Tech Tips

ok tech tip #2: just because the climber is using his/her hands does not mean that their rope goes into the hand on the grigri

heres a hard learned lesson to share. always carry an extra length of webbing long enough to tether a belay to a tree. while in fosters one day i saw a girl trying to belay someone twice her size ... he decked she walled .... it was ugly. if i would have had an extra webbing i could have prevented it. but i learned for my own partners to judge wieght first and now carry a tether cord especialy for that reason.

"there are only three sports motor racing mountain climbing and bull fighting all the rest are only games" Hemmingway

The only problem with that is you can't give a great dynamic belay. I was anchored in at Vedauwoo on Friday the 13th, when my climbing parttner was leading; needless to say he pumped out at about 20 feet, fell and popped his last piece. As he started down toward his second piece, the slack now in the rope popped his first piece, which threw rope up toward his second and now only piece left. when it popped, he started down and landed just beyond my outstretched hands. Luckily, he landed flat on the coiled rope with his head just over a small ledge. He got up remarkably unhurt. But if I could have stepped forward, it may have kept his top piece from going, or at the least, spotted his fall. Two lessons learned, the need for dynamic belays, and always use slings on trad routes to keep your gear from walking or popping out because of the extra play in the sling. Oh yea, and how nerve-racking it is to get on a climb when you have just watched your partner deck on it. Cheers!

a valid point sir,

but the girl next to me was on a sport route and was all of 98 lbs her partner was bigger than me and i weigh in at 191 in truth the best option would have been a different climbing partner but what do you do? live and love

cheers

"there are only three sports motor racing mountain climbing and bull fighting all the rest are only games" Hemmingway

If the weight differernce is so big, the petit belayer will automaticll belay "dynamic".

I weigh about the same as the girl in Taato's example ans personally I would find a different climbing partner, I hate belaying for much larger person I would never try to belay for someone twice my size. Personally I think it's just too risky in that we both way be hurt. I also don't spot for people that are larger for me when we boulder unless there are like 6 of us spotting. I also have these opinions because I'm really new to climbing and still kinda nervous that my spotting, and belaying skills aren't the greatest. There is no fun to be had in the emergency room or worse.

Maybe it doesn't come down to the impact force the belayer is required to withstand, but if it did (does) you might consider this. I weigh 176 and a person about 115 lbs dressed belays me often. That isn't twice as much but I think it works with the belayer anchored in. Even if the belayer is anchored there are a number of things that can and do make the belay dynamic. In addition to the modulus of the rope: First, I doubt an belayer is ever perfectly aligned with the anchor and first protection point, so that jerk back to alignment absorbs some energy. Secondly, as the the knots in the anchor system and the climber's tie-in tighten that also absorbs energy. Most of all, the device, especially an ATC, doesn't stop without some slippage. In fact the greater the force the more slippage there is. The ATC will slip long before the force on the rope reaches its designed limits. Even the friction of the 180 degree turn over the carabiner will reduce the load that the belayer feels ( by 52% accoreding to: Soles, C., "Single Rope Byers Guide" Rock and Ice Magazine, Vol 117, No. 68, 1995). Petzel says belayer with a figure 8 will resist a force up to 2kN and with a Munter/Italian Hitch the hand can only resist a force up to 2.5 kN. Slippage in the GRIGRI happens at 9kN according to the Petzel catalog.
Anyway, that's my opinion, for what it is worth. JIM