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Ever taken an inexperienced climber out on a multi-pitch route? Perhaps you were trying to impress your new girlfriend or boyfriend by taking them out for a little excitement. Or maybe you were just desperate for a climbing partner and you resorted to taking one of your non-climbing coworkers out. Whatever the reason, however benevolent your intentions were, it can often end up in a tense, stressful and uncomfortable situation for all parties involved. Here are some techniques that many guides use with clients. Follow these and your day is likely to have a much happier ending.
Your main strategy will be trying to make things as easy as possible for your partner to do. You will end up doing many things for them, but ultimately, it will save you time in the end. Patience is a golden asset here.
Leading
First of all, make sure that your partner is in a good position to belay you. Even when on the ground it is often a good idea to have them anchored. If they are forced to be against a wall or other obstruction, make sure that they are breaking with the hand that is opposite the confining object. It is good to get them out of the habbit of always breaking with the same hand. If they are properly trained in the use of a Gri-Gri, having them use one can be a good peace of mind for you.
While leading, great care must be taken when placing protection so that your partner can efficiently clean it. Before you start your climb, take some time and thoroughly explain to your partner what you will be doing and how they should clean and rack the gear. A short demonstration is helpful. Try and place more cams than nuts as most novices will have an easier time cleaning them. When you do place nuts, try not to set them in so hard that your partner must use the nut tool to dislodge them. I often don’t even want them to have a nut tool, so I am very careful about how I place my nuts. Also, try and place your gear from good stances instead of at reachy or mid-crux positions.
Belays
Your belay stations should be carefully chosen and arranged as well. After harder sections of climbing, it may be helpful to stop the pitch short instead of running the rope out so that you can better communicate with your partner through the crux. Sometimes it is prudent to extend yourself out from the belay as far as needed so that you can see and talk to them in the crux. This can be of great comfort and assistance to them and ultimately make things run more efficiently. Try and belay directly off of the anchor with a Münter hitch or a plaquette style device like the Petzl Reverso, Trango B-52 or Kong Gi-Gi. This will free you from the system and make any sort of self rescue much easier. If you are using one of the aforementioned belay devices, make sure you have practiced how to “unlock” it should your partner end up hanging and need to be lowered. (to editor: diagram may be helpful here)
When your partner arrives at the belay, clip them into the anchor with their end of the rope via a clove hitch. This way there is no hard knot for them to undo or daisy chain to mess with once they unclip from the anchor. Take time to re-stack the rope at every belay either in a pile if on a ledge or via lap coils over their tie-in rope if hanging. You want them to have as easy of a time as possible belaying you so that they can do a good job at it. There is nothing worse than the feeling of “free soloing with rope drag.”
Hauling
You may also consider bringing an extra tag line for hauling the pack if you would rather not lead with it. This can often lead to extra fuss and unforeseen difficulties, but in some situations if can really take a load off of both theirs and your shoulders. If you are going to haul a pack, you can often bring along a few (not too many) extra luxuries to make the experience more pleasant and memorable for them. A camera, some snacks, and plenty of water go a long ways towards quelling a nervous soul. Of course you will also probably be bringing along a first aid kit, a jacket and perhaps some sun protection depending on conditions. The extra rope may also come in very handy should you have to retreat from somewhere high on your climb.
Descending
For some, the most terrifying part of the experience is not the climbing up, but the going down. Here are two helpful techniques that are highly recommended for descending with novices.
Lowering
This is often the safest and most efficient manner of descent with a novice. For many people, being lowered is a frightening and degrading experience. However, with careful preparation, lowering need not be dreaded. Lowering is a good option if the following criteria are met: a) you can clearly see the next anchor point or ground, b) you know that you have enough rope to get there, and c) there are no loose rocks that the moving rope is likely to dislodge. If any of these criteria are not met, then rappelling is a better option.
First, have your partner clip into the anchor with a daisy chain or sling. Next, get yourself in a position where you can clearly see the entire lower. You may have to extend yourself away from the anchor to achieve this. Then neatly stack the rope so that the top end is going to the your partner.
You will want to set up the lower so that you are lowering directly off of the anchor and not your harness. This will give you much better control. One method of lowering off the anchor is to use a Münter hitch (see diagram). Another is to use a redirected belaying device (see diagram). To do the latter, simply put the rope through the belay device like you normally would but attach it to the anchor instead of your harness. You will need to “redirect” the brake side of the rope through another, smaller carabiner attached to the anchor. This will ensure that the brake side of the rope is in the proper position (behind the device) even though you are controlling it from in front of it. Put some form of “hands free” friction hitch attached to your harness (e.g. prussik, autoblock, klemheist, etc.) onto the brake side of the rope. Now you can smoothly lower away.
Pre-rigged rappelling
If you can not for whatever reason lower your partner, then pre-rigged rappelling is a good option. The set up is fairly simple but a bit different from how most people rappel.
Again, have your partner clip into the anchor with a daisy chain. Thread the rope(s) through the anchor. Put yourself on rappel a little ways down from the anchor, leaving enough room to set your partner up between you and the anchor point (see diagram). Put a “hands free” back up on your rappel. Next, attach your partner’s rappel device to the ropes. Instead of connecting it directly to his or her harness you will want to connect it into their daisy chain so that it is extended away from them by about 1’ or so (I will explain why in a moment).
Disconnect both yours and your partner’s daisy chain attachments to the anchor. You should both be “on rappel” but with your hands free device, you should not go anywhere. Your weight on the rope will prevent your partner from being able to go anywhere since their brake side of the rope is under tension. [diagram of this setup] Now, you can see that the extension of their rappel device from their harness helps them avoid being pulled into the anchor as you go down.
Once you are down and have un-weighted the rope, you can have your partner rappel to you. As long as you keep your hands on the two ends of the rope, you can provide a “fireman’s belay” on their rappel. If something goes wrong, simply pull on the rope and they will stop.
Using these methods you are much more likely to score “bonus” points with that dude or chic you are trying to impress by not confirming their fears of climbing as a totally dangerous and scary sport. The most dangerous part of your day may actually be later on if you do indeed “score”.
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