For newbies.

I don't know about icy conditions, but a Tibloc with a fat round bar stock locking carabiner holds on the twin ropes I have, in dry conditions.



http://www.petzl.com/en/Sport/Ascenders/TIBLOC#.VOdfG0sbRuZ

For 7.7 with icy conditions they MAY work, but you should do checking and testing, and always have some kind of backup/redundacy.

When traveling very light, I find a Munter hitch on that same carabiner works well for the occasional belay/rappel. (To much constant use tends to put twists in the rope with a Munter)


And something I found but have no experience using-the super Munter.
http://www.animatedknots.com/muntersuper...imatedknots.com