You and your regular climbing
partner have planned to climb the East
Buttress of El Capitan (IV 5.10b), and
at the last minute, she invites a friend
along. Now, at the top of pitch 10, the
three of you are looking at climbing the
final pitches in the dark and onsighting
the descent by headlamp. Here are a few
tips to speed up a threesome and finish
your climb with plenty of daylight.
LEAD IN BLOCKS: Alternating leads in
a party of three is inefficient. Eliminate
time-wasting lead changes by climbing
the route in blocks, where a leader climbs
at least three pitches before handing over
the sharp end.
KILL THE CATERPILLAR: Instead of
belaying up your partners one at a time,
lead on a twin-rope system, clipping both
ropes into every piece of protection. Then,
belay the seconds simultaneously, using a
guide-style auto-blocking belay device on
the anchor’s master point. The faster follower
should climb first, removing as much
protection as possible without exposing
the third to a pendulum swing. Meanwhile,
the third breaks down the anchor and then
starts climbing.
TRIM THE TRANSITIONS: As you build
a belay at the end of a pitch, determine
where the next pitch goes and where you
want your partners to be positioned as
you lead. If the pitch goes out left, position
your team on the right, so you don’t
have to cross over or behind them when
you leave the stance.
Pre-place a locker on the belay
anchor’s master point for each climber.
The first follower who arrives can tie into
one of the lockers with a clove hitch and
then can take over the belay for the third
person, freeing you, the leader, to re-rack
the gear. When the third arrives, he cloves
in to the other locker. Then you can take
the belay device off the anchor and fl ip
the ropes over so your ends are on top.
As soon as you’re on belay and have
re-racked any gear carried by the third,
you’re ready to take off on the next pitch.
