| Scrambling Equipment | | | | harnesses with fully padded waist and legs tend to |
| 1. Scrambling Rope: A subject of much debate and | | | | cross over best into rock climbing, whilst 'Nappy' style |
| really the decision comes down to personal choice. | | | | harnesses with minimal padding are the easiest to put |
| The key decision lies in choosing: | | | | on and also work well for alpine mountaineering. |
| | | | Examples of standard harnesses are the DMM |
| Single ropes are designed to be used by themselves | | | | Renegade or Petzl Calidris. |
| and are tested/certified accordingly. In the good old | | | | Examples of 'Nappy' harnesses are the DMM Super |
| days single ropes were thick (10.5-11.0 mm) and | | | | Couloir or the BD (Alpine) Bod. |
| heavy, but these days you can get single ropes with | | | | 3. Scrambling Equipment: Light and versatile is the |
| a diameter of 8.9 - 9.2mm. Maximum safety, but | | | | order of the day.a. You will need a belay device and |
| expect to pay a premium for these cutting edge | | | | HMS screwgate carabiners for each member of the |
| ropes. | | | | party. The belay device / rope controller should work |
| 10.0 mm single ropes are generally a lot cheaper, but | | | | well with the ropes that you intend to use i.e. if you |
| you pay a weight penalty. | | | | are using a skinny rope use a belay device that |
| Dry ropes are always useful in the mountains - they | | | | allows you to control/hold the rope in the event of a |
| don't absorb so much water, hence stay lighter, and | | | | fall.b. Two offset D screwgates are useful per each |
| dry faster.b. Rope Length: Anything between 30m | | | | member of the party for attaching oneself./people to |
| and 50m goes. The shorter the rope the lighter it is, | | | | belays;c. Slings are a mainstay of scrambling |
| however a short rope also limits your options both in | | | | protection - choose 2 or 3 x 60cm (4ft) dyneema |
| terms of pitch length, but also more importantly in | | | | slings and 2 or 3 x 120cm (8ft) dyneema slings for |
| retreat. A 30m rope only allows a 15m abseil... | | | | placing over spikes and around boulders. a single 240 |
| A 9mm x 30m half rope is probably the most | | | | sling can also be useful. Dyneema is thinner, lighter |
| common specification used for personal scrambling, | | | | and less bulky than nylon and the material of choice |
| based on the theory that it won't be used often and | | | | for slings.d. A small selection of rock protection is |
| it minimises weight and cost. This can be used | | | | useful on harder scrambles. A minimum amount of |
| doubled up (folded in half) for leading pitches up to | | | | gear might be DMM Wallnuts or Wild Country Rocks |
| 15m, which is plenty for most scrambles. However | | | | in sizes 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 plus a selection of larger |
| this does limit your ability to run together or retreat | | | | hexcentric nuts - DMM Torque nuts 1-4 or WC |
| from longer pitches - thus for harder, more remote | | | | Rockcentrics , 8, 9 and 10. |
| scrambles it is worth using a longer, fully rated single | | | | A larger rack would supplement the nuts with a set |
| rope i.e. 40 or 50m of Mammut 8.9mm Serenity or | | | | of DMM Offsets or fill in the gaps in any range of |
| 9.2mm Revelation rope is pretty much perfect. | | | | nuts that you have already bought. |
| We normally use 50m of 8.9mm Mammut Serenity | | | | Cams help protect those harder routes that can't b |
| (lovely, but expensive) or 10.0 Mammut Galaxy ( | | | | protected by nuts. A range of DMM 4 CU's or WC |
| good workhorse) ropes for our courses - both of | | | | Friends in sizes 1, 2 and 3 or 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5 cover a |
| which are dry treated, single ropes. | | | | lot of bases.e. Other Scrambling Equipment: A prussic |
| 2. Climbing Harness: You can guarantee that you will | | | | loop is always useful - 1.3m of 5mm or 1.4m of 6mm |
| need to put on your harness when standing on a tiny | | | | cord with the ends tied together into an open loop |
| ledge in a horrible storm with cold, wet fingers - | | | | with a double fisherman's knot that allows you to |
| choose your harness accordingly. | | | | protect abseils, ascend ropes and set up rescue |
| The harness thus needs to be fully adjustable with | | | | systems. |
| either 'standard, buckled adjustable legs or with a | | | | A nut key per party for removing stuck nuts. |
| 'Nappy' design. In general standard adjustable | | | | |