PEAK HIGH Mountaineering

Many long routes, and in particular on big mountains, are not particularly hard from a technical point of view. As an example the very spectacular Standard Route of Mponjwana Peak in the Drakensberg is 10 pitches long, but the hardest move is only about grade 15. What makes this peak a formidable climb is its length and complicated route finding. The speed at which a climbing party operates will determine whether they reach the top and get down again safely, not their individual technical climbing skills.

The gear
Here are some tips about how to climb really fast. Help save time firstly by not carrying heavy rucksacks. Keep emergency overnight gear and food to an absolute minimum. Remember that if you spend the night out you need to stay alive and not in the lap of luxury. Save time by having the whole party stop at the start of the rope work and sort everything out once and for all before the climb begins. Much time can be wasted by people calling a halt to adjust straps, tighten boot lasses and put on sun-cream on some wild and exposed stance. The rucksack must be packed with the food and foul weather gear in an accessible place, harnesses adjusted correctly before roping up. Place your snacks in the pockets of your clothing where it can be reached easily. To save time eat snacks while waiting at the stances while the leader is climbing.

Climbing calls
When the leader finishes a pitch and shouts “off belay”, immediately sort the stance out and generally get ready to climb. This is so that as soon as the “climb on” signal is given, the pitch can start to be seconded. Most mountain routes have long meandering pitches and there could also be a wind blowing. This can cause communication troubles between belayer and second. Small, in-expensive radios can easily be carried and can make a huge difference.

Sack-hauling
If at all possible, avoid sack hauling as this can cause much frustration. Try to get used to climbing and even leading with a climber’s rucksack on.

The pitches
On easy to moderate multi pitch routes, always try to alternate the leading to save time. (On hard routes that are burning you out, leading can be done in blocks because it allows the leader to rest while his second comes up. Alternating will mean seconding a hard pitch then going straight into leading another one).
When seconding a pitch, rack the gear you take out onto yourself as you will want it for the next lead. Arriving at the stance with a muddled-up bunch of gear that then takes a half hour to sort into a lead rack is far too time consuming. Also remember that, if in a party of 3, you might as well remove the gear from the third man’s rope as well, (unless they need it for protection in the case of a traverse). In parties of 3 or more, or when only one person is doing all the leading tie into the stances with either slings or a cordelette. This frees both ends of the ropes and makes the change-overs easier. It also makes more rope available to run the next pitch with.

Join pitches
Lastly: time can be wasted by having to scramble or walk between the end of one pitch and the start of the next. So instead of stopping your lead at the proper stance, carry on running the rope out to the actual start of the next pitch. This will mean one less situation where ropes have to be resorted. Many old classic routes were climbed with short pitches by today’s standards. Often these can be linked into a single pitch.

The Route Description
Make copies of the description and topos or photos of the route for all members of the party, so they can read them easily even if they are leading at the time that they need them.

Improvised Abseils = abseiling off temporary belay points in order to get off a mountain.

Firstly, spend time setting up a good belay point. Find a good solid bollard of rock, well wedged chock-stone or a sturdy tree. In some cases, it may be necessary to use pitons or other trad gear. Use a sling or Abseil tat to tie around the belay tree etc. Abseil tat is a thin piece of certified semi-static rope which you tie in a loop with Double-fisherman’s knot. Then take the climbing rope and thread this directly through the abseil tat. Make sure that both ends of the rope reach the ground or the next stance below. Always tie the bottom ends of the rope together to prevent being able to accidentally slide off the end. This is particularly important when the ends of rope cannot be seen, such as can happen at night or in bad weather.

If using two Half ropes to abseil with, they must be tied together using either a Double fisherman’s knot or a well-dressed Over-hand knot. Before starting the abseil make a note of which colour rope to pull in order to retrieve them at the end. When abseiling on ropes which are joined, it often works best to place the knot on the outer side of abseil tat, which causes it to flick outwards and away from the cliff as it slides though and thereby helps prevent the end from snagging. This also helps the rope from jamming in the abseil tat when pulling the ropes through.

When planning a climb, always read the route description and find out how you will descend. If it requires abseils, find out how many and from what sorts of anchors. Most route guides will show this information. It is usual to take with about 2m of abseil tat per abseil and a knife to cut it with. Always put your own new abseil slings onto an anchor, even if the ones left behind by other parties appear to be strong. The abseil points on popular descent routes are often easily seen and there is plenty of old tat hanging from them.

An improvised abseil from a block with lots of old “tat” already in place. (Wadi Rum in Jordan) Note the orange sling which is connected to the backup anchor and will be removed later.

Many peaks require multiple abseils to get down, usually abseiling from one abseil point to the next.

The following sequence works best.

1) The first person to abseil must carry spare abseil cord, and a pocketknife to cut it with. As soon as they are down, they test that the rope is running easily, by pulling the correct colour to see if it moves. If it does, the person then starts to set up the next piece of abseil tat. They should be finished by the time the rope is ready to be pulled. Remember to always tie the ends together to make sure the first one down cannot abseil off the ends if they have not touched ground. They must of course also have prussic loops at the ready. Or even safer, abseil with a “Deadman’s brake” prussic in place.

2) If the abseil ends conveniently at the next belay point, the first person down can immediately thread the “pull down” rope through the abseil point. This saves time in that the rope, when pulled down is already threaded correctly and is less likely to become entangled. As a safety measure after threading, the ends can be retied together while the rest of the party comes down. The reason for this is because if the abseil point above fails they will take a huge fall but eventually get stopped by the new abseil belay point. This simple back up has saved more than one climber’s life!

Usually, the most experienced person would abseil first. Or if the anchor is of suspect strength, then place a temporary back up which does not take any of the weight but would hold the load if the main anchor failed. Then get the heaviest person in the group to abseil first! The lightest person goes last and before starting, removes the backup. (The backup is often an expensive cam which cannot be left behind.)

Tip: Place reflective tape on the ends of your rope. This makes the ends easy to find and can be found at night under torchlight.