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start raining during lead

Original Post
cellige · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2010 · Points: 0

I am curious what the common behavior is if caught mid pitch and it starts raining while there is a string of cams below you.

I would rap on nuts or down climb but I got to thinking that perhaps the belay anchor should always incorporate a nut/natural on days that have a chance of rain, since you might use it to rap.

jim.dangle · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 5,882

Yer gonna dry!

jmeizis · · Colorado Springs, CO · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 230

The options as I see it:

1. Finish the pitch and wait or bail. Had this happen on a climb in Boulder Canyon last year. It's the reason I stopped wearing tennis shoes on all but the easiest climbs.

2. Lower or hang and try to wait it out. This depends on the storm. Colorado has lots of short storms so a lot of times you can just wait for things to dry up then continue climbing.

3. Bail from there and leave some gear. Haven't done this. Seems like it would suck.

Kenan · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2010 · Points: 1,237

If it's a light rain and a single-pitch climb, I'll often just lower off the top piece (leaving the other gear on the way down)... 9 times out of 10 in areas where I climb (Colorado/Utah/NM) it will be short storm and things will dry out quickly. You can then finish the climb and retrieve gear.

If it's a soaking rain and you know you won't be able to finish, you have to build an anchor and rap/lower off that, cleaning everything else on the way down. You can build a pretty solid rap anchor with 2 pieces in many cases, and yes always bring nuts so you can try to use those first (but make sure they're bomber... your life is worth more than a $60 cam). Here are some more tips to save gear when building rap anchors:
climbing.com/skill/improvis…

Dan Bachen · · Helena, MT · Joined Mar 2010 · Points: 1,083

Book it to the top using any means necessary, pulling on gear/ knotting a few slings and aiding can usually get you through slick sections. It may be a pain but it sure beats leaving a bail anchor.

Highlander · · Ouray, CO · Joined Apr 2008 · Points: 256

Close to end of the pitch, finish it and rap down or Just down aid the pitch.

Andy Hansen · · Longmont, CO · Joined Sep 2009 · Points: 3,130

I think you've got the appropriate responses so far. May I add one more for just keep firing it to the top. In an alpine scenario or cragging. One of my more memorable rain pitches was on Eldo's Psychosis Direct... started raining while I was in the roof. Very exciting.

ian watson · · Sandia park, NM · Joined Apr 2010 · Points: 235

Since I am ok at aid, I would aid up or down depending on what makes since at the time. If there is lightning very close my life is worth more then any gear so start throwing in nuts and hexs and GTFO.

bearbreeder · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2009 · Points: 3,065

good gear and clean falls ???

keep on climbing

if you arent climbing in the rain sometime in squamish, you arent climbing enough

;)

teece303 · · Highlands Ranch, CO · Joined Dec 2012 · Points: 596

The responses cover most of it.

I'll add this: it also depends on the style of rock. A rainstorm on an overhang can often be ignored. A rainstorm on a friction slab is terrifying! In Colorado, I can often wait it out, but afternoon thunderstorms here have a nasty habit of bringing hail and lightning, so in general, my philosophy is get the hell off the rock as quick I can.

Once I'm on the ground I decide if I can wait or bail.

Ryan Kempf · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 371

I never got the memo about not being able to climb in the rain. Some of my favorite climbing stories involve either wet/frozen routes or rain and or frozen moss. Locker finger jams in frozen moss btw.

Ryan Williams · · London (sort of) · Joined May 2009 · Points: 1,245

That's pretty normal in the UK. One of my hardest onsights last year was in the rain. Scary, but just as safe as it would be if sunny. Unless you're in the desert...

cellige · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2010 · Points: 0

It doesn't seem like cams in a wet crack as running gear or at the belay your rapping back to seems to be concern for many?

Ryan Kempf · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 371

That's cuz cams work just as well wet or dry. It’s the rock that can be compromised. Granit=fine, sandstone=GTFO.

Taylor Jenkins · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2011 · Points: 0

More people need to know about this technique:

petzl.com/files/all/en/acti…

I have used this to bail off of routes several times and you only have to leave one piece of gear. If you are really nuts you could lower off a hook and leave nothing behind... never done that one, myself.

An upside down Gri-gri works even better than a prusik, in my opinion.

slim · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2004 · Points: 1,103
Ryan Kempf wrote:That's cuz cams work just as well wet or dry. It’s the rock that can be compromised. Granit=fine, sandstone=GTFO.
i'm thinking you don't have a good understanding of how cams work.....
Ken Noyce · · Layton, UT · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 2,648
cellige wrote:It doesn't seem like cams in a wet crack as running gear or at the belay your rapping back to seems to be concern for many?
nope, generally this isn't too much of a concern. Most of the time, the friction between the cam and the rock is provided by rock crystals biting into the aluminum of the cam lobe, and a little bit of water isn't going to affect that. If you're climbing very smooth rock like quartzite or limestone, water would be a much greater concern.
rgold · · Poughkeepsie, NY · Joined Feb 2008 · Points: 526

I REALLY don't like leaving gear, and I've almost never had to do it. Climbing in the wet is a definite option for the right types of rock if lightning isn't part of the mix. This is what I've done most of the time. Of course, sandstone can become dangerous fairly quickly in a downpour, but much harder and less porous rocks that are covered with lichen can be as slippery as if they were greased.

A combination of down-aiding and down-climbing is an excellent way to get off the pitch with no gear left behind; I've done that several times. Aiding up, especially if only a few moves to a good natural bail anchor, is worth considering. Going up or down to the nearest natural anchor (tree or chockstone that can be threaded) is a good option. There have been several instances in which I've kept a good top piece in, downclimbed with protection from it in order to place much more protection on the pitch than I had used when it was dry, and then reclimbed the pitch (or hand-over-handed) to the top anchor and then downclimbed it, removing the now much more copious protection.

Then there are often ways in which natural anchors can be fabricated: rocks of various sizes can be picked up from ledges and wedged for use as natural chockstones---this is how today's nuts started out. And if you've practiced it a little bit or have climbed in the Elbsandsteingebirge, jammed knots make perfectly good rappel anchors in some circumstances. It often helps to use a nut tool (the Elbsandstein climbers carry a pointed wooden stick) to push the knot into position in the crack and get the strands below the knot behind the constriction that is blocking the knot. For both these applications you had better know what you are doing, and of course you make multiple anchors from improvised materials, not just a single point.

Ed Wright · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2006 · Points: 285

I've done some of my best leads in a pouring rain. And I mean we started up after it was already raining.

Ryan Kempf · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 371

Oh this is good.

@ slim circa 2010
"stranger answer.... but yes, water does decrease a cam's holding power as it generally reduces the friction between the lobes and the surface of the crack. water in a sandstone crack is even worse, as it it decreases the strength of the sandstone."

You are correct sir, but water is not a very good lubricant to decrease the friction coeficiant with. Now if it were raining KY.... My answer woulkd be different.

Go aid climbing in the rain. You will find cams still work just fine.

slim · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2004 · Points: 1,103

to say broadly that "cams work just as well wet or dry" isn't correct. if you are climbing on rock that is rough, generally not a problem. if you are climbing parallel or flaring cracks that are smooth (ie yosemite, some boulder canyon cracks, some eldo, some lumpy, etc) you could run into a problem pretty quickly.

you are saying water isn't a good lubricant on rock. really? think about the east slabs descent when it is wet. think about doing some crappy polished eldo route in the rain. slightly less friction don't you think? water is actually a pretty good lubricant on rock.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Trad Climbing
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