Belaying directly off a ground anchor?

Question

I recently visited a new climbing gym and was instructed to belay directly off a ground anchor without any attachment to my harness. I've been to other gyms that belay with ground anchors but with instruction to also attach the carabiner to the climbing harness.

What is the benefit of belaying directly off a ground anchor, and when is it advisable to do so?

Note: this was for top rope

Answer 1

Other answers seem to address the use of ground anchors, but I think you're asking specifically about having a ground anchor with the belay device attached to it, and not attaching the belayer.

I've worked at gyms with this system, and the main argument is that the belayer doesn't need a harness. It's common in gyms that draw most of their revenue from children's events that the chaperones/parents won't climb at all. If you can get away without renting them harnesses, it saves time and reduces the amount of rental gear you need to dedicate to the group. This setup also allows the gym to have the belay devices (usually Grigris) semi-permanently attached to the anchor with a maillion so that inexperienced belayers can't set up the device improperly.

Many counter-arguments can be made, but the primary issue that arises is that the system breeds complacency. Since the belayer isn't directly attached to the system, they can be less engaged, and stop paying attention (or wander off..)

Answer 2

Advantages

• Weight difference
  This is reduced to whether the belayer has enough strength to control the brake strand (which is almost always the case, only extreme examples like small children are an issue). Belaying traditionally the belayer can be pulled against the wall and/or towards the first express. This can also result in a collision with the climber.

• Prohibiting bad belaying position
  Belaying too far from the wall can lead to ground falls. With a fixed anchor, this is no longer possible.

Disadvantages

• Dynamic fall catching
  There are several methods to break a fall dynamically. One is to actively move your body into the direction of pull. This is especially useful when belaying with a semi-automatic belaying device and in general when belaying a much lighter climber. With a fixed anchor and a semi-automatic belaying device there is only the dynamics of the rope, no intentional slip when breaking possible.

• Paying out slack quickly
  You cannot give out rope quickly by making a step forward. This is the smoothest and fastest way to initialise paying out slack before pulling rope through the belaying device.

• Non-universal approach
  This method only works with fixed infrastructure. Learning it this way means that if you go to a place without ground anchors, you need to learn a new belaying technique.

Conclusion

I do not consider ground anchors a useful measure. All the advantages it provides can also be gained by proper rules/instructions when belaying "normally". And most importantly I believe it is the best way to learn one method, and learn it properly - belaying decides over life and death.

Answer 3

There are a few reasons you could use a ground anchor, although none of them are optimal solutions:

• The climber is significantly heavier than you (though in reality you should anchor the belayer to the ground).
• When you might need to lock the belaying device and take a few steps for a moment (of course: don't just leave the climber there, and you should still be paying attention).
• When you'll be switching belayers (but really, why would you do this?).
• When you decide this is more comfortable (or safer) for you or the climber.