These lessons have previously taken years of climbing experience to learn (at least they did for me). Thanks for sharing them with the world so we have a better, safer, and more educated climbing community.

@loganbradford4148

9 ай бұрын

Seriously! This is the absolute BEST education in being a good belay partner that I've EVER seen and is normally only gained through simply being around people who are projecting and trying hard. Thank you Ben!

@Nick-jv1ke

2 ай бұрын

True

Gotta comment for that smooth transition at 3:26 👌🏽

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Haha 😂 When you do "edutainment"

That was a great video! I will recommend it to lead beginners from now on. There is only one thing I would have liked to see aswell: An explanation of a proper spotting technique. I might be wrong but this is my take on it: Spotting is really important, especially outdoors, because the first bolt can be a few meters up the route. In general, no matter how strong you are, you will never be able to catch a grown person thats falling more than 2m to the ground. But if the person starts to rotate in the air, because a hand hold breaks for example and the upper body starts to fall while the feet are still on rock, you can catch the falling person in a way, so they'll land on their feet. For that one needs firm footing, one foot forward, the other further backwards. As a belayer, if you stand normally, you are not gonna be able to generate the force needed to catch your climber or turn them to land on their feet mid air. To HardIsEasy and all people in the comments, let me know your experiences and opinions on spotting! Thank you for this video and the work that you do, I'm sure it helped preventing countless injuries and incidents and as a part of our climbing community, I appreciate it a lot!

Thanks for the AMAZING job of explaining every aspect of this beautiful sport in such great way. Your videos are technically well done, funny, scientific, and you are so well lighting when explaining, covering every possible aspect. I've watched every one of your videos several times and I always share then with all the climbers that I know. You've done such a great job for the climbing community in the matter of safety, specially for the beginners. Thanks a lot again. Waiting for the next one! Henrique, from Brazil.

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Obrigado Henrique! Pleasure to read this!

Something you didn't mention in this video that I'd really like to see looked at in detail is how the amount of slack you should give depends on the route you're climbing. For example, if a climber comes out from a roof and passes a lip, then it's important to give them enough slack just after the lip that if they fall they will fall entirely past the lip - in particular that they won't fall so their legs/lower body is below the lip and they hit the lip with their head :/! This situation arises on a couple of walls at my local gym, and it's made worse because the roof is long enough that the belayer cannot see the climber when they pass the lip. I would really like to see detailed information about the best way to handle this situation - and similar situations! Also, many thanks for your videos :-)! They're the best material I've found to help me become a safer/more confident climber.

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Yea this is the only exceptional case where you might want more slack, but it depends on the placement of the protection, if it's hanging bellow the roof or at the very end of the roof you probably will clear the roof anyway, unless the climber will take really hard. But yea... there are a lot of nuances in catching falls - will try my best to make sense of everything.

@chaosengine4597

10 ай бұрын

same is the other way. On a slopy slab I'd usually give less slack, same on don't care what angle after a ledge, where you belay like the climber just left the ground.

Probably the most important video on youtube to watch before trying lead belay, great job man! I wish I had this when i first started! Can't wait for the low fall video🤙

This video editing is top tier! And all the info is very thorough

Your videos are so thoughtfully made and they are so useful to the climbing community. Keep crushing it brother! Love what youre doing. As someone who has only been lead climbing for 1 year or so I am always trying to improve and be a better belayer. Feels like some people get the basics and call it a day. Personally I want the climber to feel as safe as possible while I am belaying so they send their hardest without any extra stress. I highly reccomend this video to everyone even if youve already been lead climbing for a while. You can always learn something new. I know I did!

When spotting your climber you can hook the climbers side of the line over your left thumb and belay side of the line over your right thumb. That way the second they are clipped to the first bolt you can bring your hands into the belaying position, without having to look down to find the rope. I also find that this helps me judge if I am about to short rope my climber as they approach the first bolt

@bullfrogboss8008

8 ай бұрын

That's how I've been taught, I always thought it's the default way

I like to think that some lives have already been saved by your videos! Keep it up!

My favorite day of the month when I see your videos pop up. Thank you for getting me into this sport.

