d3nni5
Oct 3, 2006, 7:04 PM
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Registered: Oct 3, 2006
Posts: 36
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While climbing at Pawtuckaway, NH the other day, I witnessed some of the most suspect anchoring and belaying techniques I've seen on any crag. I've only been in the country a few weeks, having emigrated from the UK, where I worked as climbing gym manager/climbing instructor/roped access technician; so this was my first experience of the locals and their techniques.
My issue was with the way the party in question had chosen to belay their climbers.
At the base of the climb there was a sturdy tree, around which the party "leader" had larksfooted (girth hitched) a sling. To extend this sling from the tree, another piece of webbing had been attached to the first, again using a larksfoot. The belay device was attached to this second sling.
In effect, the climbers were being belayed directly from the tree. A technique that in some situations could be described as perfectly safe.
in this situation, however, the system being used was, in my opinion, unsafe. The larksfoot around the tree effectively reduces its strength, the slings larksfooted together providing the weakest part of the system, capable of failing in a top-roping situation depending on the length of the fall and whether there was a belayer in the system to absorb the system. After only a couple of climbs, the slings had cinched so tightly together that I doubted whether they could have been undone. The climbers in question were climbing on 'low-stretch' rope, as were many other parties there that day, a technique used on top-roping venues all over the world. In this situation, however, it's use added even more uncertainty to the system.
Here's my dilemma. The group was operating an unsafe system, that with a minimum of adjustment with available equipment could have been made into a safe one. The sling around the tree was long enough to have been doubled around the trunk and clipped with a locking biner (of which there were many available) This could have been more safely extended to a belayer wearing a harness (which, again, were available) The fact that there were no great disparities in body size within the group, could have made the idea of using the tree redundant!
In the past, in the UK and Ireland, when I've approached groups such as this to tactfully suggest changes, the reception has varied from grateful appreciation to downright hostility, though because of my qualifications there, I've got a platform of sorts to make my suggestions from.
My question for you North American climbers is.... what should I have done? What is the etiquette here in this situation. Let them get on with it, or made a point of trying to get across the issues with their system. What would you have done in the situation?
For the record, I said nothing. Partly because I felt like I was on their turf (it'll take a while yet before I consider myself a local) and partly because the young gentleman looking after the others in the group seemed quite the 'alpha male' and I got the vibe that my credibility destroying suggestions might not go down too well.
About the title of the post... I analogize watching people climbing using dubious self-taught techniques, with watching a drunk person getting into a car to drive home. You know it's dangerous, but do you walk right up and tell them? In response, they might suggest that they "do it all the time" and that "it's fine", but deep down inside you know that if they make it home without killing themselves or someone else they're just lucky, and that sooner or later, someone is going to get hurt.
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