More about the book:
Much of the knowledge and equipment needed to climb longer routes is the same as that used for single pitch routes, and it is possible to climb such routes with no additional skills if you use a bit of forethought. However, you will most probably climb a lot more slowly. This will restrict you to shorter or easier routes than you are capable off, and if something goes wrong you might be in trouble. Many climbers first learn to climb on long easy routes in the hills, however many do not, preferring instead single pitch trad or sports routes. This book attempts to encourage climbers to try multi-pitch climbs wherever they find them—in the mountains, on sea cliffs or deep within river gorges—and to climb then safely and efficiently. We have tried to fill the gap between books for beginners and books for those involved in professional guiding. A lot of the material could be considered advanced, some seriously so. If you are new to climbing, this book is probably not for you.
Speed becomes more and more important the longer the route. If you normally climb four single pitches routes in a day, you might have a problem trying to complete a twenty-pitch route, together with the twenty abseils to get back down before dark. Even if you don’t plan on climbing a 500 metre route anytime soon, learning the techniques to do so will help you just as much on a three pitch route next to your car, and will help you complete many such routes in a day.
This book sets out to describe, not prescribe. There are many ways of doing most of the things discussed. Often a series of alternatives are given: single, double or twin ropes; belaying directly or indirectly; abseiling one at a time, or simultaneously; rescuing a second in half a dozen ways. The idea is to give you the tools for you to make your own decisions. We all have our preferences, and sometimes these have arisen after years spent trying different techniques, but sometimes they simply represent the first way we were taught how to do something: This book tries to show you several ways of doing most things.
Climbers use different approaches all over the world. Often these reflect the cliffs and history of their location. We believe it is well worth studying these alternatives whenever you can, assessing whether you feel they are safe, then testing them in a safe environment and seeing if they work for you. This book presents techniques from many countries to help you do just this.
It is often said that all climbers climb at roughly the same speed, it is the time they spend not climbing that differentiates them. Some of this time is spent trying to work out the moves, but much is also spent sorting out belays, re-racking gear at each stance and generally messing about with ropes. This book won’t help you to move your limbs faster, but it will help you to spend less time not moving.
It is worth doing a quick bit of math. If you take five minutes to form a belay and the second takes five minutes to get off the stance and start climbing, and it takes you five minutes at the stance to swap gear and get the leader going again, and it takes you five minutes per person to set up a abseil and rap down the rope per person, then the rope work on fifteen pitches and raps will be 375 minutes, or over six hours not climbing. Wouldn’t it have been better to have spent this time climbing? In an alpine situation a wasted hour might mean the difference between getting down in daylight, or in the dark, and if it gets dark you might not get down until the next day. Even if you have smaller routes in mind, it is always nice to have the option of climbing a lot and knowing you can get down safely. Skills give you confidence, and a lot of climbing is about confidence. It is also a real pain to spend half of the climbing day sitting on ledges thinking “why does he always take so long?”
