UKC

I need some advice, especially from people who have experience in teaching novices.

I've been teaching my other half how to climb and he's picking things up really quickly, supplemented by videos on youtube that explain things better than me (not being a qualified RCI or MI).

I'd like to teach him how to belay with half ropes so that we can do more interesting routes, but I can't find very much information about the best way to teach him.  Has anyone got any recommendations for videos and resources that I could use?  I'll attempt to demonstrate and show him, but there's more to teaching properly than that and I'd like him to get the best info.

Thanks in advance.

I’m aware this won’t be super helpful but...

When I’m teaching half rope belaying, the belayer will already be a competent single rope belayer. They’ll therefore know all about not letting go of the brake rope, how to take in, give slack, hold a fall.

So all I actually do is say, right we’re on two ropes now, same principles apply, work it out. And people do, very quickly. I might then give some pointers on how to be slicker, such as holding both braking ropes but using fingers to keep them separate.

Lead lots of easy routes with doubles and him belaying and put loads of gear in while he can see you near the bottom. Also, explaining the theory as you go.

You could start with straight up routes with left and right ropes and go onto winding routes and then traverses. The main thing should be that you are very unlikely to fall so you can talk him through it.

You may well know all this and just want a link to a book or site (I'm sure there are very good examples, I've never looked). However, most of us just learn this kind of thing with a more experienced partner (like you?). How did you learn if not by the same means?

This is the approach I have used with success, it's how I learnt also.

Also, patience will be required (hence easy routes). Lots more calls than usual:

Slack blue

Take in red

Let both out here

The only thing I'd 'teach' as such is to keep a finger between the dead ropes so its easier to pay out or take in just one rope.  Then lead a route and be prepared to get too much slack or, to begin with, not enough.  I've never found it takes anyone very long to reach basic competence.

Exactly as others have said - get him really competent with single rope technique first, then set him up with doubles, and show him how to separate the strands with a finger.

One thing that can be useful is to go to the climbing wall at a quiet time, and lead up inbetween two lines of quickdraws, zig-zagging between them and clipping each rope to its own line.  Not only does this give lots of practice in paying the right rope out, it also nicely demonstrates why we bother with them in the first place.

Bit of a rant coming up, so sorry in advance.

When most people discuss teaching belaying, they mean teaching paying out the rope. This isn't the main point of belaying - the rope will feed very well if the rope is left in a neat pile, and the belayer removed. There is a connection between feeding the rope out and having your hands in the right place to hold a fall, but this doesn't remove the fact that time needs to be spent holding falls and getting a reasonably good idea of what might happen to the belayer if a leader falls. Holding an unexpected fall is often a violent affair. I would not make the situation more complex until your other half is a competent belayer - i.e. can hold just about any likely fall. 

Most north American climbers don't even own half ropes, and most climbs up to and including HVS at popular locations in the UK were first climbed with a single. Just get some alpine draws.

Probably should have said - he's already a very competent lead belayer with single rope and has caught lead falls. It's specifically moving to double ropes that I'm talking about. You are, of course, all right that he should be confident with single rope technique. He is.

I like the method Jez mentions. 

When I'm with clients, I make sure they understand the main principle*: they have to make sure they are holding each dead rope at all times. After that, I'll do what Jez suggests, with some extra guidance if I feel they need it.

I'll initially lead a climb which minimises the ropes moving opposite directions to each other. Let them figure that out for a while. After that, if they haven't already sussed it, suggest fingers between ropes. Which finger(s) they use is up to them. I'll get them to try a few things out. Make sure they don't just pinch one of the ropes between only a finger and thumb.

Eventually, I'll set up some system to get them to figure out how to pay out on one rope and take in with the other. I'll usually do this as a ground exercise followed by a climb which puts that into practice a lot more.

Hope this helps, 
Mehmet

* Every principle has exceptions

I don't know anyone who teaches climbing that thinks belaying is just paying out rope.

They were probably climbed in crap boots with a rope around their waist too, doesn't mean I'm going to copy them.

One thing not mentioned so far is the usefulness of flaking the two ropes in such a way as to prevent a twist or crossing of ropes before the belay device making handling trickier. Also avoiding the colours being opposite on the ground to how they are tied on to the climber to prevent paying out the wrong colour.

I learnt this way:

I went climbing with an experienced guy I'd never climbed with before, on a multipitch limestone crag with abseil and traversing access. I'd only ever climbed single pitch grit on one rope. I said "I've never belayed with 2 ropes before". He said "you'll work it out". We went climbing, him leading, me seconding. It was great and nothing bad happened. After that, I could belay with 2 ropes.

I'm not saying that everyone should take this approach, but it worked fine for me. Some things, like driving a car or practising veterinary surgery do benefit from formal training. But for other things, like filling the dishwasher or belaying with 2 ropes, it's pretty obvious and you can just get on with it.

Edit: just read more of the responses now, seems I'm not alone. Sigh of relief!

Some people will say, "just let him work it out."  The trouble with that is that is really easy to "work out" sub-optimal techniques, like pumping out both ropes when only one should be paid out.  These sub-optimal techniques compromise some of the special effectiveness of half ropes, but it is unlikely that any incident will alert the learner to their errors, with the result that they ultimately become an "experienced" belayer who really isn't doing it in the best possible way.

Much of the time, half-rope handling is the same as single rope handling.  In fact, I think the main differences boil down to a single situation, which can be practiced on or near the ground.

That situation occurs when one strand is clipped overhead (let's say red, with blue not clipped).  In that case, there are two belaying phases that have to be learned.

