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Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Poll Option

Votes

Graph

At top of voice, shout what the F@#$ are you doing

10%

Politely suggest there may be a better way

41%

Grab a deck chair, pina colada, and be entertained

23%

Sheepishly sneak past and ignore you saw anything

What do you mean I'm doing something wrong

Offer the belayer a knife so he can save himself

They're gonna die anyway, so start throwing rocks

Proclaim,"No, the humainty", and comando roll away

10%

Author

Shaggys Dilemma

shaggy

8-Dec-2005
9:56:53 PM

Alrighty, now this comes about from some dodgy stuff I have seen lately on the cliffs.
Now what I'm talking about is anything from dodgy rappels or retreats, dodgy pro, dodgy belaying (aka american belay techniques).
I mean, I have seen some seriously dodgy stuff, like, people bailing of a single nobbins of rock, just with rope sitting on top.
And of course one of my favourites is the no hands belay technique, while talking to some passer by, whilst the leader is freakin on the crux.
But there are so many, and I don't want to bore anyone with mine so..., first answer poll, (not really that serious) then spark out some of the classics.

So, what do you do, when you see people being F*&#! Dodgy?

Sabu

8-Dec-2005
11:07:42 PM

so many good options but which shall i choose!!!

ShinToe Warrior

8-Dec-2005
11:25:20 PM

Haven't been witness to seriously dodgy practices at the crags, though once at Hardrock I saw a VERY
large woman being 'belayed' by her tiny son at the kiddy walls. and by belayed, I mean that the boy was
pulling the rope through the atc without locking off - just feeding it through by the handful. even if the little
guy did belay properly, I sincerely doubt that he would have managed to hold a fall by his mum. There
were two possible scenarios that would have happened if mumsy peeled off
1/ the fall would have been held due to the kid's hand being sucked into the atc.
2/ natural selection would have taken its course as the kid would have been crushed.

Either of the above would have doubtless won me the grand prize home entertainment system if I
happened to have a Video Camera handy and submitted the cinema verite masterpiece to 'Funniest home
videos', but unfortunately, the self removal from the gene pool of these clusters of congealed rogue DNA
would probably result in increased gym entry fees to compensate for the increased insurance premiums
caused by their dribbling lack of intelligence.

Sod that.

So I reasonably politely showed the kid how to belay correctly, using the TR next to them, whilst
suggesting Mum not be lowered off, and raced off to find a staff member to deal with it, saving me the
aggro of telling the Mum what an utter f---ing idot she was.

gordoste

9-Dec-2005
11:02:20 AM

you belay using your hands?

mtnbear

9-Dec-2005
11:50:24 AM

Grabbing a chair and a pina colada!?! thats a stylish way of watching Natural Selection!

mockmockmock

10-Dec-2005
12:54:12 AM

having had my head ripped off wanting to do the 'right thing' I have gone for an option close to one of yours but not on your list..

I tend to go climb somewhere else.. out of eyeshot and hopefully earshot. I don't sneak past. I make it clear by muttering about stupid people as I walk away. I'll often discuss what I saw with anyone else I find just to make sure I help the correct opinion. I've even decided to go home rather than climb near an accident waiting to happen. Too much paperwork.

I am also a great believer in the 'head in the sand' method for most things in life!

Ralph

Sabu

10-Dec-2005
11:19:17 PM

i watched a climber today at camels leading Witch, i seriously thought that our day was going to end with us watching him sail away in a chopper. His first piece of gear was a cam he shoved in a small shallow crack, we could see some of the cam sticking out and also that it was stupidly overcammed. we naturally assumed that rest of his gear was dodgy but amazingly the gear at the crux held when he dogged it.
i also noticed his Partner, when she was leading Grey Arrete, had shoved a cam into an upward facing pocket as her first piece. no way in hell it would have held and the gear on that climb is soo good. so it was just crazy.
in these situations we went for the sit and watch approach, we were having our lunch while he was climbing Witch, it made an interesting break!!

shmalec

12-Dec-2005
12:46:35 PM

I like the "one big loop" method of (not) equalising belays....even more entertaining when you combine it with cams that only have one side engaged. Had this demonstrated to me while sharing a belay ledge on Tiger wall some time ago. After getting a grizzly response on pointing out the cam I took the "pina colada" approach.

I have in the past volunteered my own anchor "just as a backup".

The "american" belay technique baffles me. The rest of the world seems to understand?

Uncle Chester

12-Dec-2005
1:17:46 PM

i love seeing the old "over the shoulder technique" in gyms,
or the one where they ingore the belay device and just hold on the rope it self

DaCrux

12-Dec-2005
1:36:10 PM

Why isn’t sarcasm one of the options? I find that “gee are you gonna fly up?” works when someone’s tying into the wrong end, to top rope an overhanging climb their partner has just led, or “do you know what you’re doing or are you just trying to kill yourself?” when someone’s attempting to lead something way too hard for them and back-clips the first 2 quickdraws :)

There are 10 messages in this topic.