Saving the Children

As you know, we've been raising money for Save the Children in Mongolia. It's been pretty successful, but the other day we witnessed some atrocities: kids climbing with terribly substandard equipment! This was an opporunity to really save some children.

Our last day at Terelj National Park, we found some bolted climbing routes. We floundered on them for a while, but had fun. The rock was good, but the crystals were large and sharp. As we finished our second route, we noticed that a group of three kids and an adult had set up a "rope" a little ways down the rock from us, so we walked over to say hello.

It turns out that the three children were from Ulaanbaatar, and they were climbing with an instructor. They were using shoes that didn't fit them, and were clipped into a worn and frayed piece of webbing, not rope, by a single non-locking carabiner. The instructor was belaying them without the use of a belay device, essentially holding one end of the webbing in his hand. We were mortified. We uncoiled our rope and climbed the route they were on, setting a proper top-rope for them to use.

We showed the kids some essentials. Randall showed them how to tie into the rope with a figure-eight follow-through knot. I showed the oldest of them how to safely use a belay device. Then we did a demonstration for them before easing them into belaying. We supervised some climbing and belaying before cutting them loose to give it a go on their own.

When we were done climbing and ready to go, I gave the intructor some gear and the rope. Now he should have enough to teach some proper top-roping and even lead climbing on a short route. The kids were excited to be able to climb with some good equipment, and we were happy that their lives were no longer in danger!

The Mongolian belay method.

Nice rock and hard routes.

Randall imparts some wisdom and his proclivity towards safety to the children of Mongolia.