Rapping with a heavy pack

This tip is partially from the Rock and Ice magazine Tips web site

Rappelling with a monster pack or haulbag can be frustrating and frightening. The weight on your back can flip you upside down or waste your abdominal muscles fighting to stay upright.  Possible solutions are:

1 - Rig a simple chest harness with a 4 foot sewn runner and a carabiner.  Clip the loaded strands of the rope through the carabiner.  This will help keep you upright. This technique is preferred if the rap is low angle.  (This may be stating the obvious, but be sure and rig this before you start to rap!)

2 – Rather than wear the pack on your back, let it hang from a sling from which you are rapping.  Girth hitch a 2 foot sling on the pack’s master point and connect your rappel device directly to a locking carabiner on the sling.  Finally, clip yourself into the rappel-device locker with a standard-length sewn sling girth-hitched to your belay loop. The final step gives you more control and power by extending the device from your body; it also keeps the pack out of your way as you head down the cliff.  If you have multiple raps, girth hitch another sling and carabiner though the pack so you can easily clip it to anchors along the way.

This is a standard trick for big wall climbers, who often have to rap with extremely heavy haul bags.  Note: hanging the pack from the belay biner is generally recommended for steep, high angle rappels - using this technique on a blocky slab will cause the pack to get hung up as you move down the rock.