Weekend Whipper: “I’ve Never Seen That Before!”

Readers, please send your Weekend Whipper videos, information, and any lessons learned to Anthony Walsh, awalsh@outsideinc.com.

What factors contributed to making this week’s whipper so goofy? Probably a combination of assumptions, misunderstood gear, and a large climber-belayer weight difference.

“The best way I can describe what happened was that the Edelrid Ohm did its job a lot better than I thought it would,” belayer Maggie Le half-joked. “My climber and I have about a 90-pound weight difference so we’ve always used an Ohm [an assisted-breaking device attached to a first bolt to help the belayer arrest a fall].”

Due to the partnership’s weight difference, and how low on the route the leader was, Le assumed “the fall was going to be much bigger—but the Ohm took most of the weight. Because of that, I barely lifted and when I kicked out to catch the wall, I did it too early and the momentum caused me to flip.”

Thankfully no one was hurt “and my climber told me that it was actually a soft catch, haha.” Le says. “I have since tightened my harness and worked on the timing of my catches.”

Happy Friday, and be safe out there this weekend.

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