Rope team

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A rope team (sometimes also called moving together) is a climbing technique where two or more climbers who are attached to a single climbing rope move simultaneously together along easy-angled terrain that does not require points of fixed climbing protection to be inserted along the route. Rope teams contrast with simul-climbing, which involves only two climbers and where they are ascending steep terrain that will require many points of protection to be inserted along the route. A specific variant of a rope team is the technique of short-roping, which is used by mountain guides to help weaker clients, and which also does not employ fixed climbing protection points. Rope teams are commonly used in alpine climbing, particularly for moving across glaciers and traveling along snow slopes and ridges. Members are typically spaced 30 feet (9.1 metres) apart with any surplus rope coiled and carried by the first and last members. The weaker members of the team are placed in the middle, however, it is important that the team can move together in a way that the rope does not become excessively slack or taut. Rope teams can accommodate many climbers, which gives greater "holding power" if a member falls into a crevasse or slides down a snow slope. However, large teams are also less flexible, which is a problem on more varied terrain where the rope team might want to quickly change to a short-roping or even a simul-climbing format. Some rope teams will simply tie each member directly into the rope via a climbing knot (e.g. figure-eight on a bight attached to a screw-gate carabiner), however, members can also be attached via prussik knots or progress capture devices for greater flexibility. When crossing glaciers, some rope teams will pre-apply prussik knots and loops to the rope to speed up...