Guess where?

mnt_tiska wrote:

ghaznavid wrote: How safe is it to tie 2 hiking ropes together, surely that can't be safe?

It is normal to tie two 50m ropes together when abseiling. When pulling the ropes down you have to remember which side the knot is on. If you pull the wrong rope, then the knot gets stuck in the rapp chord.

It is less usual to tie two ropes together to make one long rope. The problem here is passing the knot through the belay device when you get to half way (and probably retrieving the ropes).

The tension on one of the tied ropes (say the bottom one) is much the same as the tension on the top rope and if it is hanging free, then the tension will be the same.

What I found amusing in the RD for The Spire is they started rapping off one fixed rope. Then it was "oops", rope is not long enough and can't find suitable anchors, so lets tie another fixed rope onto the first one. Not sure of the exact length of the abseil but learning from their experience it may be worth tying the two ropes together from the start, in the usual manner that mnt_tiska described, and in this way avoiding the knot. Also, think about it: 2 ropes needed for fixed ropes plus another two for the climb (assuming a double rope set-up). Thats four ropes plus usual gear plus gear for an abseil station for the fixed ropes. All of this gets lugged up Leslies Pass...