Version 0.2; last reviewed 13-02-2026

Introduction

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Having 'Purple Tape' indicates that a member is a competent canyon leader and that they are able to set up an abseil, and lead a group safely throughout a canyon, up to the maximum v4a4IV grade in their usual flow conditions (see UQ Mountain Club Procedures - Canyoning document and Outdoor Council of Australia’s, ‘Canyoning Australian Adventure Activity Good Practice Guide’, 2019 [Link]). When a member has achieved their 'Purple Tape', they are allowed to take on a leading role during Club canyoning activities without supervision. They may also participate in advanced canyon trips led by a person with Maroon Tape, in canyons with a difficulty grade over v4a4IV. Members with this competency can safely perform rescues in canyons up to the maximum v4a4IV grade.

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Prerequisites

You must be a member of UQ Mountain Club to be tested for the 'Purple Tape' competency.

You must have the 'Pink Tape' competency to be tested for the 'Purple Tape' competency. 

You must be assessed by two members with 'Purple Tape' OR two members of the Executive for the practical skills for the 'Purple Tape' competency.

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Testable material

The material testable to obtain the “Purple Tape” competency can be broken down into the following categories:

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Practical skills

The member with the 'Purple Tape'' competency has participated in many canyoning activities. During these activities, the member has consistently demonstrated that they are experienced and knowledgeable to independently canyon (without supervision), and lead others. The member being tested must, in addition to all Pink Tape competencies, be able to demonstrate:

• Setting up a variety of anchors including top belay systems, retrievable systems and releasable systems in accordance with club procedures;

• Locking off an abseiling device;

• Use of a the releasable anchor system to lower;

• Locking off a device on top belay and lower using a munter hitch;

• Use and evaluate natural anchors;

• Communication during abseils and clear instructions on retrieval of the rope;

• Switching from descending to ascending a rope and visa versa;

• Abseiling on a munter hitch;

• A knot bypass;

• Rigging and performing a re-belay;

• How to use and build pluck off lines; and

• How to set up and use a fiddlestick.

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During the canyoning activities the member has participated in, they have shown that they understand:

• When and why communication is important during a trip and how to promote this;

• The need for emergency equipment in canyons and what they may need in case of emergency;

• The need for a leader to be well prepared for a trip and what this may mean in terms of bringing extra gear;

• The potential for hypothermia and ways to combat this (wetsuit, emergency thermals, space blanket); and

• What it means to be a safe canyon leader.

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Theoretical skills

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During the practical assessment for this level, your assessor will ask you a minimum of two questions from the following to test your understanding of the theoretical material:

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• What are safe angles in anchor systems?

• When should you set up a releasable anchor system?

• How can you establish that a jump is safe from debris?

• How do you recognize and avoid dangerous water features?

• How do you check anchors for damage and adequacy?

• How do you provide effective briefings to the group regarding activity conditions, required equipment, and communicate updates throughout the trip (such as alterations to plans due to conditions)?

• How do you safely rescue an abseiler stuck on their abseil line?

• How do you safely rescue an unconscious abseiler on the wall?

• When should you instruct canyon activity participants to perform a fireman's belay?

• How do you identify errors to prevent incidents (such as ensuring fall restraint cord cannot be extended out of arms length, prusik cord cannot jam up into the abseil device, and clothing and hair are not at risk of jamming the prusik or abseil device)?

• How do you provide patient care to novice canyoners, including the use of flotation devices and top belays?

• Why is rope management important and how do you correctly manage your rope?

• What are the dangers of a stuck rope when retrieving an abseil and how do you retrieve the rope safely?

• How do you manage rope wear on rough rock edges (such as bleeding the rope)?

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Theoretical material

Group Briefings and Communication

When starting the canyon on the day it is good to give a briefing on a rough outline of the day, the potential hazards, the previous weather and forecast, to be careful near edges and moving over slippy rocks, to look out for themselves and others, to ask questions and to always follow your instructions. 

