Jump to content

One rope or two? South Early Winter Spire with 3


monkeyboy

Recommended Posts

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 3
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

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.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...