At the top of the route you clip the rope into the lower-off and get lowered. Where ground falls happen at this moment and the habits that help you avoid them.
Clipping the lower-off means: you climb to the top of the route, hang the rope in the fixed lower-off and are lowered by your partner. The honest answer to "Isn't that the easiest part?": it is the part in which most ground falls happen in the gym. The 2025 DAV climbing gym accident statistics count 15 of 36 ground falls when lowering alone [1].
In 12 of these 15 cases the rope ran uncontrolled through the belay device. Only one happened close to the lower-off, the mean heights were 5 metres [1]. In addition there were cases where the connection to the rope failed: a tie-in knot that came undone, or a missing knot in the rope end [1].
For you that means: clipping at the top is not just a movement at the bolt. It is the moment in which you decide whether you entrust yourself to the system. A calm look costs five seconds and catches a large share of these accidents.
The last metres are not the hardest, but the most expensive.
Entry criteria (practice standard):
Route assessment includes the question whether a lower-off exists and whether the rope reaches the ground again when lowering [2]. Anyone who has not knotted the rope end below and notices at the top that the rope is too short is too late. The rope end is checked in the partner check [3].
Milestone: Before leaving the ground you check rope length and rope end without your partner asking.
The lower-off too is clipped like a quickdraw from a stable position [2]. Anyone who grabs hectically for the carabiner at the top with the last of their strength risks a fall from height.
Milestone: At the end of the route you find a position in which both hands are free for a moment.
For the crag the DAV describes: lower-offs are not climbed over, for safety and nature-conservation reasons, and you first clip them like a quickdraw and assess them afterwards [2]. In the gym on top rope the rule is: never rope on rope in the lower-off point and never belay or lower over slings [3].
Milestone: You explain to your coach what "do not climb over" means and why.
Before you sit into the rope, take a short look at your knot and carabiner. In the 2018 DAV statistics a simple figure-eight knot was stuck in the lower-off at the top, the climber sat into the rope, the knot came undone, fall from 14 metres with various fractures [4]. In the 2022 statistics a knot apparently came undone in the top-rope area while sitting at the lower-off, ground fall from 10 metres [5].
Milestone: Before sitting you look at knot and carabiner every time, even when tired.
At the lower-off point the climber calls "take". The belayer takes in the rope taut, then follows "slack" [3]. Sit only once the rope is taut and be lowered slowly and evenly [3]. The DAV statistics advise: lower consistently in a controlled way, not too fast [1].
Milestone: You both use the commands take and slack without misunderstanding, even in a busy gym.
This moment belongs in the course because mistakes here are expensive. The numbers: 15 ground falls when lowering, 8 of them with moderate and 3 with severe injuries [1]. About tie-in errors the DAV writes that they would have been avoidable with a thorough partner check [1].
This guide explains and motivates, it does not replace supervised training.
Say "take" out loud at the top and then hold for one breath before you sit. In that pause you notice your knot and your partner takes in the rope until it is taut. That is course practice, not a study finding, but it costs nothing and protects exactly against the moment in which the statistics show most accidents.
In the gym usually not on top rope, there the rope already runs. On lead you hang the rope into the lower-off at the end. At the crag you first clip it like a quickdraw [2].
Because two sources of error meet there: uncontrolled rope run and a faulty connection to the rope. When lowering there were 15 of 36 ground falls in 2025 [1].
Slowly and evenly, with measured rope run through the brake hand [1][3].
No. The DAV names this as a rule for safety and nature-conservation reasons [2]. On top rope your tie-in point always stays below the lower-off [3].
It is used only when the climber is taken off belay, for example when abseiling. It is not called when threading [2].
Munter Hitch (HMS): Belaying with Just One Carabiner