UKH

I want to get into top rope solo and have bought a microtraxion, I understand that most people will set up with a microtrax as the primary system with the grigri as the backup but I'm worried about falling on the traxion and damaging my rope which I can't afford to replace.

Is there anything wrong with setting up a grigri for normal top rope belay, then with a microtraxion beneath it to act as the "hand on the brake end", which would reduce the force put into the microtraxion.

I understand that I would need to still pull rope through manually for the system to work which I know most top rope soloists hate but to me that just seems like the same amount of effort as pulling rope up to clip Into a bolt.

If there's something I'm missing please do let me know.

Firstly you typically need a fair bit of force to damage a rope with a microtraxion. You've probably messed up if you get a fall that big.

That should work fine if you are happy with it not self feeding very well. Make sure you keep the grigri raised (e.g. with some bungee cord around your neck or a makeshift chest harness). This stops the devices interfering which can make things a bit of a mess.

Also worth considering running 2 strands with a device on each. Or even just using a grigri with regular backup knots in the rope below it depending on the terrain.

Look up death modified grigri. Normal caveats apply 

The traxion won't damage the rope in a toprope solo fall. It especially won't do this if you use a 120cm sling as a chest harness to hold it higher up.

Nano traxion is actually a better choice for toprope soloing because it doesn't have a button which isolates the cam (although we're really into the 0.1% of possibility there). 

I use a microtrax and if I'm feeling a little sketchy for some reason I'll trail a maillon underneath on a sling. This means if somehow the device didn't grip the maillon will block on the backup knot (which obviously you're going to tie) rather than the trax directly. 

And yes pulling the rope through is the shittest thing and not to be underrated. 

Obviously everyone's trust in different devices varies however I use a shunt as my primary and back it up with a micro traxion (2 strands). 

I'm aware there have been cases of shunts failing for TRS however they have been used to great effect by many people without back ups also. 

This also means you don't need to take in the slack on the grigri which seems pretty rubbish to me to be honest. 

Naturally use what makes you feel comfortable but I feel the above balances safety and toothed devices constantly stabbing the rope under load.

You need to put the traxion on a separate rope. Having a microtraxion (or anything) on the dead rope from your gri gri will make it much more difficult to pull the rope through (which is already quite difficult as you'll be trying to rock climb).

Seems like a very obvious one to me 🤷 Is it a bit cliche to say 'probably don't do top rope solo if you couldn't answer this yourself'?