UKC Forums - 30m rope for Tower Ridge?

30m rope for Tower Ridge?

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KeithAlexander 10 Jan 2013

Wondering if I could get away with a 30m rope for Tower Ridge - when I did it before (with a 50m), I remember a lot of coils, and thinking 30m would be perfect for most of it, but not sure if there are enough good belay stances to do the Great Tower with just 30.
Anyone tried it with a 30m?

anaesthetic 10 Jan 2013

In reply to KeithAlexander:

I was wondering similar just last night, trying to decide whether to get a 30/35/40/50m "triple use" rope for this kind of scrambling & easy climb mountain day.

butteredfrog 10 Jan 2013

In reply to KeithAlexander:

Would imagine that nobody used more than 30metre ropes in the old days.

oliverk 10 Jan 2013

In reply to KeithAlexander:

When I did Tower Ridge, we used a doubled-up 60m half rope. This was fine, although I did take a bit of time to find a belay at the end of the eastern traverse as the rope wasn't quite long enough to reach the proper belay.

James Edwards 10 Jan 2013

In reply to KeithAlexander:
As i remember 40m is ideal for guiding, where i use around 5m of rope at an end for 2 people so 35 ish would probably be ideal. Assuming you know where the belays and such are that is.
James

Rich W Parker 10 Jan 2013

In reply to KeithAlexander:

30m just about does the GT, but it's a bit of a stretch. If there's more than 2 on the rope then def not. 40 will be just nice.

AlH 10 Jan 2013

In reply to KeithAlexander: I find a 30m fine and use it when working all the time except when its plastered with snow/the cracks are really icey when another 10m is useful. Of course if you did have to retreat for some reason that is a lot of 15m abseils...

Al Walker 10 Jan 2013

In reply to AlH:

> Of course if you did have to retreat for some reason that is a lot of 15m abseils...

Here endeth the lesson

AlH 10 Jan 2013

In reply to AlH: All the time is a poor choice of words.... often would be better (subject to weather, knowing the group, the conditions and a number of escapes I can use with a shorter rope!).

Billhook 10 Jan 2013

In reply to KeithAlexander:

You aren't going to be saving much weight with a shorter rope and you've less options re belaying/ abseiling etc.,

You don't need much in the way of gear. From my diary I can see I only used 2 or 3 larger rocks, a couple of long slings and the rope for belays.