Vertical caving terminology and methods > SRT basic terms
Where a rope is not long enough for the entire pitch, so two ropes are joined somewhere on the pitch. While this can be done in the middle of a hang, this requires an extremely inconvenient manoeuvre to pass the knot. It is much better to join ropes at a rebelay, Y-hang, or part of a traverse line, which avoids the need for an SRT manoeuvre. This often means that the second rope has only one anchor, especially when ropes are joined at a rebelay, even though redundancy is an essential safety feature. To make up for that, the down rope usually has the loop of its knot tied by rethreading it through both the carabiner and the loop of the up rope that is connected to the same carabiner. If the carabiner or anchor fails, the ropes are still connected, and the down rope inherits all of the backups and other anchors of the up rope. The tail of the up rope's knot must not end up as a short end, so to make it safe, it must have a safety knot in its end. In addition, any excess rope should then be bundled up (such as with a Capuchin knot, multiple overhand knot or butterfly coil) to make it very clear that it is not the down rope.
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