Tag: Climbing Safety

What to do when your rope isn’t long enough

Written by Rock & Sun on 03/09/2021. Posted in Climbing Instruction.

This is a follow up article to “Watch your rope – why are people being lowered off the end of their rope”? There we described several things you should be doing to avoid not noticing that your rope is too short, long before the knot in the end comes into play. This you can find in Professional Mountaineer issue 29.

This article will look at what our options might be when you choose to climb a route that you know your rope is not quite long enough for, as well as what to do if you realise, too late, that your rope is not long enough.

On more than one occasion I’ve had to leave a cold beer over sunset on Tonsai beach and head up to Cat Wall (a steep wall above a narrow ledge 40 to 50m above the beach). A few of the harder pitches are long and if the last party on the crag had a rope only just long enough to reach the ground, but not the 10 or 12m extra necessary to throw and pull the climber back in, they would resort to whistling or shouting for help. A very easy situation to resolve if someone is willing to head up the trail to the ledge with a spare rope to throw and pull the climber back in. It’s an easy mistake but one that wouldn’t happen with a little forward planning for the length and steepness of route verses length of rope.

A knot in the rope removes the possibility of lowering the climber off the end of the rope but does not solve the problem of not having enough rope to reach the stranded climber. Alternatively, the belayer can be tied into the end of the rope: this also comes in handy for a couple of solutions that we will describe later.

What are your options if you would rather not buy beers all night for being rescued? A simple solution would be back clipping while being lowered to stay close to the rock, and the last climber leaving a biner or a maillon on a bolt far enough down the route to deposit you on the ledge. This would take some thinking ahead, because once the climber is too far away to reach the wall, this is not an option.

The most obvious thing to do to prevent situations like these is to choose routes that are short enough for the rope you have. But, if you’re set on climbing even though your rope is too short (your rope may also have been damaged limiting your options), bear these things in mind:

When threading anchors: tie back into the end of your rope to maximise length. Threading with a bight of rope can easily use 2m of rope. If you prefer the extra security of threading a bight of rope through the anchors and being attached to the rope before untying, then do so. But when you would normally be done, tie back into the end and then remove the bight.
When climbing steeply overhanging routes from a ledge as opposed to from the ground it is fairly standard to back clip (unclip the belayer’s side of the rope and clip your rope in) to ensure you lower back to the ledge rather than hanging out in space. Another solution would be for the belayer to toss the end of the rope to the lowering climber and pull them back into the belay ledge.

When your rope is too short for these suggestions to work, there are at least 5 solutions.

Solution 1 – Thread another anchor

Check for mid-point double bolt lower offs. These are often in place for routes of 40m or longer (sometimes 35m+ routes). While being lowered off the top anchor, stop at the mid-point anchor, clip in direct, and rethread the rope through this lower anchor to make it to the ground.
Essentially the same: Check for shorter routes nearby that you can swing across to and use as an intermediate anchor.

Solution 2 – Maillon(s) or leaver biner(s)

When there is no lower anchor to use, consider using a ‘leaver biner’ or maillon on a bolt lower down. Do consider the quality of the rock and condition of the bolt. Leaving gear on two consecutive bolts is an option if concerned. Please do not overtighten maillons, so they can be removed by a subsequent party – in some circumstances they can create leverage on the karabiner when clipping in front rather than behind the maillon. I’ve seen at least one karabiner failure due to this.

Solution 3 – Prusik up the rope

When you can’t make it to the ground and have lost contact with the wall, prusiking up the rope to a point where you can contact the rock is of course an option – although not many sport climbers carry prusik loops with them on single pitch routes.

I once witnessed Crispin Waddy (one of the UK’s most accomplished adventure trad climbers) abseiling, until reached the end of his rope 20m from the ground. A very angry and concerned Heinz Zac (the famous Austrian climbing photographer) raced up a route to throw a rope to a very bemused Crispin who was already happily prusiking up his abseil rope using his shoe laces! Luckily, he wasn’t wearing Velcros. Of course, Crispin accepted the rope. I’m certain neither knew who the other was which amused me no end.

Solution 4 – Belayer climbs up to lower climber

When you know beforehand or realise while lowering that your rope is not quite long enough, this solution can work on routes that are not overhanging, if the belayer intends to follow the pitch after lowering the leader. The belayer ties into the end of the rope – preferably beforehand but it can also be achieved after locking off the belay device. Once the climber and belayer are counterbalanced, the belayer starts climbing – thereby lowering the other climber to the ground. If necessary, the belay device can be removed once there is enough slack in the system; the climber may need to clip in direct to a bolt to do this. It is not necessary to do this if you have more than one belay device. The previous climber can simply put the new climber on belay when there is enough slack. Up to this point the climber is protected by the person on the ground staying tied in. I’ve used this solution on many occasions, and it is often possible to judge that once the draws are cleaned from the pitch and the rope is running in a straight line, the climber will make it back to the ground on rope stretch – therefore this technique is less effective if the rope is more than a few metres under-length.

Solution 5 – a spare rope (or slings)

What to do when none of the above solutions work, i.e. the climber is hanging in space so can not get to an intermediate anchor, nor re-thread a bolt by leaving a maillon, nor can he/she prusik up the rope?

I’ve used this on a couple of occasions when strangers at the crag have found themselves up to 5m plus off the ground and with a belayer who is unable to climb the route. The belayer steps backwards to retain the last metre or so and locks the belay device; the spare rope is attached to the end of the belay rope, and a belay device (or Italian Hitch) is fixed. Then, place a releasable prusik on the rope above the belay device and weight it to remove the belay device and transfer the tension to the added rope. The prusik can now be released and the climber lowered further – however, only until the knot hits the first runner – the limiting factor for this method. Alternatively, on occasion I’ve attached four 120cm slings and one 240cm linked together to the end of the rope, effectively lengthening the rope. The belayer clips into the end sling and the one closest to the rope. Once the prusik is removed the climber can be lowered using the belayer’s body as a counterweight, and unclipping from 1^st to 2^nd to the 3^rd sling, until reaching the final sling and walking forwards until the climber is back on the ground. This is one to practice somewhere safe before trying in anger!

Summary: Preparation – Awareness – Carry

Preparation; how long is rope, how long is route, how steep is it? Knot both ends of the rope as standard practice.
Awareness; Keep an eye on the end of the rope. Look out for mid anchors, or lower stations on adjacent routes. When lowering off steep routes, stay in touch with the wall.
Carry maillons or leaver biners, slings and prusiks and know how to use them.
Last resort: call for help and buy the first round.

