Troubleshooting Lead Belay Techniques (Rock Climbing)

I hold Ben's videos in very high regard. As many others have expressed, they are some of the best instructional climbing videos on YouTube. It does seem like there is controversy surrounding the Belay Masterclass Episode 6 however, so here is my opinion.

Climbing is still a growing and evolving sport, practiced around the world, so it makes sense that there is no one standard followed everywhere. In addition, there may be some specific situations where one technique works better than another, or the experience of the user may make an "incorrect" technique better than "the right way" if it were to be executed poorly.

The scenario in question, from the original Episode 6 video, is a climber about to fall with too much slack in front of the belay. The best solution is to be proactive with slack management and keep this from becoming a problem in the first place. If that does not work, then what do you do? (Besides running away).

This is not intended to be a comprehensive video and would not be adequate instruction when taken out of context. There is no replacement to learning from an experienced instructor firsthand, but I appreciate the effort of the Hard Is Easy channel to put out good information and make it available for free.

Also, if you noticed that I never locked my carabiner, thank you for paying attention!

[HardIsEasy]

Thanks for this, I def misunderstood Petzl (PBUS) technique and explained it wrong, so I'll remake my video to fix that.
The reason is that no one uses it here in Europe in Sport Climbing. Tunneling + assisted belay devices is all you see in the crags, so I was not really aware of this shift in belay techniques in USA.
Some EU countries like UK teach V to knee 1, 2, 3 which has benefits when taking more slack as the climber is pulling on the rope.
Anyway gonna try to explain all of them with pros and cons and will do some testing my self to make that video much better.

[mountainmandoug]

The "alpine technique" shown near the end of the video was originally developed for a hip belay. It is also the best technique to use with a Munter Hitch. Many of the techniques shown and discussed would have advantages and disadvantages. I think that PBUS is the technique that works equally well with both tube-type and assisted breaking devices. I would consider tunneling appropriate with an assisted breaking device but not with a tube type device. In my opinion a true "master class" in belaying would need to cover use of moving-cam assisted devices, geometry-based assisted breaking devices, tube devices, munter hitch, and body belays. Also belaying from above, with all the various devices and techniques, directly off the anchor and other ways, with the different issues and hand motions for each. That is what is taught comprehensive climbing courses by climbing schools in the NW USA where I live. Most hand motion techniques work well with one or more specific devices, but none works with all.

[georged]

I love hard is easy and I love this video. Im a total noob and this video shows how complex a simple thing can really be.

[worldworldworld]

Thanks for this. Being in the UK I was taught V to knee 1, 2, 3 (swapping hands) but I moved to PBUS. To be honest, sliding the brake hand whilst having the other hand holding is (for me) the same as swapping hands but I just feel more comfortable sliding, so I retrained. Thank you for your breakdowns!

[gregorstaggl]

The tunneling is very common in Austria and the alpine region and we teach it regularly. Although for sport climbing we usually teach assisted devices (Grigri, Mammut Smart, etc.)
However, due to the nature of the tube (ATC), where the rope needs to form an S-shape in order to brake, i.e. the braking hand has to be below the device, we teach an additional belay rule (1st rule: never let go of the braking strand), which is: never move your braking hand above the device-line, which is a horizontal line drawn where the belay device gets pulled when under tension (more or less in between belly button and chest).
Therefore for retrieving rope you cannot pull upwards, but pull instead horizontally. Consequently the "alpine" technique you showed would not be allowed with the ATC (or any other tube shaped device, Smart, Megajul, etc). Only with the munterhitch or Grigri pulling upwards is considered correct

[rockclimbs]

Thank you for making this response. I am a supporter of Ben, and this definitely needs to be an addition to his belay video!

[mitchellbarnow]

Great to see you on your own channel! It’s been 8 years since your beautiful wood project.

[MidLifeCrux]

Thank you for this! I just returned to climbing after a 15 year break. I was super comfortable with the alpine style of pulling in on an ATC, and used hand over hand with a grigri for top roping (I prefer belaying left handed but grigri is a right handed device, so hand over hand just feels more secure). I never really belayed a leader with a grigri, since the gen 1 seemed too heavy to bother dragging on a multipitch. Anyway…

A local gym wants and teaches PBUS, but everyone pulls to the crotch and rope moves slowly. I see many a top roper moving quickly with a loop below their knees.

I also don’t like that, with a long torso, I hunch pulling straight down, making it harder to watch the climber.

Your technique, under belay and across the body, feels more practical to me.

[Gabo]

Great explanation. I'm going to practice your technique. It looks confortable and safe.

