PEAK HIGH Mountaineering

• It’s all about management of belays and ropes and fellow climbers.
  Climbing long multi-pitch routes require different techniques and sequences depending on the total numbers of people and the numbers of lead climbers in a rope. Often on multi-pitch climbs, there is lots of time wasted, because members do not understand how to manage the belays.

  General skills
  – It is always inefficient for a lead climber to arrive at a stance and use the ropes to build the belay anchor, as this means that the ends of that rope cannot be used by others in the party to lead the next pitch. It also means that members have to do a lot of untying and retying of ropes and clipping on and off with cow’s tails or slings. In most cases there must be at least 2 x cordellettes per party, which are used to build the belay anchor with a Master-point. It is onto the Master-point that the entire party belays off or clips to when waiting to climb. The ropes then are never used to build the anchor, except in the first instance shown below or when the final pitch is reached.
  – In climbing parties of 2 climbers where both will lead alternative pitches, the belay anchor can be built out of the ropes.
  – In a party of 2 climbers where only one person is doing the leading, carry 2 x
  cordellettes to be used at each stance to build the belay.
  – In parties of 2-4 people with one or more lead climbers, the person scheduled to climb the next pitch, is always the first person to second the pitch, and as they climb, they must remove the protection, and as far as possible place it on their harness, already racked for their lead. This saves time at the stance before the next pitch.
  – If in a party of 3, the first seconder can remove the protection from the third man’s rope, unless it is needed for protection in the case of a traverse.
  – All lead climbers must start their pitch with a cordellette rolled neatly up and carried on their harness, ready for the next stance.
  – In the case of multi-pitch Sport climbs where 2 bolts form a belay or abseil station, instead of a cordellette the party can use a 120cm sling to equalise the belay between the bolts and belay from the Master-point.
  – All the lead climbers can carry a copy of the route description, so it can be studied before each pitch or even while climbing. This saves time as the group seldom goes off route and the stance is put in the correct place.
  – In the case where a pitch ends on a wide ledge and the next pitch starts a few metres away, the lead climber can simply walk to the next stance and belay from there.
  – On many climbs it is possible to link short pitches together in one long pitch and thereby save time.
  – Where it is possible and safe to do so, the leader can bring two seconds up at the same time, climbing one behind each other. It is best in these situations using a “Reverso“ type belay device in the “Guide Mode”.
  – Depending on the nature of the climb, keep rucksacks as small as possible.
  – Try to avoid rucksack hauling, as it is a very time consuming way to climb.

For more information on a course like the MDT Multi- Pitch Supervisor Course contact gavin@peakhigh.co.za

Reducing a dangerous Fall Factor.
Firstly we need to understand what a Fall Factor in the climbing context is and why it can be a danger on multi-pitch climbs, that have semi-hanging or hanging belay stances. It would not be so important on routes where each pitch starts from a big ledge. Briefly, a Fall Factor is a simple calculation of how much force a climbing rope absorbs during a leader fall. Take the distance a climber fell above the last running belay, until the rope began to absorb the shock load, divided by the length of rope between the belayer and the leader.

Example 1: a climber fell 4m and was 8m up the route. 4 / 8 = 0.5
Example 2: two climbers high up on a stance. The leader climbs up 4m and has not put in any running belays, then falls off. That is a total of 8m, yet only 4m of rope was in use. 8 / 4 = 2.
This second example is the highest Fall Factor a leader can take and it puts huge strain on the system. (The rope is best discarded).
Even a Fall Factor of 1.7 can be cause for concern. This kind of force impacting a belay stance could even cause it to rip out, especially on ice climbs or sketchy Trad protection. The simple way to get around the danger, is to place protection immediately above the stance and then again soon afterwards. On Sport climbs, the bolt station can be clipped as the first running belay.
Safe climbing!

For more information on course like the MDT Multi-pitch Supervisor contact gavin@peakhigh.co.za

We look at how to lead traverse pitches. What’s safe, what’s efficient and what works best when protecting the Seconder/s. These guidelines are particularly important on Trad routes but can also be used on Sport climbs.
The main factor is the number of people seconding each climbing pitch.
Firstly on traverse pitches with 2 Seconders, do not simul- climb them, as there is a very real chance of a rope being cut in the event of a Seconder falling.
The Leader, when coming to a hard move, should place protection. Then after doing the move, the Leader must place more protection, to safe guard the Second doing the hard move. A common error!

So going from the the most simple to the most complicated.

-2 climbers with 1 Single (Full rope) – leader clips the rope through all the running belays.
-2 climbers with Double ropes ( 2 half ropes). The Leader can either clip the ropes
alternatively (this is best) or through the same karabiner at each protection. Remembering that when 2 half ropes are clipped to the same running belay, the Impact Force almost doubles on that point in the event of a leader fall, when falling from above. BUT on a traverse, due to the pendulum effect, the force on a runner is seldom more that approx the 1.5 times the weight of the climber. This explains why sketchy protection actually holds if the Leader or Second takes a fall.
-3 climbers with Double ropes (2 x half ropes). One Seconder on each strand. The
Leader then clips the “first” Seconder to the outside of each runner, making it easy to un-clip. Also making sure no ropes are crossed over as they do so.
For more information on course like the MDT Multi-pitch Supervisor contact gavin@peakhigh.co.za