I'd like to do some indoor lead climbing, but l only own a pair of half ropes. Is it safe to use a single half rope when leading? If not, why not? Surely the half rope by itself must be good enough to hold a fall, else you'd always have to put both half ropes through every piece of gear when climbing with the pair.

l would not recommend it (as bear grylls says ''you can do it right a thousand times but it only takes one mistake and its all over)

l would say l probably doesnt have to much risk but l dont know if its really worth it. l guess it depends on what kind of climbing your doing

The theory behind using a pair of ''half ropes'' is redundancy for technically complicated lead climbs, where a rope could get caught or simply that the last placed protection is not in the best position for a fall. This method evolved from climbs up mixed routes where there could be any combination of arete, chimneys, dihedrals, wide cracks, overhangs, etc, forcing a lot of side travel, for example, in a single pitch. Each rope is sufficient to hold a fall, it is not intended that both ropes would be necessary to hold a fall. Hence, in a low risk situation, such as indoor climbing, a single half rope can be sufficient. Nonetheless, there r now a range of full climbing ropes that r of smaller diameters, so the only reason why you'd be pushing ur luck is that you're trying to save money. Just do not push ur luck because u r being cheap.

NO! this is very unsafe. A half rope is usually shorter & u will not have enough slack to come back down from the climb u did. Also it tends to be very thing like 8mm or so. Normal climbing ropes r 10.2 or above & r dynamic. Which means they stretch. l would totaly invest in a climbing rope. One of the cheapest ropes on the market is the one by New England. It is called the equinox. IT is only $130 or so which is a great deal. You can buy this rope from REI.com. (or go there in person). l use it for lead climbing almost every day & l have not found any problems with it.

Because it is a half rope, it denotes that it must be used with the other half as a pair!