Advice for a Short Climber

I'm 5' tall and I climb with someone who is 6' tall. I am trying to get into lead climbing, but I'm a little freaked about about belaying my friend. Is there anything to help me get over this? I'm also having a hard time with getting with over anxiety in general and welcome any advice!!

Fill out your page, or you'll get a bunch of crap about being a troll.

That said, I'm 4'11", main climbing partner is 6'. Height doesn't matter at all belaying, weight does. Other issue is finding route types you both enjoy.

I'm sure the Coloradans have plenty of 'cures' for anxiety, too.

Thanks for the advice on the profile!

And as for the weight, I'm 105lbs and he's 160lbs so pretty significant...

Height hardly ever makes a difference as a belayer, unless you're doing an old-school shoulder stand start in the Gunks. So I'm assuming the reason you're "freaked out" is a concern about weight difference? If I'm wrong, please offer some more specifics about your concerns.

It is absolutely doable to belay climbers heavier than you, effectively and safely for you both. There are some concerns you'll need to keep in mind and it takes practice, like any belaying. As someone weighing 105, you're almost always going to be belaying heavier partners so best get used to it. The best advice I can offer you is to seek out other experienced lightweight climbers to learn from. And, your partner may want to do the same - find a climber who is experienced at belaying a much lighter climber - to get the best advice.

One of my partners outweighs me by 140 pounds or so.
I ALWAYS anchor into either a tree, a boulder, or some
good nuts. I don't like to be pulled off the ground.
I also belay with a Trango Cinch.
Works great.

My wife is 50 - 55 lbs lighter than me.

Many things to consider... I'll list advice, considerations, and facts from my experience:

-Despite the weight difference, this can / will work fine

-Lead climbers desire / need a "soft" catch for safe falls (assuming there is no ledge / ground to hit). usually this is provided by a roughly equal weight belayer who "jumps" as the weight of the fall comes onto the rope. For you, you simply go for the ride (and anticipate it of course), so in a way.... simpler.

-You will want to buy a Grigri or other similar device. More for when your partner hang-dogs than catching falls actually.

-Take learning to use a Grigri seriously. it is a different device than an ATC with its own quirks. The best belay device (IMO) - but takes practice and knowledge.

-be very vigilant of the possibility of being pulled into the 1st draw of a climb - particularly in a gym where the 1st draw is often low. if you are using a grigri it can jam open, but that is very rare. This means maybe clipping a sand-bag to your harness belay loop (under the belay device biner) if your gym offers that option, or having the leader reach back and unclip bolt 1 after clipping bolt 2 (run this option by the gym staff and explain why so you don't get yelled at). Outside this is less likely depending on location.

-Generally speaking, with the exception of unique and relatively rare circumstances involving low cruxes, bad ledge-fall potential etc, you will not need to anchor yourself to the ground or tie yourself to a sand-bag.

-your partner will have to get used to the feeling of looong but soooft catches.

-understand that on some routes your partner may ask for a different (heavier) belayer if the climbing / protection dictates it - this will be rare.

-pay attention while belaying (duh)

-YOUR PARTNER HAS JUST AS MUCH TO LEARN AS A BELAYER OF LIGHTWEIGHT PEOPLE AS YOU A BELAYER OF HEAVIER PEOPLE. In fact - his job belaying you requires just as much vigilance. He has to DELIBERATELY JUMP when you fall leading to provide you a proper "soft-catch"

-HAVE FUN!!!

There are a bunch of heavy climber, light belayer threads on here. Read up, talk to people, practice at a gym (this can actually be pretty fun!), but above all, figure out what YOU are comfortable with and be prepared to stick to it.

Outside, you will have to be prepared to anchor yourself, IF that's how you decide to go. At the gym, you can grab a sandbag (more than one for a lead, probably) but so far I've managed without outside (up to about 40ish pounds difference). Top rope, in the gym, I've managed about 200 (to my 130), but that's assuming flight potential.

You will have to learn where to stand, how to judge dangers to yourself and your climber, and be vigilant! So, study like mad and milk these good folks for everything you can squeeze out. They really are actually pretty good folks.

