Abseils

[Graham]

Anybody know anything much about Multi Pitch Abseils? A few of us out here are thinking of going up the Old MAn of Stoy sea stack and would like a way of getting off without losing too much gear in the proccess. It should be a good day out so it'd be a shame to fall off and die because we misread a "climbing for dummies" manual

[excited newbie]

I wouldnt feel bad at all if you died.

[mitchleblanc]

I would. And I don't know much about multi-pitch abseils except bring two ropes, and saving a $5 nut and a $5 biner isn't worth dying over, even if excited_newbie wouldn't care.

[PaulB]

Anybody know anything much about Multi Pitch Abseils?

They're pretty much the same as single pitch rappels, except you do two or more of them!

A few tips:

- Don't take yourself off rappel until you've got yourself anchored into something. Using an autoblock below your rappel device will help if you need to free both hands to get anchored in.

- If you're rapping down the same way you climbed up, take the time to build rap anchors as you go up. It'll speed things up a lot when going down.

- Take some pitons and a hammer if you think they would be useful for building anchors. Otherwise, be prepared to leave bits of your rack behind.

- Take lots of webbing or static cord to leave behind as rap slings. If it's a popular route, buy some rap rings (2 per anchor) or some quick links (aka maillons) so that others can re-use your anchors.

- Cut away old webbing or static cord that's outlived its useful life.

- Two ropes can speed things up, but only if the logical or convenient places to build anchors (i.e. ledges) are more than 30m apart.

[Graham]

Ace! Thanks for the advice. With anyluck it should all go down smoothly. Pardon the pun.

[mike]

one other tip Graham...

study up on z- or 3:1 haul systems. If your rope gets stuck as you pull it, a 3:1 system with 2 people pulling on it will (in my experience) always get it down. check the rope for damage afterwards.

UIAA is now recommending an overhand knot with a long tail (say 1/2M) rather than a barrel (double fisherman) be used to join 2 ropes... this knot is better at rolling out of cracks.

Mike