There’s been a lot written recently about how we may see the banning of the bowline from UK climbing walls (many walls already have a bowline ban internationally). This has been prompted by the death of a climber due to the apparent failure of his bowline, a failure that to me doesn’t sound that uncommon (user error).
I’ve never been a huge bowline fan, and I think it’s a knot you have start with for it to become your number one. I also can’t help remember the story of a Brit bridging up the fearsome Ear pitch on the salathe when his bowline came undone, the rope slipping back to the belay.
Of course the idea of a ban on a much loved knot has led to the gnashing of teeth and claims of ‘dumbing down’ and over officious HES, with UKC forums full of outrage, and the usual climbing wall manger/floor walker bashing (generally by feckless, uninformed tight fisted climbers who are a hazard to us all, or grumpy old climbers who don’t even go down the wall).
To be honest I’m always a bit dumbfounded by the cries of such people, and here’s why.
First off the majority of climbing walls only just scrape by financially, and even when it’s full to bursting, just think how long it’s open, the staff, the heating, the bills, the route setting, the extensions, not to mention insurance. Add to this the fact that for many climbing walls business is very seasonal, so the good nights when the wall is rocking must support all those summer nights when it’s empty. I expect for the majority of small wall owner it’s just a living - not a business ( the growth of the tiny ‘boutique climbing wall’ even more so).
What this means is that unlike a business which has a huge profit and so can absorb the cost and impact of litigation and hassle, climbing walls can’t. They are also legally responsible for you the user, and so must do everything in there power to monitor, teach and hassle users to stick to the rules. If they really fuck up people could go to jail.
I’m sure every wall would love to give all ‘proper’ climbers a yellow T-shirt with “do what they will” printed on it, allowing the ‘experienced’ to be left to do body belays and tie in with a double fishermans knot. This would leave them free to keep and eye (and coach for free) the novice and the clueless. But you know what, I guarantee the number of accidents would rise and almost all would be wearing yellow t-shirts. Unlike the real outdoors the climbing wall is a real high risk environment by the very nature of it seeming like a low risk one. Bolts, lower off, matts and plenty of banter has no effect on gravity - as many have found to their cost. Queues, running around doing routes and getting the most out of your training, along with lots of ‘chat’ makes it the ideal place to fuck up (i guarantee you take more care at the crag).
There’s also something odd and very climber oriented here in that as climbers we seem to hate any commercial climbing business, and feel our love of climbing shouldn’t be exploited (the same goes for things like Kendal film festival which is another climbing business that makes almost zero profit). The thing is is that walls are there to make as much money as possible - as much as the market will allow. They’re not a social club. We take them for granted and many give them a hard time. How about if walls acted like swimming pools or normal leisure centres and made you pay by the hour (along with rubber wrist bands and buzzers), or £50 a month irrespective of how much you used them? Do you think gyms allow people to pay for a squash court than proceed to stay there all day? Also think about how much freedom we have, and the rules were happy to abide by down at the swimming pool (no bombing, no petting etc). In a wall all they ask is that you climb safety and more importantly SET A GOOD EXAMPLE. This is the nub of the issue when it comes to most things, especially the bowline, in that although you can tie yours one handed in the dark the guy beside you can’t, and for all beginners the figure of 8 knot is far safer.
The days of the rock apprentice are over and many climbers learn down the wall, starting with how to belay and how to tie in. Looking at other people and how they climb is how many learn, and how many pick up bad habits.
I was told once that I couldn’t belay at the Westway due my shoddy technique once, but instead of huffing and puffing I did it the way they wanted me too ( which is technically safer… If you have three hands!). It’s their wall - it’s their rules.
When your in their wall you have to follow their rules (no running, no gymnastic, no bowlines), and if tying a fig 8 means you get less accidents, and your wall doesn’t close (I’m guessing once one wall bans the knot then they’ve set a precedent and everyone will). Sure it’s unfair, sure it means it’s harder to untie (but not that hard), but if it’s a choice between climbing in the rain with a bowline, or climbing indoors with a fig 8, I don’t think it’s a big ask.
By the way, my opinion is that no knot so important as your tie in should need a finishing knot (many claim bowlines are put down to the lack of a finishing knot), and that’s why I like the fig 8 (six in tail). By far the best bowline is the Yosemite Bowline, although that too isn’t going to pass muster with those bloody floor walkers!
5 Comments
Hi Andy. Some great comments in support of much maligned walls, floorwalkers et al. I do think whilst walls have every right to weigh up the balance of probabilities regards their conditions of use to keep users safe that banning a knot is not going to solve the problem. I have first and second hand experience of mistied or badly tied knots causing accidents. All were as a result of errors when attempting to tie a rethreaded fig 8. The recent tragic accident involving a falling climber who died needs close examination with reference to all of the facts (which I don’t possess). E.g. The surface the climber fell onto could be a contributing factor in his death. The accidents I DO know about involved falls onto softer surfaces than the recent one. None of them resulted in deaths but none of them involved falls onto a hard surface.
