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Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

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Topic Date User

Climber injured in bluies after 30m fall 2/Jan/13 21-Jan-2013 At 10:56:18 AM pcb

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On 18/01/2013 mikllaw wrote:

>-The leader didn't really regard himself as climbing because he was still
>looking for the route. ("At this point of time I still had no intention
>of climbing on, I was just looking for the possible route, but my second
>put me on belay out of habit").

I think there's a lesson there for belayers too.

Putting someone on belay entails responsibilities and risks that should be carefully considered, not done out of habit. Assess the anchor before you say "on belay" with the understanding that you could end up on the ground along with the leader if it fails, as sadly occurred in this case.

I think leaders are also likely to be much more cautious about "scoping out" the route if you let them know they are soloing until a proper belay anchor has been established. Putting them on belay, even though you don't trust the anchor, could create a false sense of security and encourage them to take risks they would not take if unroped.