UKH

Hi all,

I'm planning on doing some harder multi-pitch climbs this summer and would like to climb these on a single rope then haul up a day bag (climbing rope being dynamic, hauling rope being static).  Many of these climbs require an abseil in so I was planning on abseiling in on my ropes as if they were half ropes.

Does anyone have any experience abseiling on a static rope along with a dynamic rope, both of 60m length?  I'm unsure how it will work with rope elongation and differences in friction.

Thanks,

Ali

Have you considered using a lighter weight haul line of 6mm or so, which would be plenty for a day sack? Then you could use it as a pull line for retrievable single-rope abs.

If the diameter of the static and dynamic ropes is similar it'll be totally fine. The stretch difference won't be very noticeable unless you have an unusually static static and a very stretchy dynamic. Can buy a slightly longer static than dynamic if you're worried.

If you're wanting to use a skinny static cord (e.g. Petzl Pur Line, Edelrid Rap Line, just a bit of normal static accessory cord) then you'll want to be more careful about abseiling normally on them. Probably you'll end up using the skinny static as a pull line/tag line. This is more annoying than normal abbing with two ropes, but works fine and isn't loads slower. There's lots written about it elsewhere on the internet. Worth making your static pull/tag line 5-10% longer than your dynamic rope, it won't be being weighted on the abs, so won't be stretched atall, whereas the dynamic will stretch 5-10% ish.

Look up methods on blocking the rope at the anchor. This will effectively mean you can abseil on just the static and use the dynamic as a pull line.

If I was doing big trad lines in the UK, I would probably want a pair of half ropes.

However, in true UKC style: Do you really need to have a haul line? Unless your big walling, then most people get by with a few snacks and water in a small bag carried by the second.

On long steep routes it seems to be increasingly popular for the leader to haul a small bag on a lightweight static using a microtrax or similar and do the climbing on a single. I suppose you can also use a half rope for the purpose if you want the option of climbing with two halfs.

If I were to go and try something steep in the dolomites (e.g. comici or brandler-hasse) I'd consider having the leader haul the bag on the steep pitches, would certainly make life better for the second on the hard pitches.

Hi all,

Thanks for the tips.  The routes I'm looking at doing are in the Calanques/Verdon with some pitches near my max onsight grade so ideally looking to not climb with a bag but still have plenty of water snacks etc along for the ride.  I've been doing this so far with two dynamic ropes but I'm aware I'm quickly damaging the tag line with the hauling so looking at different options.

The abbing on a single with a pull line does seem an attractive option, not something I've done before but perhaps time for some research.  Although good to also know there's nothing too much to consider with the abseiling on static and dyanmic, if I do decide to go down that route.

Ali