As such I asked my partner if I should say something. She got upset and claimed that if someone climbs with an unsafe belayer it is their personal choice and I should just shut up.
Mention it to the staff? Surely you have to demonstrate safe belay technique to use the wall?
I'd definitely mention it to the belayer. Their feelings matter less than the life of the climber and his/her nearest and dearest.
My reaction depends on experience and level of the party. If they are beginners and seem to lack the knowledge, resp. if it seems it's not their deliberate choice to use sloppy belaying techniques then I feel in a position to give them advice. If it seems to me that it's not by ignorance but by choice that they belay poorly, I shut up (and try to keep clear of the danger zone).
Climbing is a dangerous sport, anyone who is not trying to keep up with best practice should not climb imho.
I can't answer the poll because there isn't an option for "tactfully offer some advice", which of course is the only option for any reasonable non Harrisonian-Libertarian-nightmare human to take.
Quote from: jwi on April 06, 2023, 09:17:08 amClimbing is a dangerous sport, anyone who is not trying to keep up with best practice should not climb imho.This is ridiculous. Barely anybody does this. Go to any UK limestone sport crag and count the number of people wearing helmets.
Logic defying. Likelihood is that if you have had a near miss incident when doing something it's unlikely to recur, it's the things that don't happen you should worry about.
I have friends who don't wear helmets when cycling because they read a study where it said motorists are more likely to be careful passing a cyclist who isn't wearing a helmet. I pointed out that probably doesn't apply to motorists who don't see you, or if you fall off your bike due to a misjudgment you made yourself, but they seemed OK with their take on the situation. They make their daughter wear one though.
Quote from: SA Chris on April 06, 2023, 12:16:20 pmLogic defying. Likelihood is that if you have had a near miss incident when doing something it's unlikely to recur, it's the things that don't happen you should worry about. I think you might need to reconsider your understanding of probability.
Noobie topic of the day:The other day I saw some pretty chocking belaying in the gym. The guy kept the grigri closed at all times by clamping it with the right hand and kept the left hand on live end of the rope all the time. When the leader fell he let go of everything. (I admit that at this point I was more interested in the fate of his leader than mine). The leader obviously fell miles despite being very close to the bolt, but was kept off the ground as they fell pretty high up.I would obviously never tell someone who is not belaying me to change from an obsolete belay technique to best current practice, but in this case I struggled a bit against my inner know-all. As such I asked my partner if I should say something. She got upset and claimed that if someone climbs with an unsafe belayer it is their personal choice and I should just shut up.I moved out of the fall zone and tried to climb on ropes far away from them for the rest of the session.
How many people wear helmets cycling in the Netherlands? Cycling safety correlates to safe infrastructure, not helmets.
So often I'm guilty of saying nothing, and just watching anxiously, unless it's really bad - like when I saw a guy tie off his rope at the top of Stanage and sit on the edge of the crag to belay his second without re-attaching to the rope,
Quote from: andy moles on April 06, 2023, 01:29:36 pmSo often I'm guilty of saying nothing, and just watching anxiously, unless it's really bad - like when I saw a guy tie off his rope at the top of Stanage and sit on the edge of the crag to belay his second without re-attaching to the rope,I was once at the top of Stennis Ford in Pembs and went over to chat to a woman sat at the edge belaying her partner toproping Ghost Train. Was sat there a few mins before I suddenly realised she wasn’t attached to anything so I scrambled around shitting myself finding something to clip her into. She was totally unfazed and just said “yeh safety first I guess”. A few mins later he fell off and shouted “take” as the rope went tight.