Ive recently added a right foot pantin to my
Srt rig does anybody have any tips on how to kick out the rope without having to reach down to remove the rope from the cam?

Vibrate your leg gently in any direction and it pops out instantly. This mostly occurs when you don't want it to and seldom occurs when you do.

Petzl: "Inventing solutions to problems no-one's thought of yet".

Each way ive tried previously just works my leg up the rope, i will try the vibration technique im guessing you mean just shake your leg? Is it easier tilting you foot any way?

Lift your leg up slightly and push it backwards, as though you're trying to kick something behind you with your heel.

If you put your left foot behind the rope before kicking your right foot back that will make the rope out of the cam almost all the time.

The only way I can keep mine on the rope in the first place is to put a krab through it, on awkward pitches this means you need to anticipate the need to remove it near the top.

To be honest I have a bit of a love hate relationship with it, just as I'm about to bin it the thing begins to work well for a bit, earns a reprieve and then promptly lets me down again.

Never being able to remember which foot it's supposed to go on probably doesn't help either.

I struggle with mine too, so to summarize what you guys just said,

You put your left foot in, your left foot out
in out, in out
shake it all about!

I got one when they first came out and I could never get my head round the original list of instructions for using them, which just seemed so numb. Once they brought out the other foot version I tried that, decided my own way of using it - and it seems to work fine.

Regarding kicking it off the rope - I find it's a knack which is easier to discover for oneself than to describe in words. Get yersen in a tree for half an hour and I'm sure you'll sort it.

I find that focusing on kicking backwards but not up is the key - but I often just hold the rope above it if I can reach conveniently. I'm right-handed, and find a left-foot Pantin to be far more convenient to use than a right-foot - keeps everything nicely separated, with my hand-jammer safety cord to the far right of my D-ring lineup. A lot of the stuff I'm currently doing is up quite tight vein-slots (Bitch Pitch size or smaller), and that's where the Pantin really shines, as you're kept upright by the walls, which reduces the strain on your shoulders massively - so you can loosen off the straps and then ropewalk with alternate steps. As long as you've got one wall in front of you it's fast, but with two, it's quite amazing how quick you can go up.

Yep - left foot Pantin best for right handed cavers. I don't think that's what the instructions said but I threw them away in disgust long ago.

Yeh im a special kid with my lefty ways hence the right foot pantin, ill give the kicking backwards technique a go when i next get on a rope

amusingly it's keeping the rope in the pantin that I struggled with! till I realised I had it on the wrong foot.

... anyone else try putting on the outside of their boot rather than the inside ?


oh - just me, then


(and no, it doesn't work)

I would recommend against a left foot Pantin as they are not conducive with a right handed Croll, and unfortunately Petzl don't make a left handed Crolls. The reason they don't work well together is that a Pantin on the left foot pulls the rope below the Croll to the left, this reduces the amount of teeth that engage on the Croll (just the top teeth engage), and subsequently causes it slip more easily. In contrast a right foot Pantin pulls the rope to the right and helps the Croll engage.

I wish you metioned that a week earlier before I bought a new Croll, I think there's my problem with slippage, as my croll did not appear that worn. I think when I wear this pantin out (its survived a few years so far) I will have to get used to a right footed one.

Mike Butch said:

I would recommend against a left foot Pantin as they are not conducive with a right handed Croll, and unfortunately Petzl don't make a left handed Crolls. The reason they don't work well together is that a Pantin on the left foot pulls the rope below the Croll to the left, this reduces the amount of teeth that engage on the Croll (just the top teeth engage), and subsequently causes it slip more easily. In contrast a right foot Pantin pulls the rope to the right and helps the Croll engage.

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I think there might be a technique problem here. I'm a right hander who uses a left foot Pantin on longer pitches. Keeping your feet under your body as you step is the key. Most cavers lean back slightly and this pushes the Pantin forward or to the side which may lead to the problem you describe. In the least patronising way possible - have a look at your lower body technique and try to be more upright.

I'm right handed, and like a right-root pantin, because I use my left leg only for short prusicks/starting off. Then put the pantin leg in for longer prusiks

On the other hand I do wish chest hardness buckles were on the left so the dangle was less likely to end up in the croll. And a left-handed top jammer works better than a right-handed one, for me at least. Sadly they never made a LH pompe (and now they don't even make a righ-handed pompe)

Pete K said:

Mike Butch said:

I would recommend against a left foot Pantin as they are not conducive with a right handed Croll, and unfortunately Petzl don't make a left handed Crolls. The reason they don't work well together is that a Pantin on the left foot pulls the rope below the Croll to the left, this reduces the amount of teeth that engage on the Croll (just the top teeth engage), and subsequently causes it slip more easily. In contrast a right foot Pantin pulls the rope to the right and helps the Croll engage.

Click to expand...

I think there might be a technique problem here. I'm a right hander who uses a left foot Pantin on longer pitches. Keeping your feet under your body as you step is the key. Most cavers lean back slightly and this pushes the Pantin forward or to the side which may lead to the problem you describe. In the least patronising way possible - have a look at your lower body technique and try to be more upright.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response Pete, I agree with you that keeping your feet under the body is a key first order technique, but there are times, such as on slippery rope, that the technique needs slight adjustment. There are a few ways you can adjust your technique to help your Croll engage when on slippery rope, such as: pressing the cam of the Croll in with your hand (tedious), weighting your sit harness more to the right (requiring a Beyonce style booty wiggle), and moving the rope beneath your Croll to the right. The latter is easiest done with a right foot Pantin, and that is why i would recommend them over the left foot Pantins. I've been regularly using a left foot Pantin for past 5yrs, subsequently i've spent an annoying amount of time looking at my lower body technique, and have came to the conclusion that your lower body technique should not be viewed in isolation as it has a direct effect (negative in the case of a left foot Pantin) on the rest of your SRT system (e.g. your Croll).

The problem i have talked about may not that noticeable when using nice clean 10mm rope in the UK, but on deep alpine trips involving slippery rope (e.g. muddy 9mm) it becomes frustratingly pronounced. 

On the other hand I do wish chest hardness buckles were on the left so the dangle was less likely to end up in the croll.

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I have never had one when its not on the left, what kind of chest harness you using? If its a strap just thread it through your croll the other way?