Gear placement--how soon, how much?

[mattp]

Depending on the situation, it may be MORE important to anchor a belayer when they are standing away from the base of the route. I once caught a fairly hard fall with my buddy low on the route, and I was pulled eight feet to the base of the route while he correspondingly fell an extra eight feet and started worrying he might hit the ground.

 

In this particualr instance, it would have been much better had I been standing, unanchored, at the base of the climb.

 

You need to look at every situation with an eye toward a variety of factors. Factors include where the belayer should sit, whether there is a chance of pulling your belyer out of position as like whether there may be steep climbing at the start of the pitch or the leader is heavier than the belayer or maybe the belay is located horizontal from the expected direction of pull, and whether the belayer is standing on the ground or not.

[catbirdseat]

Depending on the situation, it may be MORE important to anchor a belayer when they are standing away from the base of the route. I once caught a fairly hard fall with my buddy low on the route, and I was pulled eight feet to the base of the route while he correspondingly fell an extra eight feet and started worrying he might hit the ground.

 

In this particualr instance, it would have been much better had I been standing, unanchored, at the base of the climb.

 

The point is, you need to look at every situation with an eye toward a variety of factors.

Sounds awfully familiar.

[jmace]

You need to look at every situation with an eye toward a variety of factors

 

this is called common sense, its actually being bred out of society.