Rappelling is how you lower yourself from an anchor down to the ground on a rope. Usually the person going down is also the one controlling the gear, which means you get to decide how fast you drop. Rappelling shows up a lot in canyoneering and in outdoor climbing, and if you’re just getting into rappelling for beginners, it’s worth knowing that the setup climbers use is often a little different from the one a canyoneer uses. This guide walks you through the gear, the anchor, the safety checks, and how to actually get down. One thing up front: use this to understand the pieces, but learn the hands-on skills from a qualified instructor or guide before you trust a rope with your life.
Types of Rappelling
The biggest difference between the types of rappelling comes down to why you’re rappelling in the first place. Rappelling so you can climb back up later is a different game than canyoneering, where you rappel just to reach the next drop. After that, the differences mostly come down to how your body is oriented to the anchor. A standard rappel has you sitting back with your feet planted on the wall. An Australian rappel has you standing and facing the ground.
- Standard Rappel: This is the most common one, and it’s what most people should start with for recreational rappelling in canyoneering and climbing. You’re in a seated position with your feet against the cliff, your belay device and rope out in front of you, and your brake hand behind your body.
- Australian Rappel: This one’s built for fast descents, and it isn’t a good idea for beginner rappellers. You face the ground and stand against the wall, and because of that body position and the speed, it’s more dangerous.
- Tandem Rappel: Here you rappel with another person at the same time. It’s usually for helping younger rappellers, or anyone who can’t rappel safely on their own. The body position and lowering technique are close to a free rappel.
- Free Rappel: This is when you lower over a steep overhang and your feet never touch the wall, so you’re just hanging in the air. It’s more of an advanced move, since you have to manage your body position while working the device and the rope.
► Pros and Cons of The Most Popular Types Of Rappels
Gear for Safe Rappelling
Rappelling really comes down to two main pieces of gear, and then a lot of us like to add gloves because they cut down on friction burns and are just more comfortable, so I’ve put them on the list below too.
Harness
Your harness is what connects the rope and belay device to you. You can find harnesses for as little as $30, but I’d spring for one that at least has padded leg loops. If you’re mostly rappelling rather than climbing, I’d actually go for a harness with a bit more support, since you’ll be sitting in it and that extra padding is worth the comfort.
► The Best Harness For Rappelling
Rope
There are two main types of rope, static and dynamic. If you take climbing out of the picture, the best rope for rappelling is a static rope. Static rope doesn’t stretch, so it keeps your rappel nice and tight. If you’re wondering whether you can get away with the dynamic rope you already climb on, that’s a whole discussion on its own.
Thickness matters too. Rappelling rope is usually 9mm or thicker, and it often runs up into the 11mm range. The thicker the rope, the heavier it is, but it also tends to last longer. Your belay device and how much you weigh will also help decide how thick your rope should be.
My preferred belay device, the Grigri, has a manufacturer-recommended rope thickness of 8.9mm to 10.7mm. Figure 8’s, on the other hand, don’t really have a recommended size, since the opening is big and takes a wide range.
When it comes to your weight, the heavier you are, the thicker you’ll want the rope so you get more friction. When I was a kid and weighed under 100lbs, I ran into the opposite problem: thick ropes made it almost impossible to rappel without feeding the rope through the device by hand, so keep that in mind.
► The Best Rope For Rappelling
Belay Device
I came up through climbing, so I’ve had the chance to test belay devices from a lot of angles, not just for rappelling. My overall favorite is still the Grigri.
That said, if your device is only ever going to be used for rappelling or canyoneering and you’ll never climb with it, a light but still safe option is the CRITR.
I’ve done plenty of rappelling on a Figure 8, and I like how easy it is to set up, but it has no way to lock off the rope and you’re pretty limited in how you add friction, which isn’t ideal.
I’ve thought about picking up the Totem, since a first responder who rescues stranded climbers and canyoneers recommended it to me. But after talking with a bunch of guides and professional canyoneers, I came around to the CRITR being the better pick for canyoneering specifically.
► The Best Rappelling Device For Canyoneering
Gloves
Gloves aren’t a life-safety item, but they do help with skin irritation and, in some cases, burns when the rope runs through your hand fast.
A lot of beginner rappellers just grab garden gloves or work gloves, since they’re cheap and mostly get the job done. If you want gloves made for the job, look for ones built for rappelling and belaying. They add padding where the rope runs through your hands and use breathable material everywhere else, so your hands don’t turn into a sweat lodge.
The pair I keep going back to is from Black Diamond, mostly because they have a fingerless option.
► The Best Rappelling Gloves For Each Budget
Other Gear
On top of the three main items above, there are a few other things worth bringing for rappelling.
- Rope Bag: Unless you want to carry the rope on your shoulders, a rope bag makes the hike to the rappel spot a lot more comfortable.
- First Aid Kit: An essential for any outdoor day, rappelling included.
- Carabiners: If you’re rappelling on one line, or the anchor only has a bolt, you’ll need a carabiner to rappel safely. I’d bring a few of these on your harness.
► The Best Rope Bag for Comfort, Size and Price
► First Aid Kit Check List
Getting comfortable with gear and movement is really just reps over time, and that’s true for climbing as a whole, not only rappelling. If you want a steady drip of that, I send out a free weekly email with one climbing drill you can knock out in about 15 minutes. It’s an easy way to keep chipping away between trips outside.
Rappelling for Beginners: Setting Up the Rappel
Setting up an anchor:
The anchor is the point at the top of the cliff that holds the rope in place. It’s the main safety point for both canyoneering and climbing.
When you rappel for climbing, you usually set up a rope that climbers will later use to get back to the anchor. In canyoneering, double lines are ideal, but if your rope isn’t long enough to reach the bottom doubled over, you’ll often run a single line and pull it off the anchor after everyone’s down.
