So right before the ice fest in Ouray, I dropped Sungam. We had a redirect off the chain and I was sitting in a nice snow seat belaying with a grigri.
Well tubby outweighs me by 100lbs and twinkie here caused the belay seat to crumble, me get jerked into the chain, locking the grigri open, and knocking my hand off the rope. I did everything I could to get control of that sucker and sure enough I caught him without incident about a foot off the ground.
So mistakes were made.
This could have been prevented if I'd just got a solid stick or screw behind me and tethered into it.
It would also have been prevented if I belayed direct off the chain and kept my body out of the system.
The thing that nags me though is not how should I have prevented the slip but should I have caught him at all. It would have been glorious, Sungam in his pink helmet with dual tib-fib fractures getting sent back to the socialist healthcare of haggis. All the while me, a supposedly experienced partner would be to blame.
The drama, the ironing, Sungams pain, the majiding, it would have been a day to remember.
Also of note, I climbed with him for a week after that and never cut the rope.
So right before the ice fest in Ouray, I dropped Sungam. We had a redirect off the chain and I was sitting in a nice snow seat belaying with a grigri.
Well tubby outweighs me by 100lbs and twinkie here caused the belay seat to crumble, me get jerked into the chain, locking the grigri open, and knocking my hand off the rope. I did everything I could to get control of that sucker and sure enough I caught him without incident about a foot off the ground.
Substitute regular fall day for snow, and first bolt for chains, and that's exactly describes my "closest call" as a belayer.
Except I didn't let go of the rope when the gri-gri was jammed open. I still don't know how. If I did let go, the climber would have decked, I don't think I would have had time to react and regain control of the rope, b/c it was close enough to the ground already-- the climber stopped about 8-10 feet from the ground (the height of the first bolt). I had my hands mangled. Fingers on one hand got pulled through the carabiner and jammed, fingers on the brake hands were jammed between the rock and the gri-gri. I am still amazed that I walked away with all finger joints and ligaments intact, other than surface damage.
lesson learned: don't climb with tubbys. Or at the very least, make them down-climb and unclip the first bolt after the second one is clipped.
Sounds like SG made the error. He fell, after all!
But, to be serious, I guess being anchored in would have been smart with such a weight disparity, and also SG has sprayed quite liberally on his climbing level. It seems a fall might have been easy enough to predict.
Glad he wasn't hurt, though, and everyone lived to make jokes about it. What an awful thing otherwise.
So right before the ice fest in Ouray, I dropped Sungam. We had a redirect off the chain and I was sitting in a nice snow seat belaying with a grigri.
Well tubby outweighs me by 100lbs and twinkie here caused the belay seat to crumble, me get jerked into the chain, locking the grigri open, and knocking my hand off the rope. I did everything I could to get control of that sucker and sure enough I caught him without incident about a foot off the ground.
Substitute regular fall day for snow, and first bolt for chains, and that's exactly describes my "closest call" as a belayer.
Except I didn't let go of the rope when the gri-gri was jammed open. I still don't know how. If I did let go, the climber would have decked, I don't think I would have had time to react and regain control of the rope, b/c it was close enough to the ground already-- the climber stopped about 8-10 feet from the ground (the height of the first bolt). I had my hands mangled. Fingers on one hand got pulled through the carabiner and jammed, fingers on the brake hands were jammed between the rock and the gri-gri. I am still amazed that I walked away with all finger joints and ligaments intact, other than surface damage.
lesson learned: don't climb with tubbys. Or at the very least, make them down-climb and unclip the first bolt after the second one is clipped.
that's exactly what i thought of when i heard about this incident. that is, how you DIDN'T drop him. the afternoon would have turned into serious rescue time if you hadn't held the fall.
the second craziest part of that story, is that after i took the belay from lena, (trading one 100lb woman for 112 lbs), and unclipped the first draw so I wouldnt be drug through it like she was, though I had an ATC-xp, not a gri gri, the 190lb climber took the fall AGAIN. couldn't clip the damn chains. i came up past where the first bolt was, nearly to the second, and the climber ended up below me. then we made him come down.
(This post was edited by clausti on Feb 22, 2009, 5:33 PM)
Being a tubby myself - well, not a HaggisTubby - I must say you tiny tarts are neglecting another lesson: anchor the belayer.
I will promptly hide now.
have you ever experienced being anchored and catching a 40+ foot fall? you let me know how that works out for you and your climber.
sometimes i anchor- but it's very, very rare and predicated upon an assessment of potential groundfall. and sometimes, i'm not the belayer of choice when a crux is near the ground.
but even taking into account the extra distance you may fall if i'm in deliberate soft-catch mode, i am a far better than average belayer. i am one of the best belayers i know. i'll anchor when it's necessary, but i'm damn sure not going to make it an automatic habit, because it is fucking unpleasant.
So right before the ice fest in Ouray, I dropped Sungam. We had a redirect off the chain and I was sitting in a nice snow seat belaying with a grigri.
Well tubby outweighs me by 100lbs and twinkie here caused the belay seat to crumble, me get jerked into the chain, locking the grigri open, and knocking my hand off the rope. I did everything I could to get control of that sucker and sure enough I caught him without incident about a foot off the ground.
Substitute regular fall day for snow, and first bolt for chains, and that's exactly describes my "closest call" as a belayer.
Except I didn't let go of the rope when the gri-gri was jammed open. I still don't know how. If I did let go, the climber would have decked, I don't think I would have had time to react and regain control of the rope, b/c it was close enough to the ground already-- the climber stopped about 8-10 feet from the ground (the height of the first bolt). I had my hands mangled. Fingers on one hand got pulled through the carabiner and jammed, fingers on the brake hands were jammed between the rock and the gri-gri. I am still amazed that I walked away with all finger joints and ligaments intact, other than surface damage.
lesson learned: don't climb with tubbys. Or at the very least, make them down-climb and unclip the first bolt after the second one is clipped.
that's exactly what i thought of when i heard about this incident. that is, how you DIDN'T drop him. the afternoon would have turned into serious rescue time if you hadn't held the fall.
the second craziest part of that story, is that after i took the belay from lena, (trading one 100lb woman for 112 lbs), and unclipped the first draw so I wouldnt be drug through it like she was, though I had an ATC-xp, not a gri gri, the 190lb climber took the fall AGAIN. couldn't clip the damn chains. i came up past where the first bolt was, nearly to the second, and the climber ended up below me. then we made him come down.
If there were two of you, my recommendation would've been to have one of you holding the back of the other's harness with both hands so that the person belaying effectively weighs as much as both of you combined. It hurts the person in back's hands a little, but is much better than flying up above your climber.
If there were two of you, my recommendation would've been to have one of you holding the back of the other's harness with both hands so that the person belaying effectively weighs as much as both of you combined. It hurts the person in back's hands a little, but is much better than flying up above your climber.
Man, I totally hate that. I had somebody apply that (unsolicited) while I was belaying. I'm 180, folks, I'm not flying up to the anchors.
But Angry is right, this thread is seriously departing from what should be the primary focus: Evil Camhead's utter FAILure to kill HaggisDonny.
If there were two of you, my recommendation would've been to have one of you holding the back of the other's harness with both hands so that the person belaying effectively weighs as much as both of you combined. It hurts the person in back's hands a little, but is much better than flying up above your climber.
i recommend that you have no idea what the fuck you are talking about.
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