UKC

I'm going to SW France in a couple of weeks for some early season climbing. There seem to be a lot of long pitches (over 30m) in the area, the problem is I only have a 60m rope and as its quite new and I don't do much sport climbing I'm not going to buy another one just for this trip.
Whilst I'm sure I can work out some way of getting down which would be safer and less scary than a few of the Alpine retreats I've had to do, is there a standard way of dealing with this? so I don't look like a bungling novice

Also there's quite a few multi pitch sport routes from which we may want to abseil. I was thinking of taking one of my half ropes and climbing on doubles, so one 10mm and one 8.5mm. I can't envisage a huge problem with this even if it is a bit heavier than two 8.5's, I'd rather not take three ropes.

In reply to pec:

Just take 2 half ropes.

In reply to pec:

It is possible to use a 60m rope for a 34m route .... I've had the same problem, and been able to use a 10m length of thin cord when it's time to recover the rope.

a) Climb the route with the cord on your harness and use a sling to hang on the bolts. Tell your belayer to take you off belay, and go for a rest.

b) Let one end of the rope dangle to the ground (34m) and then tie a screwgate very securely to your rope, just on the other side of the bolts. Tie your 10m of cord securely onto the end of the 26m 'short end' of the rope. This 36m total will also reach the ground.

c) Abseil down on the 34m end; the screwgate won't pass through the bolts, so you've got a perfect anchor for this.

d When you're safely on the ground, you'll be able to pull on the cord, which pulls the short end, the screwgate and the rest of the rope down.

Don't use this method unless there's a clear drop from the bolts to the ground ... you don't want the screwgate plus knot to get caught in a crack or similar.

I'll be taking my 10m cord to Kalymnos as usual this spring...

Good Luck...

In reply to uphillnow:


That's an option but it means I'll have to climb all the routes on either double 8.5's or a single 8.5.
I imagine the majority of routes I do will be single pitches less than 30m so my 10mm single rope is the best choice for most routes.

In reply to pec:

Sometimes routes might have additional anchors, though perhaps not the 35m ones.

Bring the half-rope and single for the multipitch. But instead of leading as doubles, have the second carry the half-rope up (butterfly-coil as rucksack) and simply lead on the single.

The rope trick mentioned earlier also works with the half rope (so no need to lug the extra 10m or so cord), provided the route is not too overhanging or traversing (so you can clean it)... also if the route is tightly bolted, the knot might snag.

So best bring a few old krabs as well. In which case you simply clip to a bolt, pull the rope through and leave the leaver-biner to the bolt and continue being lowered (normal protocal, 'cept for the biner on long routes with multiple anchors per pitch).

In reply to Andy Hemsted:


Thanks I'd forgotten about that trick, in theory you could take 60m of thin cord and ab off 60m routes I suppose.

In reply to HeMa:

I'd thought of that possibility if the second isn't carrying a sack anyway, depends how long the route is I suppose.


Yes, I suppose if you were making a 40m abseil for example you could ab as far as the end of the short rope, lock off, pull up the remainder of your rope with your spare rope tied to it and tie the spare into the short end of your abseil rope. In theory I suppose you could climb a 60m pitch, pull up your entire rope (so its not going through your extender krabs), drop it back down, pull up your spare rope and and abseil off doubles. A lot of faff though!


Again, I'd thought of that but it does mean lowering off a single bolt.
Thanks for the input.

In reply to pec:


But then if the bolts are in such a stage you won't even trust them to lower off, god help you if you fall on them!

The common argument against that is that you fall onto a system of many bolts, not onto one (ie if one goes you have the one below to catch you), but that's also true when you start lowering off one. Also, as someone who's taken the ride when a krab snapped on a bolt before, it takes more bolts than you think before you're not basically still reliant on one bolt once you've accounted for a dynamic belay and rope stretch and stuff.

In reply to pec:

Pork pies work for me. Most times I get down, or near enough down, on rope stretch