Climbing question

just pete

Hi all,
I know nothing about climbing!
What is the name/term in climbing when one person is holding the rope on the ground while the other climbs?

Thanks

Mickeroo

The person on the ground is belaying the climber. The system you described is called top roping I think.

BarryD

Belaying as above. You can belay from below as a 'second' whilst the other climber, the 'lead' climber ascends. Usually the lead climber will clip the rope into 'protection', so they won't fall all the way to the ground, hopefully When the lead climber reaches the top or a stance, they anchor themselves and belay the 'second' up. That'd be the normal way of climbing and the only way on multi pitch routes, where the climb is longer than a rope length.

In sport climbing and at climbing walls, people will often belay a 'lead climber' from below using a preplaced or fixed anchor at the top of the climb. In this case, the rope runs the entire height of the climb, through the anchor and back down to the climber. So effectively they are not a lead climber as in first description above - now the equivalent of the second. They can only fall as far as rope slack or stretch allows.

just pete

Great, thanks for your replies!
:-)