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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
VIC Arapiles	Pilot Error Cliffs	(General)	Pilor Error Wall	[ Arapiles Guide \| Arapiles Images ]

Topic Date User

Pilot Error Bolt 16-Nov-2015 At 5:38:53 PM Olbert

Message

On 15/11/2015 martym wrote:
>On 15/11/2015 potex wrote:
>>I reckon this bloke's head was pretty happy that the bolt was:
>>
>>a) There.
>>b) Didn't rip out.
>>
>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS
>A13PXhLo
>
>Amusing video, titled "how not to climb Pilot Error". On the contrary
>- considering the leader's nerves and questionable climbing skills, I think
>they had a good set up:
>1. Both wearing helmets
>2. Belayer paid out appropriate slack,
>3. But was tethered to an anchor to ensure he didn't zipper up to the
>face while the climber could have taken a ground fall.
>
>Compared to the guys in the photo above, these two did well to protect
>themselves.
>
>If there hadn't been a bolt - the leader would have had to place gear;
>and with that amount of nerves, he'd have sensibly backed out of the lead.
>The bolt may have given him a false boost of confidence.

I give the guys in the bottom photo above a much better safety rating than the dudes in the video. The main danger (asides from a dodgy bolt) is the close proximity to the ledge - which the dude in the video scraped. The dudes in the photo don't have a silly belay anchor and the belayer is standing directly beneath the first bit of gear with very little slack. If at any point in time the climber fell, he shouldn't go anywhere near the ground and the belayer should be fairly stable in his position.

The belayer in the video is standing back and is anchored in by a a rope, this seems to me this technique is most commonly employed by bumblies and rarely employed by experienced climbers (when there is little to no weight difference). On this route - with the potential of a grounder - the belayer position and anchoring is a bad combination. If an belay anchor was employed then the belayer should have been tight on it - but much better that the belayer not have a belayer anchor and stand in the correct position underneath the first bit of gear.

So in terms of what matters - ie belayer competence and positioning - I pick the helmetless dudes in the photo.