Depending on the length of the climb, it's a perfectly legitimate reason. If it were you and I on a 20-meter climb with a 70-meter rope I might say exactly the same thing. I mean come on, 50 meters of rope on the ground doesn't equal a closed system?

There's only one habit worth developing: evaluate every situation and choose your practices accordingly.

It has been my observation that the most common lowering-when-not-belayed is because the leader got to the top of the climb and yelled something like "I'm clipped into the anchor" and the belayer thinking the leader safe takes them off belay.

This is absolutely a mistake on the belayers part since the leader never asked to be taken "off belay".

But I think it is a terrible habbit on the part of the leader. Yelling something like "I'm clipped in" or "I'm at the anchor" invites the belayer to mistakenly take you off. If the leader just keeps his damn mouth shut, it won't occur to the belayer to take them off belay. And they will still be on belay when they go to anchor.

So I am of the opinion that the leader shouldn't say anything unless they want to be taken off belay and they should say so directly.

Why does being at the anchor mean that belayer can take the climber off belay, regardless if something is said or not? When sport climbing and lowering is to be expected, the belayer should never take the climber off belay. I think in general there are 2 causes for these types of accidents.

1. The climber, when reaching the anchors yells "off belay", which means take me off belay, when that isn't actually what they want, because they intend to be lowered. This IMO is the climbers fault.

2. The climber, when reaching the anchors yells something else(safe, direct in etc) and the belayer takes them off belay thinking that the phrased used means they want to be taken off belay. In this situation it is the belayers fault.

I think your summary of the most common causes of off-belay-lowering accidents (your points 1 and 2) is spot on, although I think in both cases the blame is shared between the climber and the belayer. However, due to a subtle ambiguity in your use of the word "and" in the sentence that I bolded, it is unclear whether you mean that lowering is the expectation when sport climbing or not, and that's exactly the problem in sport climbing today.

Not too long ago almost everybody almost always lowered off of almost every sport route. Rappelling was rare, and was reserved for climbs where lowering would excessively abrade the rope or where the anchors were highly worn. Since the expectation was to lower, and everybody knew that, there was little opportunity for an off-belay lowering accident to occur. Rappelling was an unusual enough occurrance that it automatically triggered a number of verbal confirmations before the belayer actually took the climber off belay.

However, due to a recent mutation in the LNT meme, a virulent new Save the Anchors meme has emereged and become epidemic in the n00bosphere, especially at lesser and more isolated crags, where the n00bs are not protected by herd immunity from more experienced climbers. At the beginning of this epidemic, rappelling was still rare enough that when some n00b yelled "off belay" at the anchors, experienced sport climbers in the vicinity would take notice and ask the climber or belayer what the climber's intentions were. I, myself, corrected several "off belay" errors I observed, and I think I prevented at least one accident. However, infection with the new meme has become so prevalent that neither belayers nor passers-by are surprised to hear "off belay" anymore, and no one raises an eyebrow—even though a raised eyebrow might prevent an accident.

Jay

I hope you do not teach anyone to use this term.

"Improvising" commands is dumb, and anyone who thinks that a standard set of commands would make no difference in reducing miscommunication accidents is just not paying attention.

Standardization reduces accidents. It's a fact. Apollo 13 anyone?

And STOP using the term SAFE!

every crazy brit ive climbed with up here has never had any issue with "off belay" ... and there are quite a few of em in squamish

of course half the time they are soloing ... when they arent cragging straight cracks with double ropes ...

To avoid all the miscommincations, why not come up with new terms right now? Something simple, something easily understood (both interms of sound and definition), something like:

"Anchor" - what the climbers yells to the belayer when the climber clips into the anchors. At this point the belayer can do whatever he/she feels like; untie, walk away, etc. (2-syllable)

"Take" - what the climber yells to the belayer when the climber wants the belayer to take in all the slack. The climber does not issue another command to the belayer UNTIL the climber is pulled up into the anchor. (1-syllable)

"Lower" - what the climber yells to the belayer when the climber wants to be lowered to the ground. (2-syllable)


Thoughts?

To avoid all the miscommincations, why not come up with new terms right now? Something simple, something easily understood (both interms of sound and definition), something like:

"Anchor" - what the climbers yells to the belayer when the climber clips into the anchors. At this point the belayer can do whatever he/she feels like; untie, walk away, etc. (2-syllable)

"Take" - what the climber yells to the belayer when the climber wants the belayer to take in all the slack. The climber does not issue another command to the belayer UNTIL the climber is pulled up into the anchor. (1-syllable)

"Lower" - what the climber yells to the belayer when the climber wants to be lowered to the ground. (2-syllable)


Thoughts?

What does a climber yell when they clip in direct to the anchor but are expecting to be lowered?

The climber still yells what they want. In this case just "lower". If the climber sees there's a lot of slack in the rope after clipping, the climber can say "Take", then "Lower".

you don't need to tell them anything when you anchor in.

You're correct you don't NEED to, but it's considerate. I recently redpointed a long standing project of mine and wanted to savor the moment, so instead of my partner paying attention to me for no reason (and possibly delaying him from "calling nature") by saying "anchor" he could be free until I needed him.

Apparently you do because you don't use it the same way the rest of us do.

What if they are going to rethread before lowering?

This is exactly what leads to many of the accidents being referred to in this thread. If you are going to lower, the belayer should not be taking you off belay

When the climber yells "Anchor" that's the cue for the belayer to a) give a ton of slack or b) unclip belay device, eat, etc. So by saying "Anchor" the climber should have plenty of slack with which to rethread. Hell, at that point, the climber can rappel.

When the climber yells "Anchor" that's the cue for the belayer to a) give a ton of slack or b) unclip belay device, eat, etc. So by saying "Anchor" the climber should have plenty of slack with which to rethread. Hell, at that point, the climber can rappel.

I don't see how using understandable language, appropriately would lead to an accident. ASSUMPTIONS lead to accidents. Don't assume you're going to be lowered until your command was followed through.

No, You should not be unclipped from the belay device if you are going to lower. If you are going to lower you need to stay on belay. Rapping from a sport climb is unnecessary 99.9% of the time and we've already gone over the reasons why.

you cannot use the same command to mean "i'm going to rethread then rappel" and "i'm going to rethread then lower"

to be "considerate"

Slack
Take
Lower

In Australia if we have reached an anchor and are setting up to lower we call "IN HARD". It means "keep me on belay, I'll be lowering soon".

When we are actually safe (going to rap or have set and anchor and will bring up the second) we still use the British "SAFE", which can sound like "TAKE", many hilarious incident have ensured, I have switched to "OFF BELAY" which people understand)