On 16/04/2011 freesolo wrote:
>2. was at Tonsai, easy crag, belaying my friend. two other parties there;
>one party of two German uber-climbers, and a newbie couple. The guy in
>the couple, 80 kgs, was seriously struggling.
>
>I asked one of the non-climbing germans to go help the woman, 45 kgs,
> and hold onto her in case the leader fell.
I've gotta disagree with this scenario being described as so stupid. I'm 80kg and my misses is 45kgs. I've taken many falls (including a few whippers) without her tied in and never had a problem. She does get pulled up a few meters but nothing crazy.
Obviously its better common sense to tie in and she does if there is a dodgy belay or if I'm climbing something really hard. But overall the possibility of her being sucked through the first quickdraw is crazy unless there was a 10m runout.
If the guy looked over 100kg I would agree that is really stupid, but not for 80kg with a 45kg belayer.
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