Took my first trad fall and got a nice rope burn souvenir

A short cautionary tale.

I was at Barney's rubble in Leavenworth last weekend, and decided to push a little out of my comfort zone on gear. I decided to try the 5.8 crack because 5.8 doesn't sound too scary and it looked like it would take bomber gear the whole way. I scrambled up the easy ledges to the start of the business, placed a perfect #2 BD as high as I could, extended it, and moved on.

I was lay-backing the crack, because I'm pretty terrible at crack climbing, as well as dealing with featureless granite. I got a couple feet above my cam, and realized that it would be pretty tough to place and evaluate another from my current spot. I decided to downclimb and reevaluate my situation, which is when my feet decided to slip. Normally I consider myself very aware about the rope, and it was safely off to the side, away from my heels. However, I forgot to account for the fact that my belayer was 20 feet to the side, due to the ledges. As the rope came tight on my only piece of gear (!) it instantly shot to the right, catching my leg and flipping me mostly upside down before stopping a bit above the ledge below.

I see two solutions. a - don't fall on your first piece of gear. b - keep in mind that it will make a straight line between your gear and the belay. It might seem like the rope is out of the way, but it can change instantly! Overall it was good to learn firsthand that gear works when placed right. But I was also amazed at how much rope burn I got from basically a 5 foot fall. Anyone else have any similar stories?

One last note, the next day I ran into a rattler on a trail, and just about jumped off the mountain. I'd take 50 trad falls before running into one of them again!

was there no better or safer belay position for your partner? 20ft off to the side on lead sounds pretty rough

ps don't down climb in the future if you can avoid it - it only allows for timid thoughts to take over, heightening the probability of minor accidents to occur. if you know you climb 5.8 well, keep moving and you'll find the next obvious comfy position to place your next piece

I suppose he could have climbed up the first ledge to reduce the distance. I should have just hand-jammed the crack, which would have meant he would have been straight behind me. But because I was lay-backing, he was effectively to my right. Then again, if I was jamming, it would increases the chances of the rope ending up between my legs...

Ryan Dirks wrote:I suppose he could have climbed up the first ledge to reduce the distance. I should have just hand-jammed the crack, which would have meant he would have been straight behind me. But because I was lay-backing, he was effectively to my right. Then again, if I was jamming, it would increases the chances of the rope ending up between my legs...

Between the legs is fine, behind the legs is bad. A good part of climbing on gear is placing it and knowing how to climb a route so that you can minimize risk to yourself while placing gear. Time to start jamming. Glad you aren't hurt, ropeburn can suck though.

Also, 20 feet out with only one piece of gear on a climb that is out of your comfort zone is a high-risk situation. I would advice placing more gear, particularly off the anchor.

Ryan Dirks wrote:I suppose he could have climbed up the first ledge to reduce the distance. I should have just hand-jammed the crack, which would have meant he would have been straight behind me. But because I was lay-backing, he was effectively to my right. Then again, if I was jamming, it would increases the chances of the rope ending up between my legs...

Between the legs is fine, behind the legs is bad. A good part of climbing on gear is placing it and knowing how to climb a route so that you can minimize risk to yourself while placing gear. Time to start jamming. Glad you aren't hurt, ropeburn can suck though.

Also, 20 feet out with only one piece of gear on a climb that is out of your comfort zone is a high-risk situation. I would advice placing more gear, particularly off the anchor.

I think the principle lesson is that if your limited skill set forces you into a dangerous position, expand your skill set.

To clarify, if you're forced to layback a 5.8 hand crack, you've no business leading it. I'm glad you walked away with just a rope burn, but the cause of your accident was not the wonky position of your belayer, or your failure to recognize the complexities of your protection schema. It was that you chose a high-risk technique needlessly. We've all been there, but now you know why I (and a great many other trad leaders) see the abbreviation "lb" with suspicion whenever it appears on the topo. Hell, there's a bolted 5.9 hand crack in Ten Sleep, WY that supposedly everybody lays back, and I jammed every inch of it because laybacks are insecure and difficult to protect.

The first 20 feet was easy scrambling on