UKC

Hi everybody!
Been using single rope for a while now, and had a couple of goes with doubles which seems very common sense stuff so I am sure I will get the hang of it quite quickly. I have only practised it on the routes that I am used to though, which are obviously very "single ropey". I am based at Nottingham. What would you say is going to be the closest crag / route where I can practice double rope and actually experience the benefit of them rather than just be somebody climbing a single rope route with two ropes?
Thanks in advance for suggestions!!!

In reply to Scruffy:
If you are using the double rope correctly you should get benefit in nearly all Trad routes.

The rope drag is reduced, this makes a massive difference if you have gear off to the sides, which is common for Trad routes. This also means you are less likely to pull out gear through rope drag.

If you only have a single rope you can't really place two bits of gear from the same stance (same height) if they are not really close together as you will make the rope weave really badly. Often as you approach a crux you will want to play two pieces so this is a real problem.

If you fall while clipping the rope you still have the other rope without all that extra slack.

If you fall the swing is limited by having a rope each side of you.

There is redundancy in the case of a rope failure (eg sharp edge).

When setting your belay you can connect one rope to one piece of gear and the other to the second, avoiding having to equalise so many strands.

They are lighter than having to carry the same length of single rope. You are going to need that double length for abseils (eg 35m route, you would need a 80m single for the abseil but a pair of 40m half ropes is long enough and lighter).

Which of these applies to your crag?

In reply to Scruffy:
Before you get "double ropey" leading it, best to make sure that your second is also "double ropey" belaying for you and doesn't take their hand away from one rope to pay out the other. I have seen this more times that I would care to count standing on the ground.

In reply to Scruffy:

....and don't be tempted to think clipping both ropes through the same gear is good, 99% of the time its a bad thing. All it does is makes your nice stretchy low impact rope into something much less stretchy massively increasing the load on the gear you clipped both ropes into. Yes if a rope failed then you would still have the other clipped through the same piece, however gear comes out/fails regularly, ropes fail......not very often i.e I have never had it happen, seen it happen, or climbed with anyone who has had it happen in 40 years, but gear coming out - lots.