Talk:belay

I question the mountaineering definition of this word: "To secure (a person) to a rope or (a rope) to a person." If I say, "Jim, will you belay me," I am not asking Jim to attach a rope to me. I might attach myself to the rope. I want Jim to anchor the rope that I am secured to, so I don't fall. As I see it used in mountaineering books, the action of belaying is the securing of the other end of the rope. For instance, in one famous case, known as "The Belay," (in capitals), three or four linked climbers dislodged each other and started sliding down an ice wall. The last climber drove both his ice axes into the wall and arrested the fall of them all. In this iconic "belay," there was no securing of a rope to a person. He secured the rope to a wall, to the everlasting gratitude and admiration of the people at the other end.

Full disclosure: I am not a mountaineer, just someone who reads about it. 174.83.91.202 01:00, 6 July 2020 (UTC)