18 February 2015

Dangerous belay illustration by UKC

The belay article by UK Climbing is nicely written but the illustration shows a dangerous belay method which should be removed. (c) Ray Eckermann 1. The dynamic belayer will not stop nicely just under the first bolt, as shown in the middle picture, but instead smash into the wall with a potential risk for letting go of the rope and the climber falling to the ground. 2. "The climber could easily fall onto the rope with painful consequences in the groin region!" (Quote from the article.) 3. "The belayer must anticipate the split-second before the rope goes tight and at that moment, lock off the belay device." (The contrary is shown on the picture.) The 8a article written the year before is actually more informative. The most important advice is that the inexperienced heavy belayers should bend their knees is critical situations in order to create a dynamic fall instead of being scared during the fall and instinctively, sit down during the fall making it super stiff.
21 comments
Sort by:
Date
Reply
Most commented
Jernej Kruder sends Martin Krpan (9a) sans knee pads

Jernej Kruder, who won the Boulder World Cup in 2018, has done Martin Krpan (9a) in Mišja Peč. “I would like to expose something here: I spent many tries on t…

Welcome to Vertical-Life Web

Six years after partnering with 8a.nu, we’re excited to announce the unification of the 8a.nu website and the Vertical-Life app into a single platform: Vertical…

Will Bosi repeats Return of the Sleepwalker (9A)

William Bosi has made the second ascent of Daniel Woods’ Return of the Sleepwalker (9A) in Black Velvet Canyon, after projecting it for 12 sessions. This was th…

Favorites
Will Bosi claims the first repeat of Burden of Dreams (9A)

William Bosi has done the coveted second ascent of Nalle Hukkataival's Burden of Dreams (9A) in Lappnor, Finland, confirming the 9A grade. It was put up as the …

Katie Lamb makes history

Katie Lamb has become the first woman to climb 8C+ by completing Box Therapy (8C) in RMNP. Daniel Woods made the FA back in 2018, and only Drew Ruana and Sean B…

"It was dramatic to the very end." On the 8a finish of Project Big in Flatanger, Jakob Schubert explains that a horn broke and he was close to falling. The last three minutes of the video show just how much this climb means to him."This horn could have ended my career... This was the biggest mental …