Words by: Trevor (MCI) and Desiree (RCI) Massiah are the Directors of Rock & Sun, who offer climbing courses and holidays in the UK, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Thailand, and bouldering trips to Fontainebleau
and Albarracin. Rock & Sun provide high quality coaching courses for all levels.

Photos by: Alun Richardson and Rock & Sun

A fresh look at fall practice

Written by Rock & Sun on 25/05/2021. Posted in Climbing Coaching, Climbing Instruction.

Being comfortable with falling is crucial in order for people to be coached effectively. Being fully focused on the climbing itself without being overly fearful of falling leads to better quality practice and higher performance. Confidence in assessing the outcome of falling and knowing how to react also creates a safer climber. However, most climbers we work with either never practice falling, only practice indoors or do it so infrequently that it’s ineffective. Here we look at ways of making regular fall practice more accessible, fun even.

Why Fall Practice

Confidence in falling increases the chance of climbers trying what they consider to be low-percentage moves (see Figure 1 – orange arrows). Ultimately leading to them climbing closer to their potential.

Many climbers take an alternative route. By practicing moves, becoming technically proficient or fitter and stronger, climbers turn low-percentage moves into high-percentage ones (blue arrows), thereby reducing the likelihood of falling.

Staying within the comfort zone

Most of our clients have experienced fall practice at their local gym, only few have done so outside. The practice usually consists of taking a leader fall by jumping off with the feet above the last clip. Although intended to reduce the fear and to practice reacting correctly while falling and landing, for most people this is an unpleasant experience with few left feeling keen on repeating the experience regularly.

In recent years we have learned that it is possible to achieve the desired result without taking falls with the feet above the protection. It is important to work within the climber’s comfort zone, and gently push the edge of that a little further. Comfort zones differ from person to person, and can change on a daily basis. Explicitly aim to start with an exercise well inside the climber’s comfort zone and not push too far or too quickly as that is likely to result in an uncomfortable experience that they may then not want to repeat.

Some Practical Considerations

Of course it is not always safe to fall and falling is not simply a case of letting gravity take over. There are many things the climber and belayer can do to reduce the risk of injury. Safety when climbing involves dynamic or continual risk assessment. We all have different levels of spatial awareness and understanding of physics. For many it is important to experience falling regularly and in different situations to increase the ability to assess risk and act accordingly. Without this climbers may either be putting themselves at risk or be terrified when the consequences of a fall present little risk. With experience climbers are better able to assess how far they will fall and whether they are likely to come into contact with the ground, ledges, or other objects during the fall. Where it is not safe to fall, it may be appropriate not to commit to the moves, but reach for the clip stick, down climb or lower to the ground.

Executing a leader fall:

Look down at feet, land with soles of the feet.
For stability, keep feet shoulder width apart.
Cushion the landing by bending the knees as feet touch the rock
Grab the rope near the knot to avoid falling upside down

Climber doing “Clip and Let Go”-exercise to practice falling

How to do Fall Practice

There are several stages to start the process of fall practice. It is important not to move from each stage unless the climber has become comfortable with the exercise. Some climbers may not move beyond stage 1 – but can still experience huge benefits, some climbers may start at stage 5.

On toprope the climber simply practices bending the legs and pushing off, then bending the knees to cushion the landing as they swing back in with the soles of their feet. Increase the distance by pushing off harder and harder. When doing fall practice on toprope it is beneficial for the climber not to hold onto the rope but relax the arms.
The climber walks or runs sideways until they are comfortable with the inevitable pendulum this will create. Then move on to pushing out with their legs (as in the previous exercise) at the end of the pendulum creating a swing across the wall. This improves their skill of managing sideways falls and landings. We also aim to achieve a sense of fun and being more confident in their ability to manage a fall when sideways to the protection.
Toprope falls; on reaching each quickdraw, the climber touches it and jumps off immediately. The process is repeated at each quickdraw. The aim is to minimize the hesitation and assess how relaxed the climber is. The belayer needs to assess the appropriate amount of slack in the system from a safety perspective. As confidence increases the belayer can slowly increase the amount of slack in the system. Often simply announcing that there will be more slack, (even with the slack not actually there) will elicit a nervous response: a hesitation to let go upon touching the quickdraw, stiffening in the body, hands moving towards the rope, and/or an audible shriek while falling.
This stage is best done on lead and the climber should be at least 2 metres below the designated clipped quickdraw (with a safe fall-zone, ideally slightly overhanging and an appropriate distance up the route). Climber needs to choose a climbing position with 4 points of contact, and easy enough to hold so the exercise can be repeated a number of times. The climber should take three deep breaths, and on the 3^rd breath out, push up from the legs, touch the rock as if going for a handhold and release. We are aiming for the climber to actively go for the move and then feel, look and even sound relaxed on the fall. The first falls should be with the minimum amount of slack. Once the climber is comfortable with that fall, increase the length of the fall by introducing more slack or dynamic belaying. This process can be repeated with the climber’s chin being above the quickdraw. Not having the rope in view is usually enough to elicit a greater stress response. This exercise could finish with the climber taking lead falls with the feet above the quickdraw. We find this to be rarely necessary. This exercise is particularly useful for breaking the cycle of freezing and eventually letting go which leader fall practice often promotes.
On lead, the climber clips each quickdraw, and then lets go. Variations in the fall are achieved by the belayer having more or less slack in the system – providing a soft catch where appropriate – and by the fact that naturally some clipping positions will be sideways to the protection. For this exercise it is obviously far more important that the belayer is skilled. This process carries a greater degree of risk. It is necessary to designate a starting clip from where to start the exercise, which may be the second or third quickdraw. From a safety perspective it is useful in this exercise for the climber to pause a second before letting go to check the clip has been made.

As mentioned, fall practice can start at any of these stages. Before moving to the next stage, ask the climber to give feedback and assess their body language. Some signs of fear or nerves: hesitation in letting go, stiffness or tension in the body especially the arms, or audible shriek while falling. In this form of ‘immersion therapy’ it is important to recognise when the climber is reaching their limit. The aim is to keep the sessions positive, even fun! Only move on to the next stage when both climber and coach agree that the climber is ready.

