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Topic Date User

QUT and affiliates sued for $8m Kangaroo Point 18-May-2017 At 11:18:58 AM Lingy

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On 18/05/2017 rightarmbad wrote:
>For the senior member to take him off belay he must have already asked
>to be taken off belay himself to clean and rap or been asked if he still
>requires a belay and he must have answered no.
>
>Unless there was a wrongly threaded Gri Gri and the most senior member
>also let go of the brake rope, the fault lies with th climber.

The report states that the climber was taken off belay and left unattended, the implication being that they weren't simply given slack to clean but rather that the belay device was physically removed. Whether or not this was the actual case or just imprecise reporting, I don't know and won't speculate (I wasn't there).

I will however say that if I was cleaning a route and looked down to find my belayer had removed the belay device from the rope I'd be finding myself a new partner quick smart. For single-pitch sport climbing with no top-outs, the only time it's acceptable to take a climber completely off belay so far as I'm concerned is if they specifically ask you to do so and have adequately explained why. 'To clean the route' is not an adequate explanation.