UKC

say if you wanted to climb just the top pitch of something by abseiling in how would you and your partner tie into the rope and attach to a separate anchor? how would you tie in at the belay because where would you put the rope when uncoiling it?

In reply to JSH:

Can't you have person1 ab down, build belay while on ab rope (prusik to secure), clip to belay, unclip from ab rope. Person 2 then abs down, same system, clips to belay (daisychains or long slings useful). Ab rope is pulled but flaked over the belay slings of the person who will be bellying to avoid tangling or dropping it, and is then ready for the leader to tie into.

In reply to Caralynh:

Sounds about right.

A spare rope to abb in on and back up the belay makes things easier and safer.

Helps a lot if you cannot lead the pitch, read the self rescue thread

In reply to Caralynh:

Yeah pretty much this. Same as many sea cliff routes where there is no starting ledge. Also, if the stance is quite awkward and you have a separate ab, it's good to either do tidy coils from one end only of your rope (or flake into rope bag/bucket) before heading down (to avoid having to flake) or tie in the leader (second person down) and lower the ropes (assuming halves) from him before he comes down so that the second (first person down) can tie in and then flake the ropes as the leader descends (usually over your belay slings). You can have the second tie din in the first place, it just requires tidy belay making a rope work to avoid it all getting tangled (not work the effort).

Also avoid the mistake of making your ropes park of the belay, it isn't nice having all the slack when you remove it.

Just realised I've kind of assumed hanging belay. If it's a ledge, I don't know what all the fuss is about.

In reply to Robin Woodward:

Yes I was assuming hanging belay too, and what I described is pretty standard for sea cliffs.

In reply to JSH:

What Caralyn said.

But I noticed your profile says that you're 13. Can I recommend you get someone to show you this?

In reply to JSH:
Lots of options but the basics are:

Rig retrievable abseil. Leader goes first with the gear, establishes belay, connects themselves to it, second follows and also connects themselves to the belay. Leader ties in and pulls the rope down (let it dangle or pile it up on a ledge/spike/feet or pull it into a bag if you're super organised). Second puts leader on belay (via the rope), leader unclips from the belay and climbs.

With a separate ab rope it's much the same but there's no need to pull the ab rope.

jk

In reply to JSH:

Ideally, aim to abseil onto somewhere where you don't need to tie on immediately (a good example is the ledge halfway up South Stack). Then (carefully) you can set up as you would normally do,

Otherwise improvise depending how much space you have available.

In reply to JSH:

If we were climbing just the top pitch the path of least faff seems to me to be top rope top belay.

In reply to JSH:

A valid question but the situation would seem more common for e.g. single pitch sea cliffs without decent ledges. I think it's quite rare for folk to abseil in to do the top pitch of a multipitch route which requires a hanging belay (though no doubt there will be examples).