Green Tape

Introduction

In order to safely participate in lead climbing/belaying at any UQ Mountain Club (UQMC) climbing event, you must obtain your “Green Tape”.

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First and foremost, UQMC promotes a “safety first culture that guides all our activities”. That means that whatever you are doing, you must make sure that your and others safety is the number one priority at any given time.

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This document will guide you towards a successful completion of the assessment of your “Green Tape”. In order to get your “Green Tape” approved, there are three main steps:

1. Read and remember the knowledge displayed in this document;

2. To Obtain your Green Tape, head here to do the Online Program. 

3. Get yourself assessed by at least 2 members of the executive team who will ask you theoretical questions and will assess your practical skills.​

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Please read the following instructions carefully.

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NOTE: We do not endorse all the information by the content creators given below. However, we have checked the specific links and believe that they are great learning resources. These links do not replace learning practically from club members, but will be helpful to aid your learning.

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Description

Having the Green Tape indicates that a member is a competent, but inexperienced, lead climber and belayer. The member is able to clean a route both by lowering off and by rappelling. When a member has achieved their Green Tape, they are allowed to lead climb/belay, while under Red Tape supervision. 

 

Members aiming for their Green Tape assessment should gather experience over a 1-3 week period (from learning to assessment) to practice the following:

• Anchor cleaning and descending after clean. 

• Lead belaying and climbing while under direct supervision. 

• Effective communication using standard club communication. 

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Prerequisites

You must be a member of UQMC and possess the "Yellow Tape" competency to be tested for the “Green Tape” competency.

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Testable material

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Practical

The member being tested must be able to perform the following physical tasks without major safety errors:

• Spot and belay a climber on lead, identifying risks and catching a fall;

• Complete a route on lead;

• Clean a route both by lowering off and by rappelling;

• Timely and effective use of UQMC standard calls and communication.

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Theoretical material

The member being tested must verbally demonstrate an understanding of the following concepts/processes:

• How to perform a fireman’s belay;

• When and how to give a soft and hard catch;

• When to rappel and when to lower;

• How to mitigate potential risks and incorrect technique (foot behind the rope, Z clipping, back clipping);

• Safety habits (rope flaking, tying stoppers, body positioning when belaying, dangers of excessive and indistinct communication).

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Reading for theoretical material

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Getting Ready

1. Tie a stopper knot in the end of the rope and flake the rope to make sure the rope is untangled.

2. Discuss the plan for the climb:

   • The length of the climb and whether the ropes long enough;

   • Discuss whether the climb is safe/appropriate, considering:​

     • difficulty/grade;

     • number and spacing of bolts;

     • ledges and trees the climber could fall on;

     • whether you should stick climb the first bolt; and

     • if there are any loose rocks (or “death blocks”) to avoid.

   • The plan when the climber reaches the anchor:

     • Lower;

     • Clean; or

     • Rappel.

3. Attach your belay device and do your buddy checks.

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Belaying

1. Spotting: Before the climber reaches the first bolt, you should spot with the aim of guiding the fall to protect the head and neck of the climber. Your fingers should be closed together (like spoons) to prevent finger injury, when guiding a fall.

2. Once the climber has clipped the first bolt, you should take up excess slack and call “on belay”, once you are ready to catch a fall using your belay device.

3. As the climber passes the first bolt, you will need to pay out slack, maintain a cow's belly and be ready to catch a fall (see diagram below).

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This video covers the steps plus provides more important information about belaying (5 mins). This video explains soft catches, hard catches, weight differences, positioning and the appropriate amount of slack.

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The weight difference of the belayer should not exceed 20kg than the climber without using an extra friction device such as Eldridge ohm.

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WHY? Without extra friction you may lose control of the catch when the climber falls and be pulled into the wall and up into the first bolt. This is likely to injure the belayer and potentially cause them to let go of the brake strand, which will injure the climber if using a standard tubular belay device (e.g., ATC). Assisted braking devices (e.g., gri-gri) help mitigate this concern. However, if the climber is much lighter than the belayer, then the belayer needs to be more proactive and jump up more when giving soft catches.

