1/2 rope on alpine route

[Pete04]

Any opinions on using a 1/2 rope on exposed 4th class and easy (<5.5) 5th class? No expectations to fall. The grade is well within the my partner's and my abilities, but we're not comfortable soloing 5th class and looking for protection on the exposed scrambling.

 

Appreciate any inputs/advice!

 

For reference, I'm headed to Bear Creek Spire (http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/High-Sierra-Bear-Creek-Spire-Northeast-Ridge) this weekend .

[alpine et]

sounds like you're gonna simul, so why not just fold it over and have a "full" rope?

[DPS]

I've used a 50 m, 8.5 mm half rope extensively on moderate alpine routes to 5.10, AI 5. Mine is 'Sharp' rated which supposedly is more cut resistant which makes me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

[Pete04]

good call - I never thought of folding it over

[chris]

Why not just use the skinniest single you can find? There are singles on the market now that are <9mm.

 

Or take a twin (in the 7mm) range and double that - You can get the full advantage of a 60m rope for rappels and have the edge protection you want.

 

Personally, I decided after climbing a 4th class route earlier this summer with a double that I wasn't ok doing so again. There were just two many opportunities for edge abrasions, even with me carefully managing the rope. And we didn't identify that hazard until we were on top of it, and rationalized it away so that we didn't have to stop and reorganize the rope. Not the best management practice, so I don't think I'll be doing that again.

[climbingsolo]

ive climbed most of my alpine on half of a half rope. works just fine. just dont fall.

[Pete04]

 

It worked out pretty well doubling it up. We climbed one pitch with it as a 1/2 rope, but felt much better about it doubled up when pulling it over sharp granite. 60m was too long for all but the rapp off the summit. For the alpine setup, I'm thinking I'll get another 30m twin rope and use that with the 30m twin I already have and keep my single rope for the crag only.

Speaking of rope management, to shorten the rope for simul climbing I did a kiwi coil appropriated from the Mountaineer's Glacier Travel book. Any other tricks/ideas of shortening a rope for simuling? This worked well, but a fall would've caught me at the chest and not on the harness; however, I did an overhand knot around the coil so the rope wouldn't just tighten across my chest in a fall (very bad, I imagine) but catch at the coil instead. Still, this doesn't seem as optimal as catching me on the harness.

 

 

 

[JasonG]

Typically you don't shorten it beyond half for simuling on rock. As you experienced, there isn't a great way to make the rope shorter than that. Plus, you usually want ~3 pieces or so between you and your partner, and half a rope length usually works pretty well for stretching the simul blocks. The key is to have long enough runners, and plan placements, to minimize rope drag.

[montypiton]

yes, the kiwi-coil is the preferred protocol for shortening a rope between climbers. you did well to tie off the coil with an overhand, however to transmit the load of a fall to your harness, you clip the tail of your overhand-on-a-bight into the tie-in point of your harness. if you've left the tail short, the load should come initially on your harness, and the coil will help keep you upright, like a chest harness does. this is particularly important if you're climbing with a pack of any size, because in that case, you're top-heavy, and more likely to invert in a fall without upper body support. this method also captures the tail of your overhand-on-a-bight so it can't inadvertently work loose.

[Pete04]

I wanted to add a safety note to this thread in case anyone were to stumble across it. Folding over a 1/2 rope and using it as a single is NOT advisable. Unless... you were to clip the pieces separately. Half ropes should not be clipped together because the impact force could pull or break gear. Only twins should be clipped together.

For the curious amongst us, reference Layton's Climbing Faster, Stronger, Healthier page 447.

 

[genepires]

I wanted to add a safety note to this thread in case anyone were to stumble across it. Folding over a 1/2 rope and using it as a single is NOT advisable. Unless... you were to clip the pieces separately. Half ropes should not be clipped together because the impact force could pull or break gear. Only twins should be clipped together.

For the curious amongst us, reference Layton's Climbing Faster, Stronger, Healthier page 447.

 

for the terrain you are using it on, it is very unlikely that you could ever generate enough impact force on rope to worry about pulling gear. With all the ledges and edges, the falling climber would just bounce down and eventually get a tug from the rope. Much of the falling force would be absorbed by body hitting ledges and friction with lower angle rock. That concern about using doubles properly is really for vertical/overhanging terrain.

 

from my point of view, the bigger concern is having two strands of rope getting caught as the climbers move. using a single line removes half the chances of getting the rope stuck in some crack.