USER MANUAL

El Mudo 3.0

Lead Rope Solo climbing device

 El Mudo 3.0

Warning
Climbing Solo is an activity for experts. It is an experience of very high
psychological, technical, and physical demand, so its practice is NOT
recommended unless you fully know what it means to assume the risk
you run.

Solo climbing should only be practiced by climbers with extensive

experience. Before practicing it, the climber must know in depth the
necessary maneuvers of rope climbing, that is, with a partner.

The Solo Climber must:

1. Know and practice the “Lead” with ease, efficiency, and effective-
ness.

2. Having practiced rope climbing for a long time (… even years).

3. Have practiced climbing in only Top Rope style for many months.

4. Knowing how to recover a partner.

5. Rappel with different devices, knots, and fortuitous means.

6. Know how to make knots “well made”.

7. Know the characteristics of the equipment in general and its

particular limitations.

Although there are many videos and tutorials on “How to climb in LRS”,
it is strongly recommended to take an experiential course directly fo-
cused on that and practice a lot in “yo-yo” and/or “top rope” for several
weeks before doing a full LRS climb.

The Mudo allows you to Climb Solo with Rope, with the possibility of
leading without needing someone to belay you.

And one last comment that I hope will serve to raise awareness:
If you don’t do things right all the time when climbing, you can kill
yourself or be severely injured for life.

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 El Mudo 3.0

SAFETY DEVICE FOR LEAD IN SOLO WITH ROPE.

El Mudo 3.0

This device is specifically designed and tested to provide the climber

with a means of securing to go first —leading— without the need to
have a partner handling the safety rope.
It can also be used for:

□ Descent in Rappelling on a single rope.

□ Belay a partner.
□ Climb simultaneously.

That’s why we call him “The Mudo”: an effective assistant… and silent.

The Mudo is not a learning aid for solo climbing or intended to “in-
vite” rope climbers to migrate to solo rope climbing.

The use of the Mudo is an individual decision and the user is fully
responsible for its handling.

It is equipment specifically designed to offer an effective means of

securing to lead, solo with rope.

NOTE: There is currently no Normative on the part of the UIAA, for any
apparatus that serves to climb in Solo with rope or for any really auto-
matic belay device.

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 El Mudo 3.0

Description
The Mudo is a device that consists of three elements:

Pivot

Pin

Core

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 El Mudo 3.0

Set up

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 El Mudo 3.0

It is mandatory to have a chest harness, in addition to everything that is occupied when

climbing with a partner.

□ Place the Pivot in a carabiner or Maillon, preferably in the shape of a regular or oval
pear, as shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 1

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 El Mudo 3.0
Fig. 2

• Set limits to the Pivot with a web-

bing, O-Rings, or tape, to prevent it
from rotating around the body of the
carabiner, as in Figure 1.

• Place this carabiner in the Chest Har-

ness, as shown in Figure 1.

• Using a rope or cord of 8 mm or more, Fig.2a

join the Core with the Waist Harness,
passing the cord through the belt,
legs, Core hole, and Safety Bolt hole,
joined with an Eight or a Double Fish-
erman knot (Figure 2 and 2a).

• For additional security it is recom-

mended to double turn the cord
when passing it through the Core
and the Pin. Fig. 2a

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 Fig. 3

□ Pass the safety rope (from 9.4 to 10.5

mm) through the largest slot of the Core
(Figure 3). The rope that goes to the Mas-
ter Point must be at the bottom (near the
climber) of the Core, this will be the "Life
rope". The rope that comes out above will
be the "Free Rope" or Dead rope.
Dead rope

Life rope

Life rope

Dead rope
 El Mudo 3.0
Fig. 4

□ Once the rope is passed through the

Core, it is placed inside the carabiner of
the pivot, separating the ropes inside the
groove, as shown in Figure 4.

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Fig. 5

□ Insert the Pivot into the body of El

Mudo and place the Pin through the side
hole, crossing the Core and the Pivot, as
shown in Figure 5.
 El Mudo 3.0

□ Check before starting the ascent, that the system works as it should. (Fig. 6)

Fig. 6

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 El Mudo 3.0

□ We recommend paying attention to the height at which the carabiner of the Pivot
is placed, that is: if it is very high there will be a lot of friction and the advance will be
more difficult; the same happens if it is very low. (Fig. 7)

□ We recommend trying different distances until you find the one that best suits
each person and allow the rope to run with as little friction as possible through El Mudo.

Fig. 7

Regulate the
distance between
the Core and the
Pivot personally.

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 El Mudo 3.0

□ It is important to fix the back

of the chest harness in the haul loop
of the sit harness, to always main-
tain the same distance between the
Pivot and the Core

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Something important about the

safety rope…

The Mudo 3.0 should be used with

9.4 to 10.5 mm in diameter ropes. It is
known that the ropes, as they are used,
are "expanding" and their diameter
can increase significantly; this increase
in diameter increases the friction in El
Mudo causing the rope not to run as
smoothly as it should.

In addition, the ropes lose elasticity with

time and use, becoming stiff and, again,
making it difficult to pass through El
Mudo; it is definitely recommended
to discard the use of "old" strings and
replace them with new ones.

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 El Mudo 3.0
Fig. 8

Final Set up
with Yomi

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 Fig. 9

□ If you don’t have the Yomi, place a

self-locking back knot type Prusik or Mach-
ard (Klemheist Knot), especially useful in
case of falling headfirst.

□ By means of a sling or cord tied to the

harness belt, never to the material carrier.
(Fig. 9 and 9a)
Klemheist Fig.9a
or Prusik
knot
 El Mudo 3.0

TO DESCEND IN RAPPEL THERE ARE TWO POSSIBLE CASES:

When you have NOT gone over

the middle of the rope:

1. Place a carabiner in the upper hole of El Mudo, the one that has been free since
the initial placement.

2. As in any rappel, the rope that comes out of the upper part of El Mudo is firmly
held, and the carabiner that has just been placed is leveraged (… it's like rappelling
with a Gri Gri); and when you release that carabiner, your descent immediately
stops (Figure 10).

Place a carabiner
in the upper
orifice

Holds the rope

and the knot
firmly, like in any
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 El Mudo 3.0

TO DESCEND IN RAPPEL THERE ARE TWO POSSIBLE CASES:

When you have already passed

the middle of the rope:

□ Secure yourself to the last available protection (or new Master Point).

□ Anchor the rope originally considered Free or Dead, to that new Master Point.

□ Place a self-locking knot on the rope that comes down from El Mudo and attach it
to the leg of the harness

El Mudo is now his device for descent in Rappel.

• Descending by "feeding" rope in a similar way to when using a single-line ATC,

which is braked by hand as in any rappel and, in case of emergency, the Machard
or Prusik knot, stops the descent.

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 El Mudo 3.0

Functional characteristics
of El Mudo

1. It is not necessary to feed rope.

2. It stops you even if you are head (you must use a chest harness and Machard
or Prusik knot or Yomi).

3. It "feeds" as you advance.

4. It allows you to rappel without modifying the initial " ascent" arrangement.

5. It locks even at a very low load.

6. We recommend always having a Yomi, Prusik knot, or a Machard. It is not

necessary to use additional backup knots.

7. It is unlocked when the load is removed.

8. It allows you to ascend the rope, without modifying the original arrangement,
recovering manually (similar to how it is done with Gri-Gri or ATC).

9. The Mudo is a device free of springs and "hidden" mechanisms.

El Mudo
Copyright in Mexico: 28170 US Pending Patent
63/269,762
International patent pending.
Manuel Larios. 2022
Partial or total reproduction is prohibited
without specific permission from the author
and owner of the rights.

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