Final Words

Our experience is that most climbers don’t even want to think about falling, let alone practice it. Others say they are not frightened of falling and therefore don’t need fall practice, despite displaying the obvious signs of fear. Without regularly experiencing or practicing falling, any original fear or apprehension tends to creep back in.

There is more to falling than just letting go.

With this fresh approach to fall practice, falling becomes something to be incorporated into every session, rather than being a stand-alone session. It also provides the climber with safe non-intimidating options that they are likely to continually practice. We have been genuinely surprised at having some of our most fearful clients actually requesting some form of fall practice at the start of a days climbing.

Published in Professional Mountaineer, Summer 2021. Words and photos by Trevor & Desiree Massiah

Placing Trad Gear Between Bolts

Written by Rock & Sun on 07/09/2020. Posted in Climbing Instruction.

Placing trad gear between bolts can be an effective solution when struggling to find easy well-bolted routes for clients. Low grade routes can often be the worst to fall on due to the easy angled nature of the rock, making it far less likely that falls will be clean. Let’s face it, how often do we struggle to find well-bolted easy warm up routes? Bolts on these routes are often placed where the climbing is a little more difficult and the possibility of falling possible. This can often lead to long gaps where the first ascensionist may find it hard to imagine anyone falling but the consequences may prove to be serious. This can result in intimidating or terrifying first leads for clients.

Firstly, let’s look another option available to us before we look at the advantages of placing trad gear.

Using a sling or an alpine draw on the bolt can work well when the distance between bolts is not too long. This will bring the clipping position closer to the previous bolt (or ground) and is sometimes all that is necessary. When using this option, it is important to consider that we may have now created an unreasonable or unsafe gap to the next bolt. This can easily be solved by also clipping a standard length quickdraw onto the same bolt. This usually becomes essential when using a full-length sling to extend. Something that we need to be aware of though when using this method is that a high percentage of clients forget to clip the standard draw. This happens surprisingly frequently!

I’ve found that once people have clipped whatever is on the bolt, they tend to then focus on the next bolt. They will not necessarily pay attention to what else is on it when they get to within reach of the bolt itself. If working with a small group where it is possible to watch each climber closely enough to remind them as they pass the bolts, then this is fine – as long as they hear you and process your words. If working in larger groups where close supervision is not possible it can however present a real danger. For a number of reasons climbers may not be taking into account the distance between clips or be aware of the consequences of the fall (this can be even more problematic if any of these extended clips are out of view). When this occurs, we may have fixed one problem but created another.

It can be helpful to use a brightly coloured quickdraw that will stand out from the sling when you are using this method. A clear briefing on how to manage these clips is necessary but even then, the expectation should be that the distractions involved while climbing will cause a good percentage to forget. Therefore, I prefer to minimise the use of this technique if possible.

A, A/ Two ways of reducing distance between bolts.
B Trad gear in between bolts

So, let’s look at the advantages of placing trad gear for your clients to clip:

Reduces the distance between clips: this can minimize the chances of sustaining injury when falling. It can also help make the experience of leading less stressful and more enjoyable – especially for nervous leaders, which in turn can build confidence in being on the sharp end.
Less opportunity for getting the rope behind their legs and risk falling upside down. I try to create a clipping position every time the foot is a little below the last clip. Rope awareness is often hard for people to think about – let alone fully understand – until after they have become comfortable leading.
More clipping practice.
Back-clipping mistakes become less of a factor when it’s not the case that each clip is crucial.
It can act as a gateway or introduction to trad climbing as people have the chance to see how trad gear works in practice, and often take an interest in how it works. They can become confident in the safety of well-placed gear.

Considerations when placing trad gear on sport routes

When adding trad gear between bolts, there are a few considerations to keep in mind:

It is best to place any extra gear on lead as the clipping positions and falls are easier to assess than when lowering. It is important to assess the consequences of the trad gear failing and the next piece or bolt holding the fall.
Gear needs to be bomb proof. Remember that you won’t have an inexperienced second trying to fiddle it out, so you can ‘weld’ them in and remove them yourself if necessary.
Pieces need to be placed with greater consideration for an outward pull. As lowering tends to have a greater outward pull than falling on a piece, use longer quickdraws than you might normally.
Consider keeping the first bolt clipped for the leader as this will reduce outward pull on any trad gear.
If multiple people are leading the same route, ask the climber to lower past each trad piece and while at head height unclip it from the rope carefully. It is best to not have the trad gear clipped if the next person will top rope the route – this reduces the risk of them forgetting to unclip the gear as they climb past which might dislodge it, making it unsafe for subsequent leads.
With the clips being closer together, climbers need to be reminded of the increased risk of “Z” clipping which also has the risk of dislodging gear.
Resting on trad gear should to be discouraged. People are used to resting on bolts while as close to them as possible, maybe even holding onto the draw while leaning back. When clients want to rest on trad gear, I encourage them to fall, to push on to the next bolt, or to climb down a few moves to rest on the bolt below.

Disadvantages of placing trad gear

The considerations listed above should help to ensure that the trad gear is well placed from the start till the end of the session to protect our clients and/or to give them a confidence boost. I will re-climb routes to check placements if I’m not sure. As well as the advantages of adding trad gear to sport routes, there are also some downsides:

Some people feel like they are cheating, not accepting the challenge of the route. I like to remind them that they are sport climbing. It is completely arbitrary what experience the route setter creates. One person might prefer to produce well bolted friendly experiences and another person develops routes that can feel more terrifying than a grit E5! Often the bolts on easy routes are spaced to save money, not because of some sort of ethical or adventurous approach. This can also be the case on older routes where the first ascensionist attempted to justify placing bolts by keeping things a little spicy! As the first ascent is rarely an onsight, this can be somewhat unfair for those that come after.
The extra protection will undoubtedly encourage some climbers to lead routes they would otherwise have declined. Failure of trad gear to hold a fall that results in injury could then be problematic from a liability standpoint. Clients should have accepted the risks involved with sport climbing but may have little or no understanding of trad climbing.
It is of course important to remember that independent climbers may also want to climb the routes that you have equipped. They may or may not appreciate the extra gear that you have placed? It is always advisable to explain the process and possible risks as you would to your clients.

Final words

Adding trad gear can serve as a psychological confidence booster and increases the safety of the client. I believe that with all considerations taken into account, the pros outweigh the cons by a large margin, so adding trad gear to sport routes has become standard practice for our team of coaches when climbing routes that are not adequately protected.

