Tips for moving fast on multi pitch climbs

I love the comments of "keeping conversation to a minimum.". Jesus. I don't know about others, but I like pretending I'm not a climbing robot and actually engage in fun banter.  If I'm familiar enough with my partner, I may even pitch shit and expect to get it back.  

Taking a moment at the belay to talk relaxes you and your partner, and as a result you'll be a better climber and have a better experience.

To me there's nothing more annoying than someone who is trying to rush me.  There's a limit to this efficiency thing. 

Jplotz wrote:

I love the comments of "keeping conversation to a minimum.". Jesus. I don't know about others, but I like pretending I'm not a climbing robot and actually engage in fun banter.  If I'm familiar enough with my partner, I may even pitch shit and expect to get it back.  

Taking a moment at the belay to talk relaxes you and your partner, and as a result you'll be a better climber and have a better experience.

To me there's nothing more annoying than someone who is trying to rush me.  There's a limit to this efficiency thing. 

Well-said.

And this "don't bring this item or that item" isn't really going to save you any time.  

Greg D wrote:

Good stuff.  A few tidbits to add:

Drederek wrote:

leave the alpine draws at home.

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.  

That's really route dependent. For cragging I'm likely to just use quickdraws as it's usually one crack system, I'll only bring around 4 alpine draws usually. 

For the alpine though there is inevitably some traversing and one pitch where it seems like everything should be extended on some easy terrain. I can always leave the alpine draws short (and do every time I can). Take the west face of NEWS I just did the other week, 11a tips crack. The crux pitch traverse left to gain another crack system, you go up some mid 10 stuff, then it traverse right across easy slab to another crack section. I didn't extend everything by any means, but going into/out of those traverses I did. IIRC 8 pieces were extended (was placing a lot since it was micro nuts and I'm a chicken shit). http://images.summitpost.org/original/942225.jpg

Jplotz wrote:

I love the comments of "keeping conversation to a minimum.". Jesus. I don't know about others, but I like pretending I'm not a climbing robot and actually engage in fun banter.  If I'm familiar enough with my partner, I may even pitch shit and expect to get it back.  

Taking a moment at the belay to talk relaxes you and your partner, and as a result you'll be a better climber and have a better experience.

To me there's nothing more annoying than someone who is trying to rush me.  There's a limit to this efficiency thing. 

I agree, my partners and I are usually chatting the entire time, on all but the windiest routes. I just mentioned it as a suggestion as to what may be causing delays, and one that doesn't involve sacrificing safety.

FrankPS wrote:

Well-said.

And this "don't bring this item or that item" isn't really going to save you any time.  

Yeah....leaving the nut tool at home only has potential to slow you down.  And the idea you would be better served cutting webbing with your cam lobes instead of a knife is......interesting?

Nick Drake wrote:

That's really route dependent. 

Greg D wrote:

Route dependent, 

FrankPS wrote:

Well-said.

And this "don't bring this item or that item" isn't really going to save you any time.  

Have you ever seen a Nose in a Day rack with the minimum needed to go fast? Mark Hudon posted one around here somewhere...it is ESSENTIAL to take the minimum needed to go fast.

King Tut wrote:

Have you ever seen a Nose in a Day rack with the minimum needed to go fast? Mark Hudon posted one around here somewhere...it is ESSENTIAL to take the minimum needed to go fast.

Oh, look, you found an exception. I think we're talking about an average multi-pitch here, not NIAD. 

jason.cre wrote:

Yeah....leaving the nut tool at home only has potential to slow you down.  And the idea you would be better served cutting webbing with your cam lobes instead of a knife is......interesting?

 I think the point he was trying to make is that if the nut requires a tool, he will just abandon it = time saved.

jason.cre wrote:

You can still carry slings with a biner over the shoulder to extend your placements.  Saves time both during the placement and when you have to re-rack compared to alpine draw.

Admittedly, if you're really pursuing speed climbing, passive protection probably isn't on your rack but I still think having an alpine draw or two is indispensable. For one, clipping nuts. For two, they can act like a PAS in the event you need to just go in direct quickly and for whatever reason, a clove hitch isn't practical. 

Kyle Elliott wrote:

I agree, my partners and I are usually chatting the entire time, on all but the windiest routes. I just mentioned it as a suggestion as to what may be causing delays, and one that doesn't involve sacrificing safety.

