UKC

Reading the description to the angels girdle at wintours leap and it makes reference to back roping. ive heard of back clipping but not back roping. can anyone shed any light on the matter.

want to climb it tomorrow and would like to know what it is before i get any nasty surprises.

cheers

In reply to stvredmond:

put simply it's where you have two ropes between the leader and the second. The leader does the pitch (usually traverse) and makes an anchor. The second then leaves some tat as an anchor before starting the pitch, leaving one of the ropes going from them through the tat to the leader. The leader takes in one rope while paying out the other so that the second is suspended between the two ropes should they fall rather than taking a big swing.

At the end the second unties from one rope so the leader can pull it through (or v.v.) and you lose the tat.

In reply to Scarab9: So thats what doing that is called. cheers for the clarification on that one. Ill remember to take a small amount of tat with me now.

In reply to stvredmond:

The point at which the back roping is required is at the end of a traverse to the right and there is a down climb.

1. The leader goes over, quickdraw onto the ring and then has to down climb. Sets up belay just around the corner.
2. Second comes over. Before the downclimb, remove quick draw, thread bite of rope through the ring.
3. Tie figure of eight on the bite, crab onto harness. Undo orginal knot.
4. Second down climbs, effectivley being top roped.

Make sense?

It's a well worth girdle. Just be get there before or check there are no others climbing up first

In reply to Simon Pelly:

As you say.
There is (at least a few weeks ago) a krab on the in-situ tat (attached to a bolt) for you to back-clip into.

To the OP; arrange your signals beforehand, and/or shout loud - the belays are a long way apart, with an arete in between.
Also, use your longest ropes, as the length needed is quite long.
Plus the second will have to untie the back rope at some point (and either be on only one, or ensure that you retie the back rope - don't loose hold of it until you've fully undone the knot !), as even with a 60metre, you won't get all the way to the belay.

In reply to stvredmond:

Steve, there is a maillon on the thread just after you leave the belay so no tat need be left if the second unties the rope and threads it through.

The best place for him/her to retrieve the back rope is after downclimbing the arête and moving rond to the right, where there is a good platform and a peg. By this time leader and second should be able to communicate OK. Done like this 50m ropes are quite adequate.