Rock
Types
- Sport/Lead/Punta: The one we did in Macheta, where we set the gear and we clip as we go up.
- Top rope (aka Yoyo):The rop is already at the top of the route.
Equipment
- maillon/quicklink, generally used on the top of the route.
- quickdraw/cinta express
- personal anchor/landyard, to secure yourself, usually at the top. These seem to mostly be static and should not take falls. The manuals usually state not to go over the point they are attached to, as that means it could take a fall…
You always want to have some extra gear in case you need to bail. - One or two carabiners (probably locking)
Knots
- Figure 8: at the very least, used to tie one end of the rope to the climbers harness.
- Prusik: Seems to be used at least as a rappel backup. This falls under Autoblocking friction hitch.
Practice
- Always do a ‘buddy check’ before climbing, climber checks the belayer’s atc being on the right direction, the carabiner being locked. Belayer checks the climber knot and that it goes through the right points on the harness.
- When pulling the rope down, yell “Rope”, or “Cuerda” to let everyone know the rope is falling.
- When a rock falls, yell “rock”, “roca”
- Generally don’t repeat lead or top rope off the fixed equipment, you want to wear out your gear.
- Communicate: Tell your belayer you’re climbing, ask for tension, rope, safe up top, descending…