climber is andy gravestock, i was told the sport climbing fairy laybacked it.

Duly updated Guy.
I'm amazed how sharp this is considering that I'd inadvertently left the IS off... oops. I guess a hulking great beast of a camera does have its advantages!

What's going on with the gear? Looks like he's placed the upper bit then come down a bit and unclipped the middle bit. Taking out the middle bit to use later, having placed the upper bit?

He was struggling a bit - if I'd got there about 2 minutes earlier I would have had a shot of him at the same position, but without the overhead gear - he'd been up and down around that point in the time it took to get my camera out of the bag and get in position to shoot.

Thanks but that doesn't answer my question. To clarify - it looks like he's unclipped from the middle piece of gear (I hope he has, otherwise I think he's Z-clipped!) Why would he do that? All I can think of is that he wants to take that piece pro out for potential later use. Ta

Erm - I thought the middle two pieces were on the second rope - if they weren't at this point in time, they certainly were a little later (I have other shots higher in the sequence) - I can't remember the exactly configuration at this recorded instant.

D'oh! Two ropes. That escaped my notice/attention/imagination! (looks like half of a pair doubled, in my defence). Makes sense now. Sorry for being as daft as a brush

I wondered what you were on about! lol! :-)
Yeah its a 60m half doubled.