Belaying heroics

Been reading through climbing posts nonstop for the past 12 hours and need a bit of change of a pace, and was also hoping to spread some thanks to a thankless job on this beautiful holiday. I wanna hear your best belay stories of climbers saved, dropped or really whatever you’ve got. Anyway look forward to some hopefully heroic tales at the other end of the rope.

I was belaying underneath Breakfast Burrito at the Red, my partner was at the chains. He put the draw in then couldn't clip it. I had a lot of slack out so he wouldn't have to mess with it, but then he dropped the rope and said he was falling. I pulled as much rope through as I could then caught a nice whip by getting my hand sucked into the ATC. First climb of the trip and I had a dime sized "flapper" on the palm of my hand. Partner came down and I bought an auto-locking device.

Google “the belay”. K2

I'll vote for the belayer who caught his falling leader at Glacier Point Apron in Yosemite, even as the belayer was pummeled (fatally) by rockfall.

Gunkiemikewrote:

I'll vote for the belayer who caught his falling leader at Glacier Point Apron in Yosemite, even as the belayer was pummeled (fatally) by rockfall.

That's my vote too. Here's the article on climbing.com:

https://www.climbing.com/people/everyday-hero-5-ordinary-climbers-who-saved-a-life-part1/ 

By far the most heroic belay catch I ever saw happened when I was a total noob - only been climbing a couple of times - so it wasn't my deed .

I was climbing in Colorado- some crag directly over a noisy hwy tunnel.  Sitting on my butt eating lunch.  Some stranger is sitting next to me eating his lunch.  I'm watching the couple in front to me climb a dihedral. Girlfriend belaying- boyfriend leading.  He reaches the anchor- she is not following to clean.  They evidently didn't (or couldnt) communicate about how he was getting lowered when he topped out.  SHE thought he was rappelling. HE thought he was getting lowered.  SHE unclips her device from rope... and ... walks away.  HE is standing on his stemmed feet... cleaning the anchor, then proceeds to casually organize his remaining draws .This OCD saved his life.. Im a noob but I start to notice- he is ... not clipped into anything. His stance is the only think keeping him there.   I look up- I look down at the dangling end of the rope- then back up- then back down - starting to freak. I didnt know what to do.  

At this point- the guy next to me notices my body language - he glances up . Without hesitation, he leaps up instantly and throws the rope into a hip belay exactly as the lead climber leans back for his lower.  Caught the fall with perfect timing and TOTALLY saved the guy's life.  The climber would have cratered 6 feet in front of us  Turns out the 2 guys didn't even know each other.  

Pulled my buddy(who was soloing)off the last 10’ of a top rope route with a dead stick. That’s a belay right? 

Back in the early 80's was belaying my friend on some .10c thin crack right of the Pirate at Suicide (SoCal).  His feet were maybe 15'-20' up with three marginal small nuts in. He pitched and one at a time they ripped.  I dropped the rope after the last piece pulled and caught him like a baby in my arms.  The force of the impact drove me backward into the talus.  My head impacted a pointy block and put a hole in the back of my head and knocked me unconscious.

Don't really know how long I was out.  Woke up and an ER doc and EMT who had been climbing next to us were on the scene.  My t-shirt was soaked with blood (I can still smell the iron and taste the blood in my mouth}.  The doc and EMT stuffed some gauze in the hole from the first aid kit in my pack.  After a few cigarettes my friend and I (he was unhurt) descended to our car at Humber Park and went to the ER in Hemet where they finished the job.

Can still feel the divot in my head.  Nobody wore helmets back then except for alpine climbing.  I also question if I was belaying closer to the rock if the pieces might have held; I was maybe 4' or so from the rock, causing an outward pull on the pro.

Was leading a mixed ice pitch in a narrow gully and was starting to place a screw when  my foot, on some verglass, moved a bit and I fell. The guy belaying me saw nothing but lots of sharp points heading at him. He said " I really didn't know what to do. Should I get out of the way, take in some rope or grab you as you went by so I kind of did all three."

At Three Sisters park in Evergreen CO, I saw a family attempting to climb some random 15-20 foot wall. They had a rope and one harness, the son had the harness on, tied in to the rope which went up over the edge and back about 10 feet to a big pine tree. Down on the ground, dad held the rope firmly with his bear hands. I got out of there as fast as possible, but I was close enough to hear the rapid sliding of rope on bark, and the thump and yell of a teenage boy, looking back all I could see was dad looking in disbelief at his burned hands. 

It sounded like the kid was ok, maybe an ankle injury, but hopefully nothing life altering

How about a no belay catch?? Years ago on the north side of the Grand Teton after a nice lunch break on a ledge my partner started off on the next pitch. Just as I was about to say "Wait a second, let me get you on belay," he stepped off the ledge on to what he thought was snow. It was but ice under it. He shot off and the last I saw of him he was sliding down a 50+ degree snow slope heading for the big air drop. Mean while the rope which we were both tied to was reeling out going through our single piece of gear, a #1 Friend. At that point there was only one thing to do. I grabbed what rope was left, wrapped it around my hands, and jumped off the other side of the ledge to catch the fall. All-in-all my partner fell somewhere around 140+ feet. We re-grouped, finished the route, and joked about trusting your #1 friend to catch you. (Prologue: we were later featured in Climbing's Screamer of the Month).

