wearing gloves while belaying

[allison]

Another thread got me thinking: what do people think about the practice of wearing gloves while belaying? Before all of you alpine types chime in, let me say that I'm wondering specifically in the case of rock climbing.

 

In my work, we make it a practice to *not* wear gloves when performing certain tasks, including the handling of lines with a live load on them. The logic behind that is that you can feel what the rope and the load are doing without the loss of sensitivity associated with gloves. I've always eschwed gloves while belaying (and rapping, for the same reason), but I wonder if this is really considered necessary.

 

Any opinions?

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Lots of people wear gloves whilst belaying, often thick leather gloves, and they seem to do a fine job of catching whippers. Most folks do it so their hands don't get dirty, which is a pretty wank-o-riffic reason, but whatever suits a person.

[klenke]

Apart from commenting on the incorrectness in word-usage regarding this sentence "I've always eschewed gloves while belaying (and rapping, for the same reason), but I wonder if this is really considered necessary.", my two cents are:

 

7 times out of 10 I wear gloves while belaying and this largely depends on what the leader is doing (how difficult his/her lead is). If he/she's doing a rock climb pitch on class 5, I generally wear gloves. Class 4 maybe (depending on long fall exposure). Class 3 probably not. While rappeling, I always wear gloves unless, of course, I've forgotten them. I don't like the idea of having to stop myself with my bare hand(s) from careening down a rappel site if I lose control--especially if I'm upside down. Often, I'll only wear a belay glove on the brake hand.

 

My reasoning for wearing gloves: rope burn and avoiding the dirtying of my hand(s). I've experienced mild rope burn on a mild leader fall and even this hurt like a son-of-a-gun for a long time afterward (like hours afterward). I don't want to experience the burning of a big leader fall. Another reason to wear a brake-hand glove is that it is easier to let some rope feed through your closed palm to lower a leader, give slack, etc.

[mattp]

I don't think the lack of sensitivity is much of an issue and your ability to hold onto even a moderate fall is increased. As noted by Klenke, you can just wear a glove on the breaking hand and you'll still have the same "sensitivity" anyway.

[glen]

I usually don't wear gloves when belaying or rapping unless I'm expecting heavy loads, such as when aid climbing. The amount of sensitivity is largely dependent on the type of glove. In my opinion, it is worth coughing up the extra couple of bucks for a pair of electricians gloves as they are a lot more comfy and offer better sensitivity (more sensitivity is needed when working with wiring than belaying). I can certainly think of a few times gloves would've been nice to have around. On the other hand, it's also one more thing to carry around.

[allison]

Klenke, if you are going to dis me on usage, at least explain yourself. I got curious and went so far as to look up 'eschew', which my little dictionary says means 'to shun, avoid.' Perhaps you'd care to elaborate on my usage problem, because I am not bright enough to spot it without your help.

 

I'm seeing here that a major reason for wearing gloves is keeping one's hands clean. I'm down with that!

 

So, assuming there is no 'real' reason for it if you've got some callouses already as I do, I'll continue going barehanded. Thanks.

[allthumbs]

I think you chose well, grasshopper.

[texplorer]

I have caught some big whippers, aided big walls, rapped with heavy loads all without the use of gloves. For the most part I think they are kind of a luxury but not truly necessary. That being said I haven't had alot of trouble whilst belaying with my BD "puffy" gloves on cold mtn routes. You do lose some sensitivity with the "puffy" gloves however.

[iain]

Interesting that your work requires bare hands. In both mountain rescue units I work with, gloves are mandatory when belaying, lowering, or raising.

[Retrosaurus]

Belay gloves are cool cuz they are one more thing you can put into your pack and carry around to help you feel more like a climber. More stuff. More stuff. MORE STUFF!!! More stuff is more gooder.

[Cpt.Caveman]

RE-Belay gloves are cool cuz they are one more thing you can put into your pack and carry around to help you feel more like a climber. More stuff. More stuff. MORE STUFF!!! More stuff is more gooder.

 

*******************

 

Ditto. More gear makes me better climber too.

[North_by_Northwest]

I've never really used gloves for much either.

If I did get a pair I'd make sure they were ribbed for increased sensitivity, or maybe lambskin...

