Nuts & Bolts 2: Safe! The Art and Science of Belays

Coffee Pot

Read Time - 10+ Minutes

July 2020

Building belays is a fundamental skill, but is often poorly executed.

With each build climbers become increasingly familiar with the process. However, beyond the basics, procedural familiarity is largely irrelevant. Each belay is different and should be treated as such. It’s all too common to see competent and experienced climbers making potentially fatal oversights at belays because the simply ‘rinsed and repeated’.

In most free climbing situations a belay is never truly tested. Leader and seconds float up the wall knocking out technical pitch after technical pitch between good natural stances. But imagine the same scenario where suddenly one second needs to be raised. Whilst building a system and executing the raising the sequence, your other second prusiks up their line which you’ve just fixed to the anchor. You are now placing huge forces on the anchor. How great do those two creaky pitons and that small cam in a slippery limestone break look now? And it doesn’t even bear thinking about how poorly equalised it as and those crazy angles at work.

Building good belays is a scientific process, there are guidelines to follow and rules not to contravene, but the artistry is in creating an optimal belay in each scenario.

Disclaimer - This is not an introductory article and presupposes a baseline level of reader knowledge and familiarity with technical terms.

The Free Climbing Belay

A free climbing belay acts as a relay at which the leader makes themselves secure, brings up their second, gear is switched and the next pitch is lead. In theory it should hold both the climbers’ weight and withstand a fall onto the anchor if no ‘Jesus piece’ is used.

In an improvised rescue scenario, however the free climbing belay takes on significant additional loads, and may be required to act as:

• Hauling station from which to stage a raising sequence.

• Point to fix a rope for top rope soloing, ascending or descending.

• Lead rope solo bottom anchor.

• A point to attend to your victim and administer patient care and/or as an unplanned bivvy suffer through the night awaiting further help.

• Tandem or simul rappel station.

As such, it pays to build every belay as well as you can. Equalising two cams by clipping one to the tape of the other may look cool, and qualify as ‘alpine’, but is wholly inappropriate if moving on technical terrain where low angle rescue protocols could no longer be followed.

For more on improvised self-rescue techniques, see here.

First Principles

As basic as it is, the ‘SERENE’ principles are all too often overlooked.

Imagine you reach a stance and are presented with two corroded bolts. The climbing is relatively ‘easy’ for you and the opportunities for ‘beefing up’ the anchor are a handful of marginal placements. You decide to stick, equalise the two bolts and call down to your partner that you’re safe. Confirmation bias leads you to think you’ll be fine, mystery bolts are always a little suspect, but then again you’ve always been fine before.

Such thinking is the vertical equivalent of playing Russian roulette without knowing how many chambers are loaded. A handful of marginal placements could have greatly increased the collective strength of the belay and the chances of keeping you on the wall.

• S - Collectively STRONG at the masterpoint.

• E - EQUALISED. A complex belay may require multiple points of sub-equalised anchor points which are further equalised and brought together at a collectively strong masterpoint.

• R - REDUNDANT. Failure of one piece does not result in failure of the belay. In the case of a sound two bolt stance, this may be one additional piece. In other instances it may be entire additional sub-anchors built on marginal gear.

• E - EFFICIENT. Efficiency is not the same as build speed. Efficiency entails expediency in building an anchor which is satisfactorily safe (‘SERENE’).

• NE - NO EXTENSION. Failure of one piece or sub doesn’t result in shock loading other pieces of subs.

‘Capable of taking an upward force’ is a further condition which is often referenced but rarely explained. In theory multi-directionality is a worthy consideration, and at a bolted belay you’re covered. On a gear belay built on solid pieces, the load on the belay should be sufficient to render it an unnecessary worry. If you have built a complex spider web of marginal pieces, then you may wish to consider integrating a few pieces for an upward force.

Remember, multi-directionality comes from the placement not the piece. Cams are multi-directional to a point, but not by virtue of being a cam. A keyhole nut placement will exhibit far more multi-directionality over a cam in a slippery flaring limestone crack for example.

Anchor Points

On equipped routes you will be met with two bolts, these are your two anchor points. On high traffic routes there may be 4 or more bolts. Providing all of these bolts are of equal age and condition, then equalise a single pair. The additional bolts are to accommodate multiple parties at the same station, not for you to build a three bolt belay.