Yeah I get what you said. There's also no need to give your life bio or figure out healthcare in America at every belay.

slim 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.  

  Interesting! There's nothing more annoying to me than someone wasting time (and increasing the chance of dropping gear) moving nuts from one biner to another. At the belay changeover, I (if I were the leader) still need to grab the nuts on the "sorting biner" from the follower and move it over to my racking biners. Why move nuts twice (once while climbing, once at the belay switch over)? 

To answer my own question:

1) If you only carry one racking biner of nuts, the move-over is fairly simple if the follower choose to sort them onto a carrying biner (as slim wants it). I tend to climb with a ton of nuts (and still can manage to get 12-15 pitches in a day occasionally) on three separate racking biners in which case the follower's sorting is useless waste of time. 

2) If the leader carries draws on a gear sling while climbing (which I don't), it is handy if the follower comes up with all the draws "empty" on a sling (as slim suggests). The leader just grabs that sling and use it as a gear sling on the next pitch. No need to move around draws.

I don't see how it takes "literally zero effort" for the follower to move stuff around / sort while climbing though. At the belay station, he would have a much better stance, two hands free, and he should be quicker sorting things out there before handing it over. This makes no sense to me though as it is more efficient for the leader to sort at the same time as reracking (from the follower's temporary gear sling that he just handed over). 

Maybe the ultimate solution to "moving fast on multi pitch climbs" is: Sport climbing. Is anyone bolting The Nose yet?

FrankPS wrote:

Oh, look, you found an exception. I think we're talking about an average multi-pitch here, not NIAD. 

Perhaps the thread should be renamed "Reasonable steps regular folks can take to move faster but still have fun."  People can also treat this as a "take what you like" compilation of ideas and find their own balance between efficiency, safety and relaxation.  Great stuff!

C Runyan wrote:

I am curious, though: How do folks who are setting up anchors with the rope going on to lead in blocks (rather than swapping leads)?

I tend to boil down the anchor into two separate "master points" and clip in with the rope to those two points (similar to what you would do with a standard two-bolt anchor). The follower comes up and clips in exactly the same with his end of the rope. Most of my anchors consists of 3-4 pieces, so I never need to equalize more than two pieces at a time (which mostly can be done easily with a two foot sling) and then do the "two point" equalization with the rope. Quick, simple, easy. I find this quicker than the leader and follower stringing the rope to each of 3-4 pieces. If you intend to "lead in blocks", make sure the follower clips in his rope underneath the leader's rope. If swapping leads, the follower clips in on top (or the belayer can just tie a knot on the break hand strand and the follower never ties in on a big fat ledge).

Note: I haven't done any hanging belays in years, so the above description might not be suitable for such.

Ted Pinson wrote:

Perhaps the thread should be renamed "Reasonable steps regular folks can take to move faster but still have fun."  People can also treat this as a "take what you like" compilation of ideas and find their own balance between efficiency, safety and relaxation.  Great stuff!

And once you start to move fast, you might actually realize that "moving fast = fun" ! For some of us, moving fast (I prefer to call it efficient) is not the same as stressful.

With respect to nuts. If the carry a lot, like we do in the UK, the following really helps as it allows quick sorting by both members of the team - even if they normally rack the nuts differently. Colour code the nuts and the carabiners they are racked onto with electrical tape. e.g. red=big; orange =medium, blue= small.

Read "High - Advanced Multipitch Climbing" by David Coley (above) and Andy Kirkpatrick - the most concentrated source of great answers to this question, and a bunch more. 

Patrik wrote:

And once you start to move fast, you might actually realize that "moving fast = fun" ! For some of us, moving fast (I prefer to call it efficient) is not the same as stressful.

Oh, totally...but some of the suggestions in this thread are fairly extreme (run it out, leave gear, etc), so I think there's probably a reasonable middle ground between NIAD and solving healthcare at every belay.  Your regular pedestrian climber is probably not going to want to sacrifice safety in favor of efficiency, and they might want to take a breather when they reach the next belay.  After all, maximum efficiency would be free soloing...That said, there is a point where moving slowly/less efficiently can become dangerous, and most people (myself definitely included) could stand to move more quickly, which will be more fun because they'll get more climbing in.

Hector Luevano wrote:

Well that's uncalled for, I was just asking a question. 

Happy to be the straight man to your joke