UKH

Help! Rope twisting while going through belay when lowering climber? Ends up looking like a bad 80's perm.

I used to hold the tail rope slightly off to one side of the belay device (reverso) - I now make sure the rope runs strait out the back of the device - less twisting

Most likely the orientation of the anchor rings at the top. If there's only one ring, or if both rings hang perpendicular to the rock, little if any kinking happens. But if there are two rings and either (or, worse, both) lies flat against the rock, there's no way to lower without the rope kinking badly as a result.

Use one of those revolver krabs on one of the bolts to lower off on. Put another longer quickdraw on the other bolt such that it doesn't take any weight as your back up. Obviously doesn't work for the last person down, but saves a bit of wear and twisting. 

You must be at Horseshoe, where the official lower offs are exactly the worse case described by John Arran below!!! For some crazy reason…..

Is it a new rope that was factory rolled in the packet and not opened properly?

If so, you're going to find this happening a lot...  Pull it end to end through an ATC a few times to try and get the twists out.

Even if it's not that, worth me posting this for people who don't know  youtube.com/watch?v=8nSutmoV0-s&

"without further a jew"  @1:14 ha ha.

Why it's always a good idea to have a couple of maillons on your harness. I left 2 on a route yesterday for this reason. 

Must admit I didn't watch that before posting...

Bit anti-social though innit?  They get rusted shut and clutter up the lower off and need to be cut off...

Haaaate people leaving crap all over lower offs because they can't be bothered to rethread, or because they don't want to get a kink in the rope.

I used to grab an end and take the rope for a little walk through the grass. Check for dogsh1t ...

Oh, and I used to have a bad seventies perm so I know what I'm talking about.

Why is it antisocial to properly equip loweroffs? Leaving maillons on bolts mid-route, I'm in agreement with you. The sort of thing I'm talking about is where you get to the loweroffs and there are hangers with a single maillon on. Adding another so the rope runs correctly through it when you thread is the oposite of antisocial. 

I use stainless steel ones. there not very expensive and can easily be removed if necessary.

Yeah fair enough, if it's hangers with a single mallion on then that's ok, you're not making the lower off any worse (in fact you're improving it).  No issue with that.

I just get annoyed when there some kind of perfectly serviceable lower off, say rings or threadable staples, and someone has left a mallion on which has now rusted shut meaning everyone else who lowers off the route now has to thread their rope against and have the rusty sharp edges of the mallion rubbing on their rope.

That's not what you were talking about though doing though, so you're all good and my apologies offered!

Removing twists: do something which adds friction, and then run the rope end-to-end in the same direction until it's not a pig-tailing disaster. Whether that be running it through a quickdraw, or belay device, or taking it for a long walk around a field. The idea is that you want to 'push' the twists in the rope towards the end, at which point they will 'fall out of the end' and become untwisted.

Or, if you happen to have an overhanging big wall in your back garden, let it free hang with weight on the end and the result will be the same.