A new rock climber typically starts with a style of climbing called toproping, where the rope runs from the belayer's device and harness up through the anchor at the top of the climb and back down to ...

Greetings from the Philippines! I was horrified the other day when I chanced upon these climbers belaying with an ascender. I gave them my best advice because I thought there was about to be a ...

Like Butch Cassidy without the Sundance Kid, Thelma without Louise, Batman without Robin, a climber is nothing without his mighty sidekick, the belayer. "A what?" you ask. Belayer -- the person who ...

Toprope soloing is when the climber is not tied into the rope directly. Instead, she sets up a fixed line from a solid anchor above the route, attaches herself to the rope with two PCDs (e.g., Petzl ...

Last February, I was getting ready to belay a surfer friend of mine, a beginner, on a top-rope, and I was demonstrating how to tie a figure-eight when I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Umm, you're not ...

Over the past 20 years, the concept and practice of belaying in technical rescue have been controversial, to say the least. Two decades ago, it was rare to even see a belay line in the fire service. I ...