# When to rope up, and even more importantly, when not to in snow slopes **URL:** \ **Category:** HOWTO\ **Created:** [1 August 2018 07:56 UTC](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/t/when-to-rope-up-and-even-more-importantly-when-not-to-in-snow-slopes/1605 "2018-08-01T07:56:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dabarlow](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/user_avatar/chat.nlmc.co.uk/dabarlow/32/47_2.png) [@dabarlow](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/u/dabarlow)\ **Post date:** [1 August 2018 07:56 UTC](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/t/when-to-rope-up-and-even-more-importantly-when-not-to-in-snow-slopes/1605/1 "2018-08-01T07:56:56Z")
> **[Roping up in Australia?](https://www.mountaineering.me/2018/07/roping-up-in-australia.html)** > > This season a thing which is a bit odd keeps popping up, bugging me and I can't let it slide (pun intended): Roping up in steep terrain whe... ---
**Author:** ![HollyP](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/user_avatar/chat.nlmc.co.uk/hollyp/32/2148_2.png) [@HollyP](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/u/HollyP)\ **Post date:** [1 August 2018 08:53 UTC](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/t/when-to-rope-up-and-even-more-importantly-when-not-to-in-snow-slopes/1605/2 "2018-08-01T08:53:42Z")
Sehr interesting - I have wondered about roping up on steep terrain; to me (not even a novice) it seemed risky. I love that the Germans have a word for such specific things as an “accident that occurred because a party was roped up and the whole rope party fell” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dabarlow](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/user_avatar/chat.nlmc.co.uk/dabarlow/32/47_2.png) [@dabarlow](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/u/dabarlow)\ **Post date:** [1 August 2018 09:10 UTC](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/t/when-to-rope-up-and-even-more-importantly-when-not-to-in-snow-slopes/1605/3 "2018-08-01T09:10:30Z")
I really liked that too. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_A](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/user_avatar/chat.nlmc.co.uk/max_a/32/314_2.png) [@Max\_A](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/u/Max_A)\ **Post date:** [1 August 2018 11:07 UTC](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/t/when-to-rope-up-and-even-more-importantly-when-not-to-in-snow-slopes/1605/4 "2018-08-01T11:07:21Z")
Good article David, and the more non-technical alpinism i’ve done (which is almost all relatively easy summer courses in the alps), the more I have come to agree with its conclusions. It’s not for nothing that moving together is sometimes blackly known as dieing-together. I wonder what the literal English translation of Mitreißunfall is? ---
**Author:** ![PaulSagar](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/user_avatar/chat.nlmc.co.uk/paulsagar/32/1016_2.png) [@PaulSagar](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/u/PaulSagar)\ **Post date:** [1 August 2018 12:02 UTC](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/t/when-to-rope-up-and-even-more-importantly-when-not-to-in-snow-slopes/1605/5 "2018-08-01T12:02:48Z")
I believe it is “Gumby death plummet” ---
**Author:** ![jobangles](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/user_avatar/chat.nlmc.co.uk/jobangles/32/795_2.png) [@jobangles](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/u/jobangles)\ **Post date:** [3 August 2018 11:49 UTC](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/t/when-to-rope-up-and-even-more-importantly-when-not-to-in-snow-slopes/1605/6 "2018-08-03T11:49:18Z")
The literal breakdown would be something like: mit = with/along reissen = tear/pull Unfall = accident So a pull-along-accident. Mitreißt is also used in the context of being carried away by something like a current. ---
**Author:** ![mikedlr](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mikedlr](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/u/mikedlr)\ **Post date:** [17 August 2018 07:13 UTC](https://chat.nlmc.co.uk/t/when-to-rope-up-and-even-more-importantly-when-not-to-in-snow-slopes/1605/7 "2018-08-17T07:13:34Z")
There used to be a proper British name for this, “one off, all off” and some of the most famous accidents in UK mountain history have happened through this (e.g. the Matterhorn). Unfortunately it’s not as easy to make single word names in English as it is in German. However there’s one comment - unbelayed moving together is not to be confused with simu-climbing / moving together with protection - running _belays_. That is a completely legitimate tactic but one that needs experience and _plenty_ of strong protection.