Learning from Near-Misses

Written by Rock & Sun on 08/06/2020. Posted in Climbing Instruction.

Are the number of climbing accidents increasing?

Of course, the sheer volume of people involved in the activity of climbing will cause the number of incidents to rise. It is apparent however that many near-misses and incidents would not have occurred with slightly adjusted systems. The BMC recently launched an incident and near-miss reporting system – any themes that emerge will be published in a summary report.

A few years ago, in response to an increase of near-misses and accidents at the crag, I found it necessary to produce a standard operating procedure for Rock and Sun Ltd. Interestingly, this document only applies to sport climbing. The UK system of teaching trad climbing is well-established, and the client usually arrives without the necessary skills to perform the activity and therefore is immediately open to learning. This is not necessarily the case with sport climbing, as most of the necessary skills can be practiced indoors.

Modern climbers less prepared for outdoor risk assessment?

Indoor gyms eliminate as much risk as possible, and rightly so for a professionally managed facility. Routes are well-bolted with clear fall zones. When indoor climbers make the transition to an outdoor environment the extra risks may not be obvious to all.

Climbers often arrive on our climbing trips having climbed 2 to 4 years indoors and already able to climb 6b+ or even 6c. Having practiced in a relatively safe environment can create a mismatch between the “hard skill” of the actual climbing and the “soft skills” of route finding, risk assessment and decision making. This mismatch can easily put a climber at risk, as it can be difficult to engage with softer skills when their (indoor) experience may point towards those skills being unnecessary.

I’ve certainly noticed that it has become more difficult to persuade an ever-greater number of clients to pay enough attention to safety while sport climbing.

A compounding factor is that people have become less capable of assessing and managing risk, as children and young adults have fewer opportunities to play and learn in an outdoor environment. This can lead to excessive or inappropriate risk-taking or to being overly cautious or nervous. Our client group is changing; they are not necessarily outdoorsy people. Many would not have chosen to become climbers had they not had the opportunity to learn in an indoor environment. To them the outdoor environment itself can present some challenges of its own. This is often displayed in having difficulty walking on uneven ground, struggling with the concept of going to the toilet outside, or not realising warm layers and waterproofs can be necessary in all climates.

Some typical examples of people’s inability to accurately assess risks, are:

Climber’s feet are at 1.5m from the ground, the first bolt is clipped and is about 2.5m (around chest height) and 1m to the right of the climber. Climber is about to move up and left. Question posed: look at where the bolt is and how much rope will be in the system if you move further away and then fall? Answer: I will swing down to the right – pointing in a diagonal line. Response: I remind them that when Newton invented gravity he designed it to pull you in a downward direction and that you will only start swinging after the rope is being weighted. In this case the climber would hit the ground without weighting the rope.

This is a familiar scenario, even after the preliminary training that happens at the start of a trip. We consistently teach people to read the rock when route finding: go where it is “less steep and more featured”, and before heading off on the chosen route to consider the prospect of a fall. If the fall is not safe or if they are in doubt, they should stay closer to the bolt even if the climbing is harder. It is apparent that many people are unable to assess the fall zone and struggle with visualising the physics involved. These awarenesses are not inherent and need to be learned.

On reaching the anchor after top-roping a diagonal line the climber tries to pull up rope. The anchor is out of sight so, as is standard, the rope is kept tight so that unclipping the anchor is not possible. I shout: why do you need slack? It is quiet for a few seconds then I hear: ok, lower. The client standing next to me while I belay asks what was happening and I explain that he was attempting to unclip from the anchor. She was horrified and expressed her surprise: how could anyone be so stupid! She then climbs, unclipping the draws as she goes. On reaching the anchor, she attempts to pull rope up. It is quiet for a second, then I hear “doh! Ok lower”.

This is a good example of how easy it is to not be doing a continual risk assessment every time we unclip our rope. At least 15 of our clients each year try to unclip themselves from the anchor after top roping and I know of several fatalities from this.

The fix is of course to always look at and assess what you are unclipping but using a locking karabiner and a quickdraw instead of two quickdraws on the anchor gives the climber something more difficult to unclip and allows time to think as well as a physical prompt that “this one is different”. This system provides something quick to clip into for a leader and ensures that anyone top roping cannot quickly unclip from the anchor. And of course, the rope should always be tight when the climber is out of sight and near the anchor.

When the first bolt is high, our standard practice is to have the rope preclipped for each leader. In this case, the climber pulled the rope down on several occasions over a couple of days. I spot this on each occasion and climb up to reclip the draw. Words are had! The following day, the same climber again pulls rope through first draw at 3m. This time I fail to spot this. He breaks a foothold while trying to clip the first draw and breaks his foot. Cause: Climber not equipped to assess the quality of the rock or the likelihood of falling off before the first clip.

Experience: Worst or Only teacher?

A friend of mine who runs an activity centre likes to say: “experience is the worst teacher”. Meaning that when we do something repetitively and the outcome is always positive, we can become complacent and neglect to assess the risk (same activity different setting). I understand that this sometimes catches people out, but I also think: “experience is the only teacher”.

I often think of a young trainee instructor of mine recounting a story of his near-death experience while out climbing with friends at a sea cliff in Pembrokeshire. He had decided to solo the last route of the day, only HS (well within his grade) while the other two rope climbed out. Near the top of the climb (about 90ft) and in the middle of the crux, he felt the rope he had tied onto this back (my rope by the way) untying from his waist. Realising that he was in no position to stop and re-tie he decided to climb carefully, hoping that the rope would not slip from his shoulders before reaching the top. Just as he felt the rope slip a little more, he looked down and realised that the rope would probably bounce off the ledge below and into the sea, as would he. The rope slipped, he instinctively let go of the rock with one hand to hold the rope. This caused him to barn door. He held the swing as his life flashed before his eyes. The next words he heard in his head was my voice telling him “I told you so”.

A few weeks before during a training session with the group of trainee instructors we had had a conversation about soloing. It was apparent to me that a certain individual was overly confident in his abilities and would come unstuck if not careful. I made the point that a great deal of climbing experience with a rope is necessary before even considering climbing without. The grade is not so much the issue, it is the unexpected things that can throw you off.

