UKC

I like to climb gritstone routes with gear at half height where a ground fall is a possibility. Usually this is fine with my regular partner as he weighs about the same as me. However, my girlfriend is a lot lighter than me and so when I fall she shoots up in the air and as a result I fall a lot further.

At the wall we can attach a weighted bag to her. However I don't fancy carrying a really heavy bag on a walk in. Do you have any suggestions? An anchor directly beneath her would be ideal but not always possible. Rocks in a bag could work but it's hard to get the tension right in order to stop her lifting at all. Has anyone tried one of those screw in stakes that people use to tie up dogs at the crag?

Thanks.

In reply to theomoore:

feed her cake?

In reply to theomoore:

Tell her to stand much further out from the wall.

The friction as a result of her being dragged back towards it if you fall should help.

In reply to theomoore:

Directional first runner?
Belay her?
Add more runners until sufficient friction is achieved?

In reply to 999thAndy:

Yes, at first I thought this was going to be a discussion of the pros and cons of a belayed vs a mobile belayer, but it seems more basic than that.

In reply to theomoore:

Bouldering mat ?

In reply to theomoore:

It's pretty rare that you can't arrange a belay at the bottom (and it can only be because you seem only to climb on single pitch gritstone that you haven't already been doing this routinely). Get some gear in at the bottom arranged to take an upward pull, or tie her to a boulder.

Oh, and I know it was meant as a joke, but don't have her miles away; that ends badly...

In reply to theomoore:

"Tell her to stand much further out from the wall."
Please Don't do this. unless you have. No, just don't. Please.

"At the wall we can attach a weighted bag to her. However I don't fancy carrying a really heavy bag on a walk in. Do you have any suggestions?"

Have you tried leaving the weights at home, then filling the bag with rocks at the crag?
You don't have to take the rocks home with you, no one will mind if you leave them at the crag.

In reply to theomoore:

Forget the dog stakes. We often take our pooch to single or short pitch climbs and we purchased a dog steak thinking we could use it at ground level when there's no available tree to tie him to. Rock tends to be sitting on rock with a little earth on top and so we have never been able to get the thing in the ground. Never thought of using it as an anchor but lets face it, there are usually places to anchor at the base of a climb... hefty bits of rock, a tree?. I often belay people a lot heavier than me and if there is nowhere to anchor and there is a risk of my buddy decking if I fly, we simply move on.

In reply to theomoore:

Take a friend for a 2p belay?

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Gotta love UKC - only here can you discuss tying up your girlfriend and the pros and cons!

I often go climbing with my 11 year old lad. He quite happily belays me as long as he feels secure. Upward pointing gear for an anchor works really well, and we've also used boulders. It does mean he can't move around much, but we know the crags that are suitable for him to belay me on.

When we go to new crags, if they're not suitable for this he gets plenty done and I get a stiff neck.