Hi,
Not sure whether you will read this, but just in case, there are a few things I would have pointed out about your belay and systems which needed a bit of work on. I was trying not to undermine you in front of your friend, but in hindsight I probably should have pointed all of this out:
* I already tried to explain the briefly the point about making sure the anchors are behind you. Having an anchor at almost 90 degrees to either side is no good - with rope stretch you will get pulled over the side. You should aim to have the anchors situated somewhere behind you - in this way when the climber falls the force will be on the anchor, not on you.
* Something I didn't mention was that the angle between the anchors should be kept relatively low. The wider the angle, the more force gets applied to the anchors. And you don't want the screwgate you have clove hitched into on your harness getting multi-directional pulls on it either. Try to keep the angle between anchors at less than 60 degrees.
* I did mention to you the thing about extending your gear. Basically if the direction you are moving up the climb is going to cause the rope to form a sharp angle, you need to use a longer sling to i) minimise the angle (which reduces rope drag) and ii) ensure the movement of the rope pulls the gear downwards rather than upwards. Once you have climbed above the gear, a sharp angle in the rope will often cause the gear to lift out. On the pitch you climbed, you climbed upwards, then horizontally left for a while, then upwards again. Using a short 'sport' quickdraw on the piece at the left end of the traverse was a bad idea as the angle of the rope will pull it upwards. Apart from the danger to you on the lead, I was also a bit worried about your friend seconding the route, as if they fell the rope would have pulled one of the other pieces of gear upwards, and potentially out, which would have created a large amount of slack in the system and they could have decked. Worst case scenario if you don't have any long extenders, just chain some together. Not ideal, but certainly better than the gear lifting out. Ideally include some slingdraws (about 4 is good) and some longer extenders in your rack. Using short sport draws is a recipe for disaster on any trad route that doesn't travel in an exact straight line! The longer draws may give you the impression that you are going to fall further, but you will fall a damn sight less distance than if your gear rips!
* Don't rush setting up the belay, as it is critical to get this right. There were some good placements behind you - spend the time to find them rather than rushing the setup. And read up on how to equalise an anchor.
There is tons of info on line and in books about all of this - just do lots of reading up and you will be fine.
Post edited at 12:54
