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North Col
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Feb 24, 2019
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Toronto, CA
· Joined Jan 2018
· Points: 0
Guys im probably 50lbs heavier than my partner. Im trying to give her a soft catch on lead belay with the grigri. I feel like I should be jumping hard and the timing of that jump has to be perfect. I know all I can do is practice but any tips for giving a soft catch with this weight diffrence? Thanks North Col
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R G
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Feb 24, 2019
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Colorado Springs, CO
· Joined Dec 2012
· Points: 456
Just go with the pull of the rope. I wouldn’t JUMP per-say. The road has a lot of stretch and should make her fall nice and easy-ish.
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Jordan Duncan
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Feb 24, 2019
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Norwalk, OH
· Joined Feb 2018
· Points: 20
Don’t jump. Get up on the balls of your feet and as you feel the rope start to pull step up into the catch.
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Ranger Rick
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Feb 25, 2019
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Lexington, KY
· Joined Aug 2017
· Points: 44
Generally when I'm in that situation I'll try to back away from the wall further than I normally do. Since she won't pull me up, when she falls I allow myself to get pulled into the wall. Same idea as jumping, just horizontal and not vertical. A lot easier to time too since you just wait for the rope to pull you in instead of timing the jump perfectly with the 'tug'
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FrankPS
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Feb 25, 2019
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Atascadero, CA
· Joined Nov 2009
· Points: 276
I thought soft catches would never get discussed on MP. Finally.
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FrankPS
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Feb 25, 2019
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Atascadero, CA
· Joined Nov 2009
· Points: 276
Richard Gilbert wrote: The road has a lot of stretch and should make her fall nice and easy-ish. The road stretches on for miles.
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amarius
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Feb 25, 2019
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Nowhere, OK
· Joined Feb 2012
· Points: 20
Even though your partners is 50lb lighter than the rest of your heavier partners, the only thing that matters is how much s/he is lighter than you. I know using search function here on mproj is intimidating, but you should really use it - the issue gets beaten into the dead horse pulp on regular basis. Other, non mproj climbers, also find this topic interesting, there is channel on YouTube that had dedicated series of posts covering this same topic.
Have fun with keyboard, and rock.
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M Mobley
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Feb 25, 2019
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Bar Harbor, ME
· Joined Mar 2006
· Points: 911
FrankPS wrote: I thought soft catches would never get discussed on MP. Finally. Mods ought to mod these duplicate threads. Research people, it's easy!
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North Col
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Feb 25, 2019
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Toronto, CA
· Joined Jan 2018
· Points: 0
delete me delete me why dont ya
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Jason Halladay
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Feb 25, 2019
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Los Alamos, NM
· Joined Oct 2005
· Points: 15,253
Despite MANY threads on this topic on MP, you still see people saying don't jump/hop. That's just bad advice from people who must not belay much lighter climbers very often or at all. Definitely give a small hop or a couple steps towards the wall just as the rope starts to get tight near the end of the fall. You do this slow down the deceleration, along with the stretch of the rope. Things like "just put out more rope" are useless suggestions. I should know. My wife is 70 lbs lighter than me and she'd divorce me ASAP if I just paid out more slack to catch her whips.
The only way to get better at this is doing it. Sometimes you may be a bit off on timing (I have a harder judging the timing on bigger falls) but it's still better than doing nothing at all.
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Bill Shubert
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Feb 25, 2019
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Lexington, MA
· Joined Jul 2012
· Points: 55
Jason Halladay wrote: The only way to get better at this is doing it. Sometimes you may be a bit off on timing (I have a harder judging the timing on bigger falls) but it's still better than doing nothing at all. No, Jumping with bad timing is not better than doing nothing at all. If you're coming down from a jump when the rope gets pulled tight, you're going to give a significantly harder catch than if you had done nothing. When I see a fall, I get up on my toes and lean towards the wall a bit so that the rope can lift me up and forwards more easily. That way I won't screw up the timing and my climbers don't get jerked to a stop. Then again, I'm on the light side (140lb), so I don't have to do much to guarantee that my partners (who are usually 160lb or more) get a soft catch.
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North Col
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Feb 25, 2019
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Toronto, CA
· Joined Jan 2018
· Points: 0
Jason Halladay wrote: Despite MANY threads on this topic on MP, you still see people saying don't jump/hop. That's just bad advice from people who must not belay much lighter climbers very often or at all. Definitely give a small hop or a couple steps towards the wall just as the rope starts to get tight near the end of the fall. You do this slow down the deceleration, along with the stretch of the rope. Things like "just put out more rope" are useless suggestions. I should know. My wife is 70 lbs lighter than me and she'd divorce me ASAP if I just paid out more slack to catch her whips.
