Direct belay on big boulder (down low)- The Tooth

[SplashClimber]

Full description: leader reaches top of The Tooth, sling a big cordalette around the boulder that is very far from the edge (tie it off with figure 8), tie yourself in with a clove hitch of the right distance so you can walk to the edge of the actual pitch, set up a munter hitch/or atc-device-meant-for-direct-belays on the cordalette (using proper munter on oval biner, or follow atc-device instructions), and now you can walk to the edge and see how your 2nd is proceeding while belaying them up.

 

Any concerns with this? I have seenn a lot of picutres of direct belays, but the anchor system is usually waist level or higher. Is this a problem at The Tooth because the master point is so low?

[cbcbd]

Your pull on the anchor point should be in the direction that you built the anchor to support. If you are loading the anchor in a way that might make the cordelette slip of the boulder then that seems a little sketchy and you should rethink the anchor.

Nothing wrong with it being below your waist if you feel that it will support a load pulling up on the anchor. There is a boulder on top of Midway Direct (a few feet behind the tree) at Castle Rock with a big slit behind it that I sling and belay at the edge, above the anchor. The slit is deep and the roof above it prevents the anchor from moving up, so in that case it works fine.

 

[SplashClimber]

On another tangent, does it matter where you locate yourself angle-wise from a bomber setup (bolts for example)? Example: You have a big bomber anchor off to your right, the climber is coming up directly below the anchor, but a mighty fine seat is over about 4 feet to the left of the anchor. When using direct belay with autoblock, I think in this case it does not matter where you sit, because this is the advantage of a direct belay? But, I am also a bit confused because if you are off to an angle this would also cause the whole equalized point to sway over towards you, so you would have a bit of a fall to your climber if they fell.

 

Hard to describe some of this stuff, hope my new scenerio makes sense. Thank-you for any help!

 

[Crillz]

On another tangent, does it matter where you locate yourself angle-wise from a bomber setup (bolts for example)? Example: You have a big bomber anchor off to your right, the climber is coming up directly below the anchor, but a mighty fine seat is over about 4 feet to the left of the anchor. When using direct belay with autoblock, I think in this case it does not matter where you sit, because this is the advantage of a direct belay? But, I am also a bit confused because if you are off to an angle this would also cause the whole equalized point to sway over towards you, so you would have a bit of a fall to your climber if they fell.

 

When you autoblock, it's off the anchor, so yes, if you were to belay from the side, and the 2nd falls, the anchor could shift. If you really wanted to sit away from your anchor, you might be able to re-direct rather than use autoblock. Just do it, use your common sense, and have a few clusterfux and you'll figure out what you do/don't want to do anymore.

[SplashClimber]

(cluster) Yes - I agree, in this case making the error (an error but still safe) might be the best teacher!

 

I have been with an experienced leader where this situation (my last scenerio) was true (but had a bomber tree instead of bolts). They had me direct belay off the anchor, but I was not happy because I was not therefore following the "ABC"/Anchor Belay Climber- all-in-a-line rule". Your suggestion of a redirect seems like a great alternative solution. I have always wondered why anyone would ever redirect, and have read it is a bit antiquated (but not sure this is really true), but I think it does have this good usage. At least something to try!

 

I did use a similar setup with my autoblock (where belayer/me was off to the side). It was a good solution because I had a bomber anchor, and I was on a smallish ledge. So this way I was removed from the system and could not possibly be pulled off the ledge. The angle seemed to prove difficult at the beginning of my followers ascent, but it was easier as they moved on up. It was a bit difficult at time to keep the two lines of the device (belay line, and follower line) running parallel to each other, so the rope would run smoothly).

 

Ah much fun, but I am liking have the direct belay in my bag of tricks

 

[Rad]

Learn to be flexible but safe. No cute acronyms will save you if you don't set a solid anchor and attach to it properly.

 

As long as the anchor is bomber, and you are tied into it, then you'll be fine. It may be uncomfortable if your fat friends hang directly on you, but unless you let go of your brakehand no one will die.

 

Sitting off to the side is fine, but think about what will happen when the climber falls. You may get pulled off your perch and swing and dangle over the edge. You might get scraped legs (unless wearing shorts over polypro) but you should be fine as long as you don't let go of the brakehand and drop your climber. And if you have a grigri even that doesn't matter. I would recommend sitting rather than standing, but these are things to experiment with in the field.