Common Mistakes leading to Improved Systems

“Everything that happens once can never happen twice. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.” A quote attributed to the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho but I think is originally an Arabian proverb.
As instructors we’re in the risk management business. It is impossible to remove risk completely in an adventurous activity and to do so would be detrimental to the experience. Where you can predict however that an incident will occur and there is an easy fix to avoid it, it would seem prudent to do so.

The following are example of changes that I’ve made both personally and for those that I teach:

Swapping the quickdraw below the anchor onto belayer’s rope.

This can fix any mistake made while threading as long as the rope is still attached to the harness.

A good friend of mine with over 40 years of climbing experience recently made a mistake while cleaning a sport anchor that could have easily proven fatal but would not have been an issue if he was using the system that we insist our clients use. The mistake is common but is only usually a serious issue if having climbed the route on top rope: The climber passes the rope through the screw gate on their cows’ tail but fails to thread the anchor itself (see photo). If they then unclip their sling from the anchor without first testing the system there is nothing between them and the ground. I’ve witnessed this near-miss a few times. In one case the climber was desperately holding onto the anchor while the belayer was taking tight. With the rope pulling directly on the climber’s harness the climber shouted “no”, but the belayer was unable to work out what the problem was so kept taking in.

mistake: threading own screwgate instead of anchor — The climber made the mistake of threading their own screwgate instead of the anchor. Testing the system before unclipping the sling from the anchor, and swapping the last quickdraw onto the belayer’s rope prevent this mistake from being fatal. (photo taken at home because of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions)

Tying a knot in the end of the rope close to the screwgate when cleaning anchors.

Client is being lowered from 30m and is around 5m from the ground when looking at the knot attached to the screw gate. Then, with a certain amount of alarm, says: “that doesn’t look right”. I figure there’s not much to be done but to continue to lower. On reaching the ground it’s immediately obvious that the client had tied a slip knot rather than a figure of eight or overhand on the bight. The client casually asks “what should I have done differently?” I offer a few expletives followed by “paid attention”! Clearly, they knew the knot was incorrectly tied as soon as they looked at it but had not bothered to check it after clipping to the screw gate and before trusting their life to it. Although I would hope to not to see this near-miss again the fix for this is a simple one that I now incorporate into my own threading system and fondly call it the “idiot knot”. It’s simply an overhand on a bight tied next to the screw gate to prevent the end slipping through (see photos or watch this video).

Threading anchors - Idiot knot — Left: Climber backs up his overhand knot with an idiot knot. Middle: Climber makes mistake of tying a slip knot, but backs it up with an idiot knot. Right: The slip knot only slips until the idiot knot, so a near-miss is prevented. (The middle and right photo taken at home because of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions)

Keeping a small Screwgate on Belay Loop as part of the cleaning set up.

This addresses two potential errors: (1) Attaching the rope to gear loop instead of belay loop. (2) Dropping the screwgate when moving it to the belay loop (problematic if you only know one method of threading). Watch this video.

After a couple days of making clear to the most experienced climber in the group that I was uncomfortable with him carrying the screw gate on his gear loop, because of the risk of clipping into this non-load-bearing part of the harness by mistake, he made it clear that this would be ridiculous. Next day, the client is threading an anchor 20m up while I’m lowering from a 40m pitch next to him. As I pass, I ask my belayer to stop lowering so that I can point out to the client that he threaded the anchor and attached the rope to his gear loop. He needed a near-miss to be persuaded to adopt our system.

Conclusion

As instructors we use our experience to make judgement calls. Systems that we have in place are built upon years of gained knowledge and experience.

While it is understandable that we all have different experience levels with making risk assessments and that each of us might assess risk or hazard differently, it is important to acknowledge that in our profession risk is always present and it is our job to reduce it as much as is reasonably possible.

During the past few years I’ve learned that at certain moments any of us are able to make mistakes that we would not normally think of as likely or even possible. It really doesn’t matter how long you’ve been climbing or how safety conscious or aware you might think you are, building some safety backups into your systems could just save your life someday. We can all make mistakes! Allow yourself to be open to adjusting your system based on your own or other’s experiences.

Published in Professional Mountaineer, Summer 2020

text: Trevor Massiah

The following blog describes more Common Mistakes and Improved systems

Common Mistakes and Improved Systems

Written by Rock & Sun on 04/06/2020. Posted in Climbing Instruction.

This blog “Common Mistakes and Improved Systems” is intended as supporting information for the article “Learning from near misses”, published in The Professional Mountaineer (summer edition 2020).

We hope that sharing near misses and incidents with instructors, guides and climbers might help avoiding the same experiences.

All of the incidents or near misses described here we have witnessed ourselves. Many of these are also recurring on the BMC incident and near miss reporting website. As these incidents or near misses have occurred on several occasions, we assume they will continue to happen.

In order to minimise the risk of them being repeated, we list these mistakes and offer ways of improving the systems and checks we do:

Not being tied into the rope

This happens surprisingly frequently. I got away with this one once but I know a few very experienced climbers who didn’t! The cause is always the same: the climber is interrupted or distracted while tying in. It is possible to distract yourself but it is usually your belayer or someone else passing you quickdraws, food, or something else.

Solution:

Always finish that particular job once started. If you have to do something immediately remove the rope from harness then start again.
Make a point to anyone who interrupts this process that it is one of the biggest no no’s in climbing. You should never interrupt the climber while tying in. Be a little bit rude as it aids the memory and makes the point.
Partner checks.

Falling upside down due to only being tied into leg loop section of harness

Solution:

Always tie down through the waist belt first, then the leg loop section of the harness. This way, even if climber only tied into one part, they will be less likely to invert because the waist belt is above their centre of gravity.
Partner checks.

Instruction Tying in — 1. Tie in by going down through the harness: waist belt first, then leg loops. 2. Correctly tied in. 3. If you got distracted and only tied into the waste belt, this is above your centre of gravity so you would fall upright.

How to tie in — 4. By going up through the harness 5. if you get distracted and forget to also tie into the waste belt 6. you are only tied into the leg loops, thereby running the risk of flipping upside down when falling, because the knot is below your centre of gravity.

Assisted braking belay devices being incorrectly attached to the rope

Many of the assisted braking belay devices have no or little friction properties if the rope is not inserted correctly.

Solution:

Always engage and release the locking mechanism before the leader leaves the ground. This can be done by pulling up on the live rope to check the braking mechanism engages. Watch video
Partner checks. The climber should have seen this happen or ask the belayer to do this before setting off.
Never let go of the dead rope regardless of which device you are using.

