Faster rappelling in the Gunks

I climb with a 70m 10.2 and at no point over the last 5 seasons have I ever noticed it's weight being a factor in anything I've done. Sometimes thin does not equal light and thick does not equal heavy.

The more important number when worrying about weight isn't the mm, it's the lbs per meter.

I also timed a hike off last season and I can safely say that for me, who doesn't know the upper cliff well, rappelling is considerably faster than hiking out, then hiking back. I also don't enjoy carrying a pair of shoes on my harness so I'll continue to use the rappel stations and deal with doing multiple rappels. As noted along with the comment from rgold about one of the negatives with linking pitches is that you lose some of the multipitch practice that the gunks are great for, walking off instead of rappelling also loses some of this.

Rob D. wrote:The more important number when worrying about weight isn't the mm, it's the lbs per meter.

Weight per meter is not magic, unless one company has such a superior process, most ropes of similar generation will basically weigh within a half pound per similar length/diameter. The difference is rarely more than a few grams per meter. In fact probably within 2g per meter.

70x2=140g or just over 1/4lb.

But going to a 9.2mm rope will save pounds vs ounces. Well, almost 2lbs. 1.7 to be accurate.

I'd argue the fastest method to get from climb to climb is to not have packs to go back to. If you make a base of operations, you waste time going back and forth to it. Rack up at the car, have the follower carry a small pack with lunch and water, and bring a pair of light descent shoes for each climber.

Then you can happily jaunt from climb to climb. If you want to check out the areas toward the uberfall go ahead and walk off. If you want to stay in the same area way down the cliff rap down. Learn the upper cliff, the walk offs, and where the rap stations in the area are. (The trapps app can be a big help for this).

If rapping, have the leader untie at the top, clip in with a sling,thread the rap rings, tie a stopper and pull the rope through the rings and coil the rope as you belay. When you get half way make a new stack. When the follower arrives have them clip in direct, untie, put in a stopper, and start lowering their end (you don't even have to flake this half of the rope because it's stacked either way).

The leader can either throw of lower their end depending on wind conditions and how clear the line below is.

When at the next station the first to rap can clip in direct, untie the stopper from both ends, thread the rings, retie the threaded end's stopper, and watch the other end for his partner. Follower arrives, clips in and undoes his device. Leader pulls rope through rings while follower pulls the free portion of the original rap. Repeat above steps until down.

efficient rope management >; rope length.