Tips for moving fast on multi pitch climbs

Think ahead. Anticipate. Prepare.

MHostetler wrote:

I would love to leave the cordalette at home but it seems necessary when not switching leaders.

1. You aren't going to be moving fast if only one person can lead.

2. Use leftover full length runners to equalize the anchor instead of a useless cordellette. Yes, have plenty of single length runners (at least 6) because they do far more things than a cordellette (unless you start cutting it up).

I do think a cordellette is useful for a guiding situation, but that is not going to be a "moving fast" situation.

MHostetler wrote:

I would love to leave the cordalette at home but it seems necessary when not switching leaders.

Look up the "magic carabiner" system. Essentially the second carries a few extra non-lockers to clove into the same anchor pieces using their end of the rope. So each piece ends up with two biners on it: one cloving the leader in, and one cloving the second in.

Keep John Wooden's mantra in mind: "Be quick but don't be in a hurry."  If you are frantic in your effort to be fast, you'll inevitably be more inefficient.

One efficiency rule I try to follow religiously is to touch things only once.  Gear, slings, biners.  Whatever. If you grab it, put it where it should be and don't touch it again. 

Ronald B wrote:

...the second carries a few extra non-lockers to clove into the same anchor pieces ...

Why specify "non-lockers"? Nothing wrong with smallish (=light) lockers. Especially when using cloves as those can get bulky and sometimes start to interfere with the gate of small non-lockers.  

Some of this depends on the style of route. 

Cragging:

• Lead in blocks. This can take a little more time at the belay transition, but it's minimal when you're dialed. The pro is that when the pitch is hard the prior leader is rested, they have had time to look over the next pitch and read the route. It also lets you stay in a certain head space, on the sharp end I'm going for precise and thoughtful movement, when I second my only jobs are to haul ass and get all the gear out. It's hard to swap immediately back into the leading mindset if you arrive at the belay with your heart racing. 
• The second should always rack gear neatly and in order. If a section is particularly hard just pull the piece and leave it on the rope, clip a biner to a gear loop. Next good stance sort it out. This could be putting cams in order or shortening an alpine draw.
• Clip gear to the rope when changing over. If you're swapping the prior leader should clip any remaining gear in order on the anchor. When you're in a block the second clips gear in size order to the leaders rope/PA quickly. Leader racks gear while second sorts out the rope (and cloves in rope with extra biners if swapping with the rope as the anchor). 
• As the leader think out how the belay transition will go when your second arrives. Where they need to stand, do they need to go under the rope at your anchor, will you be up their way starting the next pitch, etc.. When the second arrives don't make them think, say "step below me and come up on my left"
• No talking, right when the second arrives get straight to business of swapping. Once you're both actively in the process of transferring gear/tending to the rope you can chit chat during if you feel like. Less the better. 
• Know approximate pitch lengths, when the leader has stopped for some time and you feel they are building an anchor tie a catastrophe knot, get your shoes on, throw the pack on, take a sip of water, and pull all but the most bomber piece of the anchor you're on. Once the leader takes in rope and puts you it should be 30 seconds until you are climbing. 
• Don't rely on voice commands, get comfy knowing the rope movement. The less you rely on voice commands the faster you can move in any situation. For example at Index last weekend we had the usual "crux train" go by at a transition. With bolted anchors he spent no time building one, but just started taking in rope faster than I know he can climb. I took the device off, held a short loop of slack above my clove while throwing shoes on. When that came down slack and then an arm length of rope came in I knew the belay was on. I started climbing immediately. If we relied on verbal commands that would have added 5 minutes to the day waiting for the stupid train to pass.  

Tips for alpine routes:

• Only read general beta, know you go right around a certain gendarme or to stay on a ridge. Don't worry about exactly which crack other parties picked, trust your intuition. I've watched people get bogged down trying to link up what they are seeing in front of them to detailed beta sheets. This might matter for a particular crux, but when it's mid 5th who cares where joeblowspaymasterblogger went.
• When appropriate for comfort simul with the rope shortened to 30m and a couple pieces between you. I've strung together 4-5 normal pitches in those block leads. Second racks sorted as they go and you swap leads at the anchor. I'll only stop the lead and belay because I've run out of gear, the second has nearly everything when they arrive, it's a one minute swap. 
• Use natural pro whenever you can. It's always faster to sling a horn or tree than place gear. Bring more doubles for alpine, clip them together around your shoulder so there is no time spent dicking around extending/cleaning them.
• Bring a grigri. Simul climbing simply doesn't work well without one. If you have rappels it's a tad faster to set up the first rap than doing the whole extended with friction hitch on an atc. Hell of a lot faster to ascend the rope if you overshoot a rap station. 

