Petzl Tibloc

A beautifully simplified piece of gear to use for ascension and hauling systems. In addition to the Micro Traxion this device always lives on my harness when venturing into glaciated terrain. Just a heads up though, unlike a Prussik or other type of friction hitch, this device may scuff up the rope with its teeth if used frequently, just something for the user to keep in mind.

Purists might scoffingly assert that any mechanical advantage raising/hauling system should be built exclusively from biners and prusik cord. But the Petzl Tibloc is so trivially small and so trivially light yet so incredibly useful for building such systems (especially for crevasse rescue) that it rates Five Stars for sure.

The picture shows one caution and one tip:
- As also illustrated in the user manual, be sure to clip through the body of the Tibloc and hence also through the rope, not just through the hanger extension.
- If you tie a little loop with some thin accessory cord, then you can attach a stuff sack weighted with snow so as to drop(/lower/slide) the loop of a 6:1 Canadian Droop Loop down along the travel rope to a victim in a crevasse fall when you're unable to toss the loop down to the victim to clip in, thereby pulling up the victim sort of indirectly by hauling up the original travel rope, i.e., rather than hauling up on the victim's harness. (This will lose the advantage of hauling out the victim on a strand that hasn't already been sawing into the edge of the crevasse, but it's still a potentially helpful trick.)

Speaking of cautions, for use instead as an ascender, remember that many rope owners (perhaps yourself!) will freak out over the prospect of damaging the sheath by ascending on a Tibloc with all its menacing-looking teeth.