The only way to get better at this is doing it. Sometimes you may be a bit off on timing (I have a harder judging the timing on bigger falls) but it's still better than doing nothing at all. I agree - I feel like I need to give a HUGE jump in order to give her a soft catch - its just the timing that has me off. I think a mixture of decent slack in the system and jumping hard when I feel resistance on my harness starts is are the two main keys.
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Soft Catch
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Feb 25, 2019
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Unknown Hometown
· Joined Oct 2018
· Points: 0
Adding three more names to the list of people I will never let belay me...
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Jason Halladay
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Feb 25, 2019
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Los Alamos, NM
· Joined Oct 2005
· Points: 15,253
Bill Shubert wrote: No, Jumping with bad timing is not better than doing nothing at all. If you're coming down from a jump when the rope gets pulled tight, you're going to give a significantly harder catch than if you had done nothing. When I see a fall, I get up on my toes and lean towards the wall a bit so that the rope can lift me up and forwards more easily. That way I won't screw up the timing and my climbers don't get jerked to a stop. Then again, I'm on the light side (140lb), so I don't have to do much to guarantee that my partners (who are usually 160lb or more) get a soft catch. Well, yeah, that's obvious (I hope!)...you don't want to be coming down, of course, when the rope is getting tight. My point was you may not give the softest catch if you're a bit slower on the hop but still softer than not giving any hop at all.
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Rokjox Teleski
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Feb 25, 2019
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Boise, ID
· Joined Sep 2015
· Points: 15
Dont jump. Plan.
If you are using a gri, thats your problem, a Gri is a device to keep people from screwing up by removing every option except lokoff. Gris were designed for idiots and beginners. Failsafe and ALMOST idiotproof. (Nothing truely is idiot proof) Grigri aint the best thing for lead climbers in my book.
The only way jumping will ever work is if you are standing on the ground, un-tied in. If you are actually more than about 100 feet up a ROUTE, you wont be toproping, you are going to be tied down somewhere, and you will NOT be jumping around. Learn to do a soft catch properly, by paying out just a LITTLE rope and you will be right. Just moving a little will help, but dont put yourself out of balance in the catch. The rope is designed to stretch and it will catch everybody soft if you are just a few dozen feet of rope out. You assist the rope, you dont supplant it.
So many problems just go away when you stop allowing toproping and "sport climbing" to box you into a small time skillset. Grow your climbing into a real world endevor and all these silly, poorly perceived problems just fall away.
Once your climbing problems/skillset grow beyond toproping, you will not have these kinda discussions any longer.
When you are catching real, long falls, up high; you just lock off and stop messing around; you dont want to add length to most falls in the real world. (Unless you do.)
You ARE using a dynamic rope, right? For sure? ((Maybe try to drop to a 9.2mm??))
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Andrew Rice
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Feb 25, 2019
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Los Angeles, CA
· Joined Jan 2016
· Points: 11
Have you considered just losing 40-50 lbs?
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Robert S
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Feb 25, 2019
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Driftwood, TX
· Joined Sep 2018
· Points: 661
Wasn't there a long thread on this like a week ago or something?
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F Loyd
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Feb 25, 2019
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Kennewick, WA
· Joined Mar 2018
· Points: 808
Why are people always trying to get a feather soft catch when using an ABD? First make sure the climber knows how to fall properly.. I see people hop away from the wall or go limp all the time. Shit, I saw a guy say "falling" and jump off facing away from the rock.. Second, use a device that allows slippage. If you're using a device that locks quickly, don't fall low on the route.
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Danny Poceta
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Feb 25, 2019
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Canmore
· Joined Nov 2013
· Points: 98
North Col, my advise, don’t listen to this grigri hate, its 2019 and anyone even moderately serious about sport climbing is using one, because it is the best devise for this. It is perfectly easy to give a nice catch with one and with a bit of practice you will get it.
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Soft Catch
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Feb 25, 2019
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Unknown Hometown
· Joined Oct 2018
· Points: 0
Jaren Watson wrote: It would save you considerable time, not to mention risk of carpal tunnel syndrome if, instead, you merely compiled a list of people willing to climb with you. 1. Jaren Watson 2. ?
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North Col
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Feb 25, 2019
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Toronto, CA
· Joined Jan 2018
· Points: 0
1. Jaren Watson 2. rgold 3. Old Lady H 4. South Col 5. Oh and definitely Tradiban yes Tradiban is on here for sure
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