Lock and release belay device before climber leaves the ground. 7. With one hand on the break rope 8. Or with both hands above the belay device. 9. If the device is threaded incorrectly, the belay device will not lock.

Belayer standing too far out from base of cliff

This in itself is not always inappropriate but it is a common mistake made when the climber is near the ground, i.e. usually below the 4^th bolt.

The climber straddles the rope as they move sideways or they just have the rope between their legs as they move directly up past the 1^st or second bolt. A fall in this position, with the belayer standing too far out, will almost certainly result in the climber falling with the rope between their legs then flipping upside-down, risking head injury. People usually get away with it, but this can result in very serious injuries.
When trad climbing, the belayer standing too far out is often the cause of trad gear failing. The angle of the rope pulls the gear in an upward direction and may pull it out.
When belayer is standing too far away from the rock when the climber is not very high yet, the force on the belayer can be surprising, especially if there is a weight difference. As the climber falls, the belayer is being pulled into the wall. This creates slack in the system, as a consequence of which the climber may hit the ground. This can be an issue usually until at least the 3^rd bolt is clipped.
There is also the risk of the climber decking out due to the belayer getting injured while being pulled towards the rock (we’ve seen sprained wrists, cuts to hands and knees and a broken foot) and letting go of the rope. Risk of injury to belayer is greater if the first bolt is low. Unclipping the first bolt after the second bolt is clipped can help.

Solution:

Belayer should stay in close and slightly to the side of the climber until at least the 3^rd or 4th bolt is clipped (this can vary from route to route). Certainly when trad climbing (but also sometimes with sport) I will ask permission from the leader before moving back. This is so the leader can assess the likelihood of the gear failing due to an upward pull. In extreme cases it is possible to unzip an entire pitch. The furthest I’ve seen a trad belayer sitting away from the base was at least 7m!

Belayer is spotting instead of belaying

This is an interesting one as it is something that happens increasingly: the belayer continues to spot even after the climber has clipped the first bolt. More commonly, the belayer spots the climber even though the first and/or second bolt was pre-clipped.

Solution:

As it can be nearly impossible to predict which clients will be guilty of this, it is best to not allow spotting when sport climbing. If the landing is bad or if the first bolt is high, have it pre-clipped.

Phantom clip

A phantom clip can happen with the quickdraw on the bolt and with the rope in the quickdraw. The cause is usually the same: Climber looks up to where to go next while clipping. The gate is pushed open and the rope is pinched between the gate and the nose of the karabiner. Occasionally it will fall out immediately and the climber might hear the click of the gate closing. If the rope is pinched it may either clip or unclip itself as the climber moves up. A few years ago we had a client who was repeatedly not clipped into the quickdraw. He was so bad at this that we asked him to routinely tug on the rope after each clip, which is something he is still doing several years on.

The same thing can happen with the quickdraw on the bolt. The gate pinches the bolt but isn’t actually inserted. The climber will often not notice that they are not clipped and continue to the next bolt.

Solution:

Make clients aware of the need to visually check the rope in the karabiner and gates closed before looking away.
A gentle tug on both ends of the rope can also help as physical feedback.

Incorrect use of belay glasses

Belay glasses can be a great aid in helping the belayer be more attentive as they allow them to be looking up constantly without developing neck problems. However, incorrect use of belay glasses results in poor or unsafe belaying. As the number of climbers using them increase, we see more and more near misses due to incorrect usage of belay glasses. They put the climber into a dangerous fall situation by having too much slack in the system. This occurs in several ways:

The belayer loses sight of the rope due to the glasses diverting their vision in an upward direction. It is vitally important to keep a close eye on the amount of slack in the system especially when the climber is close to the ground. They should only be used once the climber is a safe distance from the ground (usually the 3^rd or 4^th bolt). Looking up at a climber close to the ground does not affect the neck. Glasses balanced on the nose so the belayer can look over them seems like a good solution, but we often have to pick people up on having too much slack in the system at the start of the climb, even when they appear to be using them in this way.
When the climber pulls a lot of slack up to clip above their head. It’s common to see the belayer fail to react to the extra slack being produced as the climber then moves up to the bolt. Often leading to that much slack that the rope is on the ground. In some cases this is repeated on every bolt with the belayer never adjusting the amount of slack until the climber is moving above the bolt.
Belay glasses generally widen your field of vision. It is possible to watch a climber that is left or right of yours without moving your head. This can result in the belayer belaying for the wrong climber. As the person they are actually watching starts to clip they react by giving slack. This can obviously put the climber they are supposed to be belaying at risk. What we find interesting about this is that for us as instructors it’s a hazard of the job. When working with a group of six or more and most or all are leaders, we prefer to not be in the system belaying. A) So that we can immediately deal with problems that might occur. And B) We like to keep an eye out for mistakes that people might make. We have to be very careful not to make the same mistakes of belaying one client but also keeping an eye on the others. It’s easy to catch the hands wanting to react to the climber you are watching.
Another issue with belay glasses is that people forget to remove them when lowering. Belayers do not need to look up to know how fast they are lowering someone or to know when to stop if they are cleaning. It just takes a little thinking and communicating. The most important thing when lowering is to not lower your climber off the end of the rope. We religiously teach people to look down at the rope on the ground. Anything that makes this more difficult or less likely (such as wearing belay glasses) is a problem!

Solution:

Put belay glasses on after the 3^rd This can be easily be done safely even without an assisted braking device: ask the belayer to stop after clipping. The bolt will almost certainly be above the waist so effectively they’re on top rope. Keep a hold of the dead rope or lock off the plate while you move them from your neck to your face. Of course, they can be rested on the end of your nose but I find too many clients still miss use them when doing this.
Teach the importance of looking down often and watching the rope. No extra slack until after the 3^rd bolt or when it’s safe to do so and then a smile of rope half way between waist and knee but never below the knee.
It is more important to be ready to hold a fall than trying to react quickly to one that you are seeing already happening. Most people would not be able to react quickly enough if there is too much rope in the system or if they are standing in the wrong position.
It’s important to be aware of the temptation and problems with watching other climbers.
Remove them completely before lowering so that the rope length can be monitored.

