Belay Olympics

When it comes to the Olympics, it seems we have won the battle, but not the war. I mean, sure, climbing events help rank climbers’ talents, but is that really enough? Of course not. Getting a first ascent is cool, but how could we forget the first ascent belayer? Belayers are the backbone of rock climbing, in physical and mental ways. Today Carrot and I are going to suggest some belayer events to add to the Olympics. This will be scored similar to gymnastics to determine the best all-around belayer.

Carrot

High-Clip is absolutely correct in suggesting belaying as an Olympic sport.  Belayers account for a major part of a climbing sends, from encouragement to saving lives, no sport climber sets a benchmark without a trusty belayer doing the grunt work.  That being said, here are my recommendations for the belaying Olympics!

1. The Perfect Catch.  The Perfect Catch is motivated by rope management.  There is a balance of leaving slack and taking out slack when belaying.  Take out too much slack and your climber won’t be able to ascend, leave too much and you risk allowing your climber to deck (fall to the ground).  In The Perfect Catch, the belayer will catch a weighted fall (not an actual climber) from a designated height.  The belayer who catches the weighted fall closest to the ground without actually hitting the ground moves onto the next round.  Any belayer who allows the faller to deck is eliminated.  There will be two elimination rounds and a final.  Points will be awarded based on performance in the final round with the belayer who catches the fall closest to the ground receiving the most points and thus awarded the winner of The Perfect Catch.

2. Flake.  Flake is all about endurance.  Being there for a climber to hit a benchmark or high-point means doing whatever you can to ensure that your climber has the right amount of energy at the right time.  Routes are often several km off the beaten path.  Hauling gear over rugged terrain can be exhausting, and oftentimes it falls on a belayer to do the heavy lifting.  For this event, belayers will traverse 21k through rocky terrain carrying a 70m (10mm) rope on their backs.  When the belayer reaches their destination, they must flake (unravel) the rope, and finish it off by tying a figure 8 knot in the end.  Results are determined by the order in which belayers finish the race.

3. Cowboy Clip.  Cowboy clipping is a method of clipping a rope into a carabiner without having to actually climb up to clip in.  Essentially, you fold a length of rope to match the distance from your hand to the carabiner you’d like to clip.  Once the distance is established, you start rotating your arm (rope in hand) similar to a cowboy spinning a lasso.  Once the rope is moving at a steady pace, you try to hit the gate of the carabiner with the rope, and with enough force and accuracy, the rope will open the gate and rest safely in the carabiner.  Sometimes clipping that first biner can be the scariest part of a climb, but with the rope safely secured prior to climbing that fear is eliminated.  Cowboy Clip will test a belayer’s ability to safely clip from the ground.  Belayers will be awarded points for safely securing a rope to a quickdraw while standing on the ground using the cowboy clip method.  Specifically, points will be awarded based on distance, attempts, and time.  The belayer who can clip the highest, in the shortest amount of time, with the fewest attempts is awarded the win!

High-Clip

No one is a bigger belayer supporter than I am, so I am so excited to propose some belayer Games! These may not tease out the best belayer in all the land, but certainly it should be fun!

1. Speed Feed. In this event, competitors take a 70m 10mm rope all the way through an ATC as fast as they can. This tests their dexterity with the ATC without additional financial burden for people who want to train for this event. Training for this event will end short roping! Everyone will be ranked by the time it takes them to finish the feed.
2. Coil. Coiling is the other side of the belayer coin, and it is often overlooked in importance. A poor coil can make the return approach difficult, make storage impossible, make the flake a disaster, etc. Furthermore, different coils have different purposes, and so with this event we want to make sure that these belayers can make the best coils out there. In this multi-part event, competitors will have 5 minutes to coil a 70m 10mm rope that has been laid out evenly. They will have to produce multiple different coils (5 minutes each), and will be judged on the form of their final products. Each coil will be weighted evenly, and the judges will judge coils on a list of specifications, including overall size, tail length, stragglers, balance of sides, etc.
3. Target Catch. This event is a mix between The Perfect Catch and curling. The wall will be marked in zones where the belayer is supposed to land the climber after the climber falls. Each belayer will be assigned a similarly weighted climber, and they will be able to practice belaying them for a few days before this event. None of the belayers will know when the climber will fall, but each climber is instructed to climb near the fall zone identically, and each climber will fall at the exact same spot. Then, the belayer must catch the climber such that the climber finishes their fall as close to the target as possible. Points will be awarded by how close the climber is (at rest) to the target. This tests how well belayers can technically belay their climbers.

We hope you enjoyed reading about our dream belayer events! Let us know what belayer events you would add to the Olympics!