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web15w/newswire-mayo-pfaff-new-route-newfoundland

"Our route, Apocalypse Now, was the site of two nearly fatal accidents involving Terravecchia... On the second occasion, in 2004, Terravecchia reached the crux -ice section with Tuthill. Leading the crux near the top, Terravecchia pulled up onto the dagger, just above where he reckoned the would-be fracture line was, when the entire 20-ton structure of ice collapsed, crashing down, pinning the rope between the two climbers as it fell, ripping Terravecchia downward and pulling the rope violently through Tuthill's belay device, burning through his gloves and through the skin on the palms of his hands. The old Yankee Tuthill held on, and caught Terravecchia, now hanging unconscious 50 feet below the sheltered belay, having fallen 100 feet amid giant hunks of ice. Terravecchia woke to Tuthill yelling down at him in horror. The two managed to get themselves down, despite Terravecchia's broken tibia and a body completely covered with bruises. This route meant business."

jack uhbergwrote:

but I was close enough to hear the rapid sliding of rope on bark, and the thump and yell of a teenage boy, looking back all I could see was dad looking in disbelief at his burned hands. 

Fun story Jack, but that's more like belaying idiocies.

Here's another heroic act, this guy wasn't even the belayer.

Kern jumped up and ran forward to try to catch me. With arms open and feet spread apart, he braced himself for the impact as my 125-pound body fell from about 60 feet up. I hit him in the chest and arms before bouncing onto the boulders and rolling a few feet. 

https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201213515 

jack uhbergwrote: Down on the ground, dad held the rope firmly with his bear hands.

The signs in Yosemite say that bears can climb up to 5.10 if it’s a chimney, but it never said they know how to belay!

My sport climbing story is rather tame, compared to some of the ones already shared, but here goes...

I took a regular sport climbing fall. My belayer jumped up, to soften the catch. The carabiner on the top bolt broke, and my belayer came crushing down. It was a less-than-pleasant landing for him, but he recovered and jumped up again in perfect timing to give me a second soft catch, as I finally stopped falling. 

Lena chitawrote:

I took a regular sport climbing fall. My belayer jumped up, to soften the catch. The carabiner on the top bolt broke, 

I'm interested in knowing how the biner broke, do you know?

aikibujinwrote:

I'm interested in knowing how the biner broke, do you know?

It was never conclusively determined. I believe that I kicked/nudged the draw upwards as I moved past it, and the bolt-side biner rotated up and probably got stuck on a little nubbin of rock near the bolt, just enough that it was not freely-hanging at the moment of the fall.

This AAC review has a picture of the broken biner. I didn’t submit the accident report, and don’t know the person who did. The photo was grabbed from the story I shared on RRC, but the original story no longer shows the photos, links expired. 

In 2003 or so while visiting my friend in Flagstaff I was onsighting a sport route in Jack's Canyon. I'd made it through the steep limestone crux and was holding onto a horizontal juggy band of limestone about 30-35 feet up, recovering from the pump and psyched I was about to onsight a 12a (we'd have called it 11minus in Oregon, but whatever, I was going to take 12a). 

Suddenly the chunk of rock in my left hand blew out. Everything slowed down. I watched the brick-sized chunk fall straight at my belayer, who I knew was using an ATC. I was horrified, fearing that 1) he'd get hit on the head and lose control of the belay while 2) I would fall and 3) I'd deck without a belay and 4) we might both die or close to it. My body spun counter-clockwise, rotating on my right arm, and I saw the brick hit him vaguely on his neck area as he frantically dashed forward to dodge the brick. Fear and adrenalin helped me keep a grip with just my right hand, and a split second later I was still in my stance and my partner was still belaying me. Only now he was yelling "fuck!!! and ow!!!" 

He yelled up that it had hit the back of his neck/shoulder at an angle and he was bleeding but "ok." I asked to be lowered, assuming we had bigger fish to fry, but he told me to finish up the onsight but that if i blew it, he'd be pissed. Rattled, I delicately finished the easier climbing above and lowered down to see just how lucky we both had been. Just another reason to ask your partner to use a gri-gri. I bought him dinner that night. ;) I also started wearing helmets more often not just on trad but sport routes. Climb enough, and shit happens.

Lena chitawrote:

It was never conclusively determined. I believe that I kicked/nudged the draw upwards as I moved past it, and the bolt-side biner rotated up and probably get stuck on a little nubbin of rock near the bolt, just enough that it was not freely-hanging at the moment if the fall.

This AAC review has a picture of the broken biner. I didn’t submit the accident report, and don’t know the person who did. The photo was grabbed from the story I shared on RRC, but the original story no longer shows the photos, links expired. 

That's crazy, it was a keylock nose biner too. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for all the stories! I’m very inspired right now and also aggressively practicing my technique with a grigri.

Early in my outdoor climbing days (probably 3rd trip?) I was at the NRG.  My partner was leading and I was belaying from a tiny ledge.  He took a shortfall, weighing a bit more than me, pulling me off the ground.

The Grigri become the hero and I earned the GK title...

When he fell, I was ripped off the ledge tooking a swing. I was about 20' above the ground. With both hands, I stupidly grabbed the climber end of the rope...

If it weren't for the grigri we would have both been injured.