leg, and held in the hand on the same side. The other hand holds the up rope to add a little extra friction. This method squeezes one leg very painfully. The over the shoulder abseil or double leg wrap has the rope passed between the legs and wrapped once around one thigh, then passed beneath the other thigh, and running through a hand up over the opposite shoulder. The other hand holds the up rope. The two leg seat can only be used on a doubled rope. One strand passes beneath each thigh, starting from the outside, then both strands pass up between the legs in front of the up ropes (away from the body), wrap in a full circle around the up ropes, down over the hip on whichever side they started wrapping around the up ropes on, with one hand holding the up ropes and the other holding the down ropes. Essentially, this is an Italian hitch, using your body instead of a carabiner, and is one of the few body abseils to generate friction with something other than your body.
The shoulder wrap (one of the actual Dülfer techniques) passes the rope between the legs, up between the buttocks, up the back, over one shoulder, then held under the armpit of the same arm. The over-the-hip variation has it held in the hand instead of the armpit, crossing over to the other side of the body and lying over the hip on the opposite side from where it passes over the shoulder. The neck wrap (the other actual Dülfer technique) has the rope passing between the legs, over one hip so it returns to the front, crossing over the chest to the opposite shoulder, behind the neck to return to the front, then down under the armpit or into the hand on the same side where it passed over the hip. It is held in the hand only when trying to stop, but normally kept under the armpit to control motion. This method puts a great strain on the neck, and a thick collar is needed to avoid rope burns. If it came down the back of that arm instead of the front, it would have been a classic abseil. The French neck wrap passes the rope between the legs, around one buttock, under the armpit on that side so that it returns to the front, then around behind the neck to return to the front, then held under the armpit or in the hand of the second arm. The Dülfer-Kletterschluß variation is very similar, but the rope runs between the legs at the end, instead of being held by the side. The shoulder wrap, its over-the-hip variation and the neck wrap are not actually safe to use for abseiling, and can only be used on gentle slopes where the feet can make contact with the rock, in order to force the body upright. They were never intended to be used for abseiling, even though they ended up being used for it for many years.
The Dolomite abseil can only be used on a doubled rope. The two strands both run between the legs, then one strand passes beneath each thigh, back over the hips, crossing over the front of the chest to pass over the opposite shoulders, with one hand holding both strands behind the back, and the other hand holding both up rope strands in front of the chest. The Gènevoise method has the rope passing on the outside of the thigh, under the thigh, up between the legs, then over the top of the elbow on the same side, where it is pinched with the elbow. This method actively tries to tip you over, and it would have been better if it passed between the legs, under one thigh, then up over the top of the elbow on the same side. However, that is not how it was drawn or described, and it was described as not being very safe.
The early methods are not known, but presumably, the earliest involved simply holding on to the rope, and sliding down it, which would have been used by sailors, builders and well diggers for almost as long as ropes have existed. In 1479, Scottish prince Alexander Stewart and a servant slid down a rope made of bedsheets to escape from Edinburgh Castle. Sailors from the 1500s to the 1800s are often depicted as sliding their feet down a rope, while using their hands one at a time to grip the rope rather than slide down it, to avoid buring their hands, but it is not known when this practice actually started. Quick descent approaches where they would slide the rope through their hands and risk burns were known as "coming down by the run", but it was much more normal to use the hands one at a time, commonly known as hand over hand. In 1613, British playwrights Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher wrote in the fictional work Honest Man's Fortune that sailors would "come down by the rope", after climbing up. In 1556 (but researched from 1528-1550), the book De re metallica (on the nature of metals) listed how metal mining was carried out in the Holy Roman Empire (now Germany, Czech Republic, Austria and Italy) and Hungary (now Slovakia). It described and depicted how miners would sometimes slide down sloping mine shafts "sitting on leather, attached to their waists" at the back and held at the front in one hand, like children sledging in the snow. To control their speed, they would use a body abseil, running the rope under their armpit. This was not a true body abseil, since the majority of the friction came from the sledge, not the rope, and it would never have worked as an actual body abseil. In 1638, polymath Galileo Galilei described how another young Italian had descended a rope from a window, burning his hands, showing that he had slid down the rope using them. In 1669, British captain Samuel Sturmy and a miner named Dick are likely to have been the first to use any kind of body abseil technique in a cave, in Pen Park Hole, in Bristol. The method is not recorded, but it is likely to have been the one used by sailors. The advice not to slide down ropes using your hands was repeated in France by Gaspard II Grollier de Servière in 1719, and again in 1725 by German engineer Jacob Leupold. In roughly 1763, British navy lieutenant John Hariott "slipped down a rope" in Corsica, presumably using the hand over hand technique.
