Posted by Laurence Monkhouse on February 10, 2005 at 14:23:02 from 62.253.32.5 user Laurence_.
In Reply to: Re: Nancy Blackett - Kanchenjunga posted by Jon on February 10, 2005 at 13:14:24:
The proper use of a climbing rope involves belaying it.
Otherwise it simply acts to ensure that everybody gets killed, not just one - as in the first ascent of the Matterhorn.
If Titty had been pulled over the edge by Roger's weight - as she nearly was - Susan and Nancy could well have followed her. As it was they both were "almost jerked off their feet"
I'm all for choosing the adventurous option, and I have gone on record on TARBOARD deploring the excessive culture of risk avoidance which plagues us today. However this was not adventurous, it was highly dangerous.
And before anybody points it out I know that Guides and highly experienced climbers in the Alps move without belaying, but they know exactly what they are doing and what to do in an emergency. The S & A's didn't.