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Lead climbing

Getting Ready

Discuss the climb. Tie in. Make sure you have enough quick draws, meaning as many as needed for the climb and 2 for the anchors, and other gear you might need. Before you start climbing, do buddy checks.

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Clipping

Please watch this great video on clipping (6 mins). We will put this into practice at the crag.

Key points:

• Be in a secure position

• Have 3 points of contact to the wall when you clip, meaning two good feet and one good hand hold.

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WHY? If the climber falls, while pulling up slack to clip the next bolt, they will fall the distance to the last bolt, plus the length of all the slack in the system. It is often safer for the climber to take the fall to the last bolt than to attempt a clip while insecure.

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• “Pee into the wall” when you clip. Do not back clip.

WHY? Back clipping (‘peeing out of the wall’) can result in the rope opening the gate and becoming unclipped from the quickdraw, if the climber takes a fall in a certain orientation.

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• Do not Z-clip. It is unlikely to clip like this when climbing outside, as the bolts are usually more spaced apart. Z-clipping is more common in the gym.

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Falling

Please watch this great video on falling (3 min). It might just save your ankles.

Key points:

• The climber should keep the rope in front of their legs. The belayer keeps an eye on the rope. If the rope is behind the climber's legs or feet, make them aware so they can fix their positioning.​​

WHY? if they fall, their legs could be caught by the rope, flipping them upside down.

• Communicate to your belayer

• Don’t jump back too far. This will increase the force when you hit the wall.

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Cleaning

Steps for cleaning are hard to explain in words, so therefore attend one of the lead workshops to see it in practice.

Key points:

• Remaining on two points of safety

• Doing your ABCDE checks and weighting your system before you remove your Personal Anchor Safety/System (PAS).

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In the lead workshop you will be talked through these steps. However, this video gives a great overview of the steps and may help you visualise the process (8 mins).

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Please note however, that UQMC does not endorse the use of quick draws as PAS. You should bring a daisy chain, pursell prusik or other rated safety with locking carabiner as a PAS.

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Rappelling

A rappel may need to be set up in order to access a climb or climbing area, or used to clean a climb instead of lowering off. Rappelling may also be required to descend from a multi-pitch climb.

Steps for repelling are hard to effectively articulate in writing and should be explained during a lead workshop. The picture below shows what best practice repel setup should look like. The key things include:

• Extended Rappel Device

• Third Hand (French prusik)

• Stopper Knots in the end of the rope

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Left: Daisy and adjustable daisy equipment, which are inappropriate for use as a PAS.

Right: Dedicated PAS systems (chain, adjustable lanyard, fixed lanyard).

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Setting Up

When you set up a rappel, it important that you remember to:

• Remain on two points of safety at all times

• Keep the rope attached to you. If you let go, it should never fall to the ground. An easy way to do this is a clove hitch around a locking carabiner

• Take your time. You do not want to drop any of your gear (e.g. ATC and carabiners) when setting up a rappel. Do not rush and think things through.

• The rope should be passed through the rappel rings until either the middle of the rope is reached or enough has been passed through for both strands to comfortably reach the ground.

• Stopper knots must be tied in both ends of the rope before the rope is thrown over the edge.

• A French prusik will be wrapped around both ropes on the free side of the belay device and attached to the belay loop of the harness with a locking carabiner, ensuring that the prusik does not reach the belay device.

• A belay device should be attached with a locking carabiner to both strands of the rope in the correct orientation.

• The belay device is attached to the belay loop of the harness by an extending sling or clipped halfway along a PAS if using a dyneema chain.

• Do your ABCDE checks and weight your system before you remove your PAS.

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These two videos (here and here) are a great study tool before you come to a lead workshop and to review your learning to help visualise the process (3 mins).

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ABCDE check

Before removing your PAS the following checks should be made:

A - Anchor: Is the rope through the anchor correctly? Is the anchor in a safe condition to use?

B - Belts and Buckles: Is your harness done up tightly and/or looped back (in the case of older style harnesses)?

C - Connectors: Are the carabiners on your extended belay and french prusik locked and in the correct orientation?