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Oh my pleasure to read such comments! Welcome to the Sport ;)

Yay! I've been looking forward to this vid. I started learning to lead belay a couple weeks ago (from an experienced climber). I feel like there's certain things I'm not doing efficiently. I will keep an eye out for the lead belay videos coming soon. Thanks so much!

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Welcome to Climbing ;)

I can't wait for your video on belaying near the beginning of the wall because that's where I am the most nervous I'm always afraid that my climber will fall and I won't catch them on that first draw.

Yet another in the best series of climbing instructional videos ever created.

Thanks! This is going to make so many climbers safer and have more fun.

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Ah thank you so much for support!

Thank you so much Ben, for all the hard work that goes into making these videos!

Thank you so much for this! I want all my belayers to watch this! These are all techniques I have tried to teach people for ages without being a jerk. Your explanations were perfect!

Love these belaying courses! . Great to see the series continue..

These are such a great contribution to the community. Eagerly awaiting the next one!

Love your vids and your vibes so much. It's both informative and relaxing. Thanks for putting in all the work on them.

I love your videos, thanks for the content, I know I am being a better belayer thanks to your videos. This series should be mandatory watch to anyone aspiring to belay somebody, whether tope roping or lead. By far the best content on YT about belaying and specially the safety side of it.

I've only been climbing for two years. Having taken an introductory course on lead climbing, setting anchors, etc., I've mostly been learning the nuances of the sport as I go along. Watching this video helps me feel more confident in my skills as I already do, or know, what's being described. Additionally, I'm constantly teaching new climbers these skills, so it's nice to have a reference to send them as supplemental information. Cheers. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

This is THE best video I've seen that covers all the basics of lead belaying. Great job. For any new belayers out there: be patient, the level of proficiency you see in the video will take a few years to develop.

Your videos are super useful and well made, big big thanks for your work!

This is easiky the best online course. It covers literally every little thing that I've had to build experience for, and ive come to almost identical conclusion. I can send this stuff to beginners and be confident they will become a good belayer. Perhaps the only limitation is thata performing all this stuff requires a confidence and fluidity sith the belay device that still takes hours pf practice. No amount of videos is going to make someone efficiently pay out slack while unlocking their device and walking foward in the first hour of them trying. Thats the stuff that experienced supervision is necessary for.

Whole series is great job! Thank you

Tou videos are so well made. Lots of details and great explanations. Thanks a lot !

As always, fantastic content. Thank you for making this series!

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Thank you for saying this!

Beautiful channel! thank you for the hard work! and for bringing all this info to the community.

these videos are so freaking good, shared instantly. The level of quality is so high and the insights are valuable and well presented. I recommend this series to every new climber I meet.

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Ah thank you so much!

Great to see the series continue.

Just gettingninto lead belaying - this has been extremely helpful - thank you!

Moving ropes out of the way while belaying, such a good advice.

super psyched for the next one!

Nice edit at 3:33, man. Even knowing how to do this, I love these videos even as a refresher and filling in little technical gaps.

Thank You so much for the Video. I look forward to seeing your next one.

Wow, didn't expect to see my comment in the video, thanks for including it! Thought I'd quickly add something to that comment as I now see it's not quite complete. The "frowning" we do on the tunnel method is for beginners to the sport, and top-roping only. This is because the Dutch Climbing Safety Association (Dutch: SVK, Stichting Veiligheid Klimsport) had put out reports that tunneling was less safe than using two hands to take in slack, and recommended the two-handed approach in beginner teaching and instruction situations for top-rope belaying. In fact, the SVK determined shortly after that comment, that for people who were only doing the daytime single climbing lesson, and not the full belay course, using tubular devices entirely was too dangerous. So both tubular devices were no longer in use for single day courses, and tunneling was banned outright. This meant that while working I had to call it out to people doing it and tell them not to tunnel (experienced climbers too) due to gym safety policy. When belaying on lead, however, it is completely normal to tunnel in Dutch gyms as well. The assumption is that lead belaying requires more skill (and an extra certification), so the people doing it will be more attentive by default, and will have been taught how to do it properly. Or so is the assumption, because that is not always the case of course, sadly. So, all in all I'm super happy your videos exist! You explain the techniques very well as well as showing the ways in which they can go wrong so people can prevent those things from happening. Thank you for doing the hard work, and thereby reaching out to more people, with more concise information and testing methodology than any single gym instructor could :)