Double check novice canyoners for their understanding of good abseil technique. Go through what calls or whistle signals will be used in the canyon, and where top, or fireman’s belays might occur. Talk them through all this again in the canyon when putting them on abseil.

Brief the group on any updates throughout the trip on how many pitches are remaining and any alterations to plans due to changing conditions.

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Canyoning Communication:

Roaring water makes it hard to hear each other and large drops or waterfalls can obscure line-of-sight. It is the duty of the trip leader to research the canyon and consider the style of communication for a canyon, whether by voice and hand signals or whistle blows. Canyon communication calls are covered in Pink Tape, but as there is no universally agreed upon standard for whistle signals, the trip leader is to brief their group so everyone is on the same page before heading out - especially if you are venturing into more technical or aquatic canyons.

Whether the party is using whistles to communicate or not, the trip leader must carry a whistle with them on club canyoning trips. The table below outlines the whistle signals that we typically use. When using your whistle make sure to leave a one second pause between blasts, this helps keep the communication clear as sounds can bounce around and get muddled in canyons. If you are unsure about a communication, repeat the number of whistle blasts that you heard and wait for your partner to confirm by repeating back again, or tell you to stop (one blast). The three and four blasts can be confusing, a good way to remember the order is the phrase "Give before you take", the number three (give) comes before the number four (take).

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Your whistle should be easily accessible while on rope, and retrievable with one hand while your other is holding the brake strand. Whistles are typically attached to your helmet, or alternatively on a retractable key lanyard (can get at Bunnings) to keep the whistle out of the way when not in use.

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Equipment checks

Trip leaders are to perform checks on the items listed below before the first abseil pitch. Participants should be instructed to buddy check one another - more checks means less errors slip through.

• Ensure everyone has a dry bag flotation device if there is a lot of swimming involved in the canyon;

• Check that harnesses and helmets are in safe working condition;

• Check that fall restraint cords cannot be extended out of arms length;

• Check clothing and hair are not at risk of jamming into the prusik or abseil device;

• Check that a prusik cord cannot jam up into the abseil device before a participant removes their fall restraint cord to begin an abseil pitch; and

• Check that everyone is carrying an emergency blanket.

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Anchors

Anchors must be SERENE:

S - Solid: The anchor, which you are using (bolts, bollards, trees etc), is solid and you have inspected it.

E - Equalised: The tension on both stands is equal, meaning the load is evenly distributed to each anchor point.

R - Purpleundant: there is no single point of failure.

E - Efficient: The anchor should be simple, so you can easily inspect it.

NE - No Extension: If a piece fails, the anchor will not shock load.

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Theory about anchors:

There is a lot at stake when building a top belay anchor, therefore you must have knowledge of the following things:

1. Focal points and equalisation. An anchor system is a combination of two or more independent anchor points that converge at a focal point to equally share a load with no single-point of failure. In other words, the focal point is the point where the two strings/rope of the two anchor points come together. The angle of separation of the focal point (called 'critical angle') must be below 120°, otherwise the load of the two strands will be above 100%. See the diagram below.

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This also means that the anchor must be equalised. Both of the anchor strings/ropes must hold the same amount of load. A 60° angle is the most preferred critical angle.

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​2. Redundancy. When you are setting up your anchor system, you must always build redundancy into the system. This means that consideration must be given to the possibility of something failing. Everything in your system must be doubled, like you are always on two safeties. There must be two anchor points, two equalised strings to the focal point, 'bunny ears' at the anchor point, and making sure that you and your harness are not part of the anchor system setup. The doubling of everything is the minimum standard, as in many cases, having three anchor points may be better.

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3. Extension. Extension refers to the amount of slack that would enter an anchor system if an anchor would fail. For example, if one anchor point would fail, the locking carabiner slides towards the end of the sling/rope. This will create a sudden load for the other anchor point, which makes it more likely to fail. Therefore, to minimise this extension, we tie overhand knots in our system. See the diagram below.

