Technical Manual
Table of contents: structured to surface safety information first
Safety information page: clear risk hierarchy with actionable warnings
Failure modes: annotated close-up photo identifying a known device risk
Click any page to expand
Problem
Top rope ("TR") soloing is a high-risk style of climbing that has grown in popularity, yet there is little organized information available. Climbers must piece together knowledge from forum posts and homemade videos, increasing the likelihood of missing critical steps and information.
Approach
I wrote this guide based on extensive hands-on testing and interviews with experienced climbers, aiming to consolidate best practices into a single, reliable reference. Because the stakes are high, I structured the document to highlight critical safety information before any procedural content, and used color-coded side bars to highlight additional safety notes and reminders throughout.
I included photos with call-outs to reduce cognitive load and ambiguity for key steps, and included a dedicated failure modes section that included all known failure modes of both devices at the time of writing.
Outcome
The guide was written as a course project but reflects a genuine need in the climbing community. In reducing the reliance on fragmented online resources, my hope is that it can reduce the likelihood of consequential error. It is the first known resource that consolidates all known TR-solo-specific safety information for these devices.