The Prusik in climbing

By Dick Dorworth

The Prusik is a loop of perlon cord or webbing that is wrapped around a climbing rope in a “lark’s foot” and then fed through its own loop two or three times. Three is best. The Prusik must be of a smaller-diameter material than the climbing rope. When weighted, it will bind and stop anyone attached to it from going anywhere until it is loosened. For this reason, it is imperative that the climber always keeps the Prusik attached closer than arm’s length to the harness. (I attach mine above the rappel device and to the front of the harness, but there are other methods.) Having a locked Prusik higher than you can reach on a rappel can be a real nuisance. But there are those unexpected times in climbing when not going anywhere, especially down according to the law of gravity or, for the more sophisticated scientific minded, Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity (neither of which will register in the mind or nervous system of a falling climber), is just what the climber wants.

In nearly 40 years of climbing, the Prusik has never saved my life. With luck and attention to the details of climbing, I hope to keep it that way. Like a seat belt or an air bag in a car, the Prusik as a life-saver is a back-up system best left untested, a premise that grew out of a time in American climbing when protection was such that practitioners took seriously the admonition, “don’t test the system.” And, like a seat belt or air bag, the Prusik only has to save your life or keep you from a serious injury once to pay its lifetime’s way as an invaluable piece of gear on your harness. I never put on my climbing harness without a Prusik on it. I have at least one good friend, Peter Lev, who is alive today only because he was using a Prusik when he needed it coming off Dhaulaghiri in a storm when an iced fixed rope came undone from its bottom anchor and only his Prusik kept him from going off the end of the rope. I know some other dead and injured climbers who would have avoided their mishaps had they been using a Prusik.

Many times during those years, the Prusik has been a utilitarian treasure on the crags, perhaps, but not for sure even a life saver. There are many useful object lesson stories about climbers using and not using the Prusik, but the point for climbing gear heads is that the Prusik is versatile, light, functional, easy to use, cheap and invaluable in the moment and circumstance it is needed. Properly used, it will keep a climber from rappelling off the end of the rope, stop him or her immediately if the rappel fails — the climber goes unconscious from a bonk or a rock on the head, fatigue, excitement or spaciness; the rappel device fails or is improperly attached, set up or used; the rappel rope is icy, wet or otherwise not providing enough friction for control.

When ascending fixed lines, placing a Prusik between the two ascenders is a good practice, as, of course, is making sure the climber is attached to both ascenders. A couple of years ago, as reported in “Accidents in North American Mountaineering,” a veteran Yosemite climber fell out of his aid slings and lost his grip on his ascenders while jugging fixed ropes on El Capitan. He was not tied into his aiders, his ascenders or the fixed rope and would have fallen to his death if he had not inadvertently and with a fool’s luck become tangled in the fixed line on the way down. After a complicated rescue, it was discovered that the fallen climber was not seriously injured, was surly, bel- ligerent and ungrateful to his rescuers and, it was later determined, had been partying all night and had launched himself in the early morning hours upon the beautiful granite of El Cap while still thoroughly in the bag. A Prusik (or 8 hours of sleep, clipping into his ascenders, better judgment and/or more respect) might have saved this cavalier climber, to say nothing of his rescuers, a lot of trouble.

In a pinch (admittedly a tight one), a Prusik can be used as a self-belay device either on a fixed rope or even if you had to climb and belay yourself out of one of those places you’d rather not be but which do exist and every climber finds from time to time. With two Prusiks and a few slings, one can ascend any fixed rope, and before the development of ascenders, that is how fixed ropes were climbed. It is also a handy device for hauling.

The Prusik I use is made of three-and-a-half to four feet of 6- to-8 mm perlon cord with the ends tied together with a water knot. It is the least expensive, lightest, easiest to use (it can be put on with one hand) and, on those occasions when you need it, most valuable piece of gear a climber carries.

Prusik is sometimes spelled Prussick, Prussic or Prussik, but since it was invented by Austrian mountaineer Dr. Karl Prusik and first featured in a 1931 Austrian climbing manual with that spelling, I prefer Prusik.



Contributing editor Dick Dorworth spends his summers climbing and his winters in Ketchum, where he skis six times a week.