This resembles ascending a rope using prusiks, which is a lot of fun if you haven't tried it. Great to see a variation the helps people with limited mobility to get around unassisted.
You do the same thing with prusiks to ascend a rope. Here's an example of a practical application, getting out a crevasse when climbing glaciers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_m3qzHYTA
In an alpine scenario you'd descend by rappelling. I doubt folks in a home want to setup a munter hitch or similar though. :)
This is how it’s taught in intro mountaineering courses. In the real world experienced alpinists carry a lightweight ascender, like a Micro Traction or similar, that can also be used for other tasks like hauling or fall protection for simul-leading.
It is a bit more complex. Climbing means falling. The 'ratchet' needs to work under shock loads. And wet/ice ropes radically change the friction numbers. There is a reason why climbers, experienced ones, know and use a great many different tricks for accending and decending ropes. A "big wall" climber can make a belay device out of almost anything, or even nothing.
I see. I tried to watch one video but they spent most of the time explaining how to create the rope/knots. I had assumed you eventually resorted to your arm strength to ratchet up the line. It does look like standing to ascend.
> Descending is a bit challenging for my brain to understand.
You would typically descend by rappelling, but it is possible to descend using two prussiks:
1. weight prussik B / unweight prussik A
2. slide prussik A down
3. weight prussik A / unwieght prussik B
4. slide prussik B down
5. repeat
I've never seen this done with two prussiks, but a similar sort of thing is done with two ascenders when rope soloing (e.g., to practice a single move over and over without re-rigging each time).
Haha! I though the same thing. I remember watching a video of an amputee ascending up El Cap using a similar set up only with lots of pull-ups! That and less of a Danish modern design aesthetic!
You can also do this by wrapping the rope around your foot. As you hoist up, let the rope around your foot go loose, then stand on your foot to go up again.