Being lowered off the end of a rope

Being lowered off the end of a too short rope is something that is happening increasingly. I’m not going to go into too much detail here as I wrote an article on the subject for issue 29 of The Professional Mountaineer. Somehow the idea that when we are lowering a climber we need to watch them has taken over from what I had instilled in me when I started climbing, which was watching the rope. There are all sorts of things we can do to ensure our rope is long enough and we can of course routinely tie a knot in the end but even this has let people down. The one thing we can guarantee will work is watching the rope next to you as you lower (90% of the time the climber can also see this). Training yourself and your climbing partners to do this is of upmost importance.

Solutions:

Keep rope available to view i.e. not hidden in a rope bag.
Belayer and climber visually check rope while lowering even if there is a knot in the end.
Be aware of the route length as you climb and belay a route. If it feels like a nice long pitch the next question should by be: how long is our rope?
If you routinely tie a knot in the end don’t assume that it’s still there!

Climber being taken off belay when at the anchor

This happens for a variety of reasons, the most common being miscommunication, and is arguably the most likely cause of serious injuries:

We’ve seen this a few times and met at least one group of climbers at the crag who say they were taught to routinely take the climber off belay while threading then put them back on when they are ready to lower. We found watching this routine terrifying in case the climber forgot to check that they were on belay so politely insisted that they reconsider their system. After some initial resistance they were able to see how this might end in a serious accident and that it was unnecessary to take the climber off belay.
Probably the most common reason is miscommunication. British climbers are most guilty of this. When arriving at a sport anchor Brits routinely shout “safe”. This is mostly just out of habit. If they trad or multipitch climb the shout of safe is a reasonable one and generally means take me off belay. It is probably not the best thing to shout if they want their belayer to lower them at some point! Climbers need to carefully think about what the words they use actually mean. And need to realise that if they’re climbing with an unfamiliar partner who might be used to abseiling to save wear and tear on the anchors, they will be taken off belay. The belayer might just be distracted and on auto pilot as they would on a sea cliff, trad single pitch or grit stone outcrop (as they may have done thousands of times) and take the climber off belay upon hearing “safe”.
Overcommunication: What people who say “safe” when arriving at a sport anchor are trying to communicate is that they have made themselves safe with their PAS (personal anchoring system), sling and a screwgate in English, or cow’s tail for short. This is information that the belayer does not need. Belayers only need to know when climber wants slack, when you want a tight rope and when you want to be lowered.
Mishearing what was communicated or who was communicating. I’ve also seen a few climbers been taken off belay after their shout of “take” was misheard as “safe”. I’ve even stepped in when one climber is saying safe and the wrong belayer is taking their climber off belay. This can also happen in reverse; another climber shouts “safe”, the belayer thinks it is their climber shouting “take”, and almost pulls their leader off with a right rope.
Climber is at the top of a steep route that slabs out before the anchor so the belayer is out of sight. They thread the anchor then unclip their sling while holding the belayers side of the rope. They lower themselves down hand over hand, which is easy enough on easy angled rock, until it steepens and they can now see the base of the cliff. The belayer has taken them off to quickly go for wee! The belayer had assumed that the climber heard them when they shouted the information up that they needed to go.
After climbing a 50m pitch a climber stops at the mid-point anchor to rethread the anchor. After rethreading they unclip their cow’s tail and sit back on the rope before testing the system. They had forgotten that the belayer had to take in at least 20m of slack. In this situation, most people would take the climber off belay and put them on again, but luckily this belayer had kept the climber on belay. The climber fell at least 20m. The belayer was pulled up hard then landed on a jumble of rocks at the base of the crag and was in significant pain but no serious injury. The climber was very lucky – as was I. I was sitting next to the belayer getting ready to climb an adjacent route and am pretty certain the climber would have landed on top of me!

Solutions:

Only communicate what is necessary to limit misunderstandings.
Think carefully about the words you use: their meaning but also if they are likely to be misheard or confused for other words given distance, wind and any background noise.
Never unclip from the anchor unless your weight is being held on the rope “test the system”.
As a climber, holding onto the belayer’s rope until they are in view can be a useful addition when the angle changes severely as it can create large amounts of rope drag
As a belayer never take the climber off belay unless you are absolutely sure and/or can see it is safe to do so.
If your climber is out of view (when multi-pitching or when following a single pitch or if your climber will be abseiling rather than lowering from the anchor) consider paying out a few metres of slack if you are sure they have asked to be taken off. Only take the climber off when the slack is being taken too quickly for them to be climbing.

Trevor Massiah's article in Professional Mountaineer on why climbers are being lowered off the end of the rope and how to prevent this

Watch the rope!

Written by Rock & Sun on 10/03/2020. Posted in Climbing Instruction.

Why are climbers being lowered off the end of the rope?

It seems to me that the instances of climbers being lowered off the end of the rope while lowering are on the increase. I know of several people who have had lucky escapes surviving falls after being lowered off the end of their rope and some who haven’t been so lucky.
While it is something that I’ve always been acutely aware of and maybe have a healthy paranoia of, it is also something that I feel should just never happen.

Rope length

Climbers of a certain age might remember when sport climbing ropes were generally 50m (trad ropes 45m). Then after a few climbing trips in France and Spain it didn’t seem worth travelling with anything shorter than a 60m. Then routes got even longer and you really needed a 70m. These days it’s standard to buy an 80m and even this
might occasionally not be long enough. We keep a 100m in Kalymnos for the 50m pitches.

Having often dealt with ropes being too short, expecting it and planning for dealing with it has developed a certain level of awareness that I think is useful to pass on.

Knot is not always there

A greater number of people are aware of the benefits of tying a knot in the end of the rope. However, relying on the system of tying a knot in the end of the rope is not on its own sufficient, as it has proven to not always be there:

1. Human error

People simply forget, or think that the other person has already tied it. Assuming that the bottom end is tied
into the rope bag but not checking is also a possibility.

2. Someone in your group unties the knot.

I’ve seen this happen on several occasions and each time the belayer failed to notice. An inexperienced climber taking the end to practice tying in or to practice clipping and not knowing what the knot in the end
was there for, will not necessarily tie it back in.

As the knot is not always there, people need to have other reliable
systems in place for noticing that the rope is too short.

Before the knot

There are a few things that we have failed to do when the knot jams up against the belay device, or when the rope disappears through the belay device. If safety is an awareness of danger it might be useful to look at what we as climbers/instructors do ourselves to avoid needing to use that knot in the first place and make our clients
aware of that as well.