D - Devices: Is your belay device in the correct orientation with both strands of rope passing through it? Is there a French prusik backing up the rappel and correctly attached to the belay loop? Is the device extended sufficiently so that the prusik does not touch the device?

E - Ends and Edges: Are there knots in the ends of the rope? Are there no sharp edges that the rope may abrade on? If abrasion may pose a problem, then appropriate edge protection should be used.

 

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Communication

When lead climbing/belaying, communication is very important. If you start climbing, but you are not on belay, this can have deadly consequences. Therefore, you must keep your communication short, clear, loud and simple. You should also use the name of your climbing partner to direct your calls where there are numerous climbers present within audible range. The most common commands are:

• ON BELAY + name

• COME OFF BELAY + name

• COMING OFF BELAY + name

• OFF BELAY

• CLIMBING

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Knots

You will need to know how to tie a:

• French Prusik;

• Stopper knot;

• Figure eight on a bight; and

• Clove hitch around a carabiner.

Please watch the following two videos on a French Prusik (3 min) and other useful knots (5 min) to learn these knots and practice them with us or at home.

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Finishing a Rappel:

• Once a climber has reached the bottom of a rappel and is safe (either on the ground or has clipped two PASs into the anchor below), they can take themselves off the rope.

• If there is another rappel to be done, the end of the rope should be secured to the lower anchor to prevent getting stranded.

• If others are also planning on rappelling down the same rope the person who has just finished will call “off rope” to communicate that the next person can start rappelling.

• Once the last person has finished their rappel, the knot can be removed in one end of the rope and that end can be pulled through the anchor.

• A call of “Rope” should be made when the end of the rope is falling from the anchor.

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Crag Ethics

It is UQMC policy (and just common courtesy) to leave no trace whenever you are climbing. Access to crags is something UQMC wants to keep, so we all must be good environmental stewards at all times.

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Some crag ethics, therefore, are:

• Avoid making too much noise (music, load conversations, swearing etcetera);

• Do not leave tonnes of chalk on the climb or on the ground. Use your brush to brush it off the rocks;

• Pack out rubbish and food scraps;

• If you set up hammocks, be careful not to rig bark trees;

• Try and stick to the existing crag trails;

• Do not leave toilet paper EVER;

• Leave your pets at home whenever they are not allowed at the crag (e.g. National Parks). Otherwise keep them on a lead or at least in eye shot, so you can pick up after them. Also, make sure they are not attacking or hunting local wildlife and are not annoying (or scaring) other climbers or members of the public.

 

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Test questions

During the practical assessment for this level, your assessor will ask you a minimum of two questions from the following to test your understanding of the theoretical material:

1. How can you provide a soft catch as a belayer? In what scenario should you give a soft catch?

2. What is back clipping? Why is it bad?

3. What are the benefits of rappelling?

4. What are the main differences between top-rope belaying and lead-belaying?

5. How can you provide a hard catch as a belayer? In what scenario should you give a hard catch?

6. What is Z-clipping? Why is it bad?

7. What is a situation in which you would prefer rappelling over lowering off?

8. What is a safety? Can it take a fall?

9. What should you be doing as a belayer when your climber has not reached the first bolt?

10. What is the quicker way to clean a climb, rappel or lower off?

11. What are the two most important things to remember when cleaning an anchor?

12. What is the impact force?

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If you do not understand any of the questions or you are unsure of an answer, discuss it with one of the executives before you do your test for the competency!

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Executive Assessment Process

Green tape can be awarded by agreement between two or more Executives or Trip Leaders (Climbing), all of which have been assessed as Trip Leaders, and hold Vertical Rescue Certifications, with refresher assessments completed within 12 months of the Green tape assessment date. These assessors must both be present during the assessment. The member will have to demonstrate the practical competencies and be able to answer questions regarding the theoretical material without error. The Assessors will each complete a checklist, stating that they have witnessed the member completing the practical competencies, and that the questions regarding the theoretical material were answered without error.

 

Once the member has demonstrated that they are competent, their skill level will be updated on the Club database and their membership profile will be updated by the assessor to display a Green tape badge. If a member with Green tape is seen making errors, is unsure of their ability or is displaying an unsafe attitude, an Executive can rescind their tape.