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Date of Incident

30/09/2025

Country

England

Area

Route

Activity

Sport rock climbing

When

Ascending

Injury

No injury

Incident

While attending a top rope solo, MCI delivered, training course both myself and a fellow participant has a climbing technology rollnlock transition by accident from "progress capture" mode into "free running" mode.

This occurred when ascending ropes using two devices and two personal tethers. The two devices were side by side on different belay attachments. I believe one PAS rope, being used with a hand ascender, moved the rollnlock locking switch to "locked open / disengaged"

This was while ascending two ropes, bolt to bolt clipping to pre-rig a sport climb. Buddy and pre-commitment checks were A++.

This wasn't a failure of the device, but an interaction from the side that didn't affect devices with a different lockout mechanism (microtraxion, spoc etc).

The rollnlock was a lovely device to use when climbing. Without interaction of a PAS rope it did not end up unlocked.

Redundancy and checks are key. At no point was I not connected to two bolts - as the rollnlock and ascender were on the same rope. The ascenders rope connection locked out the rollnlock - I was still attached via the ascender.

Lessons

Check everything. Sanity check everything as you go - especially when trying new devices in new configurations.

I will personally not be using a rollnlock in a configuration where it can interact in this way from the side.

The course delivered training on the importance of looking at potential interactions between devices. This is another data point on that training.

Be wary of progress capture devices that have side edge activated lockouts. We are taught to be wary of interactions and incompatibilities when vertically stacking - but be aware of lockout positions on each device and how it may interact with other elements in your system.

A top rope solo training course, delivered by an experienced trainer, that supports learning by doing and experimenting - is a fantastic way to take on these new skill while mitigating the risks that can occur when outside of this framework.

Causes

Interaction between equipment

Anonymous?

No

Reported By

Participant

Wearing Helmets?

Yes

Rescue Services Involved?

Author

Jen Y

1 September 2025 at 12:46:18

For more advice and guidance on good practices visit BMC skills

All reports are self-submitted and have not been edited by the BMC in any way, so please keep an open mind regarding the lessons and causes of each incident or near-miss. 

If you have a concern regarding this report please contact us at incidentreports@thebmc.co.uk

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