Using a rope when scrambling

There are 4 main ways of using a rope when scrambling: confidence roping, short roping, pitching and moving together.

The use of these techniques will depend on the difficulty of the terrain, the weather on that day and the competence of the climbers in the party.

These rope techniques are an extension of those used in alpine environments and provide climbers with a compromise between pitching the route (safe, but slow) with the speed of moving un-roped (fast, but potentially dangerous).

The most common technique used for scrambling is short roping. It involves shortening the rope by wrapping coils of it around your body and then tying them off securely so that between 3m and 20m of rope connects the leader to the other members of the group. Once mastered, it is safe, fast and flexible. Short roping allows to divide the route into relatively small sections which is better communication. Additionally, rope drag is minimised and there is less danger of the rope knocking down debris

Speed & safety balance

Short roping requires constant re-evaluation and needs a good awareness of the situation. It is important to have the ability to change techniques quickly and safely. This is quite a skill and the ability to make the judgments about which technique to use and when only comes with practice. It is all about correctly matching the team's ability with the section of route at hand and choosing an appropriate rope technique.

On easier terrain take chest coils so that there is 10-15m of rope between you and then take small, neat hand coils so that there is 2-3m of rope free between members of the party. There should not be too much rope in your hands. A good guide is that if you can not close your hand around the coil then you are holding too much rope. The most capable climber normally goes in front and the team move together at a speed which keeps the rope off the ground, but which does not restrict movement. It is vital that there is no slack in the system and that the hand coils are locked off to prevent any slip or fall.