In 1778, a method to more safely descend a rope by sliding it only through the hands was described by Johann Georg Krünitz in Berlin, Prussia, Holy Roman Empire (now Germany). The suggestion was to cover the hands with gloves or a handkerchief, wetted if possible. A knotted handline was suggested as much better. A mountaineering method was also described, using a rope looped over something solid to add friction or a pulley, such as a hook in a house, sitting on a boatswain's chair made from a wooden stick serving as a sit harness tied to one end, and lowering yourself by holding the other end in your hands, reducing the effort needed by more than half. This is the earliest known mention of descending using doubled rope technique, but it is likely to be far older, possibly used by some sailors or well diggers during previous centuries. Several books about teaching gymnastics described using the less reliable method to trap the rope between the feet while descending with the hand over hand technique, in 1793 and in 1803, and then also with the gym abseil arrangement in 1826, in 1827, and in 1843. All except the first book stated that these techniques originated with sailors. The authors were from Germany, Britain and America, showing that this method is likely to have been used in many countries. French sailors were described as using an unknown approach to slide down a rope in 1797.
Since around 1850, mountaineers had descended ropes hand over hand (with the rope tied using a loop knot around an object such as a rock). Between 1860 and 1864, Algerian well diggers would manually descend and re-ascend ropes into a well. British mountaineer Edward Whymper used a fairly simplistic method of descending a rope during a solo attempt on the Matterhorn in Switzerland in 1862, which consisted of holding the rope with one hand held pointing up the slope, and the other hand loosely holding the rope in front of the body, while facing sideways across the slope, which is basically how a handline might be used (Scrambles Amongst the Alps, Edward Whymper, 1872, page 64). He does not say if he slid the rope through his hands, or used hand over hand. His major innovation was to have invented the modern pull-through. French mountaineer Jean-Estéril Charlet-Straton then used a technique inspired by Edward Whymper's, during an 1876 ascent of Petit Dru in the French Alps. He used a doubled rope (so that it could be pulled down afterwards by pulling on one end), with each end held by an assistant when it was repeated in 1879. Because he could not climb hand over hand using a doubled rope, his method was simply to walk or slide backwards down a very steep slope, with the ropes sliding through his hands which were held out in front of him pointing up the slope; something that could barely be called abseiling, and had no doubt been done countless times before by many people. Sailors and gymnasts had already learned that this approach rapidly leads to friction burns on your hands, and is something that should never be used, unless you are wearing thick gloves. All of the previously mentioned books written up to 83 years beforehand had already warned gymnasts against it, showing how many people must have tried it before Jean-Estéril Charlet-Straton. Johann Georg Krünitz had described the exact same technique as Jean-Estéril Charlet-Straton used, using gloves, 98 years beforehand. Even Galileo Galilei had described the dangers of that approach in 1638, 238 years beforehand. So despite popular opinion, Jean-Estéril Charlet-Straton did not invent abseiling. He did something that was not really any more than using a handline in a way that many people had done before him, and realised was a bad idea. (He also did not invent the idea of retrieving the rope, since Edward Whymper had already done that too.)
