simpson wrote:Edit: short roping is mainly a guiding technique.

That certainly seems true. It also seems to be more common in Europe than elsewhere. I'm guessing (1) greater use of guides; and (2) more people who want to hurry up a mountain from a hut (most famously, the Matterhorn), which tends not to be an option in North America.

I ran across this:
http://www.amga.com/images/misc_PDFs/ne ... g_3_09.pdf
which is what sparked the question.

The SP forum that I still can't find had referred to this:
http://www.rescuedynamics.ca/articles/p ... ing201.pdf

FWIW.