Trad Climbing - Getting Down

[mts4602]

If you are climbing an alpine route or a route that doesn't have permanent anchors and you have to rappel down, do you always have to leave a sling or some other piece of gear behind? It seems like there has to be some other way. I can't see climbers leaving slings everywhere every time they climb a route.

 

Matt

[Crillz]

BASE?

[mts4602]

BASE?

 

I don't have the time or money to learn to do that haha

[jmace]

If you are climbing an alpine route or a route that doesn't have permanent anchors and you have to rappel down, do you always have to leave a sling or some other piece of gear behind? It seems like there has to be some other way. I can't see climbers leaving slings everywhere every time they climb a route.

 

Matt

 

The other choice is magic....so yes go buy some rap tat and buy the dark stuff so its not visible from space...save the red slings for other stuff

[mts4602]

awesome, thanks. Easy enough.

[genepires]

many alpine routes only need a couple raps to get where you walk off. Also, double ropes are a good idea for alpine as fewer raps are needed.

 

oh yeah, one "trick" is to use a tree without a sling but this wears the bark off the trunk when you pull the rope. So this is not a very environmentally conscious activity as should be saved for the most dire situations.

Edited April 6, 2011 by genepires

[rock-ice]

Get some quicklinks or real rap rings and stick them on your harness so that you avoid the pesky problem of stuck ropes. Not to mention that pulling rope through webbing will destroy the webbing. . .

[DPS]

I can't see climbers leaving slings everywhere every time they climb a route.

You're new to climbing, right? Go do the South Face of the Tooth, not only is every tree wrapped with a mile of brightly colored webbing, gear is stuck on nearly every pitch.

[rob]

queue raindawg in 3...2...1...

[KaskadskyjKozak]

oh yeah, one "trick" is to use a tree without a sling but this wears the bark off the trunk when you pull the rope. So this is not a very environmentally conscious activity as should be saved for the most dire situations.

 

Not to mention you don't want to get sap all over your rope. So, it's a lose-lose. :-)

[mts4602]

I can't see climbers leaving slings everywhere every time they climb a route.

You're new to climbing, right? Go do the South Face of the Tooth, not only is every tree wrapped with a mile of brightly colored webbing, gear is stuck on nearly every pitch.

 

Never climbed trad. I live in KY and climb in the Red River Gorge. There are permanent anchors on all of the sport routes so I've never had to deal with the issue.

[DPS]

I see.

[Riley81]

You can always climb down. Fastest way down and no gear left behind.

[rob]

technically, not the fastest way down. The fastest way down is not advised.

[Frankazoid]

You got some mighty fine "trad" lines inn the gorge there. Although, not alpine... Eastern sky bridge ridge is my favorite. The "inhibator". ahhhhh....

[chris]

You don't have to carry enough gear to replace the entire rappel route - on the most popular routes around here, there's been enough traffic that you're maintaining already existing rap anchors by REMOVING old, ugly, untrustworthy tat and replacing it with a bit of your own, newer, trustworthy stuff. That's what makes 6 mm and 7mm cordelettes so perfect: they're cheap to replace, you'll always have one or two for anchors on the way up, they're cheap to replace, you can cut them into smaller pieces for rappel anchors on the descent, and they're cheap to replace!

Having a couple of quicklinks or "leaver-biners" is wise as well.