All climbing knots and systems have pros and cons. Many are hazardous if subject to misuse, mistake or a lack of understanding. Is it not better to stress education and understanding than to ban this system or that. Isn’t it more important to encourage good habits like getting your partner to check your actions including the knot you have tied than to rely on one system as ‘the safest’?
I’m an Instructor and advise walls on safety. Each wall must weigh up it’s systems and clients and decide accordingly on the best solution for itself. Banning a knot because it may be mistied/have part of it left out vs another knot which may have a better chance of holding or being tied correctly is completely understandable and justifiable IMHO. But it may not be the only solution to climbers making errors at walls.
Also didn’t Lynn Hill (saw her at Kendal speaking the other night… inspiring stuff) deck out as a result of a mistied yosemite bowline?
yes walls can chose to ban the bowline. Like you say it’s their wall and if you choose to climb there you respect their rule. But I think that’d be a shame to restrict options. Yes the bowlines are more prone to mistakes and I wouldn’t recommend it to novices. But it can be useful to know it and has advantages sometimes. It’s just one more option in the climber’s toolbox and as far as I’m concerned the more options you have the better. A friend of mine, despite being an experienced climber, didn’t know the bowline when he first saw me using it at the gym. Gyms are not just for training, they’r also a social universe where you can learn stuff from other climbers. Like what to do and what not to do. I think maybe the first lesson to novices is not to copy what other climbers do if you don’t understand why or how. That’d partly solve the ‘setting a bad example’ problem.
I’m French and when I came over here found that most British climbers I know do a number of things (like belaying seconds, abseiling) differently from French or European climbers. I was a bit surprised and frankly skeptical at first, but I found the British ways (unsurprisingly) often better adapted to some UK crags and learned them as new alternative methods. Now, it drives me nuts to see my British climbing partners knowing only their British ways which they’ve been taught as the gold standard, and using them all over the world, despite often not being the most practical technique and having seen alternative methods. What I’m saying is that for experienced climbers it doesn’t hurt to be exposed to other methods, to have enough knowledge to decide whether it’s good or bad, useful or not and in what particular situation, and try it, rather than stick to what you’ve learned way back when in your very first course because that’s the only thing you’ve seen and you know.
I’m not sure climbers are that much against commercial establishements, but I think what most climbers share is a sense of freedom, a desire to make decisions for themselves and take responsibility for their decisions, within reason and with all the usual restrictions, rather than having too many rules imposed on them. I once was in a mountaineering club with walking, mountaineering, ski touring, caving and climbing sections. One year at the AGM, the committee wanted to impose all climbers on any crag on a club trip to wear a helmet… It didn’t go down well. Personally as a climber I want to make my own (informed) decisions. Choosing how you want to tie in comes in that personal choice/responsibility category which climbing embodies in many ways. I acknowledge that being in a gym complicates matters, but what we should fight for is to reduce the liability of the gyms rather than restricting our freedom. After all, I’ve been to gyms (in norht America or Australia notably, I think) which followed your argument further and banned leading, imposed ground-anchored grigris to belay, and had friction pulleys on top ropes which prevent a sudden drop of the climber. All of these, I think most climbers will agree, are a major pain in the neck (both practically speaking and in terms of the spirit of climbing) and I, for one, don’t want things to go that way in this country.
Me and my son have just completed a climbing course at Climb rochdale and we were taught the figure of 8 knot! its was easy to do and idiot proof. Im in the mindset that if it isn’t broke then dont try and fix it lol
I almost ejected tea out my nose when I read your comment about the Westway! I don’t think I’ve ever felt under more pressure than when I was asked to tie in and belay on my first visit there. Not the nicest atmosphere by far and the CWAs there definitely have an air of self-importance - but then, it’s their right to! They run the wall, and it is after all a commercial venture, and not just some bloke’s bouldering wall that he built in his back yard.
I think this is one of those areas where there’s room for improvement from both sides. The bowline fanclub (who as you rightfully pointed out probably don’t often frequent indoor walls) need to accept that wall operators have the right to enforce their own regulations, in particular when it helps improve safety. Equally, climbing wall operators in some instances need to be a bit more approachable on these matters!
Cheer up. Learned to climb in the UK, moved back to Australia, many years later got nostalgic and decided to visit an indoor wall.
Due to OH&S interference, you don’t tie in at all, it’s all screwgates and auto belays. The result: yoof belaying whilst chatting on mobile phones.
I didn’t go back…