Professional mountaineer, mountain guide and physiotherapist Michi Wohlleben, in collaboration with LACRUX, refreshes the various techniques for multi-pitch climbing – from material selection to belay station construction to rappelling.
In this article
Multi-pitch routes demand a considerable amount of technical know-how. Mountain guide and professional climber Michi Wohlleben is very familiar with this terrain. In his YouTube episode, he guides viewers through the... The most important basics of multi-pitch climbingSo that you have a little refresher of the most important basics to look up before your next tour.
Materials and equipment
A climbing harness and helmet are essential, of course. But for alpine climbing, especially multi-pitch climbs, you need a bit more. Besides standard sport climbing gear, the pro recommends... Alpine Excavators It's good to have a quickdraw on hand for extending the rope. The longer the quickdraw, the less tension is on the rope. This is especially helpful on easier routes where you go up, down, left, and right.
Michi also always recommends a small set of Camalots to have along. "The smaller Totem Cams usually hold better in limestone." After all, no one has ever complained about the possibility of placing an intermediate anchor. Onward with at least one Tape sling for stand construction, 2-3 HMS carabiners, Alpine Tuber to secure and two 60-meter half or twin ropes.
Michi Wohlleben also recommends a Deflection pulley with backstop, which can be used for setting up pulley systems, for self-rescue and even as a rope clamp in emergencies.
More tips from the mountaineering pro: On some tours there is no cell service, which is why Satellite communication devices This can be advantageous for emergency calls or two-way messaging. It goes without saying, but is often forgotten: Drink and eat enough and Sonnencreme.
Keep an eye on time and weather
For longer routes, and especially multi-pitch climbs, it's better to start earlier than later. Those who gather detailed information about the route (length, duration) and the weather forecast beforehand will avoid unpleasant or even life-threatening surprises on the rock face.
Important: Realistically assess your own abilities and never climb a rock face when a thunderstorm is forecast!
Standing techniques
There are many techniques for building a booth – usually, one method is chosen out of habit, says Michi Wohlleben. For beginners, he recommends the so-called soft eye with one Bulin node as a central point. The advantage: The setup is always the same regardless of the stand location and creates a lot of routine, especially at the beginning.
There is no better or worse – all methods are valid as long as they are carried out safely.
Michi Wohlleben
Securing and belaying in trusses
Multi-pitch climbs don't always go straight up. When belaying traverses/traverses, the following applies: as many intermediate backups as possible hook up – especially to the difficult sections, in order to better protect the second climber at the crux.
A pendulum fall is always unpleasant for the second climber, and it's impossible to secure them tightly.
Michi Wohlleben
Secure lead climbing – away from the body?
When belaying on lead climbing away from the body, a belay device is absolutely necessary. Dummy Runner – a quickdraw that is clipped directly to the belay station when the lead climber starts climbing. The idea behind this: If the climber falls before reaching the first intermediate anchor, the fall force is not directly transferred to the belayer thanks to the clipped-in dummy runner.
Important: This technique must when belaying with a tube must be applied.
Secure the second ascent with an alpine tuber.
Climbers following are belayed from the anchor point. This requires the small eyelet that distinguishes alpine belay devices. The device is clipped to this eyelet at the anchor point. The ropes are routed through the device so that the brake rope is at the bottom. The end of the rope that runs down to the climbing partner lies on top. The rope loops are then secured to the device with another carabiner. This automatically brakes the rope.
Reduce rope friction with long quickdraws
One issue that shouldn't be underestimated in multi-pitch climbs is rope friction. If the rope is too taut, pulling it through becomes difficult. extremely strenuous for the person climbing ahead. Long express slings Alpine quickdraws can avoid this problem, as they straighten the rope's path. Using slings also helps.
I suspect that friction causes more falls than wide hook spacing.
Michi Wohlleben
abseiling
What goes up must come down. To prepare for rappelling, the rope partners secure themselves to the anchor point using a self-belay and untie themselves (important after a summit break without a harness: partner check!). Both ropes should be attached to a fixed point – for example, a quickdraw on the harness – before untying to ensure the ropes don't slip off.
If the abseiling point is higher than half the rope length, both strands of rope are needed. These are knotted together using an overhand knot. so that the "pulling" rope runs along the wall side. Climbers themselves remember which strand to pull off – as an additional aid to remember, when rappelling, the self-belay sling can be attached to the strand of rope being pulled off.
If the abseiling route starts directly from the last belay station of the tour, the rope ends of the lead climber are threaded and knotted. The rope of the person following is easier to throw out. – ideally with a sufficiently wide swing and a warning shout of "Attention rope".
Important abseiling tips from Michi Wohlleben: After tying the knot, leave enough rope slack (rule of thumb: 0,5 meters) in case the knot starts to unravel. The rope should also always be below the person abseiling so that it pulls smoothly and doesn't get tangled.
Video: Multi-pitch climbing explained by Michi Wohlleben
Anyone preparing for multi-pitch climbing will find our joint instructional video with Michi Wohlleben a valuable addition to their own preparation.
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Credits cover photo: Maximilian Gierl