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Rope Length for Touring

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 london_huddy 04 Mar 2013
Off away week and I'm not to excited about carrying one of my old 50m 7.5mm icelines for 4 days and am seriously considering chopping it.

While shorter is lighter and lighter is better, my partner won't be too chuffed if I turn up with 5m of rope: I'm thinking 30m or 40m would be more appropriate. We don't expect any abseils on the route so it's hopefully insurance again crevasse rescue.

What's the prevailing opinion? Is 30m too short?
graham F 04 Mar 2013
In reply to hindu: chop it in half and carry 25m each. Otherwise you can be sure that if one of you skis into a crevasse it will be the one carrying the rope.

If your partner already has a rope then I'd go for 30m. Don't tell him it's your "old" ice line!
 DaveHK 04 Mar 2013
In reply to hindu:

The 2 guidebooks I'm looking through right now both say 40m. I'm going to chop my old iceline to this shortly.
 OwenM 04 Mar 2013
In reply to hindu: I and a lot of people I know carry a 30m x 8mm Beal Rando rope. These weigh in at around 1kg, there officially a twin rope so if you climb on it you're meant to use two together.
Most of the time in Chamonix I carry a 30m Tendon 7.9mm Ambition 1/2 / twin rope.

Most of the time your guidebook will tell you if you need longer than 30m for abseils.
 Dave 04 Mar 2013
In reply to graham F:
> (In reply to hindu) chop it in half and carry 25m each. Otherwise you can be sure that if one of you skis into a crevasse it will be the one carrying the rope.
>
> If your partner already has a rope then I'd go for 30m. Don't tell him it's your "old" ice line!

This is exactly what I'd do.

OP london_huddy 04 Mar 2013
In reply to graham F: Well, he'll have seen this thread...
30m it is!
 Swirly 04 Mar 2013
In reply to hindu: I take a 30 but I' considering getting a 40m.

2 weeks ago, if you read my heavily dog-eared and annotated guide to La Grave and the surrounding area you would have read the following sentence:

"Climb up 10 m to the ab (bolt in corner) 2x 30m ropes required, 2 x 40 better."

It now reads:

"Climb up 10 m to the ab (bolt in corner) 2x 40 m ropes required "

I'll leave you to fill in the gaps.
 AdrianC 04 Mar 2013
In reply to hindu: If you're planning to use a short rope for crevasse rescue then, if you haven't already, have a look at the Double Mariner hauling system.
OP london_huddy 05 Mar 2013
In reply to hindu:

Cotswolds had a 30m 8mm dry treated confidence rope for £35 today so I splashed out. Agree about refreshing being able to use an in-line pulley/double mariner when you've less rope to play with.

 OwenM 05 Mar 2013
In reply to AdrianC:
> (In reply to hindu)

have a look at the Double Mariner hauling system.

???

 Si 09 Mar 2013
In reply to hindu: I have a 20m rope (8mm Beal) for ski days on glacier where I don't expect to abseil and a 30m for days I do. Every other time we've had a longer abseil we just carry 50's. As someone previously said as long as at least two in party and you know how to use it thats more important!
 Aly 09 Mar 2013
In reply to hindu: I've always carried 30m of 8mm and that seems to be fairly standard. As long as two people in the party are carrying that it means that you can abseil 30m (more than enough for most pitches) and that the person with the only rope can't fall down a crevasse!
 AdrianC 10 Mar 2013
In reply to OwenM: It's on p71 of this. Useful if you haven't got heaps of rope to use for a drop-loop. http://www.petzl.com/files/all/en/activities/sport/tech-tips-mountaineering...
 OwenM 10 Mar 2013
In reply to AdrianC: Oh you mean a normal un-assisted hoist.
 AdrianC 10 Mar 2013
In reply to OwenM: Sure if that's your normal method. I was aiming my comment at people who've learned crevasse rescue in a climbing scenario where you tend to have more rope available it's worth thinking about how you're going to do it with less spare rope - that's all.
 OwenM 10 Mar 2013
In reply to AdrianC: Yes just not heard it called a double mariner before I thought it might be some other system that I'd not come across.
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