Patrik wrote:

Why specify "non-lockers"? Nothing wrong with smallish (=light) lockers. Especially when using cloves as those can get bulky and sometimes start to interfere with the gate of small non-lockers.  

Good point, I hadn't considered that before.

A good belay ledge, if available, will save time. If the ledge is big enough that you can flake the rope in a pile, stand comfortably, and have both hands free, that saves time. If I have the choice between leading 30 more feet, or stopping at a great ledge, I'll stop because I think it saves time.

Of course, same goes for anchor building. Don't pass up an obvious/easy (or bolted, or fixed) anchor just to run the rope out a few more meters and mess with anchor building for an extra 10 minutes.

Finally, don't run out of gear and have to stack nuts and mess with silly placements for a long time to build an anchor. Stop while you still have plenty of options.

Patrik wrote:

Why specify "non-lockers"? Nothing wrong with smallish (=light) lockers. Especially when using cloves as those can get bulky and sometimes start to interfere with the gate of small non-lockers.  

Camp photons have a ton of area for cloves (can do 2 per biner with a 9mm). They are 20-35 grams lighter than most lockers, that's up to half the weight. I only bring 3 lockers.

Actually that is a point I forgot to add, don't use all screw gates. If you do use screw gates make sure it's not too many turns to lock (ahem metolius bravo, fucking annoying). It might not seem like much, but that time spinning gates adds up on grade IV routes. I've taken to using the grivel plume twin gate for clipping the device on in guide mode and a different one for my belay device. Still use an old school round stock attache for the rope in guide mode. 

Jfriday1 wrote:

Time Savers - 

If belaying direct off the anchor, when the second gets up, they hand you their belay device so that you can put them on belay right away for the next pitch while they clean the other belay device.  

This is a great technique which is faster, safer, and less gear-intensive than the alternatives. Here's a step-by-step summary.

CAMP USA wrote:

This is a great technique which is faster, safer, and less gear-intensive than the alternatives. Here's a step-by-step summary.

I hope we can have a protracted discussion about points 4 and 6!

Patrik wrote:

i agree with pretty much everything else that Patrik listed, except this.  few things piss me off more than the second coming up to the belay and handing over a shit-tangle of gear.  it takes literally zero effort to sort it while you are cleaning it.  literally zero -  the second should have it sorted like this:  draws/runners in front, the last draw should have all of the cleaned stoppers on one of the biners, then cams in order from small to tall.

transitions are where you get killed.  if you aren't transitioning in less than 2 minutes you have a lot of improvements to make.  an efficient team can get their transitions down to a minute pretty easily.  the biggest problem is racking.  if you are doing a long route where you are pitching it all out, if you aren't using gear slings you are going to get killed at transitions.  all of the harness rackers say they can do it fast, but they can't - plain and simple. whenever i climb with harness rackers the transitions are super frustrating.  unclipping, re-clipping, forgetting that they accidently left all of the aliens on their rear gear loop when i am launching into a long finger crack, etc....

another thing i saw above that i totally disagree with is the whole swapping belay devices crap.  there was some side article on the front page recently about "how to climb light and fast by sharing belay devices".  ugggh, totally retarded.  it only takes ONE time that a partner screws up and forgets to give the other device and you are going to get bogged down.  too much handing shit back and forth and round and round.  great opportunity to drop that one belay device....

another thing that i have maligned in other threads is the retarded guide belay.  this is going to slow you down, plain and simple.  people try to come up with convoluted methods of quickly changing over the belay - but if you are doing this 20 times in a major hurry on a route it is still going to be slower, and you have 20 opportunities to make a major fuck up.

