Minimal Climbing Commands

Tradiban wrote:

STOP YELLING! IT'S NOT NECESSARY! 

TELL YOUR BELAYOR TO PAY OUT SLACK UNTIL IT'S GONE, THEN LET GO OF THE BELAY DEVICE AND JUST CLIMB!

I disagree with this.  Commands are really useful with new climbers to help keep them attentive and off of instagram. 

Granite Grant wrote:

...

also kinda surprised that no one is mentioning walkie-talkies and the annoyingly loud beeps and boops they make when the talk button is released 

I don't use walkie-talkies when climbing, but I have a set of Motorolas. You know you can disable those beeps, right?

I was at a belay one day, my partner was leading the next pitch. Leader of party below arrives, no issues, I make room for him. He gets connected to his anchor and then commences to communicate via his walky talky. It was immediately clear their reception was spotty, yall know that broken sound I'm sure. Garbled, every third word clear sort of thing. What does my new belay companion do? Lol he starts shouting into the goddamned walky talky! I still laugh about that.

My bud makes his belay, signals me via the rope he's secure and I start stripping my belay down to one last piece, under the watchful eye of my Walky Talky Shouter friend. And btw, the dude was cool and their communication challenges didn't bother me any. My panties were not wadded. it was just funny, shouting into the walky talky that way. Anyway my rope comers taut and my bud signals through the rope I am on belay, I clean the last piece and I'm off. Mr Walky Talky was still squawking into his infernal communication device as I climbed away. 

Have used them on walls, for first ascent work where hauling and other logistics were involved and I found them useful, on occasion, for that. But overall I don't like using them. Mostly in my personal experience they lend themselves to over-communicating which is fine if you're into that sort of thing. But I've seen them used for mid-pitch beta spray, and other non-essential chatter, not my cup of tea personally.

sDawg wrote:

I am starting to dislike "In Direct" or "I'm Safe" or similar commands. If belayers get used to these things meaning "take me off belay", then a climber says them when they are cleaning a sport anchor where they are in direct and safe, but shouldn't be taken off belay at all, it creates a window for a bad miscommunication mistake.

The only commands you need for cleaning a sport anchor is, Slack, Take, and Lower. Telling a partner you're In Direct is useful if youre both aware of what's happening. To your point, I wouldnt tell a new belayer anything except Slack, Take, or Lower, just to be safe.

"In direct" and "safe" are statements of fact, not commands. "Safe" sounds dangerously close to "take" and implies the exact opposite action.

Climbers or belayers talking about extraneous things is a pet peeve of mine. If the climb is in progress, color commentary should be kept to a minimum. Chat at the anchor.

/crust

I like "up rope" over "take" for the number of syllables that distinguish it from "slack".

F r i t z wrote:

"In direct" and "safe" are statements of fact, not commands. "Safe" sounds dangerously close to "take" and implies the exact opposite action.

Climbers or belayers talking about extraneous things is a pet peeve of mine. If the climb is in progress, color commentary should be kept to a minimum. Chat at the anchor.

/crust

this

What is the most common climbing command (MCCC) for when your belayer short dicks the clip-pull?

"SLACK, GODDAMNIT!"

Salamanizer Ski wrote:

I never yell when on a climb. But I communicate just fine. 20 years and no issues. You figure it out. 

Do you even rap on pre placed anchors?

Thought not.

Michael S wrote:

I use safe at the top for an off belay command...

Read the thread about being taken off belay 40' off the deck.

Specifically, one of the comments mentioned a death where "Take" was misinterpreted as "Safe".

Tl;dr - don't use "safe"

Marc801 C wrote:

I kind of wonder who is teaching all of these extraneous commands these days???  WTF is "In Direct" supposed to tell you belayer? 

I was in RRG and people were saying this and I had to fight the gag reflex. They were Straight out the Gym....

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

What is the most common climbing command (MCCC) for when your belayer short dicks the clip-pull?

"SLACK, GODDAMNIT!"

Had to laugh.

I’ve also heard “PAY THE FUCK ATTENTION, SCOTT!”

Kinda vague.  But Scott was tripping all over himself with apologies when she was later back on the gym floor.

I thought "watch me  "was girl talk for stop playing with your damn phone

At busy crags, sometimes I tell my belayers that I'm going to yell "cut the rope!" to mean "off belay". keeps the cross-chatter miss-communication down and really turns heads at the crag. 

Tradiban wrote:

VERBAL COMMUNICATION CAN ALSO INCREASE CONFUSION AND DECREASE SAFETY. THE TRICK IS KNOWING WHEN TO USE IT AND WHEN NOT TO USE IT.

IF THERE'S ANY CHANCE MY PARTNER WON'T BE ABLE TO HEAR ME I TELL THEM AT THE BELAY I WON'T BE YELLING AND TO JUST DROP THE BELAY DEVICE AND CLIMB WHEN THE SLACK RUNS OUT.

Holy crap, I might have climbed with you. "NO YELLING! YOU KNOW WHEN THE LEADER HAS STOPPED AND THEY'RE PUTTING IN A BELAY, START CLIMBING WHEN THE ROPE GOES TIGHT AND JUST STFU AND CLIMB YOUR 60".

Yeah, the fella that was rocking that style was older than me and climbing longer too and I've been climbing 48 years. 

in direct has gotten folks killed. some folks take that as off belay and I can look at my phone now. Are you with me! is polite way of saying stop looking at your phone or socializing and pay attention to me as this is a hard lead for me.  Don't fcking short rope me is the non polite way communicating the same thing.     I rarely agree with tradiban but in this case other then that all caps thing he is right. if its windy or noisy  just keep the leader on belay untill all the rope is used up. then take your time breaking down the anchor just to make sure, then start climbing. this should be discussed on the ground.   if we have line of sight we use hand signals..  no verbal. 

 When I am leading mindless wistleing means I am in the zone and its casual fun.. swearing is indictive of this is serious and I might fall or the rock is loose so pay attention. Dead silence  means its life and death serious and I am in or trying to stay in zen mode so that I don't fck up and die... 

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

in direct has gotten folks killed. some folks take that as off belay and I can look at my phone now. Are you with me! is polite way of saying stop looking at your phone or socializing and pay attention to me as this is a hard lead for me.  Don't fcking short rope me is the non polite way communicating the same thing.     I rarely agree with tradiban but in this case other then that all caps thing he is right. if its windy or noisy  just keep the leader on belay untill all the rope is used up. then take your time breaking down the anchor just to make sure, then start climbing. this should be discussed on the ground.   if we have line of sight we use hand signals..  no verbal. 

 When I am leading mindless wistleing means I am in the zone and its casual fun.. swearing is indictive of this is serious and I might fall or the rock is loose so pay attention. Dead silence  means its life and death serious and I am in or trying to stay in zen mode so that I don't fck up and die... 

See, we can all get along and cross partisan lines sometimes! 

Namaste, stay alive.

june m wrote:

I thought "watch me  "was girl talk for stop playing with your damn phone

If anyone is on their phone while belaying they get tossed as a partner; the exception is for pics. 

Greg D wrote:

Off rappel is the most needless. Hold on to the rope when your partner rappels. If there is tension in the rope, you can’t rappel even if you tried.  As soon as there is slack, you are good to go. 

It's useful if rockfall is a concern, although "CLEAR" is clearer. 

^^^ Each person coming off rappell does a quick test pull. This tells the next person to rap the person is off the rope and it easily pulls. No words are necessary and trust me, this helps prevent stuck ropes in the long run, too.