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Climbing a sport route without the right rope

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 Ramblin dave 11 Nov 2014
I'm off on a sport climbing trip in a week or so. We've got plenty to go at that's less than 25m, but I don't want to rule out doing the odd longer thing (30m) as well. Unfortunately, all the ropes that we're likely to have are a couple of 50m singles and a pair of 60m halves.

Given that, would it be better to lead a 30m pitch on a single and then pull up another one to ab off? Or lead on the halves (clipping them alternately) and then re-rig them for an ab? Or lead on the halves and lower on one? Or lower on both? Or lead on a single, use it to pull up a half and lower on that? Or just not bother? Or what?

Thanks!
 3 Names 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:

We'll if it was me I'd just bite the bullet and by an 80m single

 mark s 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:

we have done sport routes on twins before.felt fine.id do that
 JLS 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:

>"lead on a single, use it to pull up a half and lower on that"

That^^^.

Mind you if I was going to the expence of flying to another country (bold assumption) I thing I'd try and scrape together the money for a half share in a longer rope.
 tehmarks 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:

I'd personally lead on the halfs and ab off. But that's from the point of view of someone whose adventures abroad have been a mixture of single and multipitch sport in the same trip, and where packing and carrying an extra rope is an extra faff.
 IPPurewater 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:

I've always used 50m half ropes and abseiled.
OP Ramblin dave 11 Nov 2014
In reply to JLS:
It's not really scraping together the money so much as having 80m of rope sitting around our tiny house for something that we only do for a few days every couple of years...

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, though!
Post edited at 10:26
 Kirill 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:

Lead on halves (clipping them together). Bring your second up, if they want to. Then abseil.
 TonyB 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:

I think this depends on what the route is like. I think any of your solutions would be a faff for stripping draws from a steeply overhanging route. For vertical or slabby routes, cleaning the route via abseil is fine.

OP Ramblin dave 11 Nov 2014
In reply to TonyB:

It's unlikely to be steeply overhanging - barring any accidents with experimental super-rays in the next couple of weeks I'm not looking at much harder than 6a or thereabouts.

Is there a reason to prefer abseiling over lowering on double ropes or on one of a pair of halves, apart from preserving the lower-off? And is there a consensus on leading on half ropes as halves vs leading on half ropes as twins?

Cheers!
 scott titt 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:

Where are you going?
 Kirill 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:

No real reason to prefer abseiling when the pitch is shorter then half length of your rope. (apart from preserving lower off and ropes as you pointed out). As for clipping preferences, when you clip ropes together as twins there's less chance of them twisting and creating extra drag.
OP Ramblin dave 11 Nov 2014
In reply to scott titt:

Sicily - so it might well be one of your routes!

As I say, based on the guidebook we could probably have a good week doing sub 25m routes with a 50m rope, but it'd be nice to know that we had the option if we saw something really inspiring that turned out to be too long...
 scott titt 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:
I would recommend a 60m at San Vito, all you need for 97% of the routes - but for sure a 50m will let you climb all you could want for a week.
Most of the routes have Bolt Products bolts which are round bar so you can lower off to the end of the rope (caution!) and then re-thread for the last bit.
OR
You can hire a rope from Daniele Arena at YMCA Climbing House in San Vito details here (last paragraph)
http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=8671
http://www.ymcaclimbingsanvito.it/en/
Tell him Scott sent you!
easy peasy!
 dagibbs 11 Nov 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:

Are the halves also rated as twins? If so, I'd just use them as twins, then lower-off.

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