Sport climbing tip - use a quickdraw for a “fifi hook” rest
You’re working a sport route at the upper end of your leading ability. You are practicing dialing all the moves, and don't care how many takes you need from your patient belayer. Here's a simple tip to give your rope and belayer a break.
Start your climb with a quickdraw clipped to your belay loop.
When you make it to the next bolt where you need a break, clip a draw, clip your lead rope, then clip the belay loop draw into the draw on the bolt.
Clip to whatever carabiner is convenient. Top or bottom, it doesn’t matter.
You can now take a full rest while hanging on your own draw, shaking out your arms, and scoping the next few moves.
This is known in some circles as “clipping in direct.” Other folks call it a “dog draw”, because you’re “hangdogging” the route.
(Bonus Tip - fingers pointed up, not down, is the Better Way to shake out. With your fingers pointed up, gravity helps the blood flow faster away from your pumped out forearms.)
This is essentially using the quickdraw clipped to your belay loop as a fifi hook, a device used by big wall climbers to clip in and hang whenever they need a break.
You of course remain on belay the entire time. But because you never called for a take, your belayer is not holding your weight on the rope, giving them a rest as well. Most important, you’re not losing your hard-won gain up the rock due to the rope stretch. It also gives the rope a chance to relax.
Some people might be concerned that chaining quickdraws together like this might cause some nicks/burrs that might damage the rope. This is theoretically possible, but I've never noticed a problem with it. Your mileage may vary.
When you're ready to climb again, unclip your “fifi” carabiner, let it hang again from your belay loop, work the next few moves until you get to the next bolt, and repeat as necessary.
Here's the classic big wall fifi hook. (Yeah, I know it needs a release loop in that top hole . . .) If you have one of these, you can certainly use it instead of a quickdraw. Slightly easier to take out.
