What would you do I'm considering on roping Nadie and me on routes as those in the title. But knowing that rope teams of two members are not recommendable I don't know if we should do it on such glacier routes in Mont Blanc Massif, Valais or Oberland Bernese routes. Another thing that I'm considering is a helmet, I think that we should use it on routes having rock passings in poor condition. Would you use it even on glaciers and exposed snow cornices

(Sorry for my bad English, I've already corrected that paragraph)

Definitely carry a helmet, even on glaciers, because rockfall from higher cliffs is a serious issue. I have traveled on routes that would probably be PD (Sloan Peak?) with two people. The biggest thing is to make sure both people have prusiks attached to the rope, a chest harness on at all times, and know how to prusik out of a crevasse.

Building a hauling system if a climber got injured, however, could be quite a challenge, and a z-pulley (3:1) is near impossible with only one person to simultaneously hold an ice axe arrest and set up an anchor. C-pulley (2:1) should be achievable though.

It's all a matter of personal choice, just like whether or not to rope up for 4th class (sorry for the YDS.)

-Mark

Thanks Mark, don't worry, I've understood you. What type of rope would you use for that I should buy one so I'd need to know trademark and length. Would it be sufficient with a 30 m / 8-9 mm one

I've been thinking about this a lot recently as I will be climbing as part of a 2 person rope next year and I'm used to 4.

We've both figured that basically making a decent hauling system is going to be almost impossible and we're gonna have to hope that if one of us did take a fall, we'd be able to prussik out.

Make sure you're good at prussiking up a rope, carry at least one ice screw each so if you do have to stop a fall and there's good ice about, you can hold a fall on an ice screw and possible go about setting up a pretty crappy hauling system.

Oh and a helmet is a must. Not on big wide open glaciers, but anywhere with even the tiniest chance of rockfall, a helmet can save your life.

Helmets are cheap too.

I know

Heaving

Hopefully I've never fell into a crevasse. Nadie has never trode a glacier

Perhaps you should take a course in glacier travel and rescue so you have the required skills. Fred and I have always climbed as a pair, even on glaciers. The more popular Mont Blanc routes for the most part are so busy, that most crevasses should be exposed or known, although you still need to be careful and know what to do in case one of you go into a crevasse to help someone else if they do.

Definitely use a helmet - cheap insurance.

I didn't know that Nadie is my wife

Moni wrote:Perhaps you should take a course in glacier travel and rescue so you have the required skills. Fred and I have always climbed as a pair, even on glaciers. The more popular Mont Blanc routes for the most part are so busy, that most crevasses should be exposed or known, although you still need to be careful and know what to do in case one of you go into a crevasse to help someone else if they do.

Definitely use a helmet - cheap insurance.

Thanks Moni, if we do that travel next summer we'll be extra careful but I'd bet we won't take any courses before

sjarelkwint wrote:http://www.summitpost.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=46255

I asked this question half a year ago ... Might be interesting to read the replies ...

Our difference in weight is around 20 Kg but here I've found a good manual:

https://www.usap.gov/travelAndDeploymen ... Manual.pdf

Diego Sahagún wrote:But knowing that rope teams of two members are not recommendable I don't know if we should do it on such glacier routes in Mont Blanc Massif, Valais or Oberland Bernese routes.

I wouldn't say that two-person rope teams are not recommended. Many climbing teams, including my wife and I, move in this fashion. The only recommendations I could give is to put the climber with the stronger rescue skills at the back end of the rope and tie several knots (alpine butterfly) in the rope between the two climbers. Chances are the lead climber will be the one falling in to a crevasse and having knots in the rope may help arrest the fall if the rope digs in to the crevasse lip. More info can be found here:

http://www.petzl.com/files/all/en/activ ... eering.pdf

Wich rope (thickness and length) would you use for that* Shouldn't we use two ropes

I'm thinkig on those 30 m ropes:

http://www.bealplanet.com/portail-2006/ ... do&lang=us

*Two big climbers on F to PD+ routes in The Alps