UKC

My 10yr old lad is itching to climb multi-pitch, and I'm itching to take him.

At what age have other parents proved it feasible to take their kids multpiîtch (without another supervising adult of course) ?

In reply to LeeWood:

Once he's capable of holding a leader fall, otherwise you will need a second adult?

In reply to LeeWood:

In essence you got to be really comfortable soloing the route, I've done a few routes with my 10 year old equipped with megajul but wouldn't want to test system, belay has to be able to resist upward pull.
Might be worth doing /rapping route check the gear

In reply to LeeWood: I took my son out when he was ten years old, possibly younger. We started with routes on Tryfan Bach and the Milestone Buttress. Apart from the belaying issue the key thing is to stay in visual contact. We had a bit of an epic on Oblique Buttress which was not only a sandbag at the grade but every pitch was out of sight of the belay. It turned out to be a stressful ascent and it taught me a lesson. I chose routes which had no communication problems from then on. We had some memorable days and still do.

In reply to John Kelly:

Whats a megajul? We've already done a fair bit of single pitch stuff in which he has held (trial) falls. And yes, I would always down my grade to fit margins of error - which in any case fits his standard (5c-ish)

In reply to caradoc:

Sounds v sensible. Short pitches with line of sight will keep both audible and visual comms optimal.

In reply to LeeWood:
Megajul -Assisted belay device
Just looked at your profile, guessing you already have a lot of good ideas at what will work for you
Cheers John

In reply to LeeWood:

Echo all of the above. My son was probably about ten. Treat it like a solo, they might be able to belay but rescue would not be good. Communications critical. However simple it seems to you, and however much you ask they will say they understand, its a different game when they are on their own. So yes visual and verbal contact crucial.

In reply to LeeWood:
Did the FA of this multipitch route with my son when he was 11

http://dmmclimbing.com/news/2014/04/six-pitch-slate-route/

In reply to Sl@te Head:

V impressive! - but still well within your grade. Did it feel like a solo or is he (was) a dependable belayer? Bolts would certainly make placing and stripping gear more stratightforward.

In reply to LeeWood:
It depends on the route, my son did lots of Lake District scrambles and enjoyed those especially Pinnacle ridge on St. Sunday crag. He did the crescent climb, Moderate, on Pavey at the age of 7 which is easy and it gives lots of exposure. Little Chamonix in Borrowdale is also good, good exposure, which he did at the same age. But I made sure that I was not going to fall off. Corvus is also a good start for a multi pitch.

In reply to LeeWood:


I went up Middle Fell Buttress with my dad and my friend, I can't remember who led it I suspect it was him and he was very in control while I belayed.

Another time I went up it with him and his friend and another friend of mine. I was ten or twelve for both occasions.

In reply to LeeWood:
I used to go multi pitch climbing up to about Severe with my son when he was about 7/8 years old. Used to pick routes i had done before and were well within my climbing grade at that time. Made sure all belays were as good as possible and had more than i would if i was climbing with a adult. Also knew he could hold a fall as we did lots of single pitch climbs together first and when i had good runners i would fall of on purpose to let him know what a leader fall felt like. I would also say pick routes without traverses and routes where you have line of sight all the time and dont pick a route with long pitchs where you are out of earshot.

In reply to LeeWood:

Mine started multi pitch at 5, but always with a second adult.

In reply to LeeWood:

The simple answer is when they're a competent leader/abseiler and can get you both out of trouble / get help should you have some sort of problem (accident, heart attack etc.). Their age is irrelevant, all that matters is their competence.

In reply to LeeWood:

My daughter (just turned 8) gave this question consideration, and agreed 10 is about the right age. We have done multi-pitch, but with me 'soloing' and her seconding. She has also learned to lead and belay, and has come to her conclusion based on that. That said, she now wants to do more multi-pitch! And DWS...

It all depends on context: your climbing, the route, the child, whether or not you need them to belay effectively.

I've climbed several multi-pitch trad routes with a four year olds albeit with focused, able and crag / mountain tested four year olds as well as many multi-pitch routes with older kids.

So if you and the child are competent to choose the right route, crack on. If you're not fully confident then start easy and build up to it. My advice is don't try without crag tested kids - if they can't sit on a ledge for 1/2 hour without being distracted (or worse) then you've got problems that are very hard to deal with once you're on the next pitch despite all other precautions.

Worst experiences I've had (and they haven't been particularly bad) have involved less than crag tested kids (older but shorter attention spans) and delays (from unanticipated slow parties ahead on the route).

Also try not to choose routes where objective dangers beyond your control figure - stone fall for instance.

These days out climbing, while generally doing super easy routes, have been amongst some of my all-time best-days-out.

In reply to LeeWood:

my dad took my brother and I climbing at that sort of age he was pretty convinced he wouldn't fall off!

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

We've done it! the confidence came from somewhere. Just spent 2 days at Cavallers, 11 pitches climbed up to 6a+ but most significantly a 150m 3-pitch climb (semi-equipped) done.

Day 1 we did 2 training climbs with 2 smaller pitches and easy comms and lots of briefing. The worst wobbler on day 2 was unrelated to multipitch issues - an awkward reachy overlap move caused some anguish. I wasn't anxious that he would hold me (not more than V+ on the multipitch) but generally concerned about patience and attention. We rapped off 3x also - for which I was probably most anxious but I left him with the plate set up in advance (and much briefing). Being at the lower end meant I was in position to hold the rope if we went to sleep!

While sobering up and doing his duties with care (I think) at other moments he larks about in a v boyish fashion - serving to remind (worry) me ("Could you just try for a few minutes to covince me you're a responsible belayer ..."). Problems with rope-handling came frequently - pays to do the max careful prep for this.