Lowering vs. Rappelling

I've been reading some nice articles from a Canadian publication called "Rescue Dynamics Instructional Support", and the latest one talks about various ways to travel fast & efficiently on mountain climbs.

One of the suggestions that stood out in my mind was that the author said "Lowering is almost always faster than rappels if done correctly".

Now the author was a guide, so I was wondering if this is more a recommendation for when climbing with less experienced climbers, thereby saving time with inexperienced rappellers getting set up on a line, or when climbing in a larger group.

Or could this really often be faster, even in teams of 2?

I'm pondering different ways to work a lowering strategy efficiently into the course of climbing, whether one approaches the rappel roped vs. unroped, if doing an occasional rappel in the middle of a lot of downclimbing, or if doing multiple rappels. Does anyone have familiarity with using this technique for fast travel who could elaborate a bit on pros/cons, strategies, etc?

The only way I could see lowering being faster is if it's a strong climber and a beginner climber roped up together. If the experienced climber lowers his partner down a sketchy section of class 4 and then downclimbs it himself it would:

1- save everyone from having to untie from the rope.
2- not require spending time building an anchor (the guide could simply take a strong stance on a ledge and lower the partner off his harness)
3- not require leaving any gear or webbing
4- eliminate any risk of getting the rope stuck

But outside of this sort of scenario (where one climber needs a rope to descend, and the other climber is comfortable downclimbing) I don't see much use in lowering instead of rappelling.

If the cliff is a bumpy 75 degree slab, or it's really windy, lowering the first climber down instead of rapping will get the ropes down with much less hassle.

Bryan Gohn wrote:The only way I could see lowering being faster is if it's a strong climber and a beginner climber roped up together. If the experienced climber lowers his partner down a sketchy section of class 4 and then downclimbs it himself.

Bryan Gohn wrote:The only way I could see lowering being faster is if it's a strong climber and a beginner climber roped up together. If the experienced climber lowers his partner down a sketchy section of class 4 and then downclimbs it himself it would: 1- save everyone from having to untie from the rope. 2- not require spending time building an anchor (the guide could simply take a strong stance on a ledge and lower the partner off his harness) 3- not require leaving any gear or webbing 4- eliminate any risk of getting the rope stuck But outside of this sort of scenario (where one climber needs a rope to descend, and the other climber is comfortable downclimbing) I don't see much use in lowering instead of rappelling.

One scenario where I see this as perhaps being useful is encountering a single short rappel, esp. when simul-climbing (e.g. the notches in SRA or the one on MGA on Temple Crag that tend to be rappelled)

Variation A has the second taking both strands down:

1. Leader reaches the step, clips into rapp anchor, and belays second in.

2. Second briefly clips into anchor while leader unties, threads that end of the rope through rap rings, and ties a knot on a bite on the end to be clipped to the second.

3. The second, without their rope ever being removed from the leader's belay device, is lowered. This automatically threads the rope for rappel (taking care that that portion of the line is not rubbing hard on the rapp rings!).

4. The leader then rappels. If belaying another pitch, the second could be setting up the next anchor during this time (think aretes on Temple Crag)

Variation B has the leader taking the remaining slack down:

1. Leader reaches the step, clips into rapp anchor, and belays second in. Ideally the leader briefly unties and reties the line after threading it through the rap rings. The rope is pre-threaded as the second is belayed in if the belay device is attached behind the rings watch out for loading the rings though. If this can't be avoided, the leader would put the device between the rings & second and the leader would need to thread & re-coil his half of the rope before rappelling.

2. Second is lowered as soon as they pass the leader (whether the leader changes position for this or threads the second's end through the rings depends on the arrangement of the rapp anchor).

3. The leader has been coiling the rope during this process and is able to either toss the rope down (still potentially tied to the leader) or holster the remaining coil on one side of their harness to feed out during rapp. Leader rappels on the two lines, possibly feeding one of them out while on rappel.

BTW, for additional context, the author said that he rappelled after lowering the other climbers, so he was not lowering people through downclimbable terrain in this instance. Also, he is talking from the standpoint of the Canadian Rockies, where many routes have many short cliffs interrupted by easier ledges & slopes, so perhaps he's referring more to the occasional single rappel intermixed with sections of downclimbing?

I agree with u.

Approaching storms often call for a quick descent. I recently lowered a partner instead of letting him rap for time efficiency as lightning was quickly becoming an issue. Partner cleaned the route and approached my stance whereupon i thought "huh he's already tied in I don't want him untying and finagling with his device for two or three minutes" so installed a backup system and lowered him off after which I simply dropped the other end of the ropes and rapped off. Total time 5 minutes no less. Perhaps a simul rap would have been quicker. Granted it was only a long 170ft single pitch.

Josh Cameron wrote:For myself, I've found lowering to be faster with a slingshot type setup. Climber 1 leads, threads the rope through the chains and gets lowered by climber 2. Then climber 2 follows and cleans and gets lowered.

In descending certain type(s) of cliffs, such as low-angle slab, or cliffs with ledges and/or bushes, lowering the first climber down can save time because the rope doesn't get hung up and there's no "Cluster-F-Snarls" to untangle.    Ideally the first climber is lowered on one rope while the 2nd rope, attached to his/her harness feeds off the top of a stacked rope. (Or, of course, you can lower double-rope too, but it's a bit more difficult to manage.)  I think this is what your reference was alluding to.
I almost always use this technique when doing full-rope-length raps in Red Rocks.  Those "plates" really can snarl things up.  On low angle slabs I'll often use a "hybrid" technique where I rap on a thrown, fixed single strand while the "tag line", attached to my waist, feeds off the top of a stack.  

Lowering + rappel also works well when a descent is necessary in the course of an ascent (or a more technical section is encountered in the course of a scramble-descent).  However, consider the possibility of the first climber downclimbing rather than being lowered. Especially if the section is low angle, like class 2-3 ice or easy rock.  Sometimes downclimbing is faster than being lowered, since an unweighted rope can often be fed out faster than a rope weighted with a climber.  Also, by downclimbing the rope is not taught as it is when lowering and thus is less likely to knock off rocks, which of course have a nasty habit of following gravity directly down towards the climber being lowered.

I have used both with guides: downclimbing class 2+/3- ice on an ascent, and downclimbing (rather than being lowered) both easy ice and easy-but-technical-and-exposed rock. Worked well and the guide agreed it was faster.