Using 'Fixed Ropes'

Big mountains usually have sections of what we call fixed ropes. It is usually easier to equip sections of the mounatin with rope that is secured in place, than to have people climbing together either Alpine style or swinging leads. The Alpine approach is a very pure way to climb a peak - but if one person needs a bit longer to acclimatise then it can jeopardise the summit success of that team of 2 or 3 climbers. It is also generally slower which may have implications about success or otherwise too.

Hence fixing ropes - which then allows individuals, or small teams, to move about the mountain and develop individual itineraries according to how folk are feeling, whether they want to rest, push ahead, team up with another person etc.

When used properly they are a very safe way for people to protect themselves - when used improperly or when ignored then you can only imagine what the consequences might be.

There are a whole range of methods that you will come across for dealing with fixed ropes. Every method has its pros and cons (some methods only have cons and you will be amazed what you see people doing in the name of safety). I have developed a system over the years that most people are able to comprehend and use and it works for every situation that you may come across. The key here is to keep the system simple and versatile. It can be picked up by even the most inexperienced novice but I would always advise that you already have a certain level of understanding about climbing and abseiling techniques. Learning skills is all very well, but putting them in to context has got to be better.

Equipment that you need:

o A harness

o A belay device with big slots to ease rope threading and a big retaining loop to lessen the drop factor - Petzl Reversino, Revereso and Reverso3 as well as the Black Diamong ATC Guide are recommended.

o Also a Figure of 8 (check out the Wild Country Super 8 which is currently available for £6.99!).

o Cow's tails - I use a 4 metre section of 9mm dynamic rope.

o 5 x locking Karabiners. HMS / Pear Shaped Karabiners preferred due to ease of use with gloves on and wide gate opening (but NOT the DMM Boa - they don't fit through the holes in the jumar). 'Autolocking' style karabiners are NOT recommended.

o Ascenders (jumars): I would recommend handled ascenders. You need to make sure that you can get a gloved mitt in to the handle area though so don't go overboard with the mitts. Some of the fixed ropes that you come across on these big mountains are quite thin so it is best to steer clear of the likes of Petzl Tiblocs. The dropability of small devices like the Wild Country Ropeman makes them unsuitable too.

o A pair of thick gloves or mitts.

GENERAL

Cow's tails - I use a 4m section of 9mm dynamic rope. I put an overhand knot on the bight in the middle to allow me to larksfoot the cow's tail on to my harness at the tie in area thereby dispensing with the need for a karabiner (less weight) and I know that once it's on it can't come undone. I then have a knot tied in to the end of each arm of the cow's tail to allow me to have a karabiner permanently attached, one of which I can then have the jumar on for ascending. That way I have 2 attachment points which allows me to jumar up and pass rebelays along the way. I can then use both arms for clipping in to the ropes with karabiners when descending.

On one of the 'arms' I have an additional loop (created by another overhand knot on the bight) about 6 to 8 inches from the end. This I then use for my abseil device when coming down. Why not use the belay loop you may well ask? Well there are 2 reasons - firstly is that with all that down clothing on it can get a bit busy and difficult to visually make sure that everything is attached correctly and secondly it means that if I want to back up the abseil with a prussik then I have a high attachment point and I can then put the prussik on the belay loop rather than the leg loop. Photo to follow.

GOING UP

Info to follow shortly.

GOING DOWN

There are a couple of ways that you may wish to descend. There is a delicate balance between speed and safety that needs to be considered. If you abseil every section of fixed ropes then you may well find it getting dark, which means that you will be more tired after a long day and you will become slower still. In the darkness you may find it more difficult to discern where the route goes and you are more likely to make errors. So whilst safety is paramount, speed does become a safety issue. 10 seconds here and 20 seconds there will soon become an hour. An hour by day will become 2 hours at night.

So ...

1. When the angle is slight (and this depends on your threshold as to what you consider to be acceptably slight) and you can see the next anchor (or you can remember that the route doesn't suddenly get unexpectedly steeper) you can use your cow's tail karabiners and both hands (gloves a must). Photos to follow.

