upper injisuthi cave to lower injisuthi cave via abseil

anyone done this ? i have a 48m rope (6mm static) which is very light to hike up leslie's with. so my hope is that i can scramble mostly, but rap down in pitches of about 22m where needed.

dave

Hi Caveman
I haven’t rapped off that bit of the escarpment but I have set up lots of rapp points off the classic climbs.

You face a choice between mostly sleep grass slopes or rock. The former look less intimidating but it is very difficult to set up safe rapp points. 

Taking two 50m ropes is going to give you a lot more scope for finding safe points. 60m will be better. 

If you come to the end of your rope and there is no safe rapp point, you will need to reclimb. A long rope reduces the risk. 

Interesting idea.

I have done part of the gully to get to the base of the climb for the std route up Eastern Triplet. Thanks to a recent rock fall, that gully is very dodgy and the abseil would have to be over 40m long to get a reasonable anchor point. 

Below that, the climbing rd has this to say:
Note: Eastern Triplet can also be climbed from below. From the Lower Injasuti Cave, follow the long grassy ridge on which the cave is situated. After about 2 hours, traverse left into the gully separating the Eastern Triplet from the escarpment. Water is usually available and parties can camp here. Approach the climb straight up the gully. Shortly before the traverse out to the route, a short E pitch has to be done on the right to miss an obstruction.



So, I would also suggest 2 50m ropes.
For interest what abseil device are you using on such a thin rope?

thanks for the ideas ... i use an ATC but if it’s a full abseil then i’d put an extra twist around the screw gate. best i reckon will be to do this with a 60m plus my 48m (for length and the extra friction. going back up is not worth it ! prussickung is a super-time waster! better to just have enough length.

one route i was hoping to hear from the community would be descending the hilton pass (i mean... some ascend it ropeless! so abseiling should work ... anyone wanna be my guineapig?)

heard that those who attempt the western triplet use the upper injasuthi cave as a base and then scramble down to the knife edge that leads to the standard route. (i’m not one of them!) ... was hoping to know how many ab pitches to the grassy slopes below ... 

An abseil down Hilton's pass with a single 60m rope will be fine. Just pick your anchor points well and take a few meters of 5mm or 6mm to tie off on the points. The descent will likely work with a shorter rope too since the difficult sections are quite short. In summer they tend to be wet and slippery.

There haven't been many ascents of the Western Triplet and the ones I know of in the last few decades have all been on the arete rather than from the escarpment side. On the escarpment side the rock on the Western Triplet is said to be horribly rotten although the route is short.