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Great day out in San Diego teaching some rope skills. In this setup we used the actual rope as an anchor to take advantage of an already set rappel line. It allowed us to quickly descent right after the climb (without having to take any extra steps to rig the rappell). This system is very efficient in the following scenario: – single pitch climbing (or last pitch of a multi-pitch climb followed by a descent via rappelling off the same anchor)- rappell rings available- top belay directly off the anchor followed by a descent via rappelling off the same anchor- desire to move fast in a single pitch environmenthere is the step by step breakdown:1.leader leads pitch2. leader reaches two bolt anchor and clips PAS into each bolt (2anchor points – redundancy!) 3.leader calls "off belay"4. leader ties 5-10feet of rope off to harness to secure rope before untying (makes it impossible to drop rope after untying)5. leader unties from rope6.leader passes rope end through rap ring or rings7.leader ties a double overhand knot into the end that was just passed through the rappel ring/s (closing the system! avoids rappelling off the end of the rope)8. leader pulls rope though the rappel rings to the middle mark of the rope (longest possible rappel!)9. leader folds up the rope right by the rappel ring to then tie an overhand knot on a bite "BHK – big honking knot" – this loop/bite is the master point now!10. leader pulls in remaining rope (in case the route is shorter than half the rope length) until follower calls "its me!"11. leader rigs belay device to rope (here we used a GriGri but any tubular device in plaquette mode would work too, such as ATC guide or Petzl reverso or many others)12. leader clips belay device to masterpoint and locks the carabiner13. leader calls "on belay" and follower calls "climbing"14. follower follows while leader belays15. when follower reaches the anchor – the rappel is already set up

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On belay!Do not underestimate the importance of a solid, confident belay! A good belayer always has an eye on the climber and is ready to adjust tension or slack at any time while maintaining at least one hand (usually the stronger one) on the brake rope. In climbing there is a big difference between lead belaying and top rope belaying! Lead belaying is a more advanced technique because adjustments may be more abrupt and consequences of a fall may be more severe! Force and distance of a falling lead climber is much higher than force and distance of a slipping top rope climber.

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Amazing session with Jamye and Kevin yesterday. These two were super fun. We laughed a lot and learned many little details that created quite a few "a-ha" moments. It was their first time climbing outdoors after 1.5 years of consistent gym climbing. One could tell, their moves were spot on! Now its time to learn some rope skills. We look forward to our next session. Belay on!

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