In rock climbing, it’s very important to pay attention! If you don’t pay attention, you might forget something and that could lead to an accident. It’s especially important to pay attention if you’re belaying, because if the climber you belaying falls and you’re not paying attention then they could get hurt or in extreme cases die.
Mr. Schiffer, a 6th grade English teacher at Mcauliffe shared a story with me about what could have resulted in him getting hurt. Mr. Schiffer was lead climbing with one of his friends who he’d been climbing with for a long time. Lead climbing is where you are being belayed but as you climb you clip your rope into the carabiners. So, anyway, he was fairly far off the ground but just as he was about to clip himself in, he fell! However, his friend was not paying attention and he fell a few feet before his friend realized that he was falling. So his friend grabbed the rope with his hand very quickly, however, the rope was moving very quickly and it burned his friend’s hand badly.
Mr. Schiffer also shared with me some advice about making sure you don’t get hurt while rock climbing. He says, “Pretend it’s your first-time rock climbing every time you rock climb.” I know it sounds funny, but it’s great advice. People who are new to rock climbing are proven to be less likely to forget something or make a mistake than people who have been climbing for a long time. This is because people who are new to rock climbing are less confident so they do their checks every time to make sure no one gets hurt. People who have been rock climbing for a while aren’t trying to hurt people, however, they are more confident and might forget something because they are so used to not forgetting something.
This is also the reason that to get belay certified you can’t make any mistakes like forgetting a check or taking your hand off the broken rope even for a second, the test is there to make sure you know what you’re doing and to make sure you don’t forget.
bion • Feb 28, 2024 at 5:39 pm
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