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Best way (is there one?) for cleaning draws off a route?

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tarzan420

Jul 31, 2002, 10:25 PM
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I've just started lead climbing, and am wondering, what is the best way to unclip the draws while cleaning the route? Unclip from the rope first, and the the bolt? or Bolt first, then the rope?

peace
aaron

jdean

Aug 1, 2002, 3:57 AM
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If you are on a slab or vertical route, it really doesn't matter. If you are prone to drop things, unclip from the bolt first, clip it to your gear loop, then unclip from the rope. If you are on the steep stuff, it gets a touch more complicated. That's where keylock biners and tramming down the rope come in.

M@

jammer

Aug 1, 2002, 5:32 AM
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I agree with jdean. Droping a quickdraw will not only place the equiptment in question, you might bean your partner, at least on a sport route. Not being experienced with trad, I assume that losing a draw half way through a climb would be even more serious.

Rock On!

climbsomething

Aug 1, 2002, 6:33 AM
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jdean's method is good for not dropping any draws- as far as I can tell, really one of the only sure ways to keep your gear together For less than overhanging stuff, you can also try just unclipping the rope end and leaving the draws dangling in the bolt hanger till you get on rappel/lower, and then cleaning on your way down- clipping the free end of the draw into a gear loop before taking it out of the hanger so as to keep it from hitting the ground, of course

crackaddict

Aug 1, 2002, 1:21 PM
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Best way (is there one?) for cleaning draws off a route? [In reply to] Report this Post Average: (0 ratings)	Can't Post

I think its best to always learn good habbits. Do it the right way the first time you know.

Always unclip the draw from the hanger first then clip it to your gear loop and then unclip it from the rope. This eliminates any chance of droping gear. And is a good habit to get into should you ever do any multi pitch, trad, or, bigwalls. Now overhanging sport climbs are gonna be imposible to do this. Do whatcha gotta do on them.
But for the most part try and develop good habits early and you and your partners will be happy.

rockclimberdude

Aug 5, 2002, 1:45 PM
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I have found that unclipping the draw from the rope tend's to work on some routes but when it comes to overhanging routes it's not the easiest way. On overhangs I like to clip myself into the rope with a draw as im going down so i wont have to worry about comeing off the rock. Then I usually just unclip from the hangar and unclip from the rope and put it on my loop's.

wonder1978

Aug 5, 2002, 1:59 PM
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I was wondering too about the cleaning business. I've had real trouble cleaning draws on overhanging routes, once I almost felt like leaving a draw behind. I'm still looking for an efficient technique to clean overhanging and roof sections, would be glad for ideas as well. Steve

hangdoggypound

Aug 5, 2002, 2:29 PM
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Overhangs: Unclip from the hanger and let the draw hang on the rope at your waist until you pull the roof and get to a stance to clip it to your gear loop.

It's not fool-proof, but it works well for keeping momentum.

wonder1978

Aug 5, 2002, 5:18 PM
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I'm not sure I completely understand what you mean by pulling the roof. when cleaning a big roof or overhang, I sometimes have trouble getting to the draws even with one draw clipped on the belayer rope and to my harness. Seems I always have to pull myself to the draw (and pull hard you know )then I have to fight like mad for the dam thing to unclip, there must be an easier way. I can hardly imagine Chris Sharma looking as dumbass as me trying to recover his draws
Steve

overlord

Aug 13, 2002, 12:57 PM
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try clipping onto the draw, then QUICKLY unclip from the bolt. unclip the rope first offcourse.

i usually unclip the rope first and the bolt. i find it easyer that way.

CLIMB ON

danl

Aug 13, 2002, 1:10 PM
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There is a BETTER WAY...on routes like giant man where the route is so severely over hung retrieving draws is a royal pain in the a$$. It is some times better to run a lap on top rope then rap off.

If you insist on lowering off and getting your draws a couple of ti blocks and some slings go a long way in simplifying the matter.

Although the best way is still to do a lap on top rope.

stevematthys

Aug 13, 2002, 5:33 PM
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if the route is overhanging a lot then you could have your partner second up to clean the route and then both climbers rap down. just like what us trad climbers do.

traide

Aug 13, 2002, 6:01 PM
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I was once taught an awesome trick that greatly simplifies cleaning...

Try clipping a draw between your belay loop, and the belay side of the rope. This keeps you no more than a draw's length from the rope at all times, and makes it much simpler to clean.

mind you, this only works when you are cleaning on your way down, but hey, that's about 90% of the time for me.

bouldertoad

Aug 25, 2002, 8:50 PM
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The tip of clipping a biner from your belay loop to the lead rope is a good one. Another good idea would be to rappel down the route and have the person on the ground help guide you into the rock. They can even perform a fireman's belay if need be. Another thing that will greatly help is to buy Keylock style biners for all the tops of your draws. By eliminating the notch the biners come off the bolts much easier. And now BD makes the mass well as petzl....

rocknalaska

Aug 26, 2002, 10:49 AM
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This goes back into bolting a route, but what I've done when bolting steep routes, is to add a rap ring to a bolt about halfway down, that way cleaning is much easier. Clean the top half, reset the lowering station, then continue cleaning.

Otherwise the best way is to clean from the bottom up on overhanging routes. Use a daisy and pull on the draws.

Todd

interruptor

Aug 26, 2002, 11:07 AM
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Unclip it from the rock first then the rope, EXCEPT for the first one (first going up, last when cleaning). If you take it of the rock first and drop it, it might spin down the rope and your belayer will have no chance of getting out of the way. And a helmet will be no good if the stupid thing hits him sideways while spining. Trust me, i've seen it happen! (ouch!)

mtnjohn

Aug 26, 2002, 11:48 AM
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Best way (is there one?) for cleaning draws off a route? [In reply to] Report this Post Average: (0 ratings)	Can't Post

I can't believe how many responses you got to such a silly question!
UNCLIP IT FROM THE BOLT!
I think we've disected climbing to levels far below where anyone could have expectd them to go!
While I'm here,
Do you climb better tying your right shoe first or your left shoe?

aelita

Aug 26, 2002, 12:08 PM
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interruptor's got a point though. I've seen so many people unclip the last(first from the bottom) draw from the bolt first and then drop it. Most of the time things worked out alright, but once the belayer got his hard enough that the metal cut his scalp right below the hairline and there was a lot of blood (he was wearing a helmet too, but the thing was spinning). I see a lot of people unclipping the last draw from the bolt first and that IS unsafe.

Climb hard and safe!

bouldertoad

Aug 26, 2002, 7:12 PM
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"This goes back into bolting a route, but what I've done when bolting steep routes, is to add a rap ring to a bolt about halfway down, that way cleaning is much easier. Clean the top half, reset the lowering station, then continue cleaning. "

Maybe I am misunderstanding you but it is not a safe thing to lower off of one bolt. If there is an actual 2 bolt belay set up then that will be fine but to lower off of one bolt is asking for trouble...Never trust your life to a single anchor regardless of its condition.

topher

Aug 26, 2002, 7:41 PM
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ok yes you shouldnt use one bolt as your only pro, but how many times has this happend you clip the first bolt and then your at the crux, and you fall on that first bolt alot, and wait there is only one pice in there, and your taking lead falls on it not just body weight.

I have seen steep sport routes with a middle rap station before and i think its a good idea. that or climb with people at the same level and have them clean the route like when trad climbing.