► How to build safe climbing anchors from bolts
Using chains for the anchor:
If you’re lucky, there will be chains to run the rope through, and you can just feed your rope through the bottom link. With a long enough rope, you’ll run an equal amount on either side of the chains.
If your rope is too short to double up, you’ll tie a knot on one side and clip a carabiner to it so that end can’t run back through the chain link.
To get the rope back after the rappel, you’ll also need a second rope or some kind of pull line attached to that carabiner, so you can pull that end down once you’re at the bottom. That means you have to set it up while you’re building the anchor, not after.
Anchors off of bolts:
The most common way to set up climbing anchors is with bolts and quickdraws (two carabiners joined by webbing in the middle). With two bolts, set the quickdraws so the carabiner gates face opposite directions. That way, if the rope somehow works its way out of one carabiner, it’s still captured by the other.
Once your anchor is in place, you’ll either set up a self-belay or have another person belay you. If you’re newer to this, it’s worth reading up on the safest way to rappel before you commit to anything off the ground.
► What is the safest way to rappel?
Setting up your belay/rappel:
To belay, you’ll need a proper belay device. I like the Grigri because it has an assisted-braking design, which means that if something happens to me, like getting knocked unconscious, the device locks and keeps me from falling to the ground (see the gear section above). Plenty of rappellers use basic ATC’s or Figure 8’s instead, since those are cheap and quick.
To set up the belay, you load the rope into the device, and exactly how you do that depends on the device. On top of following the manufacturer’s instructions, I’d get hands-on guidance from a professional the first few times so you know you’re doing it right.
► How to Rappel Using a Grigri
► How to Self-Rappel with a Grigri on a Single Line
Setting Up the Ropes:
Besides using the right type of rope (see the gear section of this guide), you also need to tie stopper knots in the end of the rope. That way, if you misjudge how far your rope reaches, you won’t rappel off the end of it.
Safety Checks
Before you lower yourself over the edge, run through a few safety checks to make sure everything’s where it should be. Don’t rush this part.
Check 1: Harness and helmet
Take a second to look over your harness and helmet and confirm they’re both on correctly and buckled the way they should be.
Check 2: Rope and anchor
Your rope needs to be properly anchored before you even glance at your belay device. Make sure it’s fed or anchored correctly to the bolts or a tree. And are your stopper knots tied in the end of each line? This is an essential check to keep you from rappelling off the end of a line.
Check 3: Belay device setup
The last check before you send yourself over the edge is the belay device. You need to be sure it’s loaded with the rope correctly, and just as important, that you actually know how to use it.
Lowering Yourself
This is the fun part of rappelling, and it’s also the most dangerous. When I was young, I’d lower myself as fast as I could, like it was a race to the bottom. These days I take it slower and actually enjoy the ride down.
Sitting Position:
To lower yourself, lean back and straighten your legs so your feet end up roughly perpendicular to the cliff. It’s like sitting in a chair that isn’t there, with your feet on the wall. This position keeps you from scraping your knees or banging your elbows on rocks on the way down.
Walking vs Jumping:
If you want a slower descent, just lower yourself while you take steps down the cliff. This is the way to go for beginner rappellers, and for rappelling down a slope or edge that isn’t quite vertical.
If the rock face is close to vertical, you might enjoy jumping. That’s where you push off the wall at the same time as you lower yourself. If you’ve never done it, start with a little hop and work your way up to longer jumps from there.
One of my favorite things about rappelling is that when you jump, it feels like gravity forgot about you for a second, since you’re hanging from above instead of standing on the ground. Once you’ve got the movement down, a few simple ways to practice rappelling will help you build it into muscle memory.
Retrieving the Rope After Rappelling
How you get your rope back depends on whether you rappelled on one line or two.
Retrieving rope using 2 lines:
If your rappels were short enough to run double lines, all you do is pull on one end of the rope until the other end feeds through the chain loops and drops down.
Retrieving rope with 1 line:
If you only used one line, then hopefully you followed the advice up in the anchor section and tied an extra pull line on the other side of the knot at the carabiner, so you can pull that line to bring the rope down. There’s more on this in the full guide to retrieving your rope after rappelling.
Related Articles:
► Can You Rappel On A Dynamic Rope? Static vs. Dynamic Rope for Rappelling
► 5 Ways to Practice Rappelling
► My Favorite Harness For Climbing
► The BEST Belay Device For Climbing: Battle-Tested!
Frequently asked questions
Is rappelling safe for beginners?
Rappelling can be reasonably safe for beginners when you use the right gear, run your safety checks, and learn the hands-on skills from a qualified instructor or guide. Most accidents come from setup mistakes and rappelling off the end of the rope, which is exactly why stopper knots and a full pre-rappel check matter so much.
What gear do I need to start rappelling?
The two core pieces are a harness and a belay device, plus the right rope, usually a static rope that’s 9mm or thicker. A lot of rappellers add gloves for comfort and to cut down on friction burns, and it’s smart to carry carabiners, a rope bag, and a first aid kit.
What is the best belay device for rappelling?
My overall favorite is the Grigri because of its assisted-braking design. If a device is only ever going to see rappelling or canyoneering, the CRITR is a light, safe option. Figure 8’s are easy to set up, but they give you less control over friction and no way to lock off the rope.
How do I keep from rappelling off the end of my rope?
Tie stopper knots in the end of each line before you go, and confirm they’re there during your safety checks. If you’re on a single line, set up a pull line at the anchor so you can retrieve the rope afterward without losing track of the ends.
Should I learn rappelling from an article?
Use a guide like this to understand the pieces and the vocabulary, but don’t make it your only teacher. Rappelling puts your full weight on gear you set up yourself, so get in-person instruction from a certified guide or an experienced mentor before you rappel on your own.
