Lead belay safety checklist: what to check before every route

Most indoor and single-pitch climbing accidents are not caused by a hold breaking, but by an avoidable human error: a badly tied knot, a misthreaded belay device, a rope that is too short, a lapse in attention. A systematic checklist, spoken out loud with your partner, removes most of that risk. Here is the one we recommend adopting from the very first route with a new partner.

This page is a reminder, not training. Lead belaying is learned with an instructor or in a club. Only lead climb if you have been trained.

Before leaving the ground: the partner check

The climber and the belayer check each other, one after the other, out loud.

Climber side

• The harness is buckled, the belay loop doubled back if the model requires it, nothing twisted.
• The knot: a retraced figure eight, threaded through both tie-in points of the harness (waist and leg loops), tightened, with a stopper knot or enough tail.
• The knot is at the right distance: neither jammed against the harness nor thirty centimetres away.

Belayer side

• The belay device is loaded the right way round, climber strand and brake strand correctly placed.
• The belayer's carabiner is locked and loaded along its major axis.
• The rope runs to the climber: the belayer follows the strand by eye, from the device to the knot.

Before starting: questions to ask

• Is the rope long enough for the route? When in doubt, tie a knot in the end of the rope. It is the simplest defence against the most common single-pitch error.
• Is the anchor set up for lowering, or do you need to plan a rappel? Decide before climbing, not at the anchor.
• Is the landing zone under the first bolts clear?

During the route: communication

A shared vocabulary, agreed in advance:

The belayer stays focused on the climber, brake hand always on the rope, standing near the wall but out of the fall line.

Before lowering

• The climber is clipped to the anchor before any manipulation.
• The belayer takes in all the slack before the climber unclips to be lowered.
• Clear call: "Got me?" / "Got you." Controlled descent, steady speed.

Adopting the checklist with a new partner

With a partner you do not know yet, the first session is also a mutual assessment. A serious climber will never refuse a partner check; if they find it pointless, that is information. Do your first routes on top rope, watch, and only move to lead once trust is there.

That is the principle we develop in climbing with someone you met online.

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need a partner check on every route? Yes. The vast majority of avoidable accidents happen after dozens of routes without incident, when the check has been dropped out of habit.

Is a knot in the end of the rope useful indoors? On tall routes, yes. It costs nothing and removes the risk of being lowered off the end of a rope that is too short.

Where can I learn lead belaying in Belgium? In a club or through an adult indoor course. See getting into climbing in Belgium.

Find your climbing partner

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