Running belays - Middle person on a friction knot

Here’s a series of tips related to the often used running belay technique.

If everyone is tied into the rope a running belay, the entire team must stop at each placement to allow the last person to clean the pro. To speed things up, try this: have the middle person connect to the rope with a friction knot such as prusik or klemheist rather clipping to a butterfly knot. This way, when the last person stops to clean pro, the middle person can continue to ascend the rope, speeding up the ascent. Be sure the last person on the rope is competent in fast removal and racking of well placed, buried/sunken pickets and/or ice screws. (This usually means not putting the weakest team member at the and of the rope.)

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Running belays - Middle person on a friction knot