Stuck rappel ropes - use brains, then brawn

You’re pulling the ropes after a rappel, on the ground and dreaming of that post climb pizza and malted beverage, and . . . oh fiddlesticks, the rope is stuck. What are your options? Before you try the advanced (and scary) maneuver of ascending the ropes to free them, try everything you can from the ground first. There’s two basic approaches: finesse and brute strength. Here’s a few tricks:

• Examine the situation before taking any action. Some stuck ropes come free with finesse, some with brute strength. Generally, try finesse first, as pulling hard too early can make a bad situation worse.
• If you’re on the ground, try walking back from the cliff or far to one side and pulling from a different angle.
• Sneaky Finesse “Flick” Trick: Clove hitch the rope into the end of a stick, trekking pole, tent pole, etc. This gives your rope “flick” a larger diameter and can be a lot more effective in freeing it from a small obstruction,  If it’s just hung up on a small knob, this usually does the job.
• Brute force trick: After you try the above with no luck, time for the muscle. One or more people can put the rope through a belay device, jump upwards and lock off on the rope, adding full or multiple body weight.