Rope Thickness and Belay Devices: a Complex Relationship, Part Three of Three

Have you read Rope Thickness and Belay Devices, Parts One and Two?

A single factor-2 fall was harsh enough to produce core shots. The damage seen above was in the clove hitch near the belayer’s end of the rope, which he had used to attach himself to the anchor. Photo courtesy of Rockclimbing.com user, “Sittingduck.”

If I had a small salad for every time I saw a first-time climber’s eyes go wide upon seeing how skinny the rope is, I could cure obesity in America.

Apparently, they knew something the rest of us taught ourselves to suppress. Collectively, we have shed the anxiety of whether or not our gear will work by accepting the false logic that, since all ropes are well made and all belay devices are well made, all belay-device-rope combinations must therefore be safe.

So, where does that leave you? You have a thin rope, say a Beal Joker, which clocks in at 9.1 millimeters, or an oddly named Mammut Serenity, which sports a ruler-defying 8.9. You bought it, because it’s light, a belayer can throw slack like Nolan Ryan hucked fast balls, and it really does minimize rope drag.

Unfortunately, every one of the above also makes it more difficult for your belayer to catch falls. Here are few pointers you can employ to hedge your multi-pitch bets:

• Leave your thin cord on the ground!
• Test your belay device on your rope of choice. Says Rich Goldstone: “If you can’t do a single-strand free-hanging rappel comfortably, you’ll never control a high-factor fall.”
• Buy a belay device with a grooved brake side, but be aware that according to knowledgeable and concerned sources, with a thin rope such a device still might not be enough of an edge. You may also be able to add friction to the system simply by adding a second belay ‘biner. Consider also buying a locking-assist device, such as a Mammut Smart. (But be aware that such devices are not automatically the best answer. They take a lot of practice to use well, and they tend to add impact force in a fall.)
• Wear gloves. In Goldstone’s opinion, “Gloves are in the same category as helmets.” Not everybody wears them, but everybody should.
• A guide hand is wasted in a hard fall. When belaying a leader who’s in a position to pitch bigtime, keep both hands on the brake whenever possible.
• When leading out on multi-pitch climbs always always always clip your first piece of protection before leaving the relative safety of the anchor. If possible, continue to protect often low on the pitch.
• If you believe a hard fall is likely, consider positioning the belayer several feet below the anchor, and then clipping the anchor as the first piece of protection. This shortens the potential fall relative to the amount of rope in the system and lowers the fall factor. (See photo at right.)

(While you’re at it, keep most of those in mind no matter how thick your rope may be.)

Fall-factor 2 potential? CHECK. John Wesely races for the Hudson River Railroad on Grand Central, the Nears, Shawangunks, NY. Photo: © Greg Burns.

You’ve undoubtedly heard this before, but rock climbing is dangerous — like, piranha-fishing-with-a-fistful-of-worms dangerous. Although we can sometimes shed a good amount of climbing’s associated anxiety by trusting our equipment, it’s a potentially deadly error of judgment to assume that the onus for our safety is on any shoulders but our own. Unfortunately, such an error of judgment is all too prevalent in climbing today, as is a cavalier attitude toward actions we perform on a regular basis (read: belaying).

Do not be one of those people. Research your safety equipment before you buy it. Make an effort to understand its limitations and realize that, every so often in climbing, it is possible to exceed those limitations. Once you own a piece of equipment, practice with it to build a first-hand understanding of how it will perform when the poop hits the fan. Do your best to understand how things might fail, and you’ll take a huge step toward understanding how they work.