Shortroping is a range of techniques that cover the use of the rope toprotect and give confidence to members of a party on scramblingterrain. The techniques employed depend on the difficulty of theterrain and the competence and experience of the party.

Thetechniques are an extension of those used in alpine environments andprovide climbers with a compromise between pitching the route (safe,but slow) with the speed of moving un-roped (fast, but potentiallydangerous). Short roping also has the advantage that by dividing theroute into smaller sections there is better communication, less ropedrag and less danger of the rope knocking down debris.

Shortroping involves shortening the rope by wrapping coils around the bodyand then tying them off so that between 2m and 20m of rope connects theleader to the rest of the party. The amount of rope out depends on theterrain and the techniques being adopted. At one extreme confidenceroping on exposed, but non serious terrain will only need 1m-2m of ropeout whilst at the other extreme hard, sustained sections of climbingmay need up to 20m of rope out in conjunction with belays and leaderplaced protection.

Short ropingcan be used in both ascent and descent and is normally deployed onterrain that is exposed and where the consequences of a slip are bothserious and possible. It is most often used where the route has groundthat the party feel competent climbing interspersed with shorttechnical sections or the odd hard step the party staying roped-upalong the whole route, but adjust the amount of rope out and theprotection techniques according to the relative difficulty of theterrain.

Short roping requiresconstant re-evaluation and needs good situational awareness and anability to change techniques quickly and safely. This is quite a skilland the ability to make the judgments about which technique to use andwhen only comes with practice. It is all about correctly matching theteams ability with the section of route at hand and choosing anappropriate rope technique.

Oneasier terrain take chest coils so that there is 10-15m of rope betweenyou and then take small, neat hand coils so that there is 2-3m of ropefree between members of the party. There should not be too much rope inyour hands a good guide is that if you can not close your hand aroundthe coil then you are holding too much rope. The most capable climbernormally goes in front and the team move together at a speed whichkeeps the rope off the ground, but which does not restrict movement. Itis vital that there is no slack in the system and that the hand coilsare locked off to prevent any slip becoming a serious fall. Onmore serious and difficult terrain where you want some protection orwhere both hands are needed to make progress, but where all members ofthe team still feel confident that a fall is unlikely you need to use adifferent system. This involves dropping the hand coils and climbingsimultaneously, placing runners in the rock as well as weaving the ropearound natural spikes and blocks to give the team members protection.It is recommended to have at least three pieces of protection asrunning belays on the rope at any one time and as the seconds remove apiece of protection the leader places another one. Once again all theclimbers should move at the same speed and avoid any slack building upin the system.

On moredifficult sections where a fall is quite possible then you will need torevert to pitching the route until easier terrain arrives. It may benecessary to extend the rope, but try not to have more than about20-25m paid out between the climbers – treat these sections asmini-climbs by taking proper belays, placing runners as required andbelaying as normal. Once again try to keep the pitch lengths short andutilise natural anchor points such as spikes and blocks this willmake communication easier, the rope will most likely run straighter andpitches can be done quickly and efficiently

Allthese techniques require each climbing partner to make judgments on themove and should be practiced in a safe learning environment beforebeing used in the mountains for real.

Rope Coils for Scrambling

There are several ways to set up coils soft lock or hard lock and high or low.

Softlocked coils are easier/faster to adjust for length, but there isserious risk of the coils tightening under load this can beuncomfortable at best or but has also been known to impede breathing.Thus it is recommended to always use hard looked coils

Whenshort roping on glaciers high coils (sternum level) should be used asthis high anchor point will help keep you upright if you fall into acrevasse, but in a scrambling situation low coils are best as it iseasier to hold falls with the anchor point tied off low close to yourwaist.