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General Climbing Discussion

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Who is responsible for bad belaying? 26-Nov-2007 At 11:49:20 AM OzA

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certifi, I was there when the incident happened. I had a similar lead fall due to a loose hold just before the 3rd clip. Fortunately I only landed on my belayers head. He was standing with his shoulder against the wall.
IMHO the fact that your lead did not hit the ground means that you have done your job as a belayer, whether your lead thinks so our not.
As a lead I will always issue instructions to my belayer before every climb as to how they are to belay as every climb is different.
I think that the lead is responsible for how the belayer should be belaying and should issue instructions through out the climb.
Noise is no excuse, and I think that being able to read your leads body actions and hand signals more important than being able to hear them.
As a lead I also acknowledge that there are additional risks when climbing, such as poor clip placements, but as a outdoor trad climber it is more realistic as you can't have perfectly spaced bolts/placement on a natural wall.
No single person is at fault, but I personally think after witnessing that fall that the climber was more at fault as they did not correctly communicate how they prefer to be belayed.