04.03.03 - 6:23 p.m.

went climbing yesterday. with time and practice, those 5.10s will be easy as monkey bars.

notes so we don't need to take class next time:

roping in: make a figure 8 knot by taking an arm's length of rope, twisting it around the longer portion and then passing the tip through the loop. then take the length and pass it under your harness loop and then harness belt. then retrace the figure 8 to make a double figure 8. tie off.

checks: 1) is your belt doubled back (one part of buckle should be completely covered). 2) are you through both harness loop and belt (should be two points of contact between rope and harness) 3) are there five double-pairs in your loop 4) is the knot no more than a fist's length away from your harness 5) do you have at least six inches length past your knot?

belaying: take your rope holder and push a doubled length of rope through so that it makes a u and the short end (that you'll be holding w/ your dominant hand) is on your dominant side when the u faces towards you. the u of rope should be over the holder's wire. then hook the carbiner in through both the wire and rope, and hook it through both your harness loop and belt.

checks: 1) is caribiner in through both belt and harness loop? 2) are both wire and rope hooked through caribiner? 3) is belt doubled back through buckle 4) is caribiner locked?

to belay: always keep dominant hand on rope, let out by sliding dominant hand up while pulling other end of rope down with other hand. then move other hand over on top of dominant hand and slide dominant hand down. break with dominant hand.

to start: "on belay?" "belay on" "climbing"