good bouldering info

[cory]

Found this on the MEC site. It's an article on spotting technique which I encourage everyone to read. There's a lot a uninformed spotters out there and everyone needs to work to get better, just as they work on climbing harder.

Cheers,
Cory

[cory]

I'm an idot.... here's the link

http://www.mec.ca/Main/content_text.jsp ... 3762464307

C

[The Teth]

Excellent article. Thanks for posting it. All newbi spotters should read it.

I would also add that too much force applied too high on the boulderer (shoulders) when falling can cause the boulderer to bounce with a forward rotation and face plant into the boulder. The spotter should be absorbing force rather than locking their arms or pushing. I have been the recipient of this newbi mistake on several occasions. I have often waved off a spot, particularly from people I don’t know, because I felt safer without the interference.

Knowing how to fall, and then practising until you have it dialled (as in you will do it right without thinking about it) is essential. My wife, who almost never falls (I don’t think she pushes herself enough) got a fracture in her arm on one of the few occasions when she did fall because she instinctively reached her arm back to stop her rotation (just as mentioned in the article).

Exercising extreme stupidity can also result in a broken arm, as I have demonstrated. No matter how good you think you are at falling, if you end up rotating in the opposite direction to your direction of movement (like that holla hoop trick where you use backspin to make the holla hoop roll back to you) then you are going to have a hard time dissipating the force when you hit. (Can’t roll out of it because you are already rolling into it.)

Teth

PS: The best spotting instruction I ever got was in a presentation by Sean T.

[dcentral]

Do some judo if you really want to learn how to fall properly.

That's a good article.

[Graham]

I know a guy who had the joys of the high spot. He has a lovely gash on his face as a reminder to ensure that the spotter knows what they are doing. Grea article, deffinitly stuff everyone should know.

[martha]

Chris Jones can tell a story about Dave Lister getting caught around the ankles. both climber and spoter went over backwards down a steep talus in welsford. He was spotting on a trad lead before the first piece went in...

hahahaha