The Multitasking Belay: A Retrospective Study on Regional Differences in Saftey System Styles

Abstract: see figure 1.

worlds best belay.
Figure 1.

Conclusion: Awesome.

Belaying, there's an app for that.

Met a Frenchman who was smoking and reading the guide book while belaying his wife. Seemed pretty standard.

at least there's no slack....

He does have his hand on the brake strand........

But this appears to be in the Ouray Ice Park, where many questionable things happen multiple times a day........

Surprising there are not more accidents there....

Belay Selfie! Really hope he snagged a drink from that nalgine after the facebook post. weeeeoooo im parched! There's just not enough time when cragin ice... this made my day. thank you

As long as he is texting with his climber....it's OK.

He must be doing a Google search for the nearest tobacco outlet as he looks to be on his last Square.

This photo is awesome. Too bad that the PAS, a rack of neutrinos and helmet stickers take the gnar points off...

luvin the nalgene-on-harness-look for the hot sweaty single-pitch ice climbs

Unfortunately we can not see the full story here.

A: one knows that you dont fall while ice climbing or so no biggie right.

B: We can not see the climber, is that person actually moving, anchored in, clipped to a tree/V thread/screw/ drinking beer ect and asking for a picture. . .

Granted assuming that the climber is climbing I would be pissed to see my belayer do that.
However if I was clipped, safe and getting ready to rapp/move the anchor, whatever; the belayer was waiting on me I would be OK with the belayer taking a pic/texting.

take at close look at photo:

it has been photoshopped; his left hand IS holding the rope, but it has been pixeled out.

I don't think it's been photoshopped, the brake hand is just out of focus. It would have been funny if his climber outweighed him and took a fall - his fancy phone would be on the bottom of the creek and he'd be dragged on his knees to the wall!

look close: you can see 2 ropes coming out of the brake hand end of the ATC

David Sahalie wrote:look close: you can see 2 ropes coming out of the brake hand end of the ATC

This is a low light/long exposure picture - that is why some rope and his left hand are blurry.

He is holding rope in his left hand.
The fully blown picture shows that his "ATC-Guide" type device is rigged for left slot belay in the high friction config.

Even if he is holding the brake hand, no excuse for the other distractions while belaying (assuming there actually is a live climber on the other end of the rope and he is supposed to be actively belaying). Playing on your phone while "belaying" me is definitely NOT ok.

Locker wrote: If there is a climber he/she is not in view. IF there is a climber, she/he is probably aware of the dude fuking around below and may well even be CLIPPED in. Too much unknown in my opinion to form an honest judgment.

Yeah, I wouldn't rush to judgement too quickly on this one. While the picture is a classic example of all sorts of bad belay practices, and amusing in that way, the picture doesn't provide any evidence that anyone is actually climbing on the other end of the rope. For all we know, the climber could still be on the ground, about to climb, and the belayer is taking a pre-climbing photo with the phone. Of the climber could be clipped in to an anchor at the top of the route.

amarius wrote: He is holding rope in his left hand.

No, the left hand is definitely up by his face, reaching for the cig. Unless he has multiple left hands, like Ganesh or something. That would be useful for belay multitasking.

A tie off takes 3 sec ...

Hmmmm

;)

I rubbed one out while my chick was on the sharp end last week, couldn't help myself. When i'm smokin' a joint and belaying i have to do like the guy in the pic, wear shades. Other wise the smoke agrevates my eyes.

JCM wrote: No, the left hand is definitely up by his face, reaching for the cig.

Wrong. Look again, his hand is up by his face (terrible position to catch a fall), but his hand is holding the rope.