Great series; can't wait for the next video on falls

Brilliant, as always. Love your videos. 🎉

Superb! I keep catching myself nodding :)

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

I nod back to you ;)

Thanks for the great video! I can't wait for the soft catch video

Love these belaying courses! ❤

Hi HardisEasy, really a great video! I also watch all your other videos for months/years and I really appreciate your contribution to the climbing community. I also love your explanations and how you really deep dive into the matter (like with the grigri and the full on mechanics lesson :D ). It is also super helpful to share with other climbers when you are on different opinions in regards to some belaying technique and to clean up misconseptions. I have one small comment on your phrasing tho. Somehow when listening to you on this video, one hears many references to the climber and that you have to belay "him", give "him" slack, not shortrope "him" and so on ... even when in some of your scenes it is a female climber. Now, many people try to be inclusive here and say "him or her", which is in my opinion not fully inclusive (there are non-binary people) and also is a bit more cumbersome. But in my opinion, there is a much better way. In English, there is the singular "they/them", which works every time. For non English-natives (myself included) this may seem a bit awkward in the beginning, since one thinks of the word "they" as referencing to multiple people, or some may think that this is some "new woke nonsense", but that is just not true. "They/them" was used in English for referencing singular persons for centuries already (Shakespeare did it). You can easily use it like in this sentence: "Someone forgot their belay-device at the crag, they make come later and pick it up"

Another great video ! One point should have been mentioned : Belay glasses really helps a lot.

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

It does and it doesn't - especially for beginners that can be disoriented easily. But that's something on a list for me for the future

Maaaaan those transitions! Sooo smoooth 👀

As a new belayer, I often made the mistake of leaving the climb to the climber while I just focused on where the clips are. Instead, study the route WITH the climber. This comes with practice, but find out how your climber wishes to clip, so you can give them slack at the right time. Make an effort to ask your climber where they would clip from, and also ask them how far they expect to go on this attempt so you can prepare for a fall. It's also just great practice to read the route too!

The editing is pretty awesome.

I was waiting for this one!! Thanks!!

You have no idea how much this video helped me become a better belayer

@HardIsEasy

9 ай бұрын

Ah thank you so much

Always great videos, thank you

Awesome video as always!

6:45, I experienced the "not doing a knot at the end of the rope"... I climbed up, start going down taking back my quickdraws, and at 10m from the ground, fell like a rock... broke an arm, 5 vertabrae, a leg... we were overconfident. never again... :)

Super informative, per usual!

As always, great! Thanks! You're truly worth the patreon money ;) Cheers!

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Ah thank you so much!

kudos for demonstrating this while both wearing helmets. So many times I am at crags and see other groups where neither belayer nor climber have a helmet on. If rock was to fall onto the belayers head they could easily be knocked out, and the climber then unprotected. I have had an unexpected house brick side rock fall ~12 meters down and brush the side of my helmet. Don't skimp on safety. A basic helmet is the price of a few quickdraws or 1 climbing shoe.

Thanks! Excellent and clear information.

@HardIsEasy

9 ай бұрын

Thank you so much

such good info here. thanks y'all.

Fantastic video! One thing I'd like to add is account for weight differences! I was taught the classic stand back/forward for small amounts of slack (11.30) but it didn't work for me, as standing back didn't remove slack, as I was dragged towards the wall so violently, it only looked like less slack!

@Anyanke87

10 ай бұрын

Also considering weight differences: I would never spot a person that is significantly larger than me.

@jacktrussler20

10 ай бұрын

@@Anyanke87 if they're that much larger you probably shouldn't be belaying them anyway

@Anyanke87

10 ай бұрын

@@jacktrussler20 well, you can use an ohm or weight sack but thats not going to help while spotting... and also spotting is something that you actually have to learn too so... and there is also spotting in bouldering, so no belaying there

@jacktrussler20

10 ай бұрын

@@Anyanke87 yeah that's very true.

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Yea I"ll talk about weight differences in future videos.

Very good content. I'm going to sent to all my biginers friends!

Always top content man!!

