How to Lower a Rock Climber

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Bill with Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com. We're here today at Chapel Ledges in Ashfield, Massachusetts, Trustees of the Reservations Property and in this series I'm going to be talking about preparing to climb. Lowering the climber off the top of their climb once they're finished or anywhere in the middle they decide to stop is similar to belay technique in break position, but there's a few other things you might want to know. So I'm going to cover doing it with an ATC type device and with a grigri type device. First step, the climber is going to tell me they're done climbing, they're ready to come down, I need to know to take all the slack out. So, just like my belay technique I'm going to give a good pull on that rope to make sure it's tight between the two of us. Then, I'm going to ask them to lean back on their harness, they're going to lean back, stick their feet out, get ready to walk out in the cliff. My part is real simple, just letting the rope pass through the device in a controlled manner. I want to pay to my climber, make sure that they're comfortable, watching their feet making sure they don't look like they're stumbling. All the work happens with the device by the angle that I keep it at. Move it up, the rope slides through, move it down, the rope stops, real simple. I want to switch devices now to the other so you can see how that works as well. The automatic belayed devices almost universally have a some sort of release lever and that's what we're going to focus on for lowering the climber. So again, climber's at the top of the cliff, I want to make sure I've got all the slack out before they lean back. I'm going to ask them to lean back. Notice I've haven't touched that black release lever yet, that's important. Once I do that, then I allow the device to slip the rope through and I don't want that to happen until I have all their weight on the rope. Once I've got them on there, then I'm going to pull this lever towards me to release that and all the rest is the same with the ATC. Keeping my position, using the lever to gage how much rope slides through, watching my climber making sure they're comfortable. Lowering the climber off the top rope climb, just take care of them."