i think jplotz's comment about hustling, but not being frantic is excellent.  both members need to have a sense of urgency - and this is one thing i immediately recognize a lack of in slower parties (whoa dude, let's stop and talk about that rad pitch and take some selfies, etc...).

finally, simulclimbing.  a lot of people like to shorten the rope for this.  i don't.  i have done a LOT of simulclimbing and i have never used a shortened rope.  a longer rope allows you to run it out further and still have a piece or two.  be sure to use gear not only for protection, but also to route the rope away from loose rock.  if you are climbing a solid ridge, a lot of times you can weave a bit through minor features and basically use those as protection - saving gear and lengthening your block.  most important - the second needs to be fully locked in and engaged, even on really easy ground.  don't pull an ultra-gumby move like (i won't name a semi-famous climber here...) and fall as a second on terrain that is about 8 number grades less than what you climb.

CAMP USA wrote:

This is a great technique which is faster, safer, and less gear-intensive than the alternatives. Here's a step-by-step summary.

this video fully corroborates how completely moronic this idea is.  over two minutes to just basically hand over a belay device.  on a 20 pitch route that is almost an hour of just handing over a belay device, over and over.  facepalm.....

slim wrote:

this video fully corroborates how completely moronic this idea is.  over two minutes to just basically hand over a belay device.  on a 20 pitch route that is almost an hour of just handing over a belay device, over and over.  facepalm.....

If I'm using a tube device at swaps I'll transfer the guide device directly to my belay loop, not what was shown in the video. However I'll take my gigi and grigri combo over a tube device any day though. Nothing beats being able to pull in slack with one hand for the second while you eat/drink. 

Nick Drake wrote:

Camp photons have a ton of area for cloves (can do 2 per biner with a 9mm). They are 20-35 grams lighter than most lockers, that's up to half the weight. I only bring 3 lockers.

Actually that is a point I forgot to add, don't use all screw gates. If you do use screw gates make sure it's not too many turns to lock (ahem metolius bravo, fucking annoying). It might not seem like much, but that time spinning gates adds up on grade IV routes. I've taken to using the grivel plume twin gate for clipping the device on in guide mode and a different one for my belay device. Still use an old school round stock attache for the rope in guide mode. 

^^^this. But take it further.

Stop carrying 3 locking carabiners. Use light full size biners (love Photons). You need ONE locking for your belay/rappel device and that is it. Do not use guide mode and belay off of your belay loop.

Tightened Clove Hitches do not come unclipped. Ever. Cloving into non-locking biners is perfectly fine and efficient.

Good stuff.  A few tidbits to add:

Drederek wrote:

leave the alpine draws at home.

Kevin MP wrote:

This is not good advice.  

Actually, on so many routes, this is good advice.   At least in part.  Generally, speaking, as routes get harder, the line gets more direct.  So, extending every piece, or even half of your pieces is not necessary. 

I suggest leaving half of the alpine draws at home and bringing several quick draws instead because they are, well, quicker.  Alpine draws have a bit more bulk, the biner is not always oriented right when you clip the lead rope and the sling is not always situated correctly when not extending it.  Route dependent, but needing to putting a two foot extension on every piece on a pitch is quite rare, at least for me.  It will make leading faster and transitions faster.  

When cleaning a quick draw, unclip the rope first, then unclip the draw to put in on you gear loop.  This keeps the draw oriented properly whether for you leading the next pitch or handing it over to your partner.  

Don't bother with colored racking biners.  They will inevitably move around.  Cams have plenty of color already.  

Never pull up the rope until you are 99% ready to belay.  The only thing remaining to do is clip the rope to your belay device.  It makes it crystal  clear to the follower that you are only seconds away from putting the belay on.  

Don't waste time at belay changeover, keep conversation to a minimum (example: don't talk about the pros and cons of bringing the tricams, mid climb), and leave the useless gear at the car or home. 

http://blakeclimbs.blogspot.com/2016/06/10-non-essentials.html?m=1

And don't fiddle with gear on easy ground. when it doubt, run it out. ;)

Also, don't bring extra bail gear such as a bail biners that sit on your harness forever not being used.  If it's not in regular use, leave it at home.  All biners are bail biners when you really need to bail.   You probably spent more money on gas getting to the crag then you would leaving a few biners on the rare occasion of bailing.