UKC

Using two single ropes as doubles?

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 Vybz 22 Nov 2012
My girlfriend owns a 9.4cm (60m) single and I'm thinking of buying another single the same size. Would we be able to use these two ropes at the same time as doubles when climbing trad?

 HarryB 22 Nov 2012
In reply to Nathaniel Gjöderum-Larsson:

yes
 Coel Hellier 22 Nov 2012
In reply to Nathaniel Gjöderum-Larsson:

Yes, no problem. They'd just be a little heavier than two 8.5-mm ropes.
 Coops_13 22 Nov 2012
In reply to Nathaniel Gjöderum-Larsson: Nice one Nat :P
 fraserbarrett 22 Nov 2012
In reply to Nathaniel Gjöderum-Larsson:
There's been discusion on this in the past and some argue that the load on the gear would be more than using doubles, but to my mind it's the same as using them as singles (bar the weight), so I'd have no issue.
 Jon Stewart 22 Nov 2012
In reply to Nathaniel Gjöderum-Larsson: I've spent lots of time climbing on stupid combinations of old fluffy fat ropes, and new thin half ropes, and old stiff half ropes, etc. No problems, it can just be a bit annoying.
In reply to Nathaniel Gjöderum-Larsson:

after seeing a presentation on this type of thing from the BMC tech guys i'd not use them as it'll put a lot more load on your gear. if your gear is always bomber then you'd probably not have a problem other than a slightly more abrubt stop if you fell off. if your gear was marginal then you'd increase the chances of it ripping out as well.
andic 22 Nov 2012
In reply to Northern Climber:

Eh???

How is clipping a single rope when you are tied in to a second single different to climbing on a single rope with regard to forces on gear?
 Coel Hellier 22 Nov 2012
In reply to Northern Climber:

Does that mean you'd never trad climb on a single rope? Plenty of people do.
andic 22 Nov 2012
In reply to Coel Hellier:
snap
In reply to andic: my bad, i read that as clipping both ropes into the same piece of gear as twins.

using two singles as half ropes with each rope into seperate runners (not into the same runner) would be fine.
andic 22 Nov 2012
In reply to Northern Climber:

Okay agree you should not double clip,

OP it's fine just a bit heavy I suppose
 Jamie B 23 Nov 2012
In reply to Nathaniel Gjöderum-Larsson:

A lot of guides/instructors do this as standard when they have two clients, so that each of them is seconding on a full-spec rope. With the trend towards skinnier single ropes it's entirely viable.
 Ciro 23 Nov 2012
In reply to Jamie Bankhead:

Agreed. When I did a multi-pitch sport climbing course in Verdon with the UCPA a few years back we used singles as half ropes. I asked why, my instructor replied "why not?". To him, it was just a more redundant and flexible system, and it proved it's worth when we abbed in one morning and only at the bottom did we realise one of the guys forgot to bring a rope with him. One pair climbed on a single and the other two pairs climbed on the two ropes as normal.
 jkarran 23 Nov 2012
In reply to Nathaniel Gjöderum-Larsson:

> My girlfriend owns a 9.4cm (60m) single and I'm thinking of buying another single the same size. Would we be able to use these two ropes at the same time as doubles when climbing trad?

Yes but it's very heavy.

Personally I'd suggest either a 60m half rope if your interest is trad (fold it for 30m pitches, combine with the full for longer pitches if you really must) or a 70m lightweight full if your focus is sport. Or save the money for something nice, keep using your girlfriend's rope.

jk
 gethin_allen 23 Nov 2012
In reply to Nathaniel Gjöderum-Larsson:
The only thing I'd add would be, if you decide to go this way to get a similar thickness rope so that they both handle the same through a belay device.
New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...