Stay at home

[Foxy]

Hi all,
Am looking for advice, suggestions and recommendations on what hardware I should buy to make up a basic scrambling and abseiling rig.
Mostly to be used for confidence and safety on some of the more airy routes we hope to tackle next year.

Thanks in advance

[gaffr]

....or scrambler's rack.

When I started to get around the classic ridges and buttresses more than fifty years ago we just tied onto a hawser-laid rope with a bowline and carried a couple of rope slings and some steel biners and used a waist belay, usually, if possible sitting in a braced position with the feet and using a good high anchor. Moving together came much later on.
Nowadays with all the great kit around that really you shouldn't be without.....harness, helmet, superb ropes, belay plates, 'the fear gear'....rocks, a couple of tape slings and a few quick draws. etc.
You don't need to overladen yourself....just try to measure what is needed for the type of terrain you intend to travel through.
Direct belays using Italian hitches can be useful also by arranging the anchor/and the loop for the HMS biner and It. hitch and your own tie-in with a clove-hitch...flexible... can be useful on shorter 'single pitch' terrain....you are then much free-er as Mr/Mrs belay person.
Now what have I missed out. help needed!

[basscadet]

Oh I thought the very definition of scrambling was that you didn't need a rope or gear.. If you take a rope, you cross the line into climbing territory?

Don't know anything about ropes sorry.. The only person I've climbed with is my dad, and he is all about tying ropes round waists and threading a certain way through the legs for abseiling.. While there are up sides to this set up - less faffing with kit, and less financial outlay, I would say you are only about 90% safer than not using a rope, instead of being 99% safe

[jmarkb]

Hi all,
Am looking for advice, suggestions and recommendations on what hardware I should buy to make up a basic scrambling and abseiling rig.
Mostly to be used for confidence and safety on some of the more airy routes we hope to tackle next year.

Thanks in advance

What sort of routes do you have in mind? Apart from the Cuillin, there aren't many scrambling routes where abseiling is necessary. It's actually quite difficult to sensibly and safely use a rope in a scrambling situation where none of the team are confident moving on the terrain unprotected, without turning it into pitched rock climbing (which in general is too time consuming). If you are new to the game, it would be better to build up experience on easy scrambles where you don't feel the need for a rope.

[Michael Thomson]

If I take people out who are less confident and it's grade 3 or maybe Mod, I'll take either a 20m rope depending on the route, along with a half a set of nuts and a couple of long slings. It's plenty for setting up a quick belay if the need arises.
If I know it's a long and committing route, then I'll take a 50m.

Half the fun of scrambling is not having to lug kit, so that's only used in exceptions rather than the norm.