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"Lower off" tag #4115

Open skomaroff opened 1 year ago

skomaroff commented 1 year ago

Currently there are three tags for descent options:

Another common (but occasionally contentious) option is to lower off rather than rappel. I think it would be good to have a tag available to mark locations where lowering off is the local consensus.

nicHoch commented 1 year ago

Could you please try to define where exactly is the difference between "lower off" and "rap off" and what it implies for the climber

skomaroff commented 1 year ago

The difference is in whether the weighted rope runs through the anchor.
When rappelling, only the unweighted rope is pulled through the fixed hardware. Lowering causes more wear on the anchor, and so in some regions it has historically been controversial. Most areas seem to be moving towards lowering as the default.

From my understanding, few people differentiate in Europe. I know first hand that many people in USA, Canada and New Zealand care about the distinction.

Just some of many discussions:

killakalle commented 1 year ago

It sounds like Walk off, Scramble off, Rap off are used in the context of multi-pitch.

Does "Lower off" even exist for multi-pitch? Or would you want to use it in a spot climbing context?

On Tue, 25 Oct 2022 at 20:50, skomaroff @.***> wrote:

The difference is in whether the weighted rope runs through the anchor. When rappelling, only the unweighted rope is pulled through the fixed hardware. Lowering causes more wear on the anchor, and so in some regions it has historically been controversial. Most areas seem to be moving towards lowering as the default.

From my understanding, few people differentiate in Europe. I know first hand that many people in USA, Canada and New Zealand care about the distinction.

Just some of many discussions:

- https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/27163/how-do-i-know-the-local-ettiquete-on-lowering-vs-rappeling

https://www.rockandice.com/climbing-gear-tips/should-you-lower-or-rap-through-anchors/

https://www.rockandice.com/climbing-gear-tips/is-it-okay-to-lower-off-rap-rings/

https://old.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/7tqq1h/rappel_or_lower_off_a_sport_route/

https://old.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/70z0nj/question_regarding_rappelling_vs_lowering/

https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/6483/lowering-off-from-anchors-vs-rappelling-after-a-climb

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/107279145/lowering-vs-rappelling

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skomaroff commented 1 year ago

Correct, lower off is most relevant to single pitch (sport and trad).

All the other tags are relevant to single pitch too though; particularly trad crags where permanent anchors may not exist.

"Walk off" and "scramble off" are also relevant to bouldering. A "down climb" tag might even be useful for boulders that have more technical descents.