Having Too Short of Climbing Rope for a Rappel (Abseil) to the Next Anchor

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I did a previous video about environmental complexity, and my fundamental point is that the more variable in the environment the more difficult it becomes to perceive all of those variables. If those variables carry risks, as most variables in nature do, then we have also increased the likelihood that we aren’t perceiving all of the risks. In that video, I call out big mountain environments as being pretty far on that continuum of complexity - if not the farthest on that continuum. And then we have environments, like climbing gyms, that try to reduce the number of unknowns by limiting variables.

Well, if we get onto bigger multi-pitch routes, we get into levels of commitment to the route that is dominated by the variable of time. We are simply in an environment where we have to do things right (or we fall off and die) for a longer period of time. As time increases, variables like weather and mountain goats kicking rocks and such also increase.

So, there is something about being on bigger faces that simply demands more of the unknown at least being more probable. It is because of this that I take self-rescue techniques so seriously.

Because I climb with my kids so often, I basically think of myself as filling the role of a guide. It is my responsibility to keep my climbing partners safe and make sure they are having a good and challenging time. If it seems like I do a lot of videos on strange rope techniques or the like, it’s because I take this responsibility seriously.

I don’t think that every parent needs to know all of these techniques. We can start out at a well populated, single-pitch crag with only a few tools and techniques in our mental locker. I still think it’s incumbent upon us to be able to effectively deal with eventualities in that single-pitch environment ourselves. Otherwise, we are basically endangering others when we make the implied ask for them to get us out of a situation. But there is a lot less that can go wrong - again, limited variables - when we are less than half-a-rope length off of the ground.

As soon as we get to multi-pitch climbing, through that mechanism of time but also through the mechanism of being multiple lengths of the rope above the ground, a lot more can go wrong and a lot more system transitions are required if we are to effectively deal with one of those things that go wrong. There is more to know, and that knowledge is a pre-requisite to fulfilling our role as protector of the team.

If we aren’t climbing with kids, then we need to ask ourselves if we are able to share equally in the self/team-rescue. What if it is your partner that gets hurt, maybe to the point of being unable to help or even being incapacitated? The urgency of learning these techniques might feel less because it isn’t so tied to our natural, protective instincts to protect our kids. But the need to progress is still there.

Yes, the video is another rope technique. Yes, it is unlikely that the technique will need to be put into practice. All the self/team-rescue techniques are unlikely to be needed, when taken individually. But on the other hand, it is very, very likely that some technique will be needed over the course of a lifetime of climbing. So, if we are likely to need to employ some self-rescue, but don’t know which one it will be, I guess we better make it a practice to study this stuff.

At least, that’s how I view my responsibility as a climbing partner… or father… or both.