Dynamic Belays

So everyone knows how to belay. Most people know how to Lead Belay. But the real important thing to know is how to provide a good dynamic belay. I have been working on this for the past few months. Working hard routes with bad clips on steep walls with roofs and so on makes need for a good dynamic belay.

When your falling above a deep roof you don't want to smack your face on it.

Which calls possibly two options: Either jumping up with you climber as the fall or throwing them a little extra slack as the fall. Providing a nice soft catch while your buddy swoops under the roof avoiding the face smash that you imagined would happen the whole time he struggled to clip.

When you fall off a roof in such a spot that it is not possible to swing to the wall or yard up on the descending rope there is some techniques to consider.

This trick is used on very very steep walls. It requires a very good sense of rhythm between the partners.

The person on belay jumps up as high as they can while taking in slack and ends in a dead hang. (It is important not to let the climber any slack while this action takes place). As the climber and the belayer both hang in the air the climber does a full pull up on the rope and quickly releases the rope at the height of there pull up. The belayer then drops down as the climber was doing this. Repeat and Repeat until the climber returns to the clip he had fallen on.

Also to never forget to tell your climber if they forget clips even if it might seem rude at the time. Communication is key. Recent experience scared me quite a bit as I pulled through the crux on my 12b, almost fall and realize I could have taken a 30 foot deck.

Have a good day!