Lowering is the moment with the most ground falls in climbing gyms. Commands, pace, rope end and the mistakes that show up in the DAV statistics.
Lowering means: your partner hangs in the rope, and you let them down to the ground slowly and evenly, with the brake hand on the rope and after clear commands. It sounds like the wind-down of the route. Statistically it is the most dangerous part of a top-rope day.
The honest answer: of 36 ground falls in German and Austrian climbing gyms in 2025, 15 happened while lowering [1]. That is 42 percent, and more than in any other situation the DAV evaluates. In 12 of those 15 cases the rope ran uncontrolled through the belay device [1].
The mean height in 11 of those cases was 5 metres [1], almost two storeys. Only one happened close to the anchor. So the danger is not the height but the phase in which everyone is already thinking "done".
Lowering is not a wind-down, it is the last part of the belay. You learn it in a course with a trainer, because operation differs from device to device. This guide explains what matters.
Entry criteria (common practice before you lower alone):
The fourth point of the partner check is the rope end: knotted or fixed to the rope bag. The question that goes with it: is the rope long enough to lower to the ground? [2] The 2025 statistics contain a ground fall in which a too-short rope and a missing knot in the rope end came together [1].
Milestone: You check rope end and length before your partner starts, not only at the top.
At the anchor the climber calls "ZU" (tight). Once the belayer has pulled the rope in taut, the command "AB" (down) follows to lower. Eye contact, with the name if in doubt. The belayer lowers only after the command is given and the climber is "on the rope" [2].
Milestone: You never lower without both conditions: command and weight in the rope.
Before the climber sits into the rope, the knot should hang free and not be jammed at the top of the anchor (practice). The DAV statistics know cases where the knot came undone at exactly this moment: in 2018 a climber fell from 14 metres, with the single figure-eight hanging jammed in the anchor [3]. In 2022 a similar case in the top-rope area was reported, a fall of about 10 metres [4].
Milestone: Before every lowering you look at the rope below the anchor.
You know your braking mechanism and handle it correctly [2]. The DAV advice from the 2025 statistics: lower consistently in a controlled way, not too fast, feed rope in a measured way with the brake hand or let it run through, and mind your standing position and weight differences [1]. In 9 of the 12 accidents with uncontrolled rope run-through, the devices were assisted-braking devices that depend on the carabiner and brake hand position [1].
Milestone: Your trainer sees you lower several partners of different weights calmly and evenly.
Watch for other people on the ground and a free landing area. You set your partner down gently [2].
Milestone: Your partner ends up standing as if from an elevator, not as after a jump.
The numbers show: lowering is no side issue. Of the 15 ground falls while lowering, 8 ended with moderate and 3 with severe injuries [1]. In one case with a children's rope team, a fall from 3 to 4 metres ended on the floor even though a back-up belay was in place [1]. The extra system is therefore no free pass.
Two more cases in the 2025 statistics are especially bitter: for one child the tie-in knot came loose during lowering, and the child fell from about 12 to 13 metres and the mother was still able to catch it. In another climber's case, the partner check had missed that the knot was not finished. He tried to hold on with the rope wrapped around his hand while being lowered, and his strength lasted only to mid-wall [1]. The DAV writes that such accidents would have been avoidable with a thorough partner check [1].
This guide explains and motivates; it does not replace supervised training. You learn lowering in a course with a trainer and a partner check, not from a text.
Make the pace your measure, not your partner's. Someone laughing "Faster!" from above is not an instruction. The evaluation shows that 11 of 12 uncontrolled rope run-throughs happened at about 5 metres height, only one close to the anchor [1]. The pattern: focused at the start, careless halfway.
In practice: remember a position from which you consciously slow down, for example the halfway point of the route. The last third gets the most attention, not the least.
Slowly and evenly. The DAV advises lowering consistently in a controlled way, not getting too fast and feeding the rope in a measured way with the brake hand [1]. It names no fixed speed; what matters is that you could stop at any moment.
At the anchor "ZU" when the rope is pulled in taut, then "AB" to lower. The belayer waits with lowering until the command is given and the climber is "on the rope" [2]. Eye contact is part of it.
It must reach the ground. The partner check therefore explicitly asks whether the rope is long enough for lowering, and the rope end is knotted or fixed to the rope bag [2]. The 2025 DAV statistics contain one ground fall with a too-short rope and a missing knot [1].
There is no simple rule for this in the text. The DAV statistics report cases where the tie-in knot came undone when the climber sat into the rope, a figure-eight knot hung jammed in the anchor [3], and a fall of about 10 metres ended on the floor [4]. If you see this, talk to the climber and do not lower. Get a trainer.
The DAV lists the Kletterschein Toprope as suitable for children from about 10 years. Supervision stays with parents or trainer at least until the 14th birthday, and the weight ratio has to fit [2].
Threading the Anchor: Staying Secure at the Crag