A few quick thoughts. I get at least a few clients every year who ask about moving together as a scrambling skill and I think for the majority it's a misunderstanding of the terminology. In it's truest sense it is moving roped but unbelayed across suitable terrain, but what gets missed by the uninitiated is that for 90% of "moving together" there are other factors at play to increase safety (short pitching, belaying off features, strong arming by a more experienced team member, use of running belays, use of running belays with pcps etc...).
When I teach I spend a lot of time on decision making and judging risk vs consequence of the terrain we on and which technique works best to look after the team.
This might look like holding or carrying the rope on easy and non/low consequence all the way to full blown rock climbing pitching on tricky and high consequence terrain.
The crucial thing is understanding terrain and why/when true moving together might result in something other than another news story. Glaciers it works because the terrain is uniform and falls are generally smaller + the loads is shared between the climber and the terrain. One long spiky ridges it might work because again the terrain lends itself to protecting the team. For Alex and Tommy it works because the terrain is steep and clean + additional measures are taken (second self belaying to minimise slack, use of pcps around Crux sections).
I'm always very conscious when I'm working that scrambling if far more dangerous than any other mountaineering or climbing work I do.
All that said, some of my most enjoyable days in the mountains have been moving together quickly over technical terrain. In order to do this I had; lots of experience of climbing rope work systems, knew my partners strengths and weaknesses, chose terrain that was suitable and comfortably within my ability (ie easily soloable) and finally understood that I was taking greater risk by using a non standard/typical rope work system.
Solid breakdown of something that I dunno why but never gets proper attention in most mountaineering courses. The death pact framing is brutaly honest and exactly what people need to hear. Had a close call years ago where we moved togther without really understanding the risks and this articel would have changed how we aproached it.
I’ve climbed sport and trad for years and often soloed grade 3 scrambles on my own. I wanted to get some guided experience scrambling so I could gain confidence and experience to take other less experienced people on scrambles and learn how and when to deploy the rope.
Being tied in as a threesome and moving together on grade 3 terrain e.g. Cneifion Arete and Clogwyn y Person Arete, even when being belayed from above, was absolutely terrifying, especially if you’re in the middle. Over several courses I never got used to it.
Managing your speed and the rope in both directions with a less experienced person behind and the constant fear of being dragged off is a recipe for disaster in this terrain.
A few quick thoughts. I get at least a few clients every year who ask about moving together as a scrambling skill and I think for the majority it's a misunderstanding of the terminology. In it's truest sense it is moving roped but unbelayed across suitable terrain, but what gets missed by the uninitiated is that for 90% of "moving together" there are other factors at play to increase safety (short pitching, belaying off features, strong arming by a more experienced team member, use of running belays, use of running belays with pcps etc...).
When I teach I spend a lot of time on decision making and judging risk vs consequence of the terrain we on and which technique works best to look after the team.
This might look like holding or carrying the rope on easy and non/low consequence all the way to full blown rock climbing pitching on tricky and high consequence terrain.
The crucial thing is understanding terrain and why/when true moving together might result in something other than another news story. Glaciers it works because the terrain is uniform and falls are generally smaller + the loads is shared between the climber and the terrain. One long spiky ridges it might work because again the terrain lends itself to protecting the team. For Alex and Tommy it works because the terrain is steep and clean + additional measures are taken (second self belaying to minimise slack, use of pcps around Crux sections).
I'm always very conscious when I'm working that scrambling if far more dangerous than any other mountaineering or climbing work I do.
All that said, some of my most enjoyable days in the mountains have been moving together quickly over technical terrain. In order to do this I had; lots of experience of climbing rope work systems, knew my partners strengths and weaknesses, chose terrain that was suitable and comfortably within my ability (ie easily soloable) and finally understood that I was taking greater risk by using a non standard/typical rope work system.
The incredible difference between using URM on rock as opposed to snow and ice needs to be emphasised.
Rock has friction and features that allow for far greater safety.
Coefficient of friction near zero makes any snow slope far less suitable for the technique.
Solid breakdown of something that I dunno why but never gets proper attention in most mountaineering courses. The death pact framing is brutaly honest and exactly what people need to hear. Had a close call years ago where we moved togther without really understanding the risks and this articel would have changed how we aproached it.
I’ve climbed sport and trad for years and often soloed grade 3 scrambles on my own. I wanted to get some guided experience scrambling so I could gain confidence and experience to take other less experienced people on scrambles and learn how and when to deploy the rope.
Being tied in as a threesome and moving together on grade 3 terrain e.g. Cneifion Arete and Clogwyn y Person Arete, even when being belayed from above, was absolutely terrifying, especially if you’re in the middle. Over several courses I never got used to it.
Managing your speed and the rope in both directions with a less experienced person behind and the constant fear of being dragged off is a recipe for disaster in this terrain.
I loved this 🔪
Thank you. I thought the instructor was going to wet herself
My wife and I did 2 hrs instruction on an easy peasy snow grade. The guide instructor kept falling over laughing. I’m gathering we failed instruction.
The simple stuff is always the hardest to teach.