I've seen that gri gri screw a number of times over the years. I am very paranoid and triple check them every time. Great devices, but people seem to do this a lot.

Years back I was running laps up a top rope solo using my rescucender. I'd get to the top and remove the recucender and leave it hanging off the belay loop on a locker, then switch over to my belay device and rap the route and switch back at the bottom. After several laps I got up above the crux to take a rest and happened to look down to see I hadn't reattached the rescucender. I was free soloing without knowing it. Luckily I was able to pull up some slack and throw an 8 on a bight and clip in at this rest spot and attach the rescucender. I was a half mile from the road in an area you won't see people very often. I've always tried to do double and triple checks, but this time I missed it and got lucky.

Every single time I attach a grigri, or someone else attaches a grigri whose belaying me, I will pull on the climbing side to make sure it locks.

You're the man, I'm the hand! Pre climb chant every time.

That's pretty much maximizing the disrespect for your belayer.

Jay

That's pretty much maximizing the disrespect for your belayer.

Jay

Gutsy post! If your belayer isn't equally abashed, you need to find another. My guess is that it won't happen again for either of you.

I fucked up a few weeks back and although it didn’t end badly, it certainly could have.

I was at the gym climbing

was rapping with two different length ropes (didn't actually know this at the time as we both thought the ropes were the same length) and was paying more attention to the scary rock above me than I was the ends below me. the short rope whipped right through the ATC with about 50 feet to go and I was suddenly moving much faster than before. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that I wasn't falling, however, and then it dawned on me that I had been saved by the knot at the top.

I fucked up a few weeks back and although it didn’t end badly, it certainly could have.

I was at the gym climbing with two of my regular partners and had been leading most of the day. The route I was on was at my onsight limit but nothing special beyond that. What was exceptional was what I saw as I cruxed above the last bolt and glanced down to check the rope run and fall line. I noticed an extra figure-8 tied in the rope below my harness and I kinda did a double take. When I looked closer, I realized that it wasn’t an extra figure-8, it was the ONLY figure-8 and the tale end of the rope just ran through my tie-in points and draped down the front. WTF!!

Now, me being the idiot that I am, my first thought was (not joking here) “can I tie that one handed and preserve the onsight?”. Of course my second thought was “don’t be a jackass, down climb”, so I did. I got to the bolt below me and clipped in and tied the knot and shakily finished the route. Needless to say, there were some raised eyebrows waiting for me back on the ground.

I honestly can't remember what distracted me from finishing my knot but I have my suspicions. I remember wondering where I had put my shoes and I remember spotting them behind where John was sitting and I grabbed them right then and put them on, so I’m pretty sure that’s when it happened. And as usual, it was more than one event or mistake that lined up just right to allow for this kind of thing to happen. While we don’t have a perfect batting average, the group I was with that day are pretty consistent about double checking each other and overtly do so 80% of the time with another 15% done with eye contact but no verbal communication. Not sure if we were too busy talking shit or just plain forgot but this climb fell within the remaining 5%.

Certainly I'm not the most safety conscious climber in the world and I freely admit that but I try to keep and eye on the simple stupid stuff, especially after earning my avatar. Shit slips thru the cracks though and it's that shit that will kill you. I just got lucky is all. So no big lessons here, just a reminder to doublecheck yourself, and each other.

One final note. I've personally developed the habit of quickly glancing down at my harness and fall line before entering a crux or if I think I might fall and it's helped to avoid awkward or dangerous falls in the past, this time it probably kept me from getting seriously injured or killed. For those who aren't in the habit, it might be something to think about.

Mods, if you think this belongs in general, feel free to move it.

Well worded. Makes me wobbly-legged just imagining the rapid-fire sequence of sensations. I've also heard of close calls like this when the person on rappel was focused on looking for the next anchor location.

I'm not a big fan of knotting the rope ends - rarely do (much less than 1% of the time). However, weekend before last we did because we were too lazy to find the middle of an unmarked rope.

Bill L

Mistakes happen.

Does double checking that your partner has their harness double backed also count as maximizing disrespect?

What about asking if you are on belay? What about calling down "got me?". What about the dozens of other checks and double checks that are done all the time to climber and belayer when climbing?

Would you forgo a 1 second check to maximize your own safety?

I would—and do—ask my belayer to yank on the rope to see if it catches in the grigri. I don't tug on him. That's just rude.

Jay

I would—and do—ask my belayer to yank on the rope to see if it catches in the grigri. I don't tug on him. That's just rude.

Jay

I like the yank check, too, but like Jay, I'm satisfied if I see the belayer do it. BUT, I also have a few climbing partners I can yank around by the belay device and not endanger the relationship.

There is no such thing as "AUTO-PILOT" switch in climbing.

Everything must be manually check and recheck by pilot and co-pilot before takeoff

Instead of passing judgment, how about offering your own stories. There is no climber alive that hasn't done something stupid (except maybe Jay).

Here's two that come to mind:
1) First time in Red Rocks, first route. My partner had been there before so gave me the first lead. We were in Black Velvet Canyon and the higher profile climbs were occupied, so we decided on Sour Mash. In all my excitement, I tied in chalked up and headed up on lead.......without the rack. I didn't notice until reaching for the first piece. I down climbed back to the base, grabbed the rack, and headed back up, a little red-faced. The climbing was pretty easy to start so I wasn't in any danger, just a little embarrassed.

2) Rappelling off a route. I "ALWAYS" attach my rappel device and THEN attach my backup. For some reason, one time, I put my backup on first. I guess in my mind I was all set to go, since I had just put my backup on. It was hot, I was tired, I wasn't thinking. I went to lean back on it when Tiff stopped me.

NO ONE is above mistakes. You can say "It won't happen to me" until you're blue in the face, but guess what....being human is well, part of being a human.

Josh

Incidentally, in 25 years of climbing, I have never even once had a partner grab the rope and jerk it, and hence, jerk me. On the other hand, every time I belay with a grigri, I give the rope a jerk myself, preferably while my partner is watching.

Jay

I done stupid thing and I am no different than anyone else however, I am probably more aware of fuc*ups than most climbers (thanks to reading thousands of accident reports and documenting what went wrong) but I also learned that we need to have pre-flight check list like how pilots do it every time both before they takeoff or land. I am an ex airplane mechanic and we check, recheck and triple check everything we put together and practicing of checking twice and cutting once has saved me in so many situations. As an instructor who deals with climbers and rescuers, I personally can not effort any fuc*ups. An error, injuries or death when my name or organization's reputation is involved means death . I always say this; everything is against us in climbing and any error means trouble if not death so best thing we have to defend ourselves against close calls is the safety check list and we have to do religiously.

we can talk BS all day long here and post and joke about our fuc*ups but out there, climbing is a serious business and we need to treat our safety like how we did in the beginning.

Remember those days........fig 8 check ?, belay check ? on belay ? belay on, climbing ? climb on .....

you know, for prosperity posterity