These are worth watching just to add some fun color to stateside climbing banter. "bits of gear", "crack on with it", "your kit mate", "win back gear - which is ace". "screw gate", "beelay" and so on.

You're an excellent communicator. This was so clearly explained compared to my text book.

Excellent at going through the steps slowly so we can see. However, I almost never belay the second off my waist anymore for that exact reason. If the belay is off the anchor you are not part of the system and it is much easier to tie off the second and effect a rescue. All said and done ...Nice job! Because you know some out there will need these skills!

The combination of Italian hitch and slip knot is also known as the Münter - mule knot. Great video!

Having learned escape techniques in the early seventies when belay system was body belay. I was delighted to come across your channel. Many thanks, keep them coming. Mac

brilliantly explained. Much clearer than the mountain training textbook!!

Thanks for doing this Jez, a great clear demonstration. It’s ages since I’ve practiced this and now you’ve inspired me to get into the garage and refresh the skills. 👍👍😀😀

awesome vid!! well worth practicing, i was board one night and decided to see if i could get off a belay device while dingaling on a rope from the loft hatch in my house so i could climb back up it, was worth doing just to see if i could do it, it wasnt easy but i managed it then got back on the belay again to abb down the rope again found the most usefull bit if kit i have ever got is my shunt, also use it for abbing back down off climbs as if you let go off the rope you just stop dead. have to try this now as well.

Oh man, I've never thought about how I would actually go about escaping the system should I ever need it. Great explanation, gonna practise this to feel more confident about any potential escape-the-system scenatios! Thanks!

Well explained. You teach and demonstrate in a military way... Merci beaucoup. :)

Thank you JB. As a rock climbing instructor your videos have been so helpful thanks. Hopefully I'll be able to get back teaching friends & family after my spinal OP, as well as enjoying climbing too. Vic

wow. that's a whole book of knowledge right there.

Brilliant. Video was clear and precise. Ive been practising this in the garage so its good to know I've been doing it right. Thanks for putting on the series of videos, very helpful.

Brilliant clear explanation and demonstration. Thanks JB.

Thanks

Just got in from the north face of the garden after a bit of practise. Got in a bit of a tangle when I had built the belay with the rope because the rope ended up in the wrong place when I came to tie off the Italian hitch - a layering issue which I managed to sort out. It showed the importance of getting out there and doing it rather than letting you do all the work Jez. This has been great to re-motivate me and keep focused, with the goal of getting my RCI assessment done later on in the year. Unfortunately the plan for shadowing and gaining more, wider group experience has gone out of the window for the moment. However the family and I are healthy and being able to get on with different things and this we have been putting off. Keep up the great work.

It's a fairly technical one so fire away with any questions! A good question was asked below: "Why is a belay device tied off differently to an Italian Hitch?" The answer is to do with the braking positions. On an ATC style device the braking position is dead rope behind the belay device - so we maintain that bu doing the slippery hitch around the back bar of the krab. On an Italian, the braking position is dead rope parallel with the live rope, so we tie off in front of the hitch around the rope. I shall chat about it in Part 2....!

Always great instructional videos. Keep up the super work!

Thanks!

Ace stuff... Keep em coming! 👍

Great video

Loving your style and personality. Makes a change from the American High Five macho rambling vids swamping t'internet.

Hi JB! Happy 2024! Just recounting these videos now for some winter learning and I wonder; do all the same steps apply if climbing on half ropes. I.e. are all the prusiks tied around both ropes and Italian hitches using both ropes? Best wishes🎉

Really clear and informative! Any videos on climbing in parallel and Series and the rope management of this would be much appreciated

a lot of climbs in the Peak district will have one large boulder that someone may walk around to make a belay with the rope from. Could you do a video involving an escape from that scenario please?

Belaying from anchor with ATC "guide mode" would make things waaaay more simpler.

I fully understand the process but not the reasoning behind replacing the use of the rope as the belay, with a sling? 🤔

Brilliant videos on your page. I’ve learnt so much this week. I know this video is about escaping the system but have you done one with trying to get back into the system after escaping? Thanks

Wow this is veeeery complicated compared to just use The ATC guide in progress capture mode from the master point. Still, as always interesting to see different systems but what is advantage of the system? I do not see any.

