One rope or two? South Early Winter Spire with 3

[monkeyboy]

I am planning on climbing the South Arete and am trying to decide on a rope strategy for 3. If one 60 meter rope with 3 climbers tied in will be long enough to reach the belays I would like to do that. Or should I have the second trail a rope and bring up the third this way? What you think?

[ajpederson]

This trip we used one rope for 3 of us and it worked fine. There are only a few spots on the route that potentially need to be belayed so we simul-climbed a lot of the route. The first pitch is the most difficult and the closest to 30m so we belayed it. The chimney and the fin pitch can also belayed, but are much shorter than the first pitch. Getting down with a 60m wasn't a problem.

[DPS]

Just to pile on, there are only 2 or 3 spots where a belay would be needed, and these are short. Certainly a single 60 could get the job done as most of the route is pretty mellow. For the 'cruxes' the leader can tie into the middle and belay both followers using an autoblock. The very first pitch, the chimney pitch (climbing out right on exposed cracks is harder, but much more asthetic than the chimney) and possibly the fin with the bolt in the middle are the only spots I can think of where a belay is needed.

 

This route would be a great test of often forgotten rope management techniques like the Kiwi coil, short ropeing, on the fly quicky belays, and simu climbing. Wear a helmet, party inflicted rockfall shold be anticipated. If you leave a pack behind, hang it in a tree so a goat won't eat it.

[monkeyboy]

One rope it is then. It will be more fun with lighter packs for sure!Thanks for the beta and taking the time to respond.