How to Give a Proper Auto Belay Orientation

When a climber is new to auto belays, it is important to provide them with a proper auto belay orientation. This will not only improve the climbers’ experience, it will help to mitigate risk at your facility too. Set your business and climbers up for success with these orientation resources for TRUBLUE Auto Belay owners and operators:

4 STEP AUTO BELAY ORIENTATION

Four simple steps every climber — no matter their level of expertise — should take before climbing on a TRUBLUE Auto Belay.

Check for proper retraction of auto belay webbing

• Have climbers assess auto belay operation by pulling out a short section of webbing and allowing it to retract. If the auto belay webbing does not retract (or move up when released), instruct climbers not to climb on the auto belay and seek assistance from a member of your team.

Open carabiner and attach to belay loop

• Climbers are to open the carabiner by sliding the gate down, rotating the gate’s collar and pushing the gate open towards the center of the carabiner. Remind climbers not to let go of the carabiner or else the entire webbing will retract into the device.
• Once opened, climbers should attach the carabiner to the correct connection point on their harness. As previously mentioned, all harnesses are different. For most harnesses, the correct connection point is the belay loop.

Ensure carabiner is locked and unobstructed

• Make sure that climbers allow the gate to snap shut, ensuring the collar has rotated back and is locked. Climbers should then verify that no clothing, webbing or other objects are obstructing the gate or latch.

Perform final safety check

• This includes double checking that the carabiner is loaded only along it’s vertical direction, is attached to the proper point on the harness and is locked. If all looks good, the climber is now ready to climb!

For even more information on proper orientation while climbing or descending, check out our How to Use an Auto Belay: Step-By-Step Instructions blog.

TRUBLUE SAFETY POSTER

A free, downloadable TRUBLUE Auto Belay Safety Steps poster. Make this work hard for you — download, print and post it in your facility next to TRUBLUE Auto Belay routes.

For best results, include this information when onboarding a new employee, share it with current staff and send it out to your community via a social post or email blast. Questions? Reach out to our team at [email protected].