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Sometimes anchor points are not close to the edge of the cliff. You will have to find two points that are a bit further away. You can either choose to make a rope anchor or you can make extensions. This means that you can use slings, tapes and locking carabiners to extend the anchors more in your direction. Beware that direct nylon-to-nylon contact must be avoided, and if possible do not make knots in your slings. An unknotted sling is stronger than a knotted sling.

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4. Dangers. There are always dangers when setting up a top belay anchor. Please be aware of the following:

• Make sure that you as belayer are always on the correct number of points of safety at all times;

• Orientate carabiners so they are gravity loaded;

• Additional protective measures should be taken to insulate the rope, slings or tape from abrasion damage with padding or other protective material;

• Any combination of both natural and/or artificial protection may be used in the rigging of the anchor system; and

• The abseil and belay ropes lie in the least abrasive location on the rock.

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Bad bolts​

​Bolts do not appear suddenly on the wall. Canyons are bolted primarily by volunteers from the canyoning community. No one is officially in charge of making sure bolting is safe. It is important as a canyoner to be aware of that and that it is part of the sport that canyoners have to inspect bolts and anchor systems themselves. If you see a bad bolt or anchor, you should make note of it on websites like ropewiki and request that the exec team update the club track notes.

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Transition from ascending to descending and descending to ascending

Sometimes you have to transition from descending on your descending system to ascending using prusiks. Or the other way around, from an ascent to a descent. The most important thing to remember is to always be attached to two safeties.

If you are transitioning from ascending the rope on one prusik and a calamity knot to descending, put a longer prusik above the short prusik already tied to your harness to lift the weight. Sit in that new longer prusik. Tie your descender to your extended system and change your shorter prusik to a French prusik (third hand) and connect that to your harness. Test if the rappelling system is working. If so, great, create a footwrap and unweight the longer (most upper) prusik and sit slowly into your ATC and third hand. In order to rappel down, remove the calamity knot and lower yourself.

If you are transitioning from descending (rappelling) to ascending with one prusik and a calamity knot, be sure to tie the calamity knot first! Then attach a longer prusik above your descender and slide it as far upward as you can. Sit in the new long prusik to undo your descender and re-tie your French prusik (third hand) into a classic prusik. Slowly pull your longer prusik down, until you can slowly weight your shorter prusik. Ascend up with the methods described in the pink tape booklet.

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Munter Hitch

A Munter hitch is a type of ‘hitch’ that you tie in the middle of a rope. This hitch is not a knot, because it needs something to tie itself around to be able to ‘work’ properly. At UQMC, we use a locking carabiner to tie a Munter hitch.

Why do you need a Munter hitch? The Munter is useful for several reasons:

• You can rappel off a Munter hitch

• You can belay on a Munter hitch

Functionally, the Munter hitch can be used in place of a figure 8 device. So, in a situation where you do not have access to a descender (i.e. you have dropped yours and cannot retrieve it; you have given your descender to a less experienced group member who has dropped it) you may use a Munter hitch instead.

You would not belay or descend on a munter for fun. It can be more difficult to handle than an ATC or another device, and introduces a lot of rope twist which then has to be taken out. It is more suitable to top belay when in front of the anchor master point.

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How to tie a Munter hitch: Tying a Munter hitch is quite easy, but the sequence is hard to put into words. For a short demo, see this link (1 min). When tying a munter hitch, always ensure that the brake strand runs along the spine of the carabiner, ensuring that the rope does not interfere with the gate of the carabiner.

How to rappel of a Munter hitch: To rappel off a Munter hitch, you have to tie the Munter hitch to a locking carabiner and attach it to your belay loop. You tie your third hand (prusik) ABOVE the Munter hitch, in a classic or klemheist prusik knot. You 'feed' the rope through the Munter hitch and go down. You can also use the Munter hitch when rappelling of a double strand rope.

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How to belay off a Munter hitch: To belay with a Munter hitch, the sequence of belaying is the same. However, there are some differences. When taking up, the Munter will be pulled up as well and will ‘capsize’ on your carabiner. This makes it easier for you to take up and pull the rope up. For more information about how to belay and tie a Munter hitch, read this page.