Phase 1: Giving slack for the clip.  Only the red rope, the rope being clipped, should be paid out, otherwise the protection afforded by the blue strand on a lower piece is compromised. It helps if the leader tells the belayer which strand to pay out, but as the leader gets far away this may not be possible.

Phase 2: Managing the ropes as the leader ascends to the level of the high clip.  Now the belayer has to take in the red while paying out the blue.  Failure to pay out the blue will short-rope the leader; failure to take in the red will compromise the value of having an overhead piece.

Technique for phase 1:  Pump out slack in the appropriate rope with the non-braking hand.

Technique for phase 2: If you are very practiced at this, you can take in one strand and pay out the other simultaneously.  You know which rope has just been clipped; that's the one to take in.  The other strand is going to be paid out.  You have to have a finger of each hand between the ropes for this, pinch the blue rope with the non-braking hand and pay it out, pinch the red rope with the braking hand and take it in.  Sometimes things happen rather too quickly to manage this.  Short-roping has to be avoided, so the belayer pumps out both strands and immediately takes the red back in.

Trade secret: the belayer shouldn't spend all of the time watching the leader.  You usually can't tell which strand they are grabbing for until it is too late to react appropriately.  Instead, watch the slack ropes directly in front of you, and continually make mostly small adjustments to keep the amount of slack the same in both strands.  You can see and react to the rope motions far more quickly and accurately this way.

Well I have seen many, many, beginners over the years being taught belaying on outdoors crags. I have yet to to see any of those classes include each student holding a series of lead falls. This seems to be taught on more advanced classes.

Indoors it is a little different, but still, as far as I can see more than 95% of the time is spent on paying and taking in rope, with a bit of lowering, then maybe one lead fall at the end of the session.

I think this is the wrong way around. Hence I teach lead falls first. This is easily done with an overhand or two in the brake rope as a backup. The beginner is then exposed to a dozen lead falls of various fall factors. They get a sense of what happens if they stand away from the wall, what might happen to their toes if they were not to wear shoes, that if the faller is heavy and they are light they are going miles. This seems to leave a powerful impression, and hopefully a long lasting impression. They then concentrate on not letting go, or fumbling, as they know what they are up against. I bet most people belaying the 5's at most walls have held fewer than 20 falls and possibly none have been of the unexpected big whipper type, even if they have been climbing for a year. I would be interested in others views on flipping the teaching experience in this way and if they have used the approach.

But I think my point is still a valid one. Unlike crap boots and a bowline around the waist, I'm not sure at modest grades double ropes make it easier or safer (in most cases - there are of course exceptions). Most climbers from the USA would be happy to climb modest grades with a single - many seem happy to climb 5.13 on a single. I've never seen double ropes on El Cap. The OP's log suggests we are talking HS. Doubles are great and fit well with our sometimes complex rock, but I would suggest they are often of little benefit on lower grades, and given the increased complexity of handling do not lead to greater security in beginners. The OP said "I'd like to teach him how to belay with half ropes so that we can do more interesting routes", I was commenting on the last part of the sentence, and suggesting doubles ropes are not needed or helpful on the vast majority of routes at that grade.

Go to Stanage on a summer sunday or an indoor wall and there will typically be around 10% of climbers belaying dangerously in some respect and about half with some technique that could obviously be better. I guess thats maybe why you and rgold who consistently give some of the best advice on such subjects on UKC got those dislikes. Belay standards I see of those using two ropes on the crag are on average much better than those using one,  its obviously not causal but it is bloody odd.

Being a Peak District climber with lots of wandery routes and offline protection two ropes are often a small protection and psychology edge that can be a big factor in success on routes at my limit as a leader, when my belayer is experienced. It's also better for a less experienced second if I am effectively soloing and protecting for them. In the US I find I carry much less extension for overall less rope drag and feel happier on crux moves as a result. Another bonus is the second doesn't need to carry a rope in their rucksack for the raps. I think experienced brits around my grades (up to 5.10a) climb much closer to their limits than others I see around me out there: most of my hardest onsight leads have been in the US. Some climbers seem to be engaged partly in weight lifting in the US: climbing trad with what looks like my cam and nut section of my aid rack.

Agreed, also from experience he finds "having to work it out" as a teaching technique immensely stressful, because he's very much aware of having his girlfriend's safety literally in his hands.

Thanks all for the advice.  I'm considering teaching him at the indoor wall, if they'll let me, because then I can fall safely so he can catch me.  I'm not doing this on trad gear!  I agree that it's important to give him (and me!) the confidence that he can hold a fall, if I come off.  

And by "more interesting" I mean a more "interesting" line, rather than interesting climbing.  An example of what I mean is flying buttress at Stanage, and poor man's Peuterey at Tremadog, neither of which I would be willing to attempt with a single rope.

Why not just practice the technique on the ground first? You can simulate paying out slack by just walking away from him, or pulling on one of the ropes, then drop the rope you have pulled and get him to take in the slack back in. 

Do this on both sides a few times with you observing and giving feedback and making the appropriate calls (slack on red, take on blue etc). Once you are both happy you can start climbing.

This ^^ works for me most of the time, you can do it while you're watch telly too.

It's really not that hard if you already know how to belay!

I remember when I learned, it took a short amount of time before the "a-ha!" moment when I figured out how to equalize the amount of slack out, and then it was mostly easy with the odd slip up. I like to call it 'bubbling' - the way you pass a bight of slack through the brake hand. Somehow the bight reminds me of an air bubble.