UKC

Worth carrying for multiple abseils? Or not? Any thoughts?

In reply to nickinscottishmountains:

Too heavy, leave some tat instead.

In reply to nickinscottishmountains: If you find you get ropes jammed often, or are paranoid about rope cutting through tat (see innumerable other threads for that agrument in-depth), or expect to rap off bolts (in the UK?) or nuts, then they are cheaper than leaving 'biners. I carry a couple bail-biners all the time, but that's because I like the jaggly sound. Basically, not essential, but sometimes may be nice.

In reply to Ductape: Yeah, that's basically how I look at it. Maybe I'm too much of a cheapskate to leave krabs..

In reply to nickinscottishmountains:

Agreed those things are a bit heavy, but if you anticipate baling out from well documented British rock, requiring multiple abseils and abandoning gear, may I be as bold as to suggest that you look somewhere else for routes with a level of difficulty / seriousness that reflects your ability. If you genuinely get in to trouble and have to leave some gear to escape safely, so what! Abandoning gear is a damn sight cheaper that a life.

There was a time, not many years ago when I would regularly carry home made pegs, sacrificial polypropylene slings, and cheap shackles purchased from a hardware store, for baling our from places we decided it was better not to be, or from the tops of routes where an abseil descent was preferable to a long walk over loose and unstable ground.

This was, however, in the UAE, where we were developing new routes and new crags, and where dangerously loose rock ahead often forced a hasty retreat from our chosen line. (There were also no gear shops, so conservation of one's rack was imperative.)

In reply to nickinscottishmountains:
Remember you can get the smaller ones which are lighter. I've encountered the bigger-than-HMS size which are pretty heavy, a medium size which is still well-strong but not so heavy and the really small 250kg ones which I threaten to use on customers at work for a joke ; )

In reply to Alan Stark: I was thinking more for, say, multiple abseil approaches to winter climbs eg Aonach Mor type of thing. Are they that heavy? The non-HMS (parallel sided ones) weigh next to nothing.So more for anticipated leaving of gear than emergency/out of comfort zone stuff. Agreed about cheaper than life etc.