Ropes:- Given the abs on descents I'm assuming that doubles are the way forward? 50's enough or is there any benefit from using 60's eg.running pitches together if poss.- What's the best way to manage them at the belay. We've had suggestions of coiling into bags (Ikea of course) but I just picture more faff and a potential tangled mess. Another suggestion was overhand knots onto a crab every 10m or so, taking care with the coil length.
Belays, how to be efficient and swap over quickly:- I'm assuming most Dolomites belays are bolted/pegged, especially on the popular routes. Do people climb with a permanent sling/crag for clipping in or attach ropes?- Swapping gear, I've previously attached it to an easily accessed sling or something whilst belaying (with a reverso of course),
Leading: block or alternating, pros/cons- Block has the advantage of a built in rest after every pitch rather than climbing 2 in a row, and possibly less swapping gear faff?- Alternating easier for rope management?
Comms, assuming the voice doesn't carry well (like at Swanage this past weekend) how do people deal with that. My current method seems to be wait for too long and then struggle to get the rope out of the belay as it's pulled through.
Food/Water: This is basic stuff but I've never had to fuel myself for a potential 10+ hour climbing day.- Clif/Nakd bar type things or is more variety better, or is a simple nut/fruit mix combined with something more solid occassionally better, (and certainly cheaper).- 2/3 litres of water sufficient? This might be a more personal thing but I can see me ending the day slightly dehydrated with that amount.
Dolomites specific:- Anything helpful to avoid route finding/descent mistakes? We're looking at the obvious targets such as Hasse Brandler, Comici, Cassin and something on the Tofana.- Something on the Marmolada's been suggested as a nice-to-do, does it require crampons/axes to exit to the cable car?
We just looped coils over the front of our harnesses. Taking bags sounds like a right faff. Hanging belays are in the minority. Most of the time there will be ledges to stack ropes.
I've never quite understood the appeal of block leading as, in my mind, it complicates the rope management. We alternated leads and it seemed to work fine.
Carrying that much stuff may slow you down. When we did the Comici we took 2 litres each, a couple of chocolate bars, some spare clothes and put it all in a rucksack which the second carried. We were really slow! Or more specifically, I was really slow. I wasn't prepared for how much of a pain climbing with a rucksack was. We then did the yellow edge a couple of days later with the same set up and bumped into a guide who literally laughed at the amount of stuff we were carrying. He suggested we need only take 1 litre of water each (clipped to your harness) and stuff chocolate and cereal bars in our shoes (also clipped to your harness) and dispense with the rucksack. So this is what we did on the BH and it worked really well. Going on the 0% chance of precipitation for that day we didn't even take waterproofs. We put our head torches on our helmets. I'm really paranoid about dehydrating and usually drink loads of water but 1 litre was fine on the cime grande. You're obviously on a north face, so there's no sun and, being in the mountains, it's quite cold.
Route finding on the BH is easy provided you go far enough left on the pitch which starts off to top of the obvious small pinnacle you climb at the start. A tip on the Comici is to take the right dihedral of the two on the second half of the climb. You'll know what I mean when you get there. The Alpine club Dolomites guidebook really bigs up the descent off the cime grande but a load of abseil stations have gone in since the publication of the guide book and the descent is actually really straightforward. There is even a point where someone has painted a massive arrow on the rock to send you down the correct gulley!Route finding on the vinatzer/messner is really tricky. We were really lucky in that we had some friends climbing in front of us and just followed them. We took one axe between the two of us for the glacier but I don't think it is required. We took trainers and strap on spikes similar to these which were fine for traversing the glacier. We missed the cable car and slept in the cable car station. It was grim and I wouldn't recommend it. Better to walk down to the road and bivy there, even if it is dark, as it was when we topped out!Hope this helps and have a great trip!
p.s. i think we may have climbed together at Raven Tor a couple of years ago if you're the Iain I think you are. Feel free to give me a ring you want any more info. Duncan.
If the abs are short are single's feasible? What do the euros use on routes like this?
From my point of view it's more thinking about having to do 2 crux pitches one after the other, and block leading has a built in rest rather than having rest time where no one is moving up. It does increase the faff factor though.
IainThe route finding on the descent from Cima Grande is not completely trivial, have a good description of this. We scrambled down nearly all of it.
On the subject of light shoes, Duncan mentions Evolv Cruzer. I agree. 430g for a pair (42); throw away the insoles to get them down under 400g. AFAIK Evolv's shoe is the only light-weight shoe with climbing rubber on the market (5.10 is testing a model that hopefully be out soon. Evolv could take some competition in this bracket). As a comparison the guide tennie is 820 g for a pair, so the difference is about as much as a camalot 5 (with biner).
Duncan mentions Evolv Cruzer.
Lately I have been in the habit of putting socks on while belaying. Probably looks very eccentric ...
Sounds like you need to gain some experience till no time is wasted by belay/gear/rope faff. Most people start off way to quick. Big dreams. Hasse/Bandler.
- Beware of thunderstorms, and/or shitty Italian forecasts.
I cannot believe 5.10 discontinued the Daescent.
Quote from: habrich on August 11, 2015, 08:04:52 pmLately I have been in the habit of putting socks on while belaying. Probably looks very eccentric ...Only if you combine with the other IO's penchant for climbing in pants.Quote from: HaeMeS on August 11, 2015, 06:55:25 pmSounds like you need to gain some experience till no time is wasted by belay/gear/rope faff. Most people start off way to quick. Big dreams. Hasse/Bandler.Re:dreams guilty as charged but not inexperienced, just slow and an obvious weakness to address and practice before going out.Quote from: HaeMeS on August 11, 2015, 06:55:25 pm- Beware of thunderstorms, and/or shitty Italian forecasts. Any forecasting site recommendations?Good work Fultonius! I was checking Duncan's Fairly Long, Moderately Hard ... thread yesterday and you'd mentioned wanting to do it on there years ago.
Cheers. If you have a good forecast I don't think you need to be superfast on the BH. We were behind 2 other guys and our hand overs were swift but not Nose-In-3hours fast. We used http://www.dolomitimeteo.it/en/ not perfect (we got rained on twice when no showers were forecast and sun when rain was) but it seemed the best of the bunch!)Whereas on the Vinatzer Messner Marmolada you have to be fast fast fast.
The purpose designed wall packs like the Petzl Bug generally seem over-featured to me - too many straps and widgets. I have a ten litre £10 Decathlon minimal day pack that I think is near perfect.