Sport Climbing: Respect the Rock
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- Top climber Emma Twyford talks you through the essentials of your first sport climbing trip to a quarry. She talks you through gear, bolts, loose rock, belaying, buddy checks, top roping and the all-important methods of how to thread the top anchors.
Gear
Quarried limestone gives technical, crimpy, steep wall climbing. If you’re sport climbing then you’ll typically need to bring 14 quickdraws, a 60m dynamic rope, helmets, guidebook and maybe a clipstick.
Bolts:
You’ll encounter a whole range of fixed equipment in quarries - from brand-new bolts - like these BMC-placed bolts in Horseshoe - to fixed equipment of widely varying age, quality, vintage and spacing. Check anything you’re about to trust including whether the rock it’s in is solid. And if you’re not sure, back it up or back off.
Loose rock:
Old quarries often have sections of great rock - and sections of not-so-great rock. Wear a helmet when climbing and belaying. Belay to one side of the route and move away from the base of the crag when having a break.
Belaying
Belaying with skill and attention is always important, but when you’re outdoors with rocky landings and bolts further apart, then you need to be really on your game. If you’re using a standard belay device then make sure you have the tail rope locked off low, all of the time. Many climbers use Grigris for belaying on sport climbs. These are excellent, but they still require a hand on the tail rope at all times and take a bit of getting used to for feeding out rope to a lead climber.
Always tie a knot in the other end of your lead rope
Outdoor sport climbs are often much higher than indoor routes. Take great care that your rope is long enough, and tie a knot in the tail end of your rope. This sounds simple, but many experienced people have died or been seriously injured from the belayer lowering them off the end of the rope. It really is more easily done than you think.
Buddy check
Before setting off climbing, make sure that you’re tied in correctly and have put a knot in the end of your rope. Use the buddy check system to check that both you and your belayer are ready for action.
Take special care at the start of the route
Many people have an accident when falling off between the first and third bolt. This is because the ground is very close but you might have a lot of rope out. This is when the climber and belayer need to be doubly attentive. If you’re unsure about the start of a route, use a clip stick to clip the first bolt or two. And make sure that your belayer isn’t right underneath you - you don’t want to land on them…
What happens at the top?
The big difference between indoors and outdoors is that you need to know how to thread the belay station at the top safely before lowering off and retrieving your quickdraws. We look at two methods. It’s really important to practice both of these at ground level first. Some crags have special practice anchors. And if you’re in any doubt, then lower off and ask a more experienced friend to take over for you.
Top roping?
If you aren’t in the mood to lead climb and fancy working out the moves on top rope, then remember to use your own quickdraws on the top anchor to run your rope through. Don’t top rope with your rope direct through the lower off as this will accelerate wear on the bolts. And remember… never top rope or lower off on a single bolt
Bolt funds
Do contribute what you can to the local bolt fund in the areas you visit. They do great work, are entirely voluntary and are funded by climber’s donations
Heading off
After a great day’s climbing, remember to leave the crag. Camping or van camping isn’t allowed in these quarries. Now’s the time to pack up and head off to a local campsite, then spend some money with local businesses and celebrate your redpoint success in a great pub or café.
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At 11:03 top roping anchor is set up so that the gates of the quickdraws are facing the same way. This is a mistake that should be avoided. Putting the quickdraws so that the gates face opposite sides is much better as the chances of accidental unclipping are close to 0. The best practice would be to have at least one screwgate in the anchor
How I read the thumbnail: Sport Respect. Climbing the rock.
one thing i'd say is she says alot to the belayer "take me in there i'm safely in' 'ok alex i'm in hard you can give me some slack' 'ok i'm back on the rope take me in tight'
i learnt to climb in Australia where most of the cracks are a decent walk from roads and noise, but we always kept communication short and simple. Safe! untying! on belay! slack! Take! off belay! ect. try to keep it short and sweet and if you can use words that don't sound similar. on/off belay is a hard one though.
especially when climbing multi pitches or routes with an overhang before the top anchor communication can be hard, and thats exacerbated in the UK where we have crags near the ocean or roads with alot of background noise
Probably a bit to much emphasis on process without going through the fundamentals of cleaning a route. Should emphasize the need to always be into two points, as one may fail. The risk is often climbers lead something then their second top ropes or seconds the route. If they follow method 1 to clean they would be hanging off of 1 bolt.
With method 1 there are actually two points of connection as the person is still on belay the whole time, but they would take a fall if the left hand bolt failed with all the rope slack in the system when threading. The way to prevent this is to clove hitch the rope to the quickdraw and THEN thread a bight through the rings.
What is the difference between a "double figure of 8" (3:57) and a "figure of 8" (4:27)?
They are the same knot, but one is tied as a single figure of 8 first, threaded through the harness and then doubled, and the other is tied as a double all in one go
8:47 being lowered off fixed glue-in bolts is a no, no! You should rap as this saves on wearing out the bolts (sustainability).
We agree that learning how to abseil off resin bolts where there's no chain is a skill all climbers should learn. However, this video is aimed at British climbers heading into quarries for the first time. At these crags, lower-offs will usually be in place. We wouldn't recommend abseiling off routes on your first trips outside, but we do recommend not top-roping directly through bolts as this causes more wear.
teamBMC I learnt to rap on the rock, and I’m still alive. I think it’s doesn’t matter. The outdoors isn’t a gym but you don’t need a gym for the outdoors. To me this is the danger of sport crags coming from a read background where you learn on the job.
Beginners don't need to know how to abseil, they can lower off the quickdraws and let the second thread and rap. Surprised at the soft stance here.
Agreed there were two perfectly good rappel rings there. You could lower off those since they are easier to replace than glue in bolts.