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How to use a fiddlestick: Fiddlestick has become the generic term, covering a range of similar products. All involve a small piece of specialist plastic that holds a hitch in place in the abseiling rope during descent, but is then pulled free from the bottom to allow the rope to be easily retrieved.

To use a fiddlestick, the end of your abseiling rope is passed through an anchor, with the two strands tied using an upward stein (stone) knot. The fiddlestick is then inserted through this hitch, holding it in place. Once firmly tightened, abseiling rope is lowered, and the group can begin descending. See the diagram below for the correct orientation of the stone knot.

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From the bottom, a thin, high-strength, static pullcord is used to retrieve the fiddlestick. Once the fiddlestick is pulled free, a light tug is generally enough for the short end of the abseiling rope to come around the anchor, before the weight of the rope causes it to fall to the ground.

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Building a releasable abseil system:

An anchor can be challenging to make, because it fully depends on your surroundings. For Purple Tape, we assess against a sling anchor and two independent bolts or a chain. You are expected to gain experience in other potential anchor systems by attending club canyoning events.

• ​Find two anchor points (big stainless steel bolts) near the top of the cliff and close to the edge; 

• Put a locking carabiner on each of these anchor points and connect a 120cm sling to both carabiners.

• Decide where your focal point will be, make a V-shape basket hitch with the sling from that point to both anchor points. Tie an overhand on a bight to make a master point in the sling, include both loops. Ensure that both of the strands are equally sharing the load and the focal point is going down towards the abseil. 

• Pass half of the rope (or enough to reach the bottom of the abseil if you can see the bottom) through the anchor rappel ring or independent bolts. Tie a munter hitch in the rope and connect a carabiner to both the hitch and the master point. Deploy the rope and ensure the rope reaches the bottom of the abseil. Tie off the munter hitch using a slip knot and two half hitches (we can show you how to do this). 

Once you are happy with the anchor, the focal point, the redundancy, the equalisation and the place you have set it up, you can prepare to descend and do your ABCDE checks per your Pink tape training.

Setting an abseiling top belay

To set this type of abseiling system, first you need to assess the anchor location. Once the abseil anchor and line is built, check whether the master point is approximately 1m from the edge. If the abseil master point is too far away, you can extend it with a sling, the sling can be shortened by adding an overhand knot on a bight as needed to move the belay point to the best location.

To set a top belay, connect a carabiner with ATC to one of the following: the abseiling master point, the extended masterpoint, or a second fully independent master point set up as per the abseiling point above.

Next, tie a figure 8 knot backed up by a stopper knot in the end of the belay rope or belay side of the abseiling rope. Connect this to the ATC so that it can be used as per your Pink Tape training.

Using a releasable abseil system on top belay:

Having set a retrievable abseil system with top belay, there may come a time when a group member needs to use the ‘releasable’ component of this rigging. This can happen for multiple reasons, usually the abseiler is unable to continue along their abseil line because their device is caught or the abseil line has damage found mid-abseil. 

The first step to using this system is to lock off the belay line using a slip knot and two half hitches. The munter hitch can then be released to correct the issue.

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When to perform a bottom belay (fireman’s belay):

The fireman’s belay is a skill assessed in pink tape. It consists of holding the abseil rope at the bottom of the canyon and pulling upon the rope in the case of an abseiler descending the rope too quickly, in order to halt the abseiler by removing slack from which the device can run through. The belayer must watch the abseiler very carefully throughout their descent and not be distracted during a descent.

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Fireman’s belaying can be used when self-belaying less experienced members. It should not be used if there is a possibility of rockfall occurring during the descent of the abseiler or if there is no stable position for the belayer to stand while belaying.

Checking and completing safety jumps

It is the duty of the trip leader or Purple Taped member to check a jump for obstructions for the rest of the group.

