Learning to Trad Climb: Part 4 - How to lead single pitch

[@des5943]

Makes me want to start climbing again. What a great teacher as well.

[@abandonshipproductions]

Very well made and informative video. Really love this and it was super fun to watch.

[@Gecko2601]

Such a great way to learn these skills! Would be happy to have the opportunity to learn(ed) it the same way!

[@johnclarkeuk]

Fantastic series keep them coming

[@mikaelwerner1]

Brilliant instruction!

[@krispyren]

Nice explanation of everything she is doing. Thanks for the great videos!

[@Phoenixhunter157]

This route looks so nice for beginner trad climber😍😍

[@puglet64]

First off: excellent video series. Secondly: out of curiousity: why belay direct from the harness? In my [fairly limited] experiences in the Alps, guides always belay with the device integrated into the anchor set-up. I was told that this allowed for greater freedom to respond to various situations presenting danger or stress to the system. For example, if second falls, it avoids the stress being directly on the belayer’s harness, which would limit movement. From watching climbing videos, UK seems to have a number of these differences, which are a bit confusing.

[@wyeknotclimb262]

This is standard practice for UK trad. Belaying off the climber (an indirect belay) reduces the load experienced at the anchors, compared to a direct belay where everything goes back onto the placements. This may not be an issue on bomber bolted belays but when building belays on (potentially poor) trad gear, you want protect those placements from big loads. In addition, guides are typically block leading (a direct belay makes for quicker transistions if you're not swapping leads) and may well be using a guide plate type device (needs a direct belay) to bring up two clients.

[@ianmcnulty4251]

Excellent video! Very well presented.

[@Alrowe13]

Where abouts is that big slabby 50m crag?

[@olnberg]

Think it's NW face of Tryfan in Snowdonia.

[@dmmclimbing81]

@@olnberg Very close! It's Tryfan Fach, just next to the NW face of Tryfan. It's a great crag for learning to trad climb.

[@akonto65]

Double rope, I’m custom to clip both ropes in the first and maybe second quickdraw, and from there go with single clip due to fall factor. If you only clip one rope in the first, I guess it’s triple certified ropes?

[@patrickblais2389]

The belay should always be bidirectional when you do more than one pitch. Using at least one cam, that fixed it

[@gastrowheel]

Why the two ropes instead of just one? Redundancy i suppose?

[@samshorto5433]

It's to help with rope drag, and the possibility of pulling gear out if you're wandering all over the rock. You clip all the gear on your right-hand side into one rope and all the gear on your left-hand side onto the other to make sure your ropes are as straight as possible at all times.

[@grimlund]

And you can rappel double the length. If you have two 60 meters rope you can rappel 60 meters instead of 30 if you tie them together. If your climbing in a bit bigger mountains like in Norway or the Alps double ropes or twin ropes is "the real shit" I would say. And during the approach or the descent from the mountain you and your buddie can carrie one rope each.

[@Givicencio]

12:14 terrible use of belaying device... keeps your hands busy holding the rope. Why not use it with self locking "mode"?

[@Deltablues1988]

"But it has guide mode, therefore I must use guide mode all the time, no questions asked, doesn't matter what the situation or who I'm climbing with, guide mode 24/7"

[@Givicencio]

@@Deltablues1988 why would you NOT use guide mode in this very specific situation? its unsafe... if she stops holding the rope the second climber could fall and die.

[@Deltablues1988]

@@Givicencio Because the anchor has been built using the rope. And that's why you don't let go of the breaking strand...

[@Givicencio]

​@@Deltablues1988 what the fuck are you talking about. The anchor is built at 9:26 with a sling. Do you even climb or you just like to troll? Reasons for using the guide on this situation are many: 1) She's belaying from a steep slab and doesn't see the climber while climbing. 2) She needs to hold two ropes, not one. 3) She needs to arrange TWO ropes from a pitch that was 50m long 4) It's her first time belaying from above.

[@Deltablues1988]

@@Givicencio 1) that's why she extended herself from the anchor with the rope, so she can see the climber 2) holding two ropes isn't difficult 3) using two ropes isn't difficult 4) you want to teach a beginner how to safely lower a climber in guide mode?

[@keithagnew8062]

FAIL - this is how people die. At 12:33 - she's belaying with an open system, using a plaquette (ie. ATC) with the brake strand above the climber strand. Unlike here, when used properly, in "Guide Mode" and with the brake stands below the climber stands, now the ropes will auto-lock when weighted, preventing a potential injury or worse. C'mon DMM, you're better than this. (EDIT) > making matters worse, crossing the brake hand - essentially letting go of the brake on an open system - I'd run from this partner if I arrived at my station and saw this is how I'm being belayed. This video should be deleted!

[@ROSER6410]

She is using the belay device in ‘Standard mode’ , for want of a better phrase. It works exactly the same as if she was belaying a leader and is the way you would belay a leader with this device. It doesn’t suddenly stop working that way as soon as you are 1 ft off the ground. Amazingly it is used thousands of time a year like this in the UK and our crags are not littered with dead bodies. Another option is Guide mode. Both have advantages and disadvantages and might be preferred for different situations. An advantage of this in single pitch is if anything happens to the second it is easy to lower them to the ground and safety. The is more than one way to do things. Regarding the hands crossing. This is the V to knee 123 method taught in the UK. There are lots of ways to belay, you might have been taught a different way i.e PBUS. The are both safe, if you have any stats that demonstrate otherwise, please share. Sorry for the essay.

[@keithagnew8062]

@@ROSER6410 Yes, this is why I very rarely comment on climbing videos. Not only is it completely insane to learn climbing skills on KZbin, but I get comments like "there aren't bodies littered at the bottom of crags, so it must be fine". C'mon. My point is this - she's a beginner holding a brake strand that will open the system with no backup if she moves her hand below the plaquette. A beginner with no backup. This is just a fact. Her second (the guy below) will just free fall, fact. Your point is "it's safe because a lot of people do it". We can respectfully agree to disagree.

[@ZerolinGD]

I assume she isn't a beginner to belaying, rather a beginner to trad climbing. Of course a beginning belayer should have a backup, for for an experienced belayer it should be fine.@@keithagnew8062

[@brerrabbit4265]

I love watching two ladies talk about nuts.