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Incident
I was climbing with a group of experienced climbers, plus one who had very limited climbing and no belaying experience.
During the relaxed evening I taught my friend how to belay with a gri-gri whilst ensuring he was supervised by an experienced climber every time that I wasn’t immediately next to him.
At the end of the session I agreed to quickly top rope a route to remove the crabs we had placed on the fixed gear. As it was a very easy route and I had developed confidence in my friends belaying, I let him set up the gri-gri without my input other than a cursory glance and belay me independently of others.
As I reached the top of the route an experienced friend noted the gri-gri had been threaded the wrong way and stepped in to get the dead rope on a different belay device and removed from the gri-gri.
Near miss
Lessons
- properly check kit as part of a buddy check. With a gri-gri, give the rope a tug to check the camming action actually works
- don’t get cocky - I was too relaxed about climbing a route well within my abilities at the end of a fun and chilled out evening
Activity
Sport rock climbing
When
Ascending
Injury
No injury
Causes
Belaying failure or error
Anonymous?
Yes
Reported By
Participant
Wearing Helmets?
No
Rescue Services Involved?
None
Author
11 February 2020 at 16:20:36
For more advice and guidance on good practices visit BMC skills
All reports are self-submitted and have not been edited by the BMC in any way, so please keep an open mind regarding the lessons and causes of each incident or near-miss.