Mountaineering Methodology - Part 3 - Belaying and Rappelling

Book excerpt: Mountaineering Methodology is a textbook intended for beginners and advanced climbers who wish to devote themselves to mountaineering in its various forms, whether rock climbing, artificial climbing walls, ascents in the mountains up rock, snow, and ice, or protected routes (klettersteig, via ferrata). In the third section, Belaying and Rappelling, things get more serious. Welcome to the climb. In the first chapter you will learn how to protect yourself against falling when climbing a cliff; we then focus in greater detail on handling belay devices, both in order to avoid certain errors which people often make when belaying, how to set up the belay station and build a self-belay, and other activities associated with belaying. A description of rappelling and associated activities follows, both for rappelling with emergency equipment, self-belaying when rappelling, and so forth. There are even tips for situations when complications arise during rappelling, and how to solve them so that you can make it from the cliff or mountain back to solid ground.