In ascending, again, by putting a hand or an axe under a leader’s heel when his toe is not over-secure, a second can often give his leader a security greater than his own may be at the moment. In fact, the duty of the second man, if he judges the place will go at all, is to sacrifice his own comfort and do anything that is not a definite risk to help the leader to get up more safely. A touch to his balance or foothold, judicious and opportune, is worth more as a protection than nine coils round a billiard-table boulder would be to him after he has slipped.
But backing up is subject to certain restrictions; a second must remember that he cannot do two things at once. If he helps with hand or shoulder or head,—that is, in climbing parlance, if he selects to identify himself with the active rope,—he has generally to sacrifice much of his value as buffer or anchor-man between the leader and the party. To be justified in so prejudicing his security as an anchor, he must feel wholeheartedly certain that his leader will not fail. It is often difficult to find a position of compromise, such as will allow him really to help the leader and also to retain his protective anchor for the party. He must be guided primarily by what he judges to be best for the collective safety, and only secondly by what contributes most to their success in getting up the climb. If he decides that no backing up on his part can make certain the leader’s ascent, whilst it sacrifices, in the attempt, his anchor in case of his fall, he must stay by his secure anchorage, and to such extent diminish the leader’s chance of success. But if he sees that his backing up can just make the difference to the leader’s safe and certain ascent, he is free to combine the claims of safety for the party and success for the leader, and move decisively and promptly to the leader’s support.
For a second man compromise, in such a choice, is always ineffective and sometimes dangerous. As one small instance: partly with the idea of doing both things, and partly from nervousness, many inexperienced seconds cling as close to the rock as they can when they are giving the leader a ‘shoulder,’ so as to remain more secure themselves. This is wrong. The nearer his human support stays to the rock, the more difficult is it for the leader to keep his balance as he stands upon him. If his second man then rises, as is often required of him, so as to give his leader an extra lift, as he stands on his shoulder or his hand or his head, his nearness to the rock thrusts the leader’s feet inward and his balance outward. The second man, when he gives a ‘shoulder,’ should aim at giving a really secure step on knee or hip or shoulder or head (for a good second can make his body a regular staircase, and painlessly, if he makes the right adjustments) as far away from the rock as he can securely thrust himself, even to full arm’s length. He is then in a position of some use; and should the leader’s re-descent be necessary, he can sometimes let him pass down inside, between himself and the rock. A good hold can be given, on a firm stance, by making a stirrup of the locked hands for the leader’s foot, and then straightening the back with a lift.
The tightened muscles of the thigh, well above the knee, give a painless foothold. The strong muscles at the junction of the neck, back and shoulder of a stooping man, but not on the point or in the curve of the shoulder, are good for a foothold. The hip-bone, provided that the leg using it is pressed close against the ribs over the hip, makes a useful foothold for a man descending from the shoulders.
In making use of these anatomical holds, the climber must remember never to shuffle or screw his boot once it is placed; otherwise the human frame is good for far more use than its owner will usually tolerate. I have had a guide of some weight, but of delicately managed feet, walking from my shoulder to my head and back again for twenty minutes, while he was trying to noose the lower pinnacle on the Charmoz, without feeling any great discomfort.
The second man should never give a leader so climbing any push or lift that will come to him unexpectedly. It is not uncommon to see a second man grasp a leader’s foot, as soon as it moves off his shoulder, and shove it indiscriminately upward, regardless of the leader’s balance or the holds he may be designing to use. The human ladder is only of use in so far as the leader can calculate exactly upon its location and function; it must remain for him as passive as any part of the rock he is engaged with. He steps from the thigh, puts his knee on one shoulder, and brings his other foot up on to the other shoulder; or he clings up his second’s back, if the second is standing upright, by knee pressure against his sides. Once he is up, he must know exactly where he will be able to put knee or foot in returning. If he has to descend from the rock on to his second again, he need barely use his boot at all. The instant his toe has discovered the position of the shoulder below, he can slide his leg down the back and let himself slip down, and the friction of the two surfaces of clothes will regulate his descent until his hands have reached the supporting shoulders. He must cling as close as possible to his second’s body and bend inwards, so as to relieve the outward strain upon his second’s balance, and he must never let his descending weight pull upon him askew.
The instant his leader is up and at rest, by the help of his impulses, moral and physical, the second man should prepare to follow, and as he approaches the leader’s stance he should notice exactly how he has placed himself, so that when the leader moves out he can put himself in the same position for holding. There should be no need for him to have to ‘get comfortable.’ If the third man is required to come up before the leader starts again, the second man should at once call, “Come!” and not wait to be asked, “Are you all right?” These seconds are, cumulatively, most valuable. In a good party the third man will be ready to start the instant he gathers that the man above has taken his stance.
The Duty of the Third Man.
In big alpine climbing, or on long mountaineering expeditions in general, yet another group of duties comes into prominence which cannot well be discharged by the leader and second man, who will have sufficient to do in looking after their respective functions. These create the position, for such climbing, of what may best be termed a ‘third man,’ though the party may consist of four or more, and the duties may be subdivided. If the second man’s duties may be called ‘backing up,’ the third man’s are those of ‘following up.’ He must be strong and able to carry, so that the spare rope and sacks of the leaders in really serious situations can all be discharged on to his shoulders without hesitation. He must be expert enough to manage a belay for both his leaders, if the situation demands the second man backing up the leader on an exposed passage, and be able to give them at least the moral support of his sound anchoring of the rope. He must have no false pride, and be prepared to get up himself as best and quickest he can, using the rope to save time. He must be always patient, ready to stand and shiver in his steps without complaint while the difficulties are solved. He must take the inevitable loosened stones, flying ice-chips and cleared-off snow incidental to his lower position with a hardened heart and, if possible, on a hard head, with no more than reasonable protest, and be able to see the humour of snow melting down his neck with the cheerfulness that it will afterwards he found to have caused to his friends. He must be prepared to go last, behind any weaker member, if there be four or more men in the party, and to look after him, following him up closely wherever he is able, without expecting help himself or much attention to his own rope. He must be good-tempered, ready to set the example of accepting decisions to turn back without discussion and even without knowing their reasons, and prepared in crises to remain quietly reassuring without bothering his occupied friends with questions. His use is, directly, as a support of strength and cheeriness to the leader and the second man if the serious nature of the climbing demands their combined preoccupation, and, indirectly, as an example of genial co-operation and ‘following up’ to other members of the party.
In a sense every member of the party should be a ‘third man’; but in big undertakings it is of undoubted help to the leader and second to have one man upon whom they can specially rely to look after the humour of the rest in the trying times of waiting while they themselves are working out the difficulties; to relieve them of the minor tasks of carrying and directing; and to come up without pride or protest in inconvenient ways, to inconvenient places, at convenient times.