UKC

'Awesome' spotting from this guy

youtube.com/watch?v=DF7tOTFs5rA&

In reply to goose299:

How not to spot...

In reply to goose299:

This is pretty bad too, for entirely different reasons..
youtube.com/watch?v=CaRfe2wvhpw&

In reply to Durbs:

Really? What are you going to be able to do for a plummeting body from that height? Apart from moving the mat, not very much I suspect.

In reply to Jamie B:

Spotting doesn't just mean catching the boulder but emcompasses moving the mat too

In reply to goose299:

Being in the right place to try and not land head first...
Moving the mat so they land on it no next to it...

In reply to goose299:

Guy is a long way up, and inverts in the fall. It's hard to know exactly where he will land, especially how far away from the wall as you're not looking at him from the side when you spot so you don't have great depth perception. The guy landed half on the mat, it's not like the spotter was texting his mate with the pad still at the start of the problem. I'm not convinced all of you that are sticking the knife in could do a perfect job of it either.

In reply to Durbs:


Not the spotters fault at all.

In reply to goose299:

Agree with those saying the spotter couldn't do much at all. The risk of injury to the spotter was probably as high as that to the climber if he tried to 'spot' him. From that height, it's fairly clear you're on your own.

In reply to odox:

I hope he was alright but I can't see anything at all wrong with the belaying/spotting. He had gear in - the belayer ran out of shot very quickly when he started falling, presumably to take in faster - the gear ripped - there was nobody else there to spot (not that it would have been of any use anyway).

What do YOU think the belayer should have done? Stopped taking in so as to concentrate on catching/spotting a climber falling from 8-10m?

In reply to goose299:

First guy had no helmet yet he had climbed to the right height to totally invert, which is exactly what happened. High risk of a head injury although he seems to have been lucky. As for his spotter, from that height there wasn't a lot he could do and he was at risk of being injured himself.

In the second case even though the gear ripped out, I think he would have decked anyway as he was well above it.

In reply to goose299:

Hard to really see how the spotter could have had a positive influence there other than by persuading the climber to jump before he falls.

jk

In reply to john arran:

Lost in translation... of the internet type anyway! The fall is bad, I wasn't saying the belaying was bad.
And yes he is ok

In reply to odox:

Ok, I'll let you off

In reply to goose299:

To be honest, I have almost never seen good spotting even in videos with top climbers and their mates. At low level you can do something to support them and direct them but once they get more than a few metres up its impossible in 90% of falls to do anything other than place mats in a good location.

I was spotting a mate bouldering a few years back and he came off from about 2 metres above the grounds and nearly broke my nose when his arm windmilled. If you actually get in the way or try to push them when they are falling from any height you will either seriously hurt yourself or make their fall worse.

People say that standing there with their arms above their heads shows that they are spotting well but its just something that people see others do and assume it will work. Its almost entirely down to the climber to make sure they fall in a good way onto the mats that should be under them.

In reply to mctrials23:

Standing there (legs slightly bent to absorb some of the energy ) with your hands ready to act (doesn't have to be above the head) is good spotting and can be effective, especially if you don't try to catch the climber but simply make sure they fall on their bum rather than their head.

Once the climber may fall twice his/her own height, however, it's pretty safe to say they're on a highball. That's not subjective. The bigger the weight of the climber (which increases with height due to acceleration) the stronger the spotter will have to be in order to modify the fall (bum first as opposed to head first), never mind stopping it.

Therefore, spotting a climber on a highball is useless after a certain height. Stepping away is probably the safest attitude, both for the spotter AND for the climber.

Moving the mats, on the other hand, can still be very effective.

And using as many mats as possible, even more.

In reply to goose299:

I fail to see what could have been improved in either case here?

In reply to goose299:

The mat took the bloke's head and could possibly have saved his life. Bet he had a stiff neck the next day though.

I once jumped backwards off the balcony overhang at the Sobell Sports Centre, landing right on the edge of one of their big fat mats and dislocating my ankle. I almost passed out with the pain and when I gingerly tried to move the ankle, the joint relocated back in with a pop. No fecker came to help me so I lay there feeling nauseous for a few minutes until I had recovered enough to hop to a phone and call a taxi to take me to A and E for a x-ray. I will never forgive the Sobell or my fellow "climbers" for their lack of concern.

In reply to goose299:

It's kind of up to the climber to try and jump/fall off in a controlled manner. He obviously should have taken his foot off the hold as he fell, it's not like he had a solid heelhook, it should have been a easy jump to the mats....

I wouldn't like to try and spot a fall like that.

In reply to Rigid Raider:

No fecker came to help me..

Sounds about standard for most walls tbh.

One of the walls here in Bristol is f*cking awful for things like this.

One wall repeatedly sets dangerous holds etc, even had a member of staff ask me to complain about certain setting as a punter, due to her own boss not giving a sh*t when shes pointed out the potential hazards. Their response was 'We'll sort that.' and then promptly didn't, for about 4 weeks.

Also all the walls are useless at floorchecks, a newish wall is often so busy that pretty much every night theres climbers criss-crossing each other on routes and not once have a seen a member of staff reminding people that its pretty poor behaviour.

In reply to Steve nevers:

People being idiots at indoor walls is nothing new. I climb at the arch a fair bit and the number of times people have done one of the following is amazing:

a) walked straight underneath me when I am climbing
b) stood in a group right under the fall zone of a problem
c) started climbing a route that crosses the one you are half way through

Half of these happen when the wall is quite empty as well. I have fallen off stuff within inches of people before and they look at you as if you have shot their dog. Its quite amazing that more people are not hurt from this sort of thing but then I guess that most of us just adapt what we are doing to avoid it. I've jumped down so many times because I can't make a move safely due to other people being in stupid places.