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Blocking
Off a Belay Device
Blocking
off a belay device is a relatively simple, but important technique that
every climber should know. It's a technique that allows the belayer to
let go of the rope with their brake hand in order to do other things.
It's one of the first things you should do in any kind of situation where
your partner may be need of a little assistance or you're actually looking
at a self rescue. Just the simple act of freeing up your hands and not
having to hold on to the rope while your partner is hanging, really frees
up the mind so you can more clearly assess the situation.
We
will show one way to block off a belay device. One of the strengths of
blocking off a device in a manner such as this is that once the device
is blocked off, it can also be unblocked while under load.
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Start
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1.
While
keeping braking action on the rope,
feed a bight of rope through the locking carabiner attached to your
belay loop and grab it with your guide hand. |
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2.
Hold
this bight firmly (you're now providing your partners belay on this
part of the rope) while you pass another bight of rope through it.
What this does is to make a slip hitch around your locking carabiner.
Be sure that you make this hitch around the spine of
the carabiner and not the gate. |
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3.
Make
the tail of this slip hitch long enough so that you can tie an overhand
knot with it around the active strand of the rope. This prevents the
device from ever coming unblocked accidentally. |
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If
you need to unblock your device while it is still under load, this
is no problem. Untie the overhand knot and place your brake hand (or
both hands) on the loose, brake strand of the rope. Pull on this until
you pop the slip hitch off from around the carabiner and you are back
into a normal belay mode. It may take a good pull on the brake strand
to unblock the hitch. When you do this, be sure to pull your hand
(or hands) right into the braking position because you'll be suddenly
transferring the load of your partner from the hitch around the carabiner
onto the brake strand of the rope and your brake hand. |
Be
sure to play with this on level ground or in some other safe environment
before you use it for real. Never use a technique in a real situation
that you're not sure of. It's a great little technique to have in your
bag of tricks. If you have any questions or comments please let us know
through the "Ask a Guide" page or contact a USMGA
endorsed guide in your area.
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