What was your biggest, scariest, or most destructive fall?

Biggest: Sport 25ish ft/ Trad 10ish on a green C3.

Scariest: Climbing through the crux of a route, I messed the sequence up and instead of crossing through to some crimps, I dynoed for the next big hold. Came up short, and somehow managed to get the rope behind my leg which spun me upside down and facing away from the rock. I knew I was going to swing into the wall, but couldn't see it coming. Seemed like it took forever to finally hit the wall. No broken bones, just sore.

Destructive: Fell on Snakes Roof in Jackson Falls. the first bolt is about 15ft off the deck, at the beginning of the roof. There is a big move from the wall, to the first jug of the roof (right next to the bolt). I made the move, feet popped off, hand came out of jug (it had rained the day before and the jug was a miniture lake) and face planted. Sprained both wrists and an ankel.

biggest was a whip on a harder face climb at the entrance to the Box in Maple, ended up being about 30'+ some since my belayer was smoking a ciggy about 20 feet from the base of the climb(newman!). he was higher than me after the fall.

best big one was finishing Margin for Air in BCC Utah, thought I had the climb wrapped up only to find myself dangling in the air about 20 feet below the last piece(shitty one too).

both falls had a ton of slack out and were fairly comfy falls.

Biggest: Either a 35ft fall onto a bolt or a 40 footer into a net.. depending on what counts. The net was set up below a big overhang and we tried to solo the route above... I fell on the crux, fell about 20ft to the net, then it stretched A LOT and i stopped 10ft above the ground!

Scariest: The big fall onto the bolt, it was about 35ft bit I honestly tought I was going to hit the ground as I was falling... i stopped about 6ft off the ground after falling from about 40ft off the deck.

Destructive: The most injurious fall ive taken was indoors, the rope caught my leg and I cut it open... but thats about it. However, I once held a 50 footer in the alpine off af a runout 10+ slab. My buddy broke his heel and had to crawl out to the cra...

Brent Silvester wrote:Destructive: Fell on Snakes Roof in Jackson Falls. the first bolt is about 15ft off the deck, at the beginning of the roof. There is a big move from the wall, to the first jug of the roof (right next to the bolt). I made the move, feet popped off, hand came out of jug (it had rained the day before and the jug was a miniture lake) and face planted. Sprained both wrists and an ankel.

Massive Fail!
This is Brent's most destructive fall, or at least the results thereof.

Ha, almost forgot that one. That was pretty messy, both for the cactus and me.

You beat Jeff to that one, I know he loves posting that picture.

Longest fall was on the first pitch of Deep Freeze in RMNP - A harmless fall down a long snowy chimney onto a good stopper. My worst fall however, occurred when I fell down the entire flight of wet stairs in my ice boots at the Ouray Ice Fest pancake breakfast. Ouch!

Longest: From the top bolt on Little Eiger with an arm length of rope about to clip, I ended up within a few feet of the ground. My belayer, a light weight woman, ended up at the first bolt.

Scariest: Simulclimbing (unroped) up the 3-4 Couloir above Moraine Lake with Jason Maitland. He looked up, saw rocks flying toward his head so he jumped back, planted his crampons into my knee and jumped out. All I saw was him flying thru the air doing a back flip. He self arrested (amazing considering it was early September ice). I ended up with crampon holes in my knee.

Most distructive: Leading Splashtics in the Gunks with Andre Siobovich
I reached above the roof into a wasp nest. I got stung, swelled up like a balloon.

I have never fully recovered from the massive injuries that I incurred many years ago when I decked from a quarter of the way up Castlewood Canyon's testpiece, Litte Devil.
The psychological damage alone kept me out of climbing for the better part of a year.

i think i would label it as 'most unpleasant' fall

scraping down slab face about 15ft trying to keep my feet clear of pockets hoping and praying to feel the tension in the rope before i would deck 25 ft below...instead got caught by a tree between the legs. what i would have given for more cushion, i was planning my commando roll if i touched ground...there's no preparation for the off-chance of catching a tree! thought about quitting for a while, was a belay b!tch for three months in new zealand (i know, of all places to have a change of heart for rock).

the boulder fields called me back, thank god for castle hill!

biggest was like a 20fter on sport

scariest was a 10ft fall onto my only piece of pro, a stopper in dakota sandstone...held which was cool.

most destructive was a 30+ fall while soloing on wet limestone (stupid i know) split my palm and bruised up my ass pretty thoroughly. then i got to hike out in the rain and hop a couple stone walls and barbed wire fences haha super pleasant.

