Vertical caving terminology and methods > Rope access and arboriculture
Often confused with doubled rope technique. The use of a safety connection to a second rope known as a backup line for safety. This is used extensively with rope access in most developed countries, and with arboriculture in some countries. In those disciplines, there is very rarely a good reason not to, since the rope configurations are relatively simple. It is also a very important safety factor when using cutting tools such as chainsaws, or when falling objects like branches might snag a rope. This approach is almost never used with caving, since a second rope often causes the ropes to tangle around each other. This is especially likely with bigger hangs, narrower pitches, or in caves with waterfalls. A tangle beneath a waterfall could be very serious. Alpine rigging is almost impossible with a dual rope system, since separate anchors should be used to allow redundancy, and this becomes far more confusing, and more likely to cause problems. This is in addition to the obvious problem of doubling the equipment requirements.
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