Hi Ben. Kudos for your video, i really like it. However I think your Buddy-Chek is a little chaotic. I like to teach it like this: 1. Both climber and belayer prepare themselves 2. You start at the climbers end of the rope. Belayer checks the climber (harness, knot, helmet, quickdraws, etc) 3. Then you continue along the rope to the belayer and the climber checks the belayer (belay device, harness, helmet, etc) 4. At the end you follow the rope to the end to ensure that there is a knot in the end and you have enough rope for the route

so much glorious information!!!!!!!!!!

Weee, weee, weee 🙂. Great content. Always a pleasure to watch and learn

Thank you for the video!

Thanks for your sharing

Very good information

Thanks so much for these videos!! I have nothing else to say, really, just commenting to help with the algorithm 😂

The attention of the belayer is foundamental regardless the difficulty of the route, expecially on "easy pithes" the bolt are far away and it is more likely to being hurt if you fall. But many of the "experts" climber from 7C to 8B just do not play any attention if you are climbing a "easy" route (for your level) eg if you climb the 6b or 6a to warm up often you notice that the slack is so big that in case of falling you will hit the floor or that sametimes the "rope do not come propely" ... this is because of lack of attention of the belayer.

Great, love your videos

Love your videos, keep it up ❤❤❤

Thank you for share!

Maybe you should do a masterclass for safe spotting 🙂 With the open palm & fingers method one day you could potentially end up with dislocated thumb/s or ripped-off tendons. I'd recommend spotting with thumbs overlapping palms or at least sticking to your palm, rather than keeping them sticking outside, right on the way of possible fall 🙂

Keep it up! Love your videos :)

I wish everyone would watch this. So many people don't take properly and dropping down a couple moves because of it is always a bummer. I always do the hop method to take for this reason and even when I belay people heavier than myself, they don't drop down.

hooray new video! ✨

hmm.... The step forward/backward should normally be incorporated in lead belaying most of the times. After all, the belayer usually is not bolted to the ground. EDIT: of course, still a thumbs up, because you do a great job educating climbers how to stay alive and have fun.

finally a new video 🙂

Thanks!

Another great video, Ben. I'd like to recommend this one to a few climbing partners, but I don't know how to do it politely! XD

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Thanks, and ... Dunno, maybe wait for the next video, It's gonna be nerdy about soft catches and easier to share with every climber out there

As always a superb tutorial, now the challenge for you is to get the climber to clip at waist level and the bolter to put the bolt at the stance to clip at waist level; 😂

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Well outside bolts are usually placed at the best clipping positions - sometimes you have to clip high above and that protects the next hard section where there is no way to clip. Clipping at waist level is easier done in gyms :)

appreciate all your videos very very much. sending to my friends, we debated that last bit of efficient taking once or twice... but since I was a newer climber (half year vs their 5-10) they kinda scoffed it off and said it works fine which is kinda true but tired me the heck out.

I’ve been watching this channel for a year or so and it just struck me that you bear a strong resemblance to the lead singer from the beegees

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Oh I wish I could sing :D

impressive job here, might mention use of gloves especially with dirt at the base? Also, maybe a reminder that if the start is hard and has bad landing a stick-clip is a great idea. Otherwise super helpful for new climbers and good reminder to experienced ones.

Need a video on cleaning overhanging routes.

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Cleaning routes vid is on my List ;) Incl what todo when overhanging / traversing.

The one thing he is doing and I've seen a lot of belayers NOT do, he is moving around as the climber climbs. That is a good thing. I can't tell you how many climbers I have taught and told them to watch their climber and move according to what is needed to be done. In other words: belayers need to pay attention to the climber at all times. Had a friend who almost died because his belayer was not paying attention and he fell... the only thing that stopped him from decking (from over 50 ft up) was the rope knotted up and jammed in the belay device. He stopped 4 ft off the ground. If you see your belayer not paying attention, give them one warning and then don't climb with them ... they are an accident waiting to happen. It's not worth your life if they don't care.