You'll get some destruction here, and feel free to add...

mountainproject.com/v/injur…

Longest: Back in 1983? '84? There's this point on Rain (Eldo) where you're up about 15 feet over the bolt and you start fiddling with an RP. After about 10 or 15 seconds (2nd nut by then) you start to think that the jugs are just, what? 3-5 feet? So, I decide quickly to just puuulll. Which was working pretty well; but in slow motion, with my nose just inches from the rock, it struck me odd that the rock was moving in the wrong direction. I have a vivid series of vignettes: The rope flapping above my feet against the sky; the oddly juxtaposed skyline; the red quick-draw distended from the bolt in freeze-frame with a wide arc of rope silhouetted; the tan guy in khaki shorts in the bouldering cave across the river who was holding his head with both hands, half-crouched in a standing fetal position his eyes wide and mouthing the word "Nooooooo." When the rope came tight (Thanks, Bill.) I was facing straight down at "the guys" and watched my brand new glasses spiral down and out of focus to disappear on the rocks: What an INSTANT headache! 40+ foot fall without a scratch. [Aside from my buds, who I left to fend for themselves, 2 people spoke with me. 1st guy was a non-climber with a cooler on wheels who said "You fell so far he didn't think there was a rope." The second guy said the bolt I fell onto was the worst bolt (he?) ever placed in Eldo' and couldn't believe it held. Lucky is good. A lot of us have been lucky.

A bad fall on the apron. Fifty footer and the left bun of my ass being badly ripped by a Leeper bolt hanger as I past it on my way to a unexpected visit with my partner. Besides the slash, I got a hell of a case of road rash. Ouch!

My scariest was stepping off a bouldering traverse when I crossed my hands out of sequence. Before switching hands, I stepped backwards onto a rock that had a rattler under it. Its head was whipping back and forth violently, with each whip it came out a couple inches farther and was just within strike range when I stepped back up onto the traverse, hands still crossed over. I pulled off an adrenaline blast up and over the rock, probably many V-grades harder than I can normally do.

I took a 10000 footer out of a plane, would that be a biggiest??

scariest was watching Hasbeen get toppled by the Devil -- I got you, I got you ... oops

Scariest by far for me , out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of purple go off the east side of Lunch Rock.
I was belaying my other daughter knowing that purple was my other daughters sweatshirt.
So seconds seamed like hours to secure the daughter climbing and run over and look at my daughter who fell. She was curled up in a fetal position. As I was climbing down she looked up and said IM OK dad.
The only damage was a very small nick on her knee and small tear in her climbing pants.
That was about twenty years ago and it still gives me the shivers.
Most damage to me was being dropped by a belayer looking over at two gals sun bathing rather than watching me.
Tore ligament and tendons, the Doctor said you will regret not breaking it. Still hurts before a storm but not too bad.

it wasn't but a month ago that we had to hear about "Hasbeen" never taking a fall in his whole climbing career stating some b.s. about not wanitng to lose control. well what is the real deal.....I think that I must be missing something here. is the devil thing a 16 foot boulder problem?

Jim Gloeckler wrote:it wasn't but a month ago that we had to hear about "Hasbeen" never taking a fall in his whole climbing career stating some b.s. about not wanitng to lose control. well what is the real deal.....I think that I must be missing something here. is the devil thing a 16 foot boulder problem?

The word "crater" originated at the base of Little Devil. When it spits you off, you literally form a crater in the dust at the base. It is a Thermodynamic Anomaly, akin to the Bermuda Triangle, only smaller.
We ask that you leave a DNA sample at the visitor center when you come here to try this thing as often that is the only way to identify the remains from a failed send. Those of us who witness the pure insanity of a Little Devil attempt often need PTSD counseling.

Thermo dynamic anomaly? otherwise known as a footprint :)
Mr lane; you might look into other counseling if you truly think that I bought into that one. Not only that, but I doubt that you work at the visitor center collecting D.N.A.! If so, it's probably a cesspool of contamination like the L.A. crime lab :)

I'm afraid mike isn't kidding. there have been a few documented cases of people taking nasty falls solo on the little devil and because the landing is so chossy and jagged that dental records are often of no use and DNA is quiten necessary. I'm starting a petition to have to boulder destroyed as it has become a public menace being such sand bagged testpiece. I think those of us who have given it a go and failed and survived can agree that it's atleast 2-3 grades harder than what it's currently rated and this only serves to lure in unsuspecting high ballers.