On gear belays, each piece is an anchor. As a minimum your belay should equalise three solid pieces. At poorer stances you may be equalising multiple marginal pieces to a single equalised anchor point then equalising this with other anchors to bring them together in a collectively strong master point.

Into each anchor point you will need to clip a carabiner. Girth hitching your sling or cord is not preferable as it renders at least on anchor point unstrippable. Large round stock HMS carabiners such as the Black Diamond RockLock (85g) or DMM Boa (95g) offer a large internal volume and easy clipping. However are both heavy and bulky at the anchor point. Certain lightweight hanger designs and older pitons may even be unclippable.

Most climbers choose either a lightweight HMS carabiner, such as a Black Diamond VaporLock (56g), or a lightweight locker with a large internal volume such as a CAMP Photon Lock (43g). Although most would be better served using large internal volume lightweight snapgate carabiners such as a CAMP Photon Wire (30g). Micro carabiners such as Edelrid 19G (19g), Black Diamond MiniWire (23g) or Petzl Ange S (28g) are unhelpfully small and limited in their range of utility applications.

On an equipped route where you are expecting to encounter two bolt belays, you can and should carry 120cm 6mm-8mm dyneema slings. These offer the best weight to functionality of any sling/cordelette system. On traditional routes with gear belays 240cm 6mm-8mm dyneema slings are nearly always sufficient for three anchor point belays. Cordelettes are simply a bulkier, faffier additions.

It is only at very complex belays that cordelettes come into their own. However, a possible solution is to use the rope. Using the rope provides a stronger more dynamic alternative. As additional benefits, knots are easier to undo and the leader is by default tied into the anchor, or ‘safe’. Being prepared to use the leaders end of the rope replaces the need to carry cordelette as a ‘just in case’. The only disadvantages are the added complexities to any rescue sequence and the additional length of rope required at the end of each pitch.

If in situ anchor points are already connected by existing material, view this with a healthy dollop of skepticism and as a general rule, this will be for the belays double role as a rap station. Attempt to rig over the top of it with your slings and carabiners. If this is not possible, look at the condition of the material. If you are in any doubt, cut it off with your knife and leave your own accessory cord or ‘tat’ in its place. Often these ab stations are over-rigged, with parties leaving their own ‘new’ tat behind as an insurance policy but failing to clean whatever was there before and caused them to worry. Cleaning material in poor condition but leaving sound material can often create enough space for you to rig a belay over the top of the in situ tat.

When racking up for a route it is worth racking ‘belay kits’. This keep all the gear you need to build a belay in one place, usually tucked away on your rear gear loops. The system avoids the need for you to strip quickdraws or break down alpine draws for slings. You should rack two ‘belay kits’ per team. A single anchor kit would look as follows:

• Two bolt belays: 1x 120cm dyneema sling, 2x light snapgates, 1x HMS locking carabiner or riggining carabiner.

• Traditional Belays: 1x 240cm-300cm dynemma sling, 3x light snapgates, 1x HMS locking carabiner or rigging carabiner.

• Adventurous Traditional Route/Alpine Belays: 1x 240cm-300cm dyneema sling, 1x 10m 7mm cordelette or willingness to use rope when required, 4x light snapgates, 1x HMS locking carabiner or rigging carabiner.

Master Points

The master point is the point at which the anchor points are equalised and brought together. In most free climbing scenarios, leader and seconds will attach directly here as well performing various addition functions such as top belaying and hauling packs.

The master point is the work station of the belay. Treat it as such. Functional workers don’t leave their desk in a mess, why would you treat the belay any differently? Tidy desk, tidy mind and all that.

It is common to see climbers clip themselves and additional carabiners directly into the master point. Although simple and quick, it can fast become oversubscribed, and unloaded carabiners which have been pushed to the back become jammed. This over subscription can also lead to confusion, with potentially fatal consequences.

Climbers would be better for using a large HMS carabiner as a ‘master biner’. This carabiner remains locked at all times once clipped through the master point. Climbers clip into the master biner, not onto it.