[martinmartin]

In Germany, the tunneling technique is officially recommended by the German Alpine Sports League (DAV). This is what I have been tough. That is, however, having autotubes and semiautomatic belay devices in mind. Using these, I do not see how that technique should be considered unsafe. Sure, there are people who are doing it wrong. The most common error is to make a huge eye with your break hand so that the rope is gliding wobbly through that eye. In general, the eye should be so small that there is constant friction from all sides of the rope while tunneling up but obviously not so much friction that the rope is sliding through at all. Furthermore, I really recommend to wear a glove over the break hand so that you can tighten the grip on the rope when it starts to slip through the hand more quickly during a fall. That also saves the belayer from burning his hands. So when the tunnel is really a tunnel the only thing you need to do in case of a fall is to tighten the grip with the break hand.
Is the PBUS technique more safe? I'd say it definitely is when there is not so much slack to pull out. Since the tunneling technique is generally faster to take out slack and since lots of slack can introduce unnecessary safety issues on its I'd say one cannot say that PBUS is generally safer. In one respect it definitely is, in another respect it is not.

[AErchenkov]

Oh, so I wasn't the one who wss confused by the method Hard is Easy was using. Overall great videos he does

[remz]

I'm from Norway, and I learned to never let go of the "break strand" or "break end" of the rope. Which hand you use to hold said strand with, is not that important. From a safety perspective, the PBUS is not any more safe than the V to knee 1, 2, 3 (a term I'm not familiar with). And both are unsafe if executed improperly (as with any belay technique).

My point being that I believe it's wrong to say that "you're letting go with the break hand, even though you have another hand on the rope" as the break hand is whichever hand is holding the break strand with a firm grip, it does not matter which hand it is.

[OriginalDestro]

Yes! At 6:38 when you talk about the instinct to grab the climber's rope with the right hand and protect yourself with the left - it might sound stupid or improbable, but my belayer did exactly that during one of my falls. She is quite lighter than me + it was at a outside crag so she just wanted to protect herself. Thankfully she had a grigri so the catch was fine... Now I struggle to trust any belayer without an autolock...

[Vlcounek]

We use swaping hands underneath a device in CZE. The safest technique if you ask me. And is very good when taking more slack as well.

[skethoo]

with tunneling method you can keep your braking hand arm loose with hand at the level of you thigh by your side. You don't need to have your arms at your crouch in front of you all the time. The rope is below and behind belaying device. It gives sufficient friction to grab firmly when the leader falls.

[thorstenkoch]

In the last technique, it looks better, but in case of a fall, both hands are being pulled straight up and you got the same risk.
Iike your "sideways" technique. Looks very safe and very fast.

Thanks for the video and have safe climbs!

[cameronline]

I’ve always been told the best and fastest thing to do in the situation of too much slack before the climber falling is to run backwards to take out the slack fast. You aren’t going to be able to successfully pull in the slack fast enough with these other techniques if there’s too much slack. Sure, you may end up hurt in some way but it’s better than your climber dying

[duHostie]

Big problem I see with quickly pulling slack with both hands is not the instinct to brake with the correct hand but that people will almost certainly fumble around in that case. Humans have this amazing ability of proprioception which means we can pretty much perform the PBUS method blindfolded because we know where our brake hand is in space and how to bring our other hand to meet it and the rope within its grasp. We’re not very good at grabbing at where we think a rope should be without our other hand attached to it, especially in a panic while the device is flopping around and slack. The Hard Is Easy method could also be done blindfolded and very quickly (I tested) but I agree with your criticisms if not using an ABD.

[carsonmcmahon]

Some feedback on the "alpine". When I was taught, hours would be spent in live belay practice. It would start with hip belay. One person would alternate between repelling and prusiking whole the other would practicing belay and rope technique from above, but hip belay was for setting drops in caves, class 4 rock and some snow and glacier travel. After that exercise, we would use the same management skills with various configurations on a figure 8 and a Stiche plate for a top roped climber. What all of these shared was that you always kept the line contained in the brake hand, you always used the non brake hand to feel the climber, and you always moved into brake position before you committed to stop the fall. That last part is what is most important. By moving the brake across your body (down and around your hip for Stiche and 8) you could yard in a couple feet of slack and induce a lot of friction before the rope started to weight. This ment it took minimal grip to stop the rope. The advantage was that the belayer never got rocketed off the ground unless they were trying to protect a ground fall or ledge strike, even if they were lighter. You can do a lot to decelerate a fall 3 to 5 feet of slippage. The disadvantages is that it took 30 or 40 hours actual practice before you were ready to belay a leader on good gear, the setups were incredibly dependent on rope size and type, you really should be using gloves and (maybe most importantly) the belayer had 100% responsibility.
So, if you got through all that, keep the lead hand further up and palm up (your fingers can tell you quicker then your eyes). Keep your brake hand on the line but loose. Practice making the rope float back and forth through the ATC (or whatever). Snap the elbow straight making a big angle and drag the rope across the thigh then squeeze with the hand. Squat into it for the big ones. The speed at which you snap the brake hand and the rate of squeeze determines how soft it is. Human test pilots should have backup that expects you to mess up if you try this on top rope.

[tacticalflannel]

Great video! Really great instruction.