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Mini TR: School Rock with a horde* of kids 14-Sep-2016 At 2:31:59 PM pmonks

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On 14/09/2016 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>Hmm. A 'gaggle of 5' and simul-climbing included...

Well only the 4 "seconds" simulclimbed - the leader (me) was just doing a standard double rope lead.

>It sounds to me that that could be a recipe with potential for epic-ing,
>(not withstanding that you have solo-ed harder stuff there).

Yeah - the worst case scenario I can think of is if all 4 seconds fall off at around the same time (or knock each other off - same net result), resulting in the leader having to hold ~150kg of seconds distributed reasonably evenly across two ropes. But this route was very slabby, so it wouldn't be a free hang on the rope. I'd be pretty nervous about doing this on anything much harder, or on vertical or overhanging terrain.

>Do you use a Guide/Reverso style device, or an ATC/Sticht style device
>in that situation?

I use a Guide, although the first time I did this I was still using an ATC. With the skinnier ropes (this was my first climb with my brand new 8.5mm Mammut Genesis doubles - mmmmmm....sooooo gooooood) I'd probably be a bit leery of belaying with an ATC. In fact the first time I used this technique we used two 10.5mm ropes (as heavy doubles), so even with the ATC it was probably about the same?