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This can usually be done by down-climbing or by abseiling and testing the water. Test the water by removing any floating backpacks and swimming to the deepest part of the pool. Push yourself as deep underwater as possible and reach around with your hands and feet for obstructions. Repeat this in as wide an area as possible to ‘map’ the pool. Convey your findings to the group and clearly show where you judge the safest spot to land is. Identify any hazards in the pool and ensure each group member has seen and understood them.

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This skill is largely a judgment call based on experience but some rough guidance is given below:

• Pools less than 1m deep should not be jumped into at all, downclimb or abseil

• Pools that are less than 2m deep must be entered using a safety jump described below, jumps higher than 2m should not be attempted at this depth. 

• Pools between 4 and 2m deep can be entered from a height of 2-3m using either a safety jump or a pin-drop based on the depth. 

• Jumps higher than 3m should not be attempted with backpacks on and must have enough depth to allow for a pin drop entrance. 

• Jumps higher than 10m should not be attempted on club trips. 

Safety jumps

Safety jumps are done from the lowest accessible point by stepping out slowly and landing in the water in a 'couch potato' position with a floating backpack on. Legs are to be out in front with hands held in or on your chest. This minimises the depth to which the jumper sinks on landing and reduces the risk of head and neck injuries.

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Pin drop entrance

If the water is deep enough, backpacks should be thrown down first and, once they have floated out of the way, the canyoner can 'jump' by stepping out. When entering the water, the member should have one hand holding their nose (optional) and the other on their helmet to avoid their helmet coming off. Enter the water feet first, stiff and slightly bent in a 'pin drop' landing.

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Aquatic hazards

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Flash Flooding

Flash floods can occur in many canyons and the possibility of water accumulation into a canyon should be carefully assessed by the trip leader before the group enters the canyon. Generally, do not take the risk of canyoning in rain more than a couple of mm, otherwise the difficulty of the canyon will be greater than what is reported (and may fall outside of the v4a4IV maximum for trips led by Purple Tape holders).

You must always check the forecast and note previous weather. If it has been raining in the prior hours/days, the catchment may be saturated and it takes even less rain to cause a flood. If there are any storms forecast you should not do any wet canyon and probably not a dry one either.

Drowning and swimming fatigue

A swim certificate is required from all canyon activity participants. People can cramp up or grow tired while swimming and sink, especially on longer days and in the very cold water.

Hence make sure everyone has a dry bag (to float) or swim near those who do not.

Look out for less confident, cold or sinking swimmers when swimming.

White water hazards

Found in more advanced canyons, white water hazards include but are not limited to: aerated water, drops, eddies, entrapment points, fast flowing water, floating objects, undercut rocks, re-circulations (also called ‘holes’), rapids, sieves, strainers, submerged objects etc. (Some hazards (e.g. eddies, re-circulations) are also known as hydraulics.). White water hazards are to be avoided:

• Always try avoid being in rushing water/waterfalls as they are very powerful and can wash you away or freeze you to death.

• Always try set up abseils away from waterfalls. If forced to abseil through, instead of next to, a waterfall:

  • Be very sure your ropes make it to the ground and aren't tangled.

  • Know you can switch to ascent quickly, preferably with ascenders not tricky, slow, catchy prusiks.

  • Keep your head down to breathe and try move fast.

• Single rope technique (SRT) should be used.

• Rig for rescue (i.e. the anchor should be rigged so that it is able to be released and the rope lowered if someone is stuck on rope. It may well be impossible to ascend if in any significant water flow)

For more information about recognising and avoiding white water hazards, read this page.

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Executive Assessment Process:

'Purple Tape' can be awarded during an Executive meeting by a majority vote of Executive members. The member will have to demonstrate the practical competencies and be able to answer questions regarding the theoretical material without error outlined in this document. 

Once the Executives have voted that the member is competent, their skill level will be updated on the Club database and their membership profile will be updated by the assessor to display a 'Purple Tape' badge. If a member with 'Purple Tape' is seen making errors, is unsure of their ability or is displaying an unsafe attitude, the Executive can vote on whether to rescind their tape.

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