UKC

Climbing has seen every conceivable variation on ascent type and style but no one (to my knowledge) has championed down climbing as a niche.

Why not? In a country like ours with so many sea cliffs and otherwise easily accessible crag tops it makes total sense.

In reply to DaveHK:

How much of the route are you allowed to jump or fall down without blowing the onsight?

In reply to Robert Durran:


The equivalent of the distance you can dyno in ascent.

Wasn't a famous Stanage route downclimbed before it was ascended?

In reply to Robert Durran:

None of it Robert. For routes you would down climb until you could step in a controlled fashion onto the ground. Bouldering would require you to down climb to a sitting position whereupon you would put your top on, suck smoke out of the air, unroll a ciggie and drive home in reverse.

In reply to jon:


Tower Ridge was too.

In reply to DaveHK:

"Ballad of the Idwal Slabs" records a historic down climb.....

In reply to DaveHK:

It's also a vital skill in the Alps. I very much learned this the hard way (terrifying retreat down Arbengrat in Force 7 gale was where I learned most!) and even at the end of my 4th Alpine trip, I still was not as good as I would have liked.

In reply to DaveHK:


I wouldn't champion it as a niche but I think it's an often overlooked skill in general climbing terms.
It can save you having to leave abseil slings and krabs or time descending easier ground further away for example. You never know when you need to reverse something if you decide you're going the wrong way.
You can even develop a sense of what can be descended facing out or in. If I concentrated more on the latter I wouldn't wear so many holes in my trouser a*se by means of many a 'drappie aff'.
I have to own up to logging a few climbs by down climbing them but I always declare 'in descent'.

In reply to DaveHK:

Its a useful skill and a good aid to building fitness indoors (and saves the knees bouldering) yet very few seem to do it (except the nervous).

In reply to DaveHK:

I used to do quite a lot of down soloing. It seemed safer than up soloing because climbing up is almost always easier than climbing down, so you rarely have to worry about reversing back to the top if you need to bail out.

In reply to Offwidth:


It is quite often done on those horrible auto belay things because jumping off is so frightening.

In reply to DaveHK:
Does this count?

Yesterday I climbed a brilliant high ball boulder problem, a string of difficult slab moves pushing me to the limit of what I could climb. High above a matless landing I kept was chuffed I kept my head cool through the intricate crux moves to finally pull on to the top of the boulder and at last, safety.

"Brilliant route!" I shout down to my mate. "What is it called?"

"Descent route." he replied.

Oh bollocks.

In reply to DaveHK:
An essential skill imho. Do a bit of it (as practise at least) most sessions.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:






Brilliant!

In reply to DaveHK:


I would never climb down - it's far too fluffy and should, in my opinion, only be used to fill sleeping bags.

In reply to DaveHK:

Nobody's championed down climbing as a niche?! You must've missed this.

youtube.com/watch?v=KsjWPfBeR6s&

In reply to bouldery bits:

Thanks

In retrospect a funny moment.

PS I did get down, I'm not still up there.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

Loved that- put a smile on my face after a trying day.....

In reply to DaveHK:
I can't remember the name of the route at this moment but I'm sure there's a route on stanage that to get the full tick you have to climb upright, climb upside down, down climb upright and down climb upside down. The name fat man's folly is in my mind but I don't think that's is. A friend got sandbaged on it by his now wife (for his first ever lead) and broke a rib in the process.

Edit: it wasn't Stanage it was birchen and the route is The Proprioceptive Octet.

In reply to Willi Crater:


Those of you saying it's an essential skill, I agree with you but that's not my point. I'm pondering why when someone says 'how hard do you climb' we say redpoint this or onsight that but never refer to out hardest down climb. Why isn't down climbing held in the same regard as upclimbing?

In reply to DaveHK:


Walk round to the top of Pavey Ark then climb down the face of it.
Let us know how much fun you have

In reply to DaveHK:


Because all climbing disciplines have evolved from the business of getting to the top of mountains.

In reply to DaveHK:

With descending you can usually use rope trickery to help you on your way (i.e. abseiling) and this feels natural as the most sensible way of passing a tricky section. But while ascending, yes you could lasso a spike or otherwise use aid but one tends to be limited by how far they can throw a rope. So generally one is less limited for options whilst descending and so doing it the hardest way (down climbing) seems rather pointless; this is rarely the case for an ascent.

In reply to DaveHK:

Hi Dave,

In the early days of rock climbing, climbers did record descents of routes. Harry Kelly used to put (a) and (d) after his routes in his diary. He was keen to both ascend and descend climbs. Descending climbs (sometimes solo, sometimes on a top-rope) was used to check out new climbs on occasions. Right Unconquerable at Stanage (down soloed by Byron Connelly before the first ascent) is the oft-quoted example. Hard to believe but Eric Byne stated in print that he witnessed it.

cheers

Graham

In reply to Graham Hoey:


Yes, I remember hearing long ago "So-and-so did the fourth descent of Vector" [wish I could remember the climbers' names, but it's long gone].

In reply to DaveHK: Not sure how relevant this is but I regard Right Angle as the only route I have completed by falling down it, specifically pitch two. In fact I have done this on the last two occasions but fortunately I was "leading" or first down both times. Studying the logbooks for this magnificent route, I am comforted somewhat by reading that I am not alone in this style of ascent. What I don't understand is having enjoyed anxiety free outings on RA some twenty years ago, once with an unknown fellow camper and once with my quite young son.