Great vid Jez, just for anyone who may be wondering, why do you do a slippery hitch through the carabiner for the ATC and only through the rope for the italian? You can definitely explain that better than I or anyone else!

a slippery hitch is also known as a slip knot

ahh i was hoping for a video to help me quit working and climb full time... wrong system 🥴

Hi JB. Love your channel. My go to place for knowledge. This will be my first season on trad, and I been going through a lot of your videos during winter for training indoors. I have a couple of questions/thoughts on this video/scenario: In this video you have a “in reach” anchor, built with slings. Why do you chose to belay of your harness? My first thought would be to set up the belay using the ATC guide mode!? I’m sure there is pros and cons here. And I sure I’m missing a bit. Escaping from the systems (in reach sling-anchor) with guide mode-belay seems super easy. Why choose to belay of the harness if there’s a risk for problematic/risky escape? Saw the part2 video and that scenario makes all sense, belaying from harness, since you need to use your rope for the off reach anchor. Would be super happy if you could elaborate a little about my questions. In the mean time I will practice both scenarios. All the best,

Do you have a link to the video of what you do next to actually rescue your friend?

can you use the clove hitch instead of Italian hitch ?

Good video but my concentration was distracted by the woolly hat and wondering why. Don’t you have heating in the house?

Morning JB. Do you have the video of the set up needed to abseil down to the climber? Amazing channel by the way! My favourite on KZfaq.

Excellent video! Do the same steps apply when belaying a leader?

Loved learning these skills as I'm new to climbing. Are you using pre-sewn prusik loops, or just some cordelette tied in a loop? Trying to get some ideas about what I should have on my rack.

You're being very productive - plenty great videos on your site. What are your thoughts on David Fasulo's 'Self Rescue' book that recommends a crab clipping the tied off belay plate (loop) to the live rope? Unnecessary?

Nice one, I knew vaguely how to do it, but this is a really clear video and cleared up a lot of the fog! Are out of reach anchors coming up?

Enjoyed these series videos but a quick question. In all of them you are demonstrating on a single, so how should this apply to double ropes? Do you just go with one of the ropes or do you tie both ropes off as one (bulky and awkward) or replicate on each strand (complicated and heavy on gear)? Cheers, really like your content, good find!

Hi JB... Great videos, I am enjoying them a lot and looking forward to practicing! Looking at your website, there are lots of interesting courses on offer for after the lock-down is over, which is great! A longer question (sorry).... When I belay on multi-pitch, assuming not using an ATC in "guide mode", I would usually like to change the direction of the pull by belaying through a carabiner above my harness (possibly on the shelf), This means that the pull from a struggling/fallen climber below pulls me up rather then crushing me downwards, also it seems to spread the load better between the anchor and myself, obviously this does load the anchor a bit more assuming your not on a hanging belay (in which case, I don't think it would load it more??), I also find it more comfortable for flaking the rope over the lanyard and having a short point set up between me and the climber in case the new leader falls directly above the anchor when they climb through.... I notice that you show all your videos belaying directly with a downward pull on your harness.. Is there a reason for this? Is the way I set up my system described above considered safe?? Does any of that make sense?

Great vid -clear and well explained. 1 question - if your emergency fallback when using rope to the anchors, is to then create a a centralised loop with a sling, why not just use that method all the time? Cheers.

What's the difference between a slippery hitch and a half hitch?

As a guide this sort of thing raised a lot of questions with me and my old team. The team was from all over and it was only the british and me (irish) that would ever really belay from a harness on a top belay/multipitch set up. Judging from how tricky this can be is there a real reason you think harness top belaying should be done that isn't a less than suitable anchor or speed? And finally for guiding would you ever belay from your harness if there were more than one person?

Hey JB, am loving the content, extremely helpful! I have a question regarding escaping the system in an RCI scenario: If I am managing a top-rope set-up and I am connected to a separate loop from my belay plate, is there any reason I should go through a system escape as demonstrated in this video other than that I need my belay device for the abseil? In short, I suppose what I'm asking is if I'm not directly part of the system is it cool to just tie off the belay device and then go about setting up abseil? Apologies that was very long winded! Also, seen as your content and answers have proved such a great resource, is there any way I can support what you do? Patreon or Merch' or something? Cheers!

Thank you for this series, I've been practicing at home all week. I saw you used an italian hitch while escaping the system in some of these ''escape the system'' video and I was wondering why not use a clove hitch instead since it is more secure? Thank you again!

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