What is NEW, to consider, is the Edelrid OHM. There was a bit if a thread on it, but what you and I need are for some of the big guns on here to get hold of it and try it out. It only is supposed to be for lead, but if you are a youngish beginner and have a lot of lead climbing ahead, I would really look at it.

For inspiration, there are threads on here specific to anxiety, but my favorite two are "what does exposure mean to you" and one titled something like, "when you've really sucked, how did you get over it". Lotta people on here have stared down scarier stuff than little piles of rock.

Most, most, important, is have fun! Stupid thing's totally addictive. Best, H.

I could speak from experience since just about everyone I climb with is considerably heavier than me (like 99% of the time). Here are a few things I do:

1) When I post a partner call, I actually specify a maximum weight that my ideal partner wouldn't exceed. For me, it is about 170 lbs. Lots of dudes weigh more than that and that's cool. They just won't be my first-choice sport/trad lead partners.

2) I do not take the "elevator ride" lightly. I never worried about not catching my partner, but the sudden forward and upward motion could cause me to lose balance when my partner falls. Sure, anchoring myself is supposed to minimize that, but I found anchoring to not work so well in practice outside because depending on where the anchor is in relation to my body and belay, I could be pulled in a weird direction (my body might spin/turn more in one direction vs another) and again lose balance when my partner falls. And you're outside, you often just have to make do with whatever anchor you find. A tree trunk is never in a convenient spot in relation to the belay spot.

So…the best solution I found is to try to stay as close to the wall as possible (which I do anyway once my partner is done clipping the first few clips) so I have less distance to get yanked into when my fat partner falls. And if the terrain I belay from allows me to (and it rarely does), I would actually sorta put one foot on the wall so that when my partner falls, I would again not slam right into the wall.

Re: your nervousness about leading. It's a *good* thing. Leading and climbing could be dangerous and you should stay vigilant and focused the whole time your partner is off the ground. I'd suggest you practice a whole bunch indoors before going outside and have the gym folks watch and critique your techniques. When you're outside, all bets are off and you're likely to run into a bunch of people who assume what they've been doing is fine.

I'd suggest belaying partners of different shapes and sizes so that you'd learn what sort of climbs requires you to give out a bit more slack, and know that given the same amount of slack you let out, what would happen to your partner's body and your body when you catch him if he's 180 pounds vs if he's 120 pounds, and know how you might want to adjust the amount of slack to let out based on that. Soft vs hard catch, etc. Climbing with people of different skill levels would also increase the chance you'd see different sorts of mistakes your partners make (e.g. Z clip, leg under rope), and it's part of your responsibility to warn your partner of those as you spot them. And your'e more likely to get good at spotting errors (and hopefully avoid them when it's your turn to climb) if you don't climb with the same dude over and over.

Hope this helps.

I'm right around 100 pounds myself. I've found I can safely and reliably catch someone up to about 160. So you should be fine. just remember not to jump like you would for a lighter climber when your partner is near 160% your weight. if you need to give a harder catch crouch down when you would normally jump. Make sure to lean back if they fall down low, as they might slam into you. don't want a broken neck

Spidey Rocks wrote:For me, it is about 170 lbs. Lots of dudes weigh more than that and that's cool.

I belay someone a lot bigger than me too. The first fall when lead belaying him is a little sketchy. Stand closer to the wall so you're not jerked into it. It's honestly really fun lead belaying and taking a fall from a bigger person

I always climb with heavier partners since I am very light and if I have to, I anchor to the ground (where there is ledge or ground potential as the gear dictates). I think one of the best things I did was buy a harness with a full strength haul loop.

Doing this gives you much wider ground anchor options and I much prefer to anchor behind me now for single pitch. No getting spun, no crushing the jewels, and less of a cluster on the front of your harness.

Plus using a cordalette tied as a purcell with a locker on it as my ground anchor allows me to very quickly adjust the length.

Just always remember if you are anchoring behind you, the first piece needs to be multi-directional because it will exert some outward pull.