The Magazine of The Sierra Club
How Not to Do a Fireman's Belay
Falling rocks cut my knee to the bone—and I had 20 rappels to the bottom
Climbers move rapidly down cliffs by rappelling. The third pitch in Death Valley National Park's Abysmal Canyon involves an overhang and a sickening swing into empty space. My friend Dawn was uneasy, so I offered a fireman's belay as a backup—but I stood in the wrong place.
A fireman's belay is how you lower a hesitant, injured, or even unconscious person. A pull on the rope I held at the bottom of the pitch would slow Dawn, or halt her fall. My mistake was standing directly beneath her.
Dawn inadvertently kicked loose a hail of rocks—one of which slammed into my knee. When I looked down to assess the damage, I saw bone.
We bandaged my knee as best we could and set out to determine how long I could hold out on adrenaline before shock set in. Answer: three rappels. Dawn's husband, Bob, lowered me down the remaining 17.
At the bottom, 12 hours later, I hobbled over uneven terrain to the car, then washed down two Percocet with a slug of bourbon. Now a bumpy scar reminds me where to stand when offering a fireman's belay.
This article appeared in the September/October 2017 edition with the headline "Abysmal Belay."
Ask the Expert
Ron Hudson is chair of the Sierra Club’s Mountaineering Oversight Committee.
“The preferred way to lower a person in trouble is from the top, using a separate rope. A fireman’s belayer needs to stand far enough away from the fall line to be safe from falling rocks. And of course canyoneers should always wear a helmet.”