1. Read the guide book to see what rope length is recommended and take one that is long enough for any route you might want to do (ropes are cheap but you shouldn’t be).
2. Be aware! If you arrive at a crag and it looks big maybe the routes are long.
3. As you’re climbing the route you’re thinking “Wow, nice long pitch, I love long routes. Hmm, did we pack the 70m or the 80m?” Communicate with your belayer.
4. You’re belaying and your climber seems to be going up forever. Do you think: “Awesome I love long pitches, I’m really excited about getting on it myself”? Or are you looking down at the rope next to your feet and think: “I wonder if it’s long enough for my climber to get down”? Communicating at this point can be valuable!

Middle marks

I’m deliberately not mentioning middle marks when teaching clients. The problem with middle marks is that they can be unreliable. One of the advantages of buying a longer rope than you generally need is that it is often the 4 or 5 meters at the ends that show wear. Cutting 4 or 5 meters off the end of an 80m rope still gives you a useful length rope, but means your mark is no longer marking the middle of it.

Watch the end of the rope!

In recent years, I have been making a point of teaching belayers to pay more attention to the rope next to them than to the person they are lowering. As a belayer it can be hard sometimes to concentrate when your climbing partner is wearing a tight pair of Lycra pants but the rope right next to your feet is what you should be paying most attention to. It’s the only place that danger is coming from during the lowering process. This should be an integral part of the lowering process and is what we should be teaching.
We should also make clients aware of the importance of developing the habit of looking down at the rope while being lowered. It is great to take time to enjoy the view but more important to look down to see the rope next to the belayer and calculate well before you are lowered off the end of it whether it is long enough. I reckon about 99% of the time I’m able to see the rope after a few metres of lowering. Keep the rope visible! not tucked away in your IKEA bag!
Having asked thousands of climbers with a variety of experience where they look when lowering, virtually no one ever answers “the rope”. Even though that is where the danger is coming from, and it is almost always there next to the belayer’s foot.

Every time I hear of or read an article about someone being lowered off the rope the cause is always said to be the lack of a knot. And of course, no one would be lowered off the end if there was a knot, but it would be helpful to acknowledge that the belayer (and climber) failed to pay attention to the rope. We should not be switching off
because (we think) we have fixed the issue by tying a knot in the end of the rope. The knot should not be seen as the first line of defence – it is the last!

Trevor Massiah (MIA) – Professional Mountaineer – Spring 2020

Climber has the rope behind his leg and risks falling upside down

A closer look at Rope Awareness

Written by Rock & Sun on 22/11/2019. Posted in Climbing Instruction.

Is it possible to always avoid getting the rope behind your leg? Maybe not 100% of the time but it is important to give a clear procedure to help people avoid it.

Teaching people how to avoid getting the rope behind their legs at first seems a fairly straightforward thing to teach. However, there is a little more to it than advising climbers to keep the rope between their legs and the rock (rock-rope-leg).

When teaching lead climbing we will often choose routes that are well protected and therefore present less opportunity for the climber to make the mistake of getting the rope behind the leg. As there is quite a bit of new information for new leaders to think about, placing lots of gear when trad leading, or placing trad gear in between bolts when sport climbing, can provide a useful way of deferring teaching rope awareness until later in a course when the information might be more easily retained. It is still possible to fall with the with the rope behind the leg when clipped into gear above the waist, but this is more likely to result in a rope burn rather than falling upside down.

Climber has made the wrong decision to step over the rope while rope running diagonally. Climber may catch their heel or foot on the rope if falling, resulting in rope burn or falling upside down. The right-hand photo shows the climber making the correct decision to put their foot under the rope.

As the consequences of falling upside down can be serious it is something that deserves a reasonable amount of attention.

Most people find the concept of rock-rope-leg fairly straightforward. The difficulty comes when the choice of foothold necessitates making a decision to go around the outside of the rope keeping it between the cliff and your leg or to control the rope with the foot or the leg. I’m going to look in more detail at why we sometimes feel we have made the correct decision but still find the rope travelling behind our leg.

So, is there a rule or procedure that we can apply or teach to help students with these decisions? Yes there is. And most of us have one, and that is: when moving around the rope always go around the outside of the rope. This makes perfect sense as logically if you step inside the rope it would usually end up behind the leg. This is however only part of the procedure. There does need to be a second part to this rule which is: only step over the rope if you are also going past the gear or the bolt below you.

Climber makes the correct decision to go around the outside of the rope.

If the chosen foothold is directly above or not beyond the gear or bolt below, then the correct decision would be to control the rope with the side of your foot or leg. Failure to do this will almost always result in the rope travelling behind the leg once you have moved your body to stand on that foothold. It is moving your body that takes the rope behind your leg. And that is part of the problems. It seems ok to go around the outside of the rope when you place your foot on the hold, but as soon as you move your body, the rope travels with it and ends up behind your leg.

The first photo shows the climber making the correct decision to control the rope with the side of her foot. Second and third photo show how the climber has chosen a foothold that is clearly beyond (to the right of) the bolt below, but made the wrong decision to step inside the rope, resulting in having the rope behind the leg while clipping the next bolt. — The first photo shows the climber making the correct decision to control the
rope with the side of her foot. Second and third photo show how the climber has
chosen a foothold that is clearly beyond (to the right of) the bolt below, but made
the wrong decision to step inside the rope, resulting in having the rope behind the
leg while clipping the next bolt.

Not taking into account the angle of the rope travelling up from the last piece of gear, and/or the foothold in relation to the protection will lead to the rope travelling behind the leg often. A good percentage of clients attending coaching courses is related to having psychological issues that stem from having fallen upside down. Which may have been avoided had they received a more detailed explanation of how to avoid getting the rope behind their leg.

To summarise, in teaching rope awareness we should not just explain the rock-rope-legs principle and teach clients to always go around the outside of the rope. What we need to create in lead climbers is an awareness of the gear or bolt below. If the chosen foothold is past the gear or bolt below: go around the outside of the rope. If the chosen foothold is close to, just above, or not past the gear or bolt below: it is best to push the rope aside with the side of the foot.

For a visual and more detailed description, we refer to this video: “How to Avoid falling upside down – Rope Awareness – Rock and Sun”

How to avoid falling upside down – Rope Awareness

written by Trevor Massiah – Published in Professional Mountaineer Winter 2019