Scenario:  Your team needs to descend a tricky section (steep snow / low 5th / 4th class) that’s about 1 pitch long.  The most skilled climber on the team feels fairly confident they can safely down climb it . . . but they’d feel better with some sort of backup.

A Crafty Rope Trick (CRT), sometimes called “downleading”, can be used to protect the last climber in this situation.

First, one end of the rope is fixed to an anchor and the other end tossed down. Then, all but the last 2 climbers descend the fixed rope, by rappelling the single line or by downclimbing protected by a friction knot.

Here's what happens next.

1. The second to last climber places protection (snow or rock) as they descend, and then clips the rope to the pro. These placements should be below any tricky moves, not above.

2. The last person, typically a more skilled climber, unties the fixed rope, then ties the rope into their harness.

3. A climber at the bottom puts the top/last climber on belay.

4. The top climber then downclimbs the pitch cleaning gear as they come to it, just as if they were “seconding” a route. The gear prevents the last climber from a big fall should they come off. The last climber ideally climbs below each piece of gear before they clean it, to reduce the length of any possible fall.