Vertical caving terminology and methods > SRT basic terms
Descending a rope while connected to it using ascenders. Generally very slow and clumsy, requiring manually disengaging each ascender in turn, done with most ascenders by pushing their cam downwards with a finger, and moving the ascender downwards. With lever cam ascenders, it is done by pulling upwards on the lever, rather than pushing down the cam. This might be done if there is a weight on the rope below, where a descender will not work, or if the distance is only short, and you have just ascended a little bit too far, and do not want to do a mid-rope changeover. Reverse prusiking needs to be done very carefully to avoid snagging the rope with the toothed cam of the ascender, and failure to get this right can damage the sheath of the rope. It is normally much easier with a lever cam ascender, as these do not normally have teeth on the cam, and are less likely to damage the rope.
<< Prusiking (pronounced "PRUH-sik-king", rather than the more correct "PROO-zik-king"), ascending, jumaring, agripping, gérarding (sometimes "climbing" in USA) | Tandem prusiking >>
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