Things your Belayer said this weekend

[young'n climber]

Duct tape eh? A guy a climb with named nate oyas, many of you have probably met him sometime or another at the red, but any ways, his harness was falling apart so he used duct tape to it. It isnt the greatest site when being belayed. Although he said it was just to keep it from fraying, its a little scary.

[Meadows]

Is that the 5.14 climber who is on a ship somewhere right now?

[young'n climber]

hahaha , no.

[wwjd]

One time in the gym my belayer said, "God is with YOU". It was funny because at that moment I was thinking the same thing.

[Wicked Tribe]

Johnny, if I paid you, you would you just hang out at my house and say funny stuff all the time?

My wife got dropped almost on her head at a bouldering competition at Climb Time BA by an employee. I don't know that he said much but he acted like it was no big deal. A foothold spun around, she fell and he had too much slack out. Cranium and floor were mere inches apart. She came to me with a truly shaken look about her. I offered to kick his teeth in but she declined.

[kclimb]

I'll think twice about letting one of their employees belay me! hahahah
Not that your wife nearly decking is funny, but the thought of a climbing gym employee not being able to belay is...is a horrible kind of way.

Glad she was caught and is ok to climb again!!

[mazzystr]

me: take!
belayer: i caaaaant!!!
me: what duyamean you can't take!!!???

[canadaclimbergirl]

I recently read about an accident where a climber was being lowered from a single pitch sport route and the belayer ran out of rope. It went screaming through the belay device and of course there was no way to stop it. (Sorry, can't recall now where or when or how the climber fared.) This is an easily avoidable mistake when you are unclear about the height of a route, but how many people routinely either tie a stopper knot or tie into the end of the rope when they are belaying on a single pitch climb? I know I don't. Should I at the Red? Are there any routes here where you should if you only have a 50m rope, or even a 60m rope?

This can happen even if you have plenty of rope to lower off. What happens as the climber goes up, in order to avoid a bad neck cramp that belayers often get, they start walking backwards. Maybe 10 or 15 ft, but on a long pitch, it could be enough, that upon lowering, the rope flys through the ATC.

-note on the ATC..I teach everyone I know how to belay on an ATC. I find teaching someone on a GriGri makes them lazy, and not as aware of the potential danger in taking the break hand off. The last thing I want is someone who doesn't know how to use an ATC properly being the one who has to rescue me someday should I take a bad fall!!!

It is up to both the belayer and the climber to be reponsible for the gear to be used/put on/ attached/ properly.

but yeah...Duct tape works great on just about everything. makes for nice screamers on your draws!!!

[Guest]

after the rope makes a horrible CRACKing sound while I am about 30 feet up a route, I tell my belayer that something is not right, and they just say "oh it's fine, keep climbing". long story short, it wasn't ok, (the core had popped out) I stuck to my guns, clipped into a bolt, and then my belayer got to rescue me and play hero of the day and we're still talking

also, I second all the people who talk about checking and double checking yourself and your belayer, and vice versa. complacency and habit are the worst reasons to get ourselves into predicaments that can EASILY be avoided

[squeezindlemmon]

While spotting Jared on the crux of a hard boulder problem at HorsePens 40:

Me: "That foot is not on."
Jared: "HUH?! What are you..."

Ka-THUMP.

Me rolling on the ground laughing!!!!