Hanging Belay

On Saturday, amid all the other activity, I got out for some climbing with Buddy and Sam.

It was cool climbing with Sam, because she’s been around the crag quite a lot and had a lot of confidence and knowledge to share.

After top-roping on Jingle Bells and finding out Sam had a preference for “delicate climbs” (climbs requiring more technique – pinchers vs. big “throwy” moves), we moved over to climb Virgin Suicides. Upon finding out V.S. had a two pitch option, we decided it was meant to be.

At the bottom we put together our plan and gathered all our gear. I would lead the first pitch while towing a second rope behind me. At the top of the first pitch (about 80′), I’d set up a sliding X anchor then belay both Buddy and Sam up each of the ropes. The original plan was to let them both climb simultaneously, but that changed as you’ll see. Once Sam got up the first pitch, she’d carry on to lead the second, setup an anchor and belay Buddy and I to the finish. Once we were all at the top, we’d do a single length rappel to the bottom.

My lead was going pretty well until I got to the crux and made a half-ass attempt, which of course sent me falling down the gritty slab. The fall was longer than I expected, but not bad so I grabbed the rope and pulled myself back to the crux which I managed better the second time. What I didn’t realize until later was that Sam took a harder hit against the slab while belaying the fall. Thank you Sam for what may have been a painful belay.

At the top I anchored myself to the second set of anchors, pulled up the excess rope and set up my belay anchor for Buddy and Sam. The plan reviewed at the bottom was to belay off the anchor (like you’re supposed to do) with my ATC Guide – first testing it to make sure I had it setup correctly. I gave it a test, thought that it was working and told them to come up.

Buddy started first, then Sam was going to follow shortly behind. Right from the get go I was having trouble with the belay. I could only manage the slack inch by inch and when Buddy put tension on the rope it didn’t seem to hold very well. Because of this I asked Sam to wait until Buddy was up, so I’d only have to struggle with one climber at a time.

Yeah. For those that know, all kinds of bells and whistles should be going off.

Buddy continued to climb and somewhat struggled with the route. A couple of times he had to rest and I think he fell once or twice. Each time the belay was sketchy and I felt I had to hold the rope to keep him in place on the wall.

DING! DING! DING! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!

Keep in mind. I’m not making fun of the error I’m about to explain. It is no laughing matter. This is my hindsight recognition of what was terribly wrong.

After what seemed like forever of me holding Buddy on the wall (literally I was when he was resting on the rope) and then Sam as she climbed, I was finally off belay. My feet were completely numb and legs totally stretched after pseudo standing at my anchor point bent over and pulling the rope through the belay device inch by inch. I wasn’t even sure I could continue the second pitch after Sam climbed past and setup the second anchor.

But I did. I did climb the second pitch and made it to her anchor point at which she suggested I actually HANG.

“Why were you guys standing anyway?” She asked.

She was right. There was no point to stand so awkwardly for so long when you can perfectly hang while anchored to the wall. I attribute it to the belay stations we’ve done in alpine climbs (which aren’t so vertical) and just not having the experience she has with such things. Now I know, because I certainly don’t want to walk around like this again.

Those are compression sleeves on my calves while wearing shorts 3 days after the fact trying to calm my screaming calves.

So we all got to the top. Dropped our ropes and rappelled down without incident. Total time to ascend and descend – an hour and thirty minutes.

What happened with the belay?  I had it backwards. I was pulling from the end that should have gone to the climber, hence why I had to feed it through the device. Normally it should lock with a downward pull by the climber and pull easily from the other side when the climber creates slack as they climb. Setting it up backwards obviously has the opposite effect.

It was a terrible mistake (and on Willey’s with Buddy in March). Yes. Somebody could have gotten really hurt or worse. Will it ever happen again? No way. It’s so burned into my memory now, there’s no chance I’ll forget.

Yeah. It was great to climb and most importantly learn from Sam.

– b