Pitch (vertical space)

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For other uses, see Pitch

In rock climbing or ice climbing, a pitch is a very steep or vertical section of a route that requires a rope between two belays, as part of a climbing system. As climbing ropes are usually 45 or 50 metres long, longer routes are often multi-pitch, requiring the re-use of the rope on each pitch.

The term pitch is also used by cavers to refer to a very steep or vertical section (called a drop, pit, or shaft) in a cave that needs ladders or Single Rope Technique to descend and ascend (a drop that can be descended and ascended without equipment is a climb). As caving rope lengths are not standardized, the length of a pitch is usually equal to that of the drop. The deepest underground pitch is 603m in Vrtoglavica cave in the Julian Alps in Slovenia. In some cases cavers may choose to split one drop into two or more distinct pitches. However in most cases a single rope or ladder is used for the entire drop, so in practical usage 'pitch' has become synonymous with the terms 'drop', 'pit' or 'shaft'.

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