Rope Tug Communication - what do you think of this protocol?

Jim Titt wrote: They don´t work on the cliffs I learned on and they don´t work on most of the cliffs I´ve climbed on so why bother with a system which rarely works (and you won´t find out until it´s too late!). Why not use a system which works on all cliffs in all conditions with all partners. As most of the replies here and many other threads on other forums have indicated, reducing confusion in communication and simplicity are the answers to surviving a long time as a climber. Jim

I think you just need better walkies. Mine have never failed to function, even under a pretty serious roof. I regularly use them when I am hundreds of feet from my partner when we are both scouting for an open classic on holiday weekends.

Alicia Sokolowski wrote: I think you just need better walkies. Mine have never failed to function, even under a pretty serious roof. I regularly use them when I am hundreds of feet from my partner when we are both scouting for an open classic on holiday weekends.

I think you are seriously confused about who is posting about what, I have never used, needed to use or wanted to use a walkie-talkie ever in my life.

Jim

Jim Titt wrote: I think you are seriously confused about who is posting about what, I have never used, needed to use or wanted to use a walkie-talkie ever in my life. Jim

Jim,

Alicia was commenting on your previous post two days ago, which was seven posts above your last one. Unless there is another Jim Titt from Germany. If there is another Jim Titt, from Germany, that is the genesis of the "confusion"!

Cruxic,

Easy check for the last step:

assuming you have plenty of rope left... the second holds the rope tight about 3' out from his/her harness so there's a loop of slack. The leader thinks that they've taken out all the slack because they can't pull up anymore, puts the climber on belay, and as the second you can watch that extra 3' get belayed up- it'll move much differently than when the leader pulls up slack and reassure you that you're on belay. Also useful if anchors are awkward to clean and you need a bit of moving room.

Doesn't work if your leader is at the end of the rope, but it doesn't matter then anyways.

FrankPS wrote: Jim, Alicia was commenting on your previous post two days ago, which was seven posts above your last one. Unless there is another Jim Titt from Germany. If there is another Jim Titt, from Germany, that is the genesis of the "confusion"!

So now there are two confused people, or are `Frank´ and `Alicia´ really one and the same person?!!!
All the Jim Titt´s (and there are possibly millions of us) have only ever posted on this thread about rope tugs and replied to questions on rope tugs as is surely clear from the quotes which we included in our replies:-

"Rope tugs don´t work, ever."
"Jim, Does the comment above refer to the specific cliff you learned to climb on? Or are you generally opposed to rope-tugs as commands?"

Jim

I do it this way if I don't have radios :

- 4 tugs : leader is off belay
- 3 tugs : leader has put you on belay

Follower never tugs on the rope, for obvious reasons.

The walkie talkies we use in the US operate on certain frequencies / power levels, dictated by our FCC. Other countries use different frequencies and surely have different products -- as evidenced by the experience of the gentleman from Germany.

Many of these radios now have subchannel codes which help eliminate interference; this is preferable in an area crowded with families & such. If someone breaks in on your channel, you can just agree to switch to a different one.

For most cragging I don't bother with radios, but on some routes they are helpful. I usually bring them on alpine routes, where wind and rope drag can drown out rope tugs and voices.

Sometimes you need to communicate things that rope tugs can't, like "there are two parties at this belay .. get comfortable, it will be a while" .. stuff happens in the mountains.