Carabiners like the DMM Boa (95g) or Black Diamond RockLock (85g) with their large internal volume offer more than enough real estate for carabiners, whilst its round stock prevents bunching and jamming as carabiners are loaded and unloaded. Auto-locking designs work well for climbers operating in warmer areas, but should be avoiding by winter and alpine climbers.

A third option is the rigging carabiner, essentially a hybrid product which bridges the gap between a traditional rope access rigging plate and a locking carabiner. Although lighter, traditional rigging plates are bulkier and need to be pre-threaded with cord. Carabiners like the Grivel Vlad Dual Gate (90g) clearly separate carabiners at the master point making for tidy belay.

Further tidying can also be offered at the ‘shelf’. The shelf is the point directly above the joining knot of the master point. By clipping each of the strands individually, you can also make yourself safe here to leave more real estate at the master point. Alternatively it works very well to rack gear for the second to take as they lead through.

Gear Belays

Building gear belays are to be expected on most traditional and alpine routes. Belays should incorporate three solid pieces as a minimum.

You are working with the features that the rock presents, so you may not have the luxury of a comfortable and manageable stance. Using the rope is one tactic which can work to make an inconvenient start as convenient as it can be.

When selecting gear try not to use gear that will be required on the pitch above. For example, placing your three wide cams when the next pitch is an off width. Similarly if you are carrying doubles of certain sizes, try not to use both at the belay. However, this is also a consideration which should be addressed on the ground before starting the climb. You should rack more in expectation of the fact that you will be required to build two belays and lead an entire pitch out of what you are carrying on your harness.

Placements are by their nature weaknesses in the rock, you should look for a number of placements as well as number of pieces. If you load up a crack with two cams and a nut you are relying on one feature as much as you are three pieces. Always check the features you are placing behind. Is that flake actually attached to the wall? Perhaps that horizontal break is in fact the interface between a large block and a ledge. Paranoia might not keep you sane, but it will keep you safe.

Pitons should be viewed with suspicion if in-situ. Pitons are placed by driving a larger harder metal wedge into an existing smaller weakness in the rock. Processes of corrosion affects the hardware, and weathering affects the rock. Begin with a visual inspection of the piton and the rock, is the eye intact and how corroded does it appear? What about the placement and surrounding rock? Next move to a functional check, does it move in/out or laterally, does it bend when loaded? Even if it doesn’t pass every test it doesn’t mean its unclippably bad, but it does mean you shouldn’t seek to supplement it with other solid leader placed pieces.

Since there is no guarantee of conveniently spaced gear, achieving perfect equalisation can be very difficult. As a result some pieces are loaded more than others. When used solely as a free climbing belay the problems with this may not be apparent. However, in an improvised rescue scenario when the anchor may subject to far greater loads, this can be more of a problem. Micro and small nuts can have a max load of 200kg-400kg. Micro-cams are weak, and particularly prone to breaking or failure when subject to sub-optimal loading.

If your belay is built from multiple micro to small pieces, considering beefing it up with additional pieces and creating sub-equalised anchor points to achieve better equalisation. Using the rope can also help to equalise awkwardly positioned anchor points.

Marginal Belays

Marginal belays are surprisingly common in traditional and alpine climbing, and are not just confined to the world of A5+ wall climbing.

Marginal bolted belays are an unpleasant feature of many alpine routes. Heavy corrosion, weak or broken hangers and relics like Petzl Self Drives all constitute marginal bolted belays. Sure they might be fine, but your guess looking at them is as good as anyone else’s. For more information on bad bolts and how to spot them, read our article on it here.

Hanger failure is generally more common than bolt failure. To work around this slip and synch a small nut wire or girth hitch a 6mm dyneema sling behind the hanger. Then look to beef this up with further sound anchors, and equalise well to not concentrate a significantly greater load through any one piece.

For more on dealing with bad bolts, read our article on it here.

When faced with a marginal gear anchor, it’s important to locate your best piece and build out from that. Create sub-equalised anchor points and equalise them further with other anchor points, to bring collective strength at the master point. Three or four ‘body weight only’ pieces equalised to a single anchor point can still play a functional role in a complex belay. Again focus on equalising well so a significantly greater load is not placed through anyone on anchor point.

Read the first article in our Nuts and Bolts series here.

Learnt something? You may enjoy our book ‘Self-Rescue for Climbers: The Essential Skills’.

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