2. When the angle becomes steeper (again this depends on your threshold as to what is steep) and you can see the next anchor (or you can remember that the route doesn't suddenly get unexpectedly steeper) you can use your cow's tail karabiners and an arm wrap (again - gloves a must). Photos to follow.

3. When it becomes steeper still then we might use a prussik and the cows tails to back up the arm wrap (this is a very grey area and must be approached with caution. The prussik IS NOT for you to abseil with. It is there being kept open by one hand and is there as a back up if things get a little out of control). Photos to follow.

4. Lastly - we are in to full on abseiling (either with or without a prussik as a back up depending upon your ability, whether you can see where the route goes, whether it is dark, whether there are other people around or there is a danger of rock fall or you accidentally losing control of the rope). A belay plate is great BUT they do tend to kink the ropes and since the ropes are usually(!) attached at the bottom end this means that a great messy snake can develop towards the bottom anchor when descending or abseiling.

A better alternative (addition) is the good old Figure of 8. The unfortunate thing with a Fig of 8 is the dropability factor especially when wearing big gloves or mitts. So it can be used as follows - have the LARGE hole hooked on to your abseiling karabiner. Thread the rope through the Large hole and over the top of the fig 8. You can then remove the fig 8 from your abseil karabiner safe in the knowledge that it is now attached to the rope. Invert the fig 8 and clip the small hole back in to the karabiner and abseil as normal. You could even miss out the inverting stage BUT this is not as safe as there is a possibility that the rope could potentially come unlooped if you brushed against some rocks whilst the rope is unweighted. Photos to follow.

Passing anchors in DESCENT

Firstly I advocate always using both karabiners that are on the arms of your cows tails. You may well see other folk just clipped in with one karabiner, but this means that they will possibly have to compromise their safety at any rebelays or when passing anchors. I know that it only takes a moment to transfer the karbiner - but it only takes a moment to get hit on the head by a stone and lose control. What are the chances of that? Well put it this way, the chances of winning the lottery are 13,000,000 :1 and you know what? Someone wins it almost every week.

However, what you can do is attach the karabiners in such a way that they don't necessarily need to be done up (10 seconds here, 20 seconds there - becomes an hour and an hour by day becomes 2 hours at night). Here's how ... clip one karabiner with the gate down and the other karabiner with the gate up. It's not rocket science and, if in doubt, or if you are particularly concerned about the next section, then by all means do them up. But, by clipping one facing up and one facing down then the gates are opposed and you are highly unlikely to unclip yourself from the rope.

Anyway, you need to approach the next anchor, make yourself comfortable, look up to see if there is anyone or anything above you (if there is then you may want to wait for the person to move or keep a close eye on what they are doing). Decide what method you are going to use for descending the next section and if it is the trusty hands on or arm wrap then clip one karabiner past the anchor and then clip the other karbiner past the anchor, remembering to keep with the 'one up one down' rule of thumb, and continue on down to the next anchor.

There are occassions when you may want to clip in to the anchor itself, for instance if you need to negotiate past the anchor with a tricky move or long step down. In which case one karabiner can go to the anchor loop (you must check its integrity first - are you clipping into a closed loop or is it just the end a bit of rope that has frozen in to the ice?) and leave the 2nd karabiner on the upper rope. Once you have moved down and are in a comfortable position decide how you are going to descend the next section. Clip the 2nd karabiner past the anchor and then clip the 1st karabiner from the anchor and on to the rope (one up one down). If it is particularly tricky then you may well want to apply your belay device / fig of 8 whilst clipped in to the anchor to then be able to negotiate the next section.

If you are abseiling then it is usually best to transfer the belay device / fig of 8 before transferring the karabiners. Once transferred I usually stand up a little and take some rope in through the belay device / fig 8 (enough so that the cows tails are nolonger loaded), sit back on it and check that it is threaded properly, do a 2 cm abseil (making sure that you don'tload the cows tails) and check everything is running properly and orientated correctly and then (keeping the device locked off) transfer the karabiners (one up one down). If there is any chance that you could slip or lose control at this stage then this would be a good time to apply a prussik for the next descent.

To be continued...