[backcountrydog]

just another opinion...

in 10 yrs of climbing and catching LOTS of whippers and taking WAY more, i have never had my hands burned by the rope nor seen anyones hands burned by the rope catching my falls or anyone elses.

i attribute this MOSTLY in part to using an atc instead of an 8. i think the main reason, however, is making sure the belayer is at full attention the entire lead. seriously though if the rope is burning your hands something is wrong. the biggest whipper ive caught is a 60 footer on el cap and the biggest ive taken is a 40 footer both with ZERO rope burn to belayer.

all that said, the times i have used gloves (rapping w pig, mutliple full length raps, etc) it felt like a luxury, providing better purchase on the rope with not much loss in the way of sensitivty. however the loss of sensi i did experience, i felt was made up due to an increase in awareness of the whole scene DUE to said 'lack of sensitivity'.

for those w sensitive hands gloves sound like a reasonable approach but nothing beats an attentive belayer and an atc.

SAR applications i know nothing about.

[allison]

Oh, crap, that's it, I need more STUFF! MORE STUFF! Hey Santa, can I have a Gri Gri? I know it's entirely unnecessary, heavy and expensive, but hey, what would look better in my Petzl-gloved hands? Trask, don't answer that!

 

In 7 years of (albeit fair-weather and sporty) climbing, I too have never seen or heard of 'hand burn'.

 

In 17 years at my job, I have seen two cases of hand-burn, both were pretty bad, but when you are handling an out-of weight piece on a friction wrap, often in the range of 500-800 pounds, you want every bit of touch you can get, and the risk of losing the piece and potentially having a major accident is too great versus the slim chance that you'll burn your hands. They do heal, though from what I hear it hurts like a mutha for a while.

 

I'm curious as to the logic behind requiring SAR to wear gloves as Iain mentioned.

[North_by_Northwest]

I have a friend who got serious rope burn. His belayer dropped him from the top of a climb. He grabbed the side of the rope going up in an attempt to stop himself (unsuccessful of course). The result: a nice 11mm peep hole when he made a fist. Took a while for him to heal, even longer before he let his girlfriend belay him again.

[slothrop]

I had a Mountie leader make a smartass remark to me about not wearing gloves while rappelling. Are gloves one of the 10 essentials? Being Mountaineers-correct is just as important as having more stuff.

[North_by_Northwest]

Ralph,

A Mountie made a smartass remark to my cimbing partner once about how the route he was on was rated 5.6+, while ours was only 5.6. That really opened my eyes to the possible uses of the plus/minus rating. I won't forget that lesson soon.

[slothrop]

Word. Did you trundle debris on him so he'd have to work to free that crux 5.6+ pitch?

[North_by_Northwest]

Nah, trundling wouldn't have even put a dent in the helmet that guy had on. We just climbed and rappelled our route (Beckey rte on Liberty Bell) twice before they could get up Concord once.

[RedMonk]

only wear gloves when it is COLD! other than that...i havebelayed on monster fall on the apron...and no rope burn...did you guys who did get burn get caught trying to pay out rope when they fell...cause i locked off and didn't really feel a thing (xpt for ma legs which had some nice marks).

[iain]

I'm curious as to the logic behind requiring SAR to wear gloves as Iain mentioned.

The deal in high angle rescue stuff is that the loads are quite high. Lowers are usually done with a brake bar and raises with pulleys going every which way. It would be easy to catch a finger in something. Belays are usually tandem prusiks that you have to tend with your hand to keep from locking, so if the main line fails, all of a sudden the load is on the belay line while your hand is on the prusiks which are locking off 200kg at times. This could cause some finger damage w/o gloves, that's all.

[allison]

What kind of weight are wew talking about here? Gloves still seem excessive....though of course rules are rules....

[iain]

We don't just follow rules because they are there. If we don't like the rule we change it. It is more of an agreement that obviously gets broken from time to time in really bad weather on glaciers, etc. where big gloves needed. The typical rescue load (1 patient, 1 attendant, and 1 litter) is 210kg. If you are minding prusiks and they become shockloaded, there's a chance of some hand injury.

Same if you are adjusting the bars on a brake rack as you lower the litter to reduce or increase friction. It's just a risk management item.

[Off_White]

I rope burned the snot out of my hands this summer, huge blisters on both hands. It was however a rope swing accident related to climbing only in that the rope was an old Mammut. Memo to myself: climbing rope makes a poor rope swing due to rope stretch. Other than that, I don't think I've been rope burned, even in days of yore when hip belays stalked the earth.

[catbirdseat]

I agree that using an ATC and paying attention while belaying, one should never suffer a rope burn even holding a big whipper. That said, I always wear belay gloves while belaying a leader. My buddy Jim wasn't watching me when I fell at Vantage and it happened just as he was taking rope in. He got a nasty rope burn. Perhaps he committed an error in belay technique. I just don't know. The way I figure it, you got to wear gloves in the winter anyway, so you might as well get used to the way it feels.

 

--Brian