In a party of fairly equal strength, the second best should still come next to the leader, if it is anticipated that the major part of the climb will be upward or downward and not on horizontal traverses. On difficult diagonal traverses, upward or downward, it is still of first importance that the leader or last man should be well secured.
With the same party on horizontal traverses the same order should be followed.
But if one member of a party of three is distinctly weaker, and the amount of horizontal traversing expected along a ridge or across a face is considerable,—enough to involve a greater risk to the party in leaving the inexpert man unprotected than in lessening the support for the leader or last man,—the weaker man should be placed in the middle of a rope of three. The second best man then traverses, in ascending, last, and in descending, first. The weaker man is thus protected at either end of his traverses and cannot slip far. Such an irregular order, however, must depend upon the relative inferiority of the weaker member, and on the amount of horizontal traversing expected. Its withdrawal of support from the leader, in the case of a rope of three, must be recognized as putting a lower limit upon the standard of difficulty which he, thus less secured, may warrantably attempt in ascending or descending. To put the weaker man in the middle deprives both the first and last man of the confidence of each other’s sounder protection. It destroys the collective efficiency, and leaves a party of individuals, not a combination. Nevertheless, it is an order too frequently adopted by climbers irrespective of the class of difficulty expected, and even upon direct ascents and descents. It should only be considered justifiable as a means of getting an inexperienced man over particular horizontal passages; and on difficult climbs, if they are undertaken with such a novice, the order should be changed back again, even at the risk of loss of time, so soon as the horizontal passages cease, or there is expectation of only a small proportion of them to come.
In a more equal party of three, however, where two are experts and the third not a novice at climbing but only less expert in alpine route finding, whose presence in the middle does not, therefore, weaken the rope materially, it is advisable for the second best of the experts to go in the lead in descending, or in traversing along and down big ridges of no special difficulty. He is better able to find the best line, and thus leaves the weakest of the three with no other responsibility than to attend to his own going. This is a usual order for a guided party in the Alps on long ridge work: the guide at the tail, and the best amateur, or the porter as the case may be, in the lead. The order again depends upon the comparative ease of the rock work for the man descending last.
In a party of four, similarly, if there are two weaker members, these two may well be put in the centre for any period of difficult horizontal traversing. The object is to avoid either weak climber having to make a traverse of this sort at the end of the rope and so only half protected. In this order a party of four may move only one at a time, and the best and second best men must act as fixed anchors at either end of the rope while the weaker men are successively moving. On any such traverse, wherever the leader feels that all can move together, which will not be possible unless the rock is easy enough to allow of the weakest man traversing the passage unaided, the second best man should again separate the two less expert, and so prevent their association of inexperience and its cumulative effect in case of a chance slip. On such a passage the leader or last man will not, by the nature of the case, require the support of a good second, and he will be able to spare full attention to the single novice placed behind him or, in descending, in front of him, upon the rope.
The same order may, on occasion, be adopted with similar party of four on the long easy traverse or descent of big alpine ridges, when two weaker climbers are efficient but not expert at route finding. It is often adopted with guided parties: the guide at the tail, the porter or the best of the amateurs in the lead, to choose the line, and the other two free to look after themselves and one another.
In a rope of four, for exacting horizontal traverses or for diagonal lines up or down ridges or across faces of any difficulty, when three men of the four are of almost equal merit and the fourth alone is inferior, one of the three better men goes last, with the other two in the lead, in ascending, and one of the three goes first, with the other two at the tail, in descending.
Where there is only one expert on the rope and two or three less secure climbers behind him, diagonal or horizontal traverses of any difficulty may never be attempted, unless the leader is prepared himself to hold the rope and belay the advance of each of the others separately, and in his turn, across every doubtful passage. No climber, however good, can count on checking in time the fall of two others; and if one novice slips on a rope so constituted, and the jerk comes first on another inexperienced climber, it is too late to hope to be able to stop the catastrophe. The neglect of this rule, one which it is difficult for a man in the pride of strength and skill to observe, has been the cause of some of the most melancholy of accidents.
There is one variation in the order, only coming into question in big alpine mountaineering, that must be mentioned separately. Occasionally on the traverse of long level or gradually inclined alpine ridges, up or down, where the technical difficulty of progress is not excessive, but where, owing to serrated ridges, cornices, snow-covered towers, etc., the risk of accident is greater than the difficulty, and the safe and swift management of the rope is both intricate and important, it is wiser for the most experienced climber of a party of three efficient amateurs to go in the middle, and not in the lead. He can then manage both ropes, and leave his less expert friends free to attend only to their own holds and progress, while he has them both, as it were, under his hand. As some compensation for the extra hindrance which the management of the two ropes will put in the way of his own climbing, he has the protection of the double support himself from either end. This order will be found of service in saving time and in preventing risk where, as often in amateur parties happens, the rope contains one or more brilliant climbers, good enough to lead and to follow, but still inexpert in the advanced technique of the rope. Variegated alpine ridges of this broken, crested type are the final test of rope management, and progress is often quicker and safer, for a party so constituted, with the expert leader acting as pivot and anchor in the centre.
This sort of combination, one or two more experienced mountaineers with one or two fine but still inexperienced climbers, is frequently the party preferred by guideless British climbers in the Alps; and it is therefore worth while adding here that the same order may be soundly adopted, with such a party, not only on traverses of ridges, but on big alpine ascents of length and severity. It is especially important in such combinations for the accepted leader, like a good stroke, to keep something in reserve. Assuming he knows his men to be good cragsmen, he may consider himself free to put one of them in the lead in ascending rocks, for part of the day at least, himself retaining the discretionary power which is as well exercised from the position of second man, and keeping his actual strength in reserve for real emergencies or for situations calling for expert mountaineering rather than for rock climbing technique. If his object is to train his men, he is even better able to do so from this position. This forms no exception to the rule that the best man should go first and last on new ascents and descents, and on all climbs where the difficulty requires an expert mountaineer, in the lead in ascending or at the tail in descending.