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No good belay devices yet? 16-Oct-2010 At 11:08:40 AM jrc

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Mike, come on, it was a factor 3 ...remember? it sure felt like that. Your account of it is an absolute classic!

Just a few more points for the (boring) public record...
Date was 6 August 1972. Good day for a 'bomber'
Mike's belay was a waist belay with an extra karabiner to stop the rope coming up his back. That was what his hand got jammed in. We did all our belays that way, with gloves on.
I placed some dodgy looking troll nut at the top of the belay and threaded the rope through it. That probably saved (both) our lives. Fall factor would have been something like 20/ 12-13 or 1.6 (and yes I do know FF3 is impossible)
I was wearing a swami belt - 5m of 2" seatbelt wrapped around my waist & tied in a tape knot - and some legloops made out of 1" tape. I bought my first harness in 1973.
Rope was No 4 nylon hawser laid. Figure of 8 knot direct through the swami belt.
I had a plastic industrial helmet on with an elastic strap. It stayed on my head.
I fell head first. I suppose that happens in a long fall. Interesting perspective to spend 1 1/2 seconds looking at the Megalong Valley.
I don't rember a very hard stop. Thank God I didn't hit anything hard.
Somewhere between the blackboy and the end of the fall I went through some bushes and ripped skin off a few fingertips. That was my only injury. Michael was right on the ball as a belayer which is the key to this overall thread - attention to what you are doing as a belayer counts a lot more than a particular device.

I eventually did Fuddy Duddy about 20 years later with the biggest collection of big dongers and cams youve ever seen. I was still terrified. Some memories are not easily forgotten.
Mike & I last climbed together in 1978 when we did Zany. He led it (phew). I am 15kg heavier now but working on reversing that.