I like the full-length raps you get from doubles, and they are the only way to roll when climbing in a party of three. But, I always use them like twins - I have yet to find any real-world advantage for the complication of traditional double-rope technique.

I have been toying with the idea of a 6mm retrieval line and a single rope for two-person climbing where I want long rappels. There are downsides, but it seems like a nice middle ground - similar weight, but less tangle and complication when climbing.

I am with Kris on this one, I don't get the single 70m rope. It's a lot of rope, but if you really needed to do a long rap ... 60m.... you would come up short.

Also... with two 60m ropes, you can do a single 120m "escape rap" .... for a quick exit, if things go wrong.

I look at it like this, the term "Multi-pitch Trad" is really what we use to call "climbing". "Sport Climbing" is what climbers use to call "wanking off" ............

but it's still fun......

Dow Williams wrote:that is an excellent trip report!

This young lady's trip report never made the front page of SP last year? Wonder what the hell the criteria is?

I concur. Steph's trip reports are incredible. Some of the problem must be timing. It looked like she did a batch import of a bunch of reports from her web site all at once, and generally, unless you dribble content in once every two weeks submissions will be overlooked.

However, I'm sure she'll get a bunch of new ones this summer for our armchair mountaineering!

--Michael

charles wrote:

catullus wrote:Trad's there; they just broke it up into a few different categories: Alpine Rock Climbing, Mountaineering, and Big Wall Climbing. I'm not sure if "sport" mountaineering exists anywhere, but I sure hope not.

Why not?

Divide and conquer...

catullus wrote:I'm not sure if "sport" mountaineering exists anywhere, but I sure hope not.

I hear they're planning on bolting the entire Exum route.

mvs wrote:

Dow Williams wrote:that is an excellent trip report!

This young lady's trip report never made the front page of SP last year? Wonder what the hell the criteria is?

I concur. Steph's trip reports are incredible. Some of the problem must be timing. It looked like she did a batch import of a bunch of reports from her web site all at once, and generally, unless you dribble content in once every two weeks submissions will be overlooked.

However, I'm sure she'll get a bunch of new ones this summer for our armchair mountaineering!

--Michael

Unfortunately I have to say that classic technical routes, no matter how hard the effort we know they are to actually climb (compared to hiking) and then add the double effort Steph put into this unique trip report....the individual who selects the trip reports and route pages, simply is not attracted himself to such work. Therefore the climbing world in general gets lost on SP compared to MP even though we have some talented folks here.

Most of us simply don't have the time to peruse whats new all the time. I wish the individual who does take the time (and wants=key word) to administer this portion of the site, consider being a tad more diverse, particularly taking into consideration the effort involved in the objective itself, not just the page work like Steph put in here. SP would get a little better rep among climbers if this were to happen. Had a seasoned partner the other day tell me he did not know SP had any climbing beta whatsoever for Red Rocks, Zion or Moab! I laughed, but could not blame him. Actually we have been climbing together for years, so have myself to blame for that one.

Dow Williams wrote:
...snip...

Unfortunately I have to say that classic technical routes, no matter how hard the effort we know they are to actually climb (compared to hiking) and then add the double effort Steph put into this unique trip report....the individual who selects the trip reports and route pages, simply is not attracted himself to such work. Therefore the climbing world in general gets lost on SP compared to MP even though we have some talented folks here.

Most of us simply don't have the time to peruse whats new all the time. I wish the individual who does take the time (and wants=key word) to administer this portion of the site, consider being a tad more diverse, particularly taking into consideration the effort involved in the objective itself, not just the page work like Steph put in here. SP would get a little better rep among climbers if this were to happen. Had a seasoned partner the other day tell me he did not know SP had any climbing beta whatsoever for Red Rocks, Zion or Moab! I laughed, but could not blame him. Actually we have been climbing together for years, so have myself to blame for that one.

I feel like technical routes do get consideration, but it's really a timing thing. Basically on Sunday night, the good man up north takes a look at the top recent trip reports and mostly takes the top 3, occasionally doing some cherry picking for something he knows about or likes. In fact, I *believe* Steph's first ascent in the Pickets with Wayne Wallace was featured. I do agree with you that this impressive accomplishment wasn't chosen for the reason a knowledgeable climber would choose it (radar up...Pickets? First ascent? RUN THAT PUPPY!).

As summer gets here it'd be cool to have a thread or a constantly updated Article called "The Technicians" or something, where trad/technical climbers could highlight the things here that blow them away. If it works right, then the bumps/votes from the eyeballs garnered will often slot the TR into the top 3. But the front page could never be dominated with that approach. There is also an aesthetic search for balance going on that will bend down and pick up the flowery wandering across Norwegian tundra. But that's okay...I like being reminded there is a life outside microcams and belay stations