I am not going to tell you how to abseil, this article assumes you have already had professional training and aims to give you some top tips to avoid and solve problems. 

1. Use a cowstail on multiple abseils. This will be your point of attachment at the anchor points. I tend to abseil down with the screwgate krab on the end clipped around the rope that I need to pull - it just stops me forgetting. When you reach the next abseil anchor build your new belay and clip into it with your cowstail before removing your abseil device and prussik.  You can use a sling for a cowstail but much better is to make one from a cut off section of climbing rope because it is then dynamic. 

 
Here you can see the cowstail also extends the abseil device away from the harness which has the added advantage of moving it away from the prussik. If the prussik runs into the abseil device it will not bite. In this photo the cowstail has been clipped round the back of the harness out of the way until the climber needs it at the next set of anchors. 

2. Let the heaviest person go first....and backup the anchor! The backup can be a extra piece of gear that is bombproof and is connected with only a little slack but no weight on it. If the main anchor holds then this can be removed for the last person. 

3. When pulling your ropes down from a piece of tat always pull the rope at the back against the crag. This will run better and be less likely to jam. You have to arrange the knot this way of course if you have joined 2 ropes together. 

4. Jammed Ropes - Check the ropes run before you abseil and make sure that they are nut going to jam in cracks on the way down. If they still jam then try pulling on the "wrong" rope a little to get them moving. Walking back from the crag also often helps to reduce the friction. If needs be you can prussik back up both strands to free them and abseil back down. Never prussik up one end of a stuck rope (ie on just one strand of a rope that pulled and then jammed) - in case it frees itself!

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