UKC

Hoping to do Savage Slit next month and was wondering if it's better to ab off or walk off ?

In reply to Badam:

Depends on what you plan to do with the rest of the day.

Walking out across the plateau is nice, going and doing Afterthought Arete or Final Selection or both is even nicer.

If you want to do another route in the same corrie then abbing off is probably easier.

In reply to DaveHK:
If you do ab the word on the street is to ab down the line of Prore to avoid getting your ropes stuck in the corner.

In reply to Badam:

We walked off when we did it, and thought the last pitch detracted from the route. Next time we'll probably ab, unless planning on walking over the plateau to get somewhere else.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:
I probably wouldn't bother with the final pitch. In summer it's a loose, scrambly mess and doesn't really have a huge amount to be recommended about it. In winter it's a nice end to the day if you've climbed with packs, but it's a long walk around to get the bags if you do leave them. The ab point is well extended (or was in March) to allow for an easy abseil down Prore (free-hanging for the last ten or so metres).

In reply to Cloverleaf:

Agree with this, the final pitch is out of character with the rest of the route and not worth doing unless you plan on finishing on the plateau so you can get elsewhere from there. There's an ab point at the top of pitch 2 which we used without issue, though we were careful with the ropes.

In reply to Badam:
ab off and get another route done. Its a long way to go for a short route. Its a scramble with two pitches and an ab off.

In reply to Badam:
Just to reinforce the point, if you ab off make sure it's well extended as the abseil block is well back from the edge.

It's usually well equipped but it wouldn't hurt to have 5m of tat with you in case you need it.

In reply to Aly:

I thought getting your ropes stuck was a right of passage for Lochain.

In reply to Aly:

We climb with 60 m half ropes, the guide book says it's 80 m route so just to clarify we'll need to ab to a belay then ab to the deck ??

In reply to Badam:

No, 80m is to the plateau. If you stop at the abseil point, it's just under 50m. So 50m ropes work fine for the abseil.

In reply to Badam:
As others have suggested, ab off.

Here's a little story for you all,

Did SS some years ago as a 3. It was a weekend so expected the route to be busy. When we got to it there was a solo roped aider on it (ok each to their own) so we get ready and start climbing the pitch below them. As we're at the first stance a couple start up the first pitch, and are moving a lot quicker than us so we let them pass at the stance (awkward for 5 but all done in good humour and no dramas). The aider has finished and topped out, the couple are a pitch ahead and we eventually finish the route (to the ab block).

There is now another couple starting up route, so to ensure we keep out of their way we redirect the slings away from SS, the first person then abs off with all the rope across their legs (rather than dropping them) and once down then holds the ropes even further away from SS and the other two also descend. You'd think this was ok right? Oh no! The Man-diva has a right meltdown at how dangerous/irresponsible this is blah blah.

I believe we might have got an unfavourable 'mention' on here in his log of the route! Hilarious! Will have to dig out the picture of the last person abbing we took.

So! Ab off but beware of crag princesses!

Enjoy