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tsilcyc
Jul 13, 2005, 2:39 AM
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Registered: Jul 13, 2005
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I've read the posts that suggest finding a good leader but what about if you don't know anyone. So far I've managed to not doing anything completely stupid and remain as safe as possible while doing something that is inherently dangerous. :P For my next trip, I will attempt to lead a 5.3 multi pitch route which I could probably walk up. This is how I learn without a leader and still remain safe. I've read the John Long books and various others and have learned how to build safe anchors, place gear and have successfully lead a 5.6 trad single pitch route. I do have questions regarding some things that I haven't seen covered very well IMHO.
1. I lead, I setup a belay for my second, how do I manage the rope? I've seen some things about using your feet but I can't imagine not creating knots in the rope. Any tricks here?
2. I build an anchor and tie into the anchor as well as belay from the anchor. On my last expedition, I had a ledge to belay from and just threw my daisy chain around a tree. Is there any reason to have both the climber and the belayer tied into the anchor or is that just to save gear. Or perhaps to have the anchor weighted in the appropriate direction???
3. I have one rope but I've read about people using two "single" ropes. I'm assuming this isn't a requirement but are two ropes advised once I break out of the big time 5.3 and move into bigger climbs?
4. Any other advice you can give other than the obvious like wear my helmet?
5. How come the "Check Spelling" button returns a typo on "belayer"?????? Rhetorical question. :)
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dgkula
Jul 13, 2005, 2:59 AM
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Registered: May 6, 2004
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Best advice: save your money and hire a guide for a Saturday of leading to show you the ropes.
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steve-o
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Jul 13, 2005, 4:00 AM
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I'll take on some of your questions, as I had alot of my own when I first got into trad, even after reading JL books and the like.
Concerning rope management: if you've got a ledge big enough at the belay, obviously just stack the rope in a pile. If not, then you use whatever you're connected to the anchor with to coil the rope over. You should either be connected to the anchor with the rope on a clove hitch or something like a Metolius Personal Anchor System which is what I use alot. You are facing the rock and you have either the rope or webbing going from you to the anchor so just start coiling the rope over this, one loop on one side, then one loop on the other, and so on. A good trick is to make your first loops very long and all subsequent loops alittle shorter. The rope will pay out much easier if you do this. Once your partner has joined you, the rope is ready for him to climb. If your leading the next pitch, you can hand the rope coils to your partner - you'd have to untie from the rope and switch with him or you can just use a sling to hang all the coils on the wall and pay it out from there.
On a side note, I usually always belay from a Petzl Reverso directly off the anchors when my second is coming up, then off my harness if he's climbing above me. Make sure you know exactly what your doing if you are doing this, there are pluses and minuses. When your partner joins you, you show him where he can clip into the anchor.
You asked about using two single ropes: I think the most common reason people do this is when a route goes from side to side severely and they want to limit rope drag and load their pieces better. I've been doing trad for awhile now, and haven't had to do this yet. Just worry about one rope for now, using two on lead gets tricky and you really have to know what your doing. If I'm doing a single pitch trad route and I know I can get down with one 60 meter rope, then that's all I take. If the pitch is too long to get down with one rope (one rope doubled of course, a pitch over 100' in length would require two ropes to get down and be able to pull your ropes, 60m = approx 200') then the leader will take a "tag" line up with him, usually with the end clipped to the back of his harness. This is very common on towers and multipitch climbs. Don't have your 2nd bring up the second rope cause if it gets stuck as he's trailing it then your outta luck. If your the leader and you brought up a tag line (which you can also use to bring up a backpack or something tied to the end of it) then that should be the first rope you pull up after your connected to the anchors. Remember the sling trick if theres no ledge. Then pull up all the slack in the rope that your climbing on, connect it to your belay device, and bring up your partner.
Talk to anybody you see who's climbing trad. Look at the gear their using, how they're using it. The more you do it, the faster, safer, and easier it'll get. But 100 feet off the ground isn't the place to figure out whether you're doing it safely.
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