...am I just freaking out over nothing?

This means that the worst likely event is that ... a leader gets hosed if you are completely distracted.

The 'hands up - rope parallel' style of belay is a relic of the old days of body belaying and is really not appropriate for use with modern belay tubes or even the older belay plate devices. Those devices rely on surface area and angle of contact between device and rope to initiate braking. If the ropes are parallel then the only surface contact is around the carabiner (no different than having a top rope go through a carabiner down to bare hands). Since this is the case, all of the friction required to slow a climber's fall will be derived from the hand holding the rope, causing in the best case scenario a burned hand, and in the worst a dropped climber.

In general the ideal situation when delaying with a modern braking device is to always default back to a braking position when not managing the rope.

The other 'technique' will very likely result in a dropped climber if a fall occurs when the belayer is not paying attention...obviously dangerous.

as in this drawing from Princeton Univ.'s basics website:

http://www.princeton.edu/...raphics/atcbela1.gif

I taught everyone that when using an ATC the ropes should never be parallel and your brake hand never leaves contact with the rope..and the standard hands down meathod... Your brake hand is always down almost like you are rappelling (ever try rapping with parallel ropes?!?) I find out later this guy makes them have the ropes totally parallel and my girlfriend tried to tell him that isn't as safe. He made her catch "surprise falls" his way and she said it hurt and she burned her hands a little as his method had the break hand at times right by your face with the ropes totally parallel and the climber fell some as he was not caught right away.

If you teach people that the ropes should never be parallel then you are teaching inferior belay technique. After the 3rd time you short-roped me I would ask to be lowered so I could smack you upside the head with a #2 Camalot.

There is nothing wrong with belaying with your brake hand palm-side up.

The only problem I see is that your girlfriend didn't lock off the rope to arrest the fall...

In the questioned practice, do you mean the brake end of the rope is always parallel to the climber's end, or just when sliding the brake hand back to the ATC, as in this drawing from Princeton Univ.'s basics website:

http://www.princeton.edu/...raphics/atcbela1.gif

The 'technique' does not drop a climber. As I pointed out, hands-up, is a tried and true method. PEOPLE who do not belay properly with ANY TECHNIQUE drop people.

you know what man, you are preaching to the choir. nobody really cares that you think your way is the best way or whatever. it is a circular debate leading nowhere. They last post on the first page puts it best, in climbing there are allways more then one way to do things, some ways work best for certain circumstances.

Climbing does not hurt climbers, falling does.

This is how we teach belaying. It is how I have taught belaying for ten years. It is perfectly safe if taught properly, and as the other guy said, it is an easier method to teach and learn.

You are definitely not freaking out over nothing. I would definitely be very careful of the technique which you are describing, and if you choose to climb further at that gym then be aware of the way any partners you climb with use their devices.

The 'hands up - rope parallel' style of belay is a relic of the old days of body belaying and is really not appropriate for use with modern belay tubes or even the older belay plate devices. Those devices rely on surface area and angle of contact between device and rope to initiate braking. If the ropes are parallel then the only surface contact is around the carabiner (no different than having a top rope go through a carabiner down to bare hands). Since this is the case, all of the friction required to slow a climber's fall will be derived from the hand holding the rope, causing in the best case scenario a burned hand, and in the worst a dropped climber.

In general the ideal situation when delaying with a modern braking device is to always default back to a braking position when not managing the rope. This means that the worst likely event is that a top roper gets a little extra slack, or a leader gets hosed if you are completely distracted. The other 'technique' will very likely result in a dropped climber if a fall occurs when the belayer is not paying attention...obviously dangerous.

Finally I would find out if the individual instructing is following gym policy or teaching his own misguided method...then act accordingly.

I'll disagree. I've worked in a gym for 4 years now, teaching belay seminars every week or so...I find that beginners pick up the hands down method a lot quicker. IMO.
I think beginners usually can take slack in faster your way, but I've seen a lot of people struggle to catch falls this way, and even more people switching hands all the time.

I'd agree with most people's opinions that whatever you feel the most confident with, is best for you. However, from a instructors standpoint, and a risk management standpoint...I would teach the hands down method, and that's all I'd allow at my gym (for TR's at least).

I found myself in the same situation 3 years ago. I learned hands down (after learning the parallel way) and strongly prefered it. I went to a gym in PA, Vertical Extreem, with 4 friends. I offered to teach them all to belay, but the staff wouldn't allow me to...instead they HAD to take the VE "class". They insisted on teaching parallel technique on grigri's. Start to finish for my friends who didn't know what belaying was before the class.....20mins.

My friends had trouble using the method, so after they all got approved to belay there (yet could barely do it, not so that I felt comfortable with them) I taught them how to belay hands down....they all adopted it, and with a little coaching did just fine.

Afterwards I asked the staff why they prefered this parallel method...met with quite a bit of hostility, I was told that I was wrong, and that my way wasn't the standard way to belay. After 5 mins of dealing with her BS, I let her know she could argue standards with the AMGA or NOLS, both of whom teach this technique.

I left the gym, and 4 months later heard they had a belayer drop a climber close to 40' feet at a b-day party there....after passing their 20min belay class. I decided not to climb there anymore.

You'd be supprised how many gyms are sketchy as hell...which is terrible because these days, it's where 75% of climbers get their first exposure/ instruction in climbing.

I kinda hope some required standards are put in place soon. It sucks that we have to do this...but there are too many gyms that aren't doing a good job of teaching safe techniques.

Cheers,
Jim

To defend my girlfriend: she just said when she got a surprise fall and had the ropes parallel that the rope and climber gained speed very quick as she started to lock down and it was much harder than the method that she was comfortable with having the brake hand off to the side and then locking down.