Would love to see a video on using the ohm

Laukiau šitų video, labai smagu matyt, kad nors baigę skirtingas mokyklas / kursus / whatever, mokom beveik identiškai, galiu drąsiai savo "mokiniam" rodyt :D Bet, kai darom (mes vadinam) check check, patikrinam ir atotampas - ar jų užtenka, ir ar ta puse susegtos į apraišus ;) O kur stovėt saugotojui, kai lipa lead'ą, tai visada sakau, kad geriausia po pirma atotampa, nes į ten temps, jei laipiotojas kris. Ne kartą yra buvę, kad stovi gal ir arti sienos, bet šone nuo pirmo taško ir tada neblogai numeta saugotoją, ypač kai dažniausiai lipam slabus :)

Don't rely on the "pull test" on the GRIGRI. As I teach in my lead classes... I show that someone can have the GRIGRI backwards... and be stepping on the rope and the rope will come tight as if the cam has loaded. You want to ascertain that you have climber to climber picture on GRIGRI and know it's setup correctly as opposed to just relying on a pull.

Jo Can you make a video about how you film a route?

Thanks

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Ah thank you so so much!

✨weee ✨ hahah thanks for the video!

Nothing really new for me, but very good presentation of the lead-belaying essentials!

Don't know if you already planned it, but a video about the ohm and how to safely use it/ when it fails would be very interesting. For example I once saw a video on instagram where on the first sight it seemed that they did everything right, but the ohm nontheless failed (I believe there it was because she was standing just a little too close to the wall). Would be interesting to see your thoughts on this😊 Until then, thanks as always for your interesting and educational content!

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Thanks and yea, it's on a list;)

@crimpchimp

10 ай бұрын

You're probably right, since the ohm is quite dependent on the angle of the rope to the device. Have a look at the Bauer Zorro, tends to be a bit more reliable but harder to get.

I really like the series, well explained slack management. However... there's one bit that's only mentioned here very briefly: the slack introduced by the climber. Especially if they clip far above their head. (There's a bunch of such cases shown in this very video). I've witnessed cases when the climber was already getting too tired and although managed to reach the draw they ultimately failed to actually clip the rope, thus falling an extra 3-4 meters. On a constantly overhanging wall if the climber is high enough it may not be a big issue, but on more complex terrain with lips and ledges it becomes pretty crucial. I always try to discourage both myself and my climbing partner from clipping above the head.

@HardIsEasy

8 ай бұрын

My 2cents on this is that it's the best to clip for the best position. Sometimes routes are even bolted to clip overhead from a good jug. However if you have multiple options clipping when the draw is closer to your belly is def less easier and makes it smaller potential fall.

6:46 Most people have the protective sheet of the rope with two loops to tie the rope off to. What I do is I only untie the end that I climb on leaving the second end tied to the protective sheet, having both a knot and the entire sheet to jam in the device if the rope goes to the end, even if there is no chance of that happening because I have an 80 m rope.

@HardIsEasy

10 ай бұрын

Yes, tying to the Rope bag is a great idea.

Great video, where's the one on catching falls?

I usually don’t take in slack after the 3rd or 4th quick draw (depending on height and obstacles) at all. I think usually it’s more hassle than it’s worth. For safety it can actually be better since it reduces the amount of back-and-forth.

Hey Ben! I would love see your take and explanation skills on high vs low clipping in lead climbing. In my head: If you fall with your hand at the quickdraw on a highclip, you fall twice as much compared to a hipclip. But I get mixed information on that online and am quite confused now - sounds like the perfect topic for the belay master class 😎

@HardIsEasy

9 ай бұрын

Yeap, I have video with that info on my todo list :D

@reneeschke

9 ай бұрын

@@HardIsEasy Nice! Although I think I got it now... but its honestly more a belief than actually really understanding it. Fall distance will be identical, but your landing point is different; high clip will leave you closer to the ground (or ledge) vs hip clip will keep you up the highest from the floor. But.. if that's the case, why did my guides teach me to early clip atleast the first 3 bolts? I get the flrst one.. but waist clip on the second bolt is more likely to keep me from decking than an early clip 😬

18:01 you will also transfer sand and small stones to your rope sack, increasing wear.

My motto is 0 unecessary slack. I do however have 'cowboy'-climber friends who are of the notion that after the 4th quickdraw there's no such thing as too much/unecessary slack. Personally i use the Revo when belaying, and giving slack is such a breeze that it's the least of my worries as a belayer. I guess this will be true for anyone, no matter the device, so long as one has taken the time to master the device. (Revo then is simply easy to master, and i guess I'm too lazy to master the grigri or any other assisted device =P )