Rock Climbing Basics: Top rope Belay Technique
Hi my name is Julie Ellison gear editor Of climbing magazine we’re here in El Dorado Canyon Colorado and we’re going To talk about top rope belay so top Roping is one of the very first things You’re probably going to do when you’re Learning to climb it’s a great way to Build skills build confidence and build Strength in a really safe and fun way Belaying is probably the most important Thing in climbing you’re literally Holding your climbers life in your hands So it’s really important to take it Seriously not get distracted and always Pay attention so we have to do is we Have to clip it so today we’re going to Be using a tube style belay device as You can see on this belay device it has Rope slots this belay device also has These V grooves that are going to help With friction when you’re breaking when You’re lowering when you’re locking off So what you’re going to have to do is You want to make a bite in the rope just Like this you want to go through one of The Rope slots like that And you have your locking blade inner You want to take the belay beater go Through the loop of the ATC and the bite Of the rope and then you’re going to Want to clip into the belay loop on your Harness that’s this loop right here and One of the most important things always Always always lock your belay leader
So now as you can see this is the Climbers rope this is the break end of The rope so what I’m going to do is to Double check that I’m secure I’m going To pull on the on the rope and if my Harness moves I know that it’s attached To the which is attached to the Harness and then I’m also going to make Sure that it’s locked it kind of becomes Muscle memory to pull and to make sure It’s locked you’ll always do it and then You’ll also have your climber Double-check you when your top rope Belay you’re going to use both hands to Do it you want to put one hand on the Climbers into the rope that’s your guide Hand and then your other hand on the Break end of the rope that’s your brake Hand I use my right hand for my break-in Because I’m right-handed and it’s my More dominant hand so the way it works Is you want to pull slack as the climber Goes up with your guide hand pull that Slack through with your brake hand bring Your guide hand around and under your Brake hand this is so that your brake Hand can slide all the way up without Ever leaving the rope it’s one of the Most important things to remember when Belaying is you never want to take your Brake hand off the rope So again pull slack with your guide hand Through the belay device with your brake Hand guide hand under slide up just like
This the other thing to pay attention to Is that I’m keeping my brake hand lower Than the belay device that’s so that if The climber falls at any point I can Lock off so this is how you lock off you Want to bring it down and around behind You so that you kind of use some of your Weight to lock the climber off that’s Anytime the climber Falls or asks to Take when they get to the top of a route You want to stop lying and sit back on The rope so then when your kilometer Gets to the top of the route he’s going To ask to take so he’s going to sit on The rope he’s going to weight it and Then you’re going to want to lower so It’ll lower I’m going to bring my hand Around and I’m going to put my guide Hand as kind of a back up on the brake End of the rope and you’re going to want To feed very smoothly through the belay Device that’s so that you don’t lower Your climber too quickly and you’re not Just jerking them down you want to do it As smoothly as possible and the rope Will get out of control So that’s basically top row filleting it Seems really simple and easy and it’s It’s not too hard to learn but it’s also Just one of the most important things You’re going to want to know when Climbing You
