Winter skills 3.4: how to belay on winter climbs

Expert tips for belaying when winter climbing:
Check the rock quality with visual and tap test
Cut/use a comfortable stance
Equalised slings can ease changeovers
Keep belay plate clipped in when threading/unthreading
Stash axes carefully to avoid the rope flicking them out
Agree action plan before leaving the belay
Clean cracks to seat gear on rock
Cams require particular attention to clean the rock
Visible rock placements are a gift - use them!
This is one of a series of instructional films produced exclusively for BMC TV in association with AMI (the Association of Mountaineering Instructors), Lowe Alpine and DMM.
www.ami.org.uk/
lowealpine.com/
dmmclimbing.com/
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[@ASNIV_]

Your videos are awesome and I really enjoy learning from you!

[@christopheryoung7456]

Stellar video. Great communication skills

[@JLongTom]

Great no-nonsense videos, and nice music to boot!

[@paulmorrey733]

Thanks Great Quality video and sound. Good, clear instructions.

[@1Molehill]

How to belay in winter? 1 hand on the rope, the other hand un-wrapping a sandwich & wiping frozen snot off your nose onto the back of your glove! LOL

[@amonster8mymother]

Stop touching my sandwich!!!

[@SgtSnausages]

Those offsets are pretty magical.

[@CarterCreativeContent]

Such a great useful video

[@ptrckmuir]

Thank you for sharing you knowledge

[@edwards12131415]

Who is this amazing guide?? She’s awesome

[@teamBMCTV]

That would be the amazing Sam Leary from Leading Edge www.leadingedge-mountain.co.uk/about.html

[@ChaseTheSummit]

Why not belay directly off the anchor with an autoblock device instead of the harness?

[@ClimbMitBourbon]

Exactly what I was thinking. Must be a regional preference.

[@tombodgeit6822]

It's because your body acts like a third anchor and also adds some give in the system, if it was 3 bomber bits she might have done an autoblock but not on two nuts in the same crack. Hope that answered your question :)

[@paddyoneill3243]

I belay direct too and bang myself in independent if possible... I was wondering the same

[@Alexandru_Narcis_Popescu]

Great, love it

[@SquareYourFace]

Belaying in the winter seems pretty similar to belaying in the summer...

[@johnsentance8452]

Brilliant video!! What route is this?

[@keithhaldane9794]

Pretty sure that it is Central Gully. Grade I. Coire an t-Sneachda. Cairngorms. Scotland

[@sherfithasan]

I need lessons on this so I can get into more serious climbs. Any recommendations?

[@Kit-lu6ox]

Hasan K. Glenmore lodge

[@paulmitchell5349]

...and where there is no nice convenient crack?

[@aaronpohl9817]

Sorry for necroposting but I can’t wrap my head around why the plate/tube device is oriented downwards. This way the belay hand must pull upward wich makes it pretty impossible to hold a fall. Sure in a guiding situation this might not be a problem as the guide would not try to stop a fall but keep the guided person in balance but with this amount of slack that wouldn’t work either. Or did I miss something?

[@thebeardeddove]

You missed a lot. Best go watch a video on how a belay plate works.

[@aaronpohl9817]

Um, I belay with tube all the time, wich is to my knowledge a belay plate with brake aid. So in a plate the climbers strand puts pressure on the brake strand what can only happen when the plate is oriented upwards. Or what did I miss here?

[@aaronpohl9817]

@@thebeardeddovealright watched the video again. I still don’t get why the belay is done over the harness instead of the anchor as it would be way easier to hold a fall that way.

[@aaronpohl9817]

In other words: The belay from above via harness is useless because you have to pull upwards to hold a fall.

[@thebeardeddove]

It's hard to explain just over text. But to hold a fall or the weight of a climber, the live rope and the dead rope need to be going in opposite directions. So when you're belaying from the bottom of a climb (like in a gym), the live rope is going up to the top of the climb, therefore the dead rope is going downward. When you are bringing a climber up a climb, the live rope is going down, therefore the dead rope needs to be the opposite way to get the friction to hold a fall. Maybe search a video on how to belay a seconding climber if this doesn't make sense. It makes me laugh that many people are leaving comments that this highly qualified guide, who is doing an instructional video for the British Mountaineering Council is doing it wrong 😂

[@1981stonemonkey]

Also here the braking hand is too far forward (also in video 3.6): it's more difficult to brake if Joe slips/falls than it is to belay directly off the anchor with a half hitch, or at least to let the live rope coming out of your tube/atc run through the anchor and face the mountain. Like in the climbing gym!

[@evliyacelebi4798]

but it's not like an autoblock system and your finger may squeeze in belay device. may be rope control will be out of your control?

[@northwoodsrat6686]

Climbers were safely using this excellent dynamic belay system for decades long before the "new" system (autoblock) ever came on the scene . Some still prefer this former tried and true method which is still every bit as safe , effective and valid as it always was . It is actually preferred on snow climbs where no rock pro placements are available and where inherently less secure snow anchors would benefit from the dynamic qualities of this system .