Weekend Whipper: Belay Gone Bad
Check out the reaction of the guy who enters the frame at the bottom left at the end of the video---he knows how close this fall was to disaster!
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Bad belay be gone! This one comes from Lucas Zimmerann, and features a climber named Luciano climbing an overhanging wall in Bagé, Brazil.
Lucas said, “The belayer, knowing that the left hand of the climber is holding a perfect jug, wrongly decides not to take the slack, thinking he will pull rope again. Then the climber falls…”
He adds this analysis: “An interesting part of the video is to see in detail the belayer. He didn’t take the slack, so the rope angled down so much in front of him that he wasn’t able to take it in quickly.”
The fall almost ends in a couple broken legs (check out the reaction of the guy who enters the frame at the bottom left at the end of the video – he knows how close it was), but thankfully, doesn’t. A bad belay does happen from time to time, but it’s important, particularly when the climber is that close to the ground, to be extra vigilant and conservative.
Happy Friday and climb safe this weekend!