By 1897, the gym abseil method was used by mountaineers in Germany, optionally wrapping the rope around an arm for extra friction. Originally, it was just called the Kletterschluss, German for "climbing finish", a word that was then used for all rope climbing techniques and body abseil arrangements, and also for belay devices that could be used to make abseiling safer. It later became known as the "Turner-Kletterscluss", meaning "gymnast climbing finish", to differentiate it from the others. If more friction was needed, an unnamed variation described in 1897 by editor Heinrich Hess was to wrap the rope several times around the thigh with the knee held up in front, while sliding the up rope through the hands, and having the down rope go back up through both hands after wrapping around the thigh. He did not suggest whether the rope should start between the thighs, or on the outside of the thigh, but it tries to tip you upside down when it starts on the outside of the thigh, so it would have to be between the thighs. He also suggested wrapping an arm for more friction with the gym abseil variation in the same year. The gym abseil method was recommended in a booklet called Anwendung des Seiles, published by the Bavarian section of the German Alpine Club in München in 1907. It came with the advice to use a lifeline in the top rope arrangement, because of how dangerous it is. This advice persisted in subsequent editions, for all forms of body abseil, until the user of descenders took over, because even the most trustworthy body abseil is still a very risky approach. In 1908, a mountaineer identified as Gsell announced a new abseiling technique in a German newsletter. The technique was probably developed in 1907, and is likely to have been the over the shoulder abseil. The leg wrap was described by German mountaineer G. Hick in 1909, which was very similar to the high friction approach suggested by Heinrich Hess, with the main difference being that the rope was wrapped fewer times around the leg, and the down rope was held to the side, instead of next to the up rope. By 1910, the leg wrap and over the shoulder abseil were appearing together in German and French climbing magazines (such as the 1910 edition of Anwendung des Seiles) in preference to the gym abseil, due to the number of times that mountaineers had died after losing their grip or burning their hands while using the gym abseil method. They were referred to as the "Einschenkelsitz" ("one leg seat") and "Zweischenkelsitz" ("two leg seat") respectively. German mountaineer Hans Dülfer invented the shoulder wrap, its over-the-hip variant and the neck wrap in 1911-1912, to be used for self belaying a traverse, not for abseiling. The down rope was never held in the hand, but the up rope might be held in neither hand, in one hand, or in both hands, depending on which hands were being used to hold the rock, and how steep the slope was. His death in 1915 prevented further development. In spite of him providing content for Anwendung des Seiles, his techniques did not appear in that publication during his lifetime, presumably because he still considered them to be in development.
The two leg seat was depicted in the 1913 edition of Anwendung des Seiles, without giving any details about who invented it, when, or what it was called, but including it under the "two leg seat" heading. In 1922 and 1926, Hans Dülfer's shoulder wrap (referred to as "Schulterumschlingung", a direct translation) was described clearly in Anwendung des Seiles as passing the rope up the back and over one shoulder, which would have run it rather painfully up between the buttocks, making this the earliest known description of the atomic wedgie. The sketch that accompanied the description clearly shows Hans Dülfer, with his distinctive hairstyle. A later painting which appears to be based on the sketches used in the booklet shows the rope running under his collar, and not up his back, and this mistake may have inspired the French neck wrap. The same publication also depicted the neck wrap, referred to as "Nackenumschlingung", a direct translation. At the time, it did not mention that this had been developed by Hans Dülfer, and said it could be used for abseiling, with both hands holding the up rope. The same publication had another sketch of it with the rope hanging down the back, instead of passing around the neck to the front. This seems to be a mistake, as it would not generate enough friction that way, and would probably result in a fall. The publication also stated that the gym abseil was considered very dangerous, and should not be used. In 1923, the Dolomite abseil was described by German mountaineer Verlag Bergland. It had been developed a few years beforehand, used by German mountaineers Georg Weißmann, S. Bergland and their clubs. Ernst Platz depicted the neck wrap being used for abseiling in 1924. To abseil, the climber was shown with their hands on the up rope, instead of holding the rock, or with one hand holding the up rope and one holding the down rope. The Dülfer-Kletterschluß variant was described in German handbook Die Gefahren Der Alpen by Zsigmondy/Paulcke in 1927, attributed to Hans Dülfer, but there is no evidence that he actually developed it.
