Using a Rope Single-handed 
on 
NI 
the descent chances to be a clear one. This, however, is rare 
and the complications which ordinarily ensue from such an opera- 
tion are as numerous as they are unexpected. I will merely cite 
a few. In descending, the unused coiled-up portion of the rope 
is a fertile source of discomfort, hitching itself up on every possible 
opportunity and frequently necessitating a partial return upwards 
to clear it. Later on when a bad spot is reached and the services 
of the rope are needed, no sooner does the climber’s whole weight 
come on it than it has an aggravating way of suddenly giving up a 
foot or more, owing to some temporary foul up above having 
rendered. So much for the joys of the descent, now for the 
ascent. On the return journey, if the free end of the rope be left 
to be hauled up after the climber, it often finds some place to curl 
round and jamb especially if wet. If, on the other hand, the 
climber from time to time makes up the slack and carries the 
coil with him, at the most unexpected times a bight will hitch itself 
on some unseen protuberance of the cliff and, as he swings himself 
upwards, he will suddenly find himself hauled back by the demon 
bight violently pulling at his shoulder! This last experience, 
the most perilous of all, actually happened to me twice in the 
course of a few minutes when re-ascending a cliff, the base of 
which lay 400 feet below me. Never again! 
It would be impossible to describe all the occasions when a 
piece of good Alpine rope may make all the difference between 
success and failure. 
Many years ago I discovered an Egyptian Vulture nesting in an 
horizontal fissure near the summit of a small pinnacle crag. The 
whole place is not 4o feet high, but the upper part of the crag 
overhangs, whereas the lower is as perpendicular as a wall. There 
is a wide ledge on one side, easy of access but separated by a gully 
from the fissure containing the nest, to cross which is merely a step. 
But herein lies the crux of the whole business. The wild birds 
