RRC Archives

Climbing with three people can be made a lot easier if two people are capable of leading. It makes for a very simple system, but slightly more committing.

1) First climber leads pitch, anchors off, unties and drops rope.

2) Second climber leads on pre-placed gear.

3) Third climber top-ropes and cleans pitch.

This is a pretty quick method, plus two people get to lead every pitch. And you only have to use one rope.

RogueIT wrote:How do you properly execute a victory whip?

Ok first check with the rules for the climbing area you'll be VW'ing at, some land owners forbid the practice. Next decide if you are going to do a true old-school VW. The true VW is done without the anchor clipped. Some new-school catz think a VW can to done with the anchor clipped yet with lots of slack out, nope sorry that's just lame. Now most importantly(and pigsteak can back me up on this), a VW is only a VW when done on a route 12a or harder. VW's done on anything less than 12a are just again, lame.

Now get out there, send some shit and enjoy your VW's

big_brother wrote: 1) First climber leads pitch, anchors off, unties and drops rope.

Make sure first climber didn't have the car keys

RogueIT wrote: reading A THREAD qualifies them to do whatever they were asking advice about.


Now that being said…How do you properly execute a victory whip?

Everything on this form is the gospel. it's perfectly fine to do whatever you read. the folks on here wouldn't lie to you and are very helpful to new climbers. i've only known of 345 people to get hurt after following advice, (or people on here for that matter) from this site. good odds if you ask me. knowledge is for idiots. get out there and learn the hard way.

big_brother wrote: 1) First climber leads pitch, anchors off, unties and drops rope.

So the first climber is now stranded on top of the pitch. Screw that! The 2-leader method seems fine to me, but use 2 ropes. I don't ever want to be at the top of a pitch without any way to get myself off of it.

The only time I would endorse big_brother's suggestion is if there wasn't enough beer for 3 people...

rhunt wrote:no offense but if you need to get online and ask these questions then you probably shouldn't try these things without an experience climber. Hire a guide, please.

I disagree. I had to call the gym to ask how I was supposed to get my carabiners off the anchor before I went outside for the first time, because I'd never seen a top anchor, and knew I couldn't thread the rope through a bolt.

Getting the info online is just as good as reading a book (as long as you use common sense), which is how most of us learned most of what we knew...

At least he's asking....

anticlmber wrote: Everything on this form is the gospel.

B.J. wrote:
So the first climber is now stranded on top of the pitch. Screw that!

The only time I would endorse big_brother's suggestion is if there wasn't enough beer for 3 people...

And just like other gospels...it is up for interpretation

Climbing multipitch in a group of three can actaully be faster than a group of two if all three people are experienced and all systems are dialed (no rope clusterfucks) You do use the two half rope method. Since the followers are staggared the first follower to hit the belay can prep for the next pitch. If you rig things right the second follower can just keep climbing picking the rack up as they pass the belay.

simulclimbing in a group of two is faster though, even with occaisional stops to belay harder sections.

however both techniques are slower and more dangerous for non-experienced climbers.

I'm going to have to try belaying two seconds at once. I climb with 3 and 4 people pretty often. anything to speed it up and get more pitches in.

B.J. wrote:

big_brother wrote: 1) First climber leads pitch, anchors off, unties and drops rope.

So the first climber is now stranded on top of the pitch. Screw that! The 2-leader method seems fine to me, but use 2 ropes. I don't ever want to be at the top of a pitch without any way to get myself off of it.

The only time I would endorse big_brother's suggestion is if there wasn't enough beer for 3 people...

I definitely see your point. If there's any concern that the second leader won't even make it up the climb, this is not an appropriate method. It is more committing because you have to trust your partners to bring the rope up to you. It's a judgement call. However, I don't think it's so much more dangerous as to be a bad method. I used it a few weeks ago on Rincon and it went incredibly smooth. I really prefer to use multiple ropes only when multiple ropes are needed to descend. Especially when there's a third person, rope management can quickly escalate to cluster-fuckage.