Italian climber Tita Piaz is credited with adapting Hans Dülfer's technique into the classic abseil, which was better suited to abseiling than traversing. Exactly when this happened is not known, but he was photographed using it (upside down as a stunt) at some point, and the pictures appear to be from the late 1920s, based on their quality, his apparent age and the clothing he typically wore at that time. The modified technique did not appear in German climbing manuals even in 1942, in spite of Tita Piaz having close contact with them. By 1930, Anwendung des Seiles stated that the two leg seat was no longer considered safe. The neck wrap was referred to as the Dülfersitz, again depicted with the down rope being tucked under an armpit, and not held in a hand. While it is not actually known conclusively if he developed it, it seems likely that he did. The Dolomite abseil was referred to in that edition as the braces (suspenders) abseil, with both hands holding the up rope and nothing holding the down rope. Italian publication Lo Scarpone also attributed it to Hans Dülfer in 1931. The Dülfer-Kletterschluß is likely to be the second body abseil used in a cave in 1934, by French cavers Henri "Kiki" Brenot and Pierre Chevalier, in the Félix-Trombe cave system in the French Pyrenees.
In 1942, French mountaineer Roger Frison-Roche was photographed using the French neck wrap, which could have been a mistaken confusion between sketches of the shoulder wrap and the neck wrap, or could have been an intentional modification of the Dülfer-Kletterschluß arrangement, since it is basically the same thing, with the down rope on the wrong side of the leg. In that same year, Anwendung des Seiles finally started mentioning that descenders were more reliable than body abseiling, and encouraged their use instead, though it still suggested the neck wrap and Dolomite abseil. In 1943, some cavers in the Mendip region of Britain were using an unknown body abseiling technique, which sounds like the rope was simply wrapped once around the waist and held in one hand on either side, similar to a shoulder abseil, but held too low. It is very similar to (and almost certainly developed from) a body belay, and was used on the sloping piches found in Mendip. The French word "rappel" had originally meant to use (in any manner, not just abseiling) a doubled rope, which could then be pulled-through afterwards, or used as a pull-up cord. The word literally means to "recall" or retrieve the rope, and has nothing to do with sliding down it. Roger Frison-Roche was using a method that he named the "rappel" in 1944 (French caver Henry P. Guérin wrote about it using the same word in 1944), and attributed it to Jean-Estéril Charlet-Straton. The word rappel was misunderstood to mean sliding down a rope, and that mistake stuck, with the American military adopting it in that year, and several countries and languages now use it instead of abseil. However, the photograph from 1942 shows that Roger Frison-Roche was using a variation of Hans Dülfer's technique, not something used in France 68 years earlier. French cavers from the Grenoble region were using the Dülfer-Kletterschluß variation of this in 1944, as well as the Gènevoise method. This method was described in 1944 by Henry P. Guérin.
The classic abseil was already in use by the American military by 1944. Originally called the "body rappel", it was mistakenly called the Dülfersitz, and that name has stuck in some countries. In 1944, the American military used a much less reliable technique, simply passing the rope between the legs and then holding it by the hip with one hand, confusingly called the hasty rappel. They later replaced it with the shoulder abseil. In 1951, American cavers Bob Handley and other cavers from West Virginia, USA, used the classic abseil in caves. American caver William Franklin "Vertical Bill" Cuddington created leather rope guides for parts of the body to avoid rope burns in 1952. Shoulder abseil is used extensively in American military training (called the hasty rappel), and it may have originated there. A rather sloppy version of it was in use before 1969 (seen in "Equal to the Environment"), but without any name. The date of its development is not known, but it is an obvious progression from the approach used in Mendip.
This history section only covers body abseiling. This article also has a detailed history of many of the other devices and techniques that are used for vertical caving.
<< Abseiling (usually pronounced "AB-sale-ing" rather than the more correct "AB-sile-ing" or "AB-zile-ing"), descending, abbing ("rappelling" in USA), dropping (a pitch) | Fast rope >>
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