UKC

Hello

I just got back from a sport climbing trip and we were encountering a very odd problem with our rope.

The leader lead the climb and got to the lower off. The leader re-threaded through a screw gate on one bolt and a fixed ring on the other. When the leader reached the ground and started to un tie the rope was very twisted and started to coil in a spring like manor.

The seconder tied in and started to climb but as they reached the first clip the rope had twisted so much that it couldn't pass through the quick draw. We decided to abandon the seconder attempt and flake the rope.

The problem happened again at another point in the trip. Perhaps because of the first reason or because we didnt flake the rope fully.

Any ideas ?

In reply to Inhambane:

Often threading two separate belays kinks the rope as it is going through two right angles, even worse if the rings are flat to the rock. Best thread one (the lower one if poss) and clip the other with a q-d so the rope is only running though a single 180 degrees,

Chris

In reply to Inhambane:


Why waste time rethreading then, lower off quickdraws and let the last one up rethread? If it was an expansion bolt it probably doesn't matter so much since the fittings can be replaced relatively easily (not particularly cheaply though) but if they were fixed staples at somewhere like Portland then best practice is to use your own gear to lower off, unless you are the last one up the route, in order to minimise wear on the lower-offs.

In reply to Chris Craggs:


If you're leaving a quickdraw on the route that presumably means someone else is going to climb it, so why not lower off two draws?

In reply to EddInaBox:

He said his mate was going to 2nd the route - personally I think it is always safer for the leader to thread the rings as he still has all the gear below him clipped.

The 2nd would be lowering of a single bolt at the end but that sounds unavoidable with the arrangement at the belay,

Chris

In reply to Chris Craggs
"personally I think it is always safer for the leader to thread the rings as he still has all the gear below him clipped. "

All the second has to do is clip a QD into the penultimate bolt and the side of the rope going to the belayer = gear below him/her
Fixed gear wear is a growing problem, I am suprised to see you encouraging it.

In reply to scott titt:

That's why I said 'personally' - I don't like threading the rings with nothing (or just the last bolt) clipped between me and the ground.

The last guy down has to be lower-off of the rings - or chuff about setting up an abseil.

If everybody used threadable rings (as they do in France) the issue of worn lower-offs would be massively reduced

Chris

In reply to Chris Craggs:

That would make sense.