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tready
May 3, 2008, 9:28 PM
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What do you do if you're climbing and get stymied by a particular route? Maybe your eyes were bigger than your stomach, your "guide book" is 10-15 years old and you jumped on the wrong route, whatever the case may be. I generally climb with people who are better than me, so usually this isn't an issue as one of them would most likely be able to top out. However, I'm going on a short trip this week with a friend of mine who isn't all that great, and I was planning on trying some stuff that is right at my level/a little above.
Now I know a lot of places you could just lower back down, grab your draws, climb something easier, go over and rappel down, and grab your gear, but assuming there isn't really good top access, are there any tricks to minimize the loss of a draw? To some, losing $20-25 might not seem like a big deal, but for a very recent college grad, every little bit helps!
I had a conversation a while back with a very seasoned climber who told me back in the day when he was climbing hard he used to girth hitch a small piece of webbing to the bolt, put on a beaner he didn't like, and lower off that. I may be misrepresenting him because I was pretty tuned up at the time of this conversation, but that is what I remember. I then talked to someone else who said I could just clip a beaner in and lower off that. Any ideas? Or do I just have to offer that particular draw up to the climbing gods as a sacrifice for my noobishness?
I know, I know, the easiest way would be to just suck it up and not bail, but just in case...
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Gmburns2000
May 3, 2008, 9:41 PM
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Honestly, I've just down climbed. I'll take the piece out and go down assuming that my last piece will catch me if I fall. I can't imagine that my approach is the best approach (especially if you can't see the belayor or you are run out above the crux), but I've never left gear and don't usually get on stuff that I can't either get up or back down on.
I'm actually interested to know what folks do, too, if they don't leave gear.
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vegastradguy
May 3, 2008, 9:51 PM
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depends.
you can-
downclimb- can be dicey depending on the climb.
leave a draw- expensive.
leave a biner- probably the best option.
do the texas rope trick- leaves nothing behind, but only works if you're less than 1/3 of the way through your rope.
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tready
May 3, 2008, 10:07 PM
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What exactly is this texas rope trick? Granted, I don't think I'd ever try something that involved the word "trick" when trying to get off the side of a mountain, but it sounds interesting.
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AlexCV
May 3, 2008, 10:32 PM
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I believe he means using the remaining rope to rappel with.
The standard thing to do here is to leave a quicklink (3$ for a peguet/petzl one here.)
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roghman
May 3, 2008, 10:55 PM
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Yeah, just buy a few quick links and always keep one on your harness. Got me off the wrong route once.
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AlexCV
May 4, 2008, 12:37 AM
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roghman wrote: Yeah, just buy a few quick links and always keep one on your harness. Got me off the wrong route once.
Heck quite a few of my friends haven't needed to actually *buy* any quicklinks in a while. If you can do the harder routes at popular sport crags, you'll clean your fair share of them...
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lukasmaquenso
May 4, 2008, 1:16 AM
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i think the best option are the quicklinks....i always have one in my harness
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lobstertronic
May 4, 2008, 1:26 AM
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Another small trick you can use if you're carrying a good length of cordo/webbolette is:
Thread the untied cordolette through the ring bolt.
Even the ends up, and tie an overhand close to the ends.
Clean your highest quick draw, and down climb/lower hand-over-hand on the cordolette
By the time you reach the end of the cord you'll be at a more comfortable distance to the next bolt.
Untie the overhand. Pull one end of the cordolette.
Down climb or drop onto the next draw. Thread the cordolette through again.
Lather, rinse and repeat.
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tready
May 4, 2008, 1:27 AM
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AlexCV wrote: roghman wrote: Yeah, just buy a few quick links and always keep one on your harness. Got me off the wrong route once. Heck quite a few of my friends haven't needed to actually *buy* any quicklinks in a while. If you can do the harder routes at popular sport crags, you'll clean your fair share of them...
Hehe, well if I were climbing the harder routes at crags this probably wouldn't be an issue for me ;)
But points well taken, off to buy quicklinks on Monday!
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vegastradguy
May 4, 2008, 3:43 AM
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dont leave a quicklink- they just create a nuisance for the next guy.
carabiners are cheap, and, once you've been climbing long enough, you'll have an extensive collection of booty carabiners-- just carry and leave one of those and you'll be out nothing and annoy no one.
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pentapitch
May 4, 2008, 3:45 AM
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if you happen to be climbing by the sea or a crag which was bolted way back in the day, the single bolt you escape off of may, i repeat may, be dicey.
i agree with other posters that you should leave a biner instead of a quicklink to make life easier for the next climber;
but i would add that to be safe, leave two bail biners on the two highest hangers.
i have RAPPED, NOT LOWERED off a single, new stainless steel glue in and felt perfectly safe.
but some of places i've climbed overseas have shallow and/or old bolts. two biners (especially ovals) are much cheaper than a trip to the ER.
also, cheers to all the other posters for not being wankers and making derogatory comments about your question which is too frequent on rc.com.
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jmeizis
May 4, 2008, 4:35 AM
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What's the big deal about leaving a quicklink. Just clip the quicklink instead of the bolt, Someone enlighten me?
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tready
May 4, 2008, 5:03 AM
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Ok. I definitely see the cons to using a quicklink. That never would have occurred to me either. At least not until I encountered a rusted out one and found myself wishing awful things upon the person responsible for the said 'link. Thanks for the heads up. I can shell out an extra $2 to ensure no one hates my guts because I couldn't get to the top of something.
And while I don't own any of my own trad gear, if I were in a similar situation on a trad route and was facing losing a $70 cam, I think I'd stop to take into account if my insurance deductible had been met, make a mental note of where my belayer was in case I needed a more padded landing, remove my piece, and start down climbing.
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overlord
May 4, 2008, 5:51 AM
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jmeizis wrote: What's the big deal about leaving a quicklink. Just clip the quicklink instead of the bolt, Someone enlighten me?
a) most are not certified
b) most rust. that not only means that they are a realy PITA to remove, it also means that you cannot really trust them to clip your draw into them
c) you really shouldnt clip the link instead of the bolt. it will completely reorient the draw and while this doesnt matter on overhanging terrain, people usually dont bail there
d) YOU have gotten in over your head so dont be cheap and ruin the experience of someone followin you. learn to pay for your mistakes.
as for the mexican rope trick. its quite easy to do, once you understand it. i suggest going to climbing mags home page and searching the tips and tricks section. they had a really nice quide on how to do it.
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timd
May 4, 2008, 12:22 PM
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2 words: bail biner
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snaffel
May 4, 2008, 1:06 PM
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Learn how to use a stick clip then you could get to the top and try it again on top rope get the move down and then red point the route.
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tomcat
May 4, 2008, 2:15 PM
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You can just leave all your draws and call it your"project".
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Myxomatosis
May 4, 2008, 11:16 PM
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The fear of loosing my bail biner always makes me climb a little harder 
There's always someone else climbing harder than you... sometimes you luck out and they will fetch your gear back for ya.
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jt512
May 5, 2008, 12:46 AM
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jmeizis wrote: What's the big deal about leaving a quicklink. Just clip the quicklink instead of the bolt, Someone enlighten me?
What's the tensile strength of a hand-tightened quick link of unknown quality?
Jay
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jt512
May 5, 2008, 12:48 AM
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tready wrote: What do you do if you're climbing and get stymied by a particular route?
Stick clip to the top, and work the route on TR. Otherwise, leave a bail biner. Never leave a quick link or webbing on a bolt.
Jay
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jt512
May 5, 2008, 12:49 AM
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timd wrote: 2 words: bail biner
4 words: Thanks for the biner.
Jay
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potreroed
May 5, 2008, 5:05 PM
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Quicklinks, even cheap ones, are stronger than God--trouble is there are no quality control standards in their manufacturing process sooo...you never really know if you might be using one from a bad batch.
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markc
May 5, 2008, 6:01 PM
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tready wrote: What exactly is this texas rope trick? Granted, I don't think I'd ever try something that involved the word "trick" when trying to get off the side of a mountain, but it sounds interesting.
A link to my earlier description of the Texas Rope Trick. You want to make sure you're doing it right, or you could:
a. rap the pull line and screw yourself up.
b. screw up the pull and girth hitch your sling to the bolt.
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