Removing Trad gear from an overang

Hey dear climbing volks, 

my name is Tim, I'm from Germany and I have a trad project in Teneriffe, Spain. With this project I have one big major problem, it's overhanging on semi good rock and it hasn't been climbed yet. So I'm looking for a first ascend but the problem is removing the gear. How can I retrieve nuts and slings from an overhanging route ?? I know to remove Quickdraws but nuts is anotherthing because I may need two hands. 

I'm pleased for help  Tim

Guten tag Tim!

Clip it to a runner. Clip the runner to anything that isn’t under tension (or that you’re relying on to catch you). Remove the nut with one hand. If it falls out while you’re poking at it with your nut tool, the runner will catch it. 

The clarify, you can even place another piece nearby so you can clip in direct to that, pull the difficult piece, then pull what you just placed. Ultimately, if it's too steep, just follow the pitch and clean it. Also, lower off, and don't try to do this on rappel.

J.Frostwrote:

Guten tag Tim!

Clip it to a runner. Clip the runner to anything that isn’t under tension (or that you’re relying on to catch you). Remove the nut with one hand. If it falls out while you’re poking at it with your nut tool, the runner will catch it. 

What do you mean with runner ?? What piece of gear is that that I may not know ?  

You might want to plan on leaving a permanent/ semi-permanent anchor at the top so you can lower off. That way you can pull gear at will.

Runner is a synonym for Sling.

you could also have someone follow the climb to pull the gear

Tim Schlemmerwrote:

Hey dear climbing volks, 

my name is Tim, I'm from Germany and I have a trad project in Teneriffe, Spain. With this project I have one big major problem, it's overhanging on semi good rock and it hasn't been climbed yet. So I'm looking for a first ascend but the problem is removing the gear. How can I retrieve nuts and slings from an overhanging route ?? I know to remove Quickdraws but nuts is anotherthing because I may need two hands. 

I'm pleased for help  Tim

I have done this many time by reverse or back leading the roof.  You may actually need to place more gear before you take gear out.  Place a piece you can hang from and reach out to clean the nut.  Back climb, place another piece and repeat until you are off the climb.  (Downclimbing sketchy terrain is kind of my thing.  lol)

Anchor your belayer down once you send.

As you lower off clip a draw from your belay loop to the belayer side rope.

As you lower basically you follow that rope as you lower off.

Jay Wongwrote:

Anchor your belayer down once you send.

As you lower off clip a draw from your belay loop to the belayer side rope.

As you lower basically you follow that rope as you lower off.

It's too overhanging for that, there would be too much tension and ropestretch for this method. Also I dont want to put this kind of tension on the trad gear as the load angle is diffrent lowering than falling.

Tim Schlemmerwrote:

It's too overhanging for that, there would be too much tension and ropestretch for this method. Also I dont want to put this kind of tension on the trad gear as the load angle is diffrent lowering than falling.

?

Thats how it works, if no one is following. Lol. Is there a whole line of Booty out in Spain somewhere waiting to be found?

This is the route for everyone who is curious. 

The red rock next to te black on both sides is not climbable, way too bridle. The black stuff is ok approximately half way I guess after that it also get quite loose I guess.

If you reach a piece of gear you need to work on with both hands, unclip it from your rope so it isn’t tensioned, clip it to yourself or back to your rope with a long sling so it’s not tensioned but won’t get dropped, hang on the piece above. Depending on where the next piece is, you might need to place a new piece right above, hang on your belay or go into it direct. Remove the problem piece. Continue upward, repeat. 

A common practice on steep Southeastern gear-protected single pitch climbs: Lower off after leading and either you or your partner run a top rope lap to clean the gear. Simple.

I still can't comprehend your concern about "rope stretch" and "tension". How does a rope stretch once it's under tension?

Matthew Jaggerswrote:

I still can't comprehend your concern about "rope stretch" and "tension". How does a rope stretch once it's under tension?

It's always stretching a bit and I had the problem before that if I get lowered down and I'm clipped to the rope from my blayer that I ended up lower than my quickdraw because of the overhang. As soon as this happens the rioe stretches more ang gets more tension.

nbrownwrote:

A common practice on steep Southeastern gear-protected single pitch climbs: Lower off after leading and either you or your partner run a top rope lap to clean the gear. Simple.

As far as I heard from several others thats probably the only solution....

Tim Schlemmerwrote:

It's always stretching a bit and I had the problem before that if I get lowered down and I'm clipped to the rope from my blayer that I ended up lower than my quickdraw because of the overhang. As soon as this happens the rioe stretches more ang gets more tension.

You just need to do it a couple of times to get the hang of it. If you go too far, you can always pull yourself back up with the belayer's side. When you do get the hang of it, you just stop when you know you're at a good spot to pull yourself back in, and you'll still be slightly above the piece. After a couple of times, you should notice a pattern of where to stop lowering. You're over-thinking this whole thing. You can clean horizontal roofs if you had to. Based on the pic, this line doesn't look that bad to clean while being lowered  if you had no follower. Will it be as easy as a vert wall? No. 

Because the rope doesn't look problematic to clean, I'd say, just lead the route, build an anchor. While lowering, self lowering or rappelling clean what you can. While cleaning, keep in mind that you will re-climb on toprope to clean the remained of the gear, so leave anything in place will be protecting a nasty swing. During top rope clean the rest, then either walk off or leave something suitable to rappel from. 

Noel Zwrote:

Because the rope doesn't look problematic to clean, I'd say, just lead the route, build an anchor. While lowering, self lowering or rappelling clean what you can. While cleaning, keep in mind that you will re-climb on toprope to clean the remained of the gear, so leave anything in place will be protecting a nasty swing. During top rope clean the rest, then either walk off or leave something suitable to rappel from. 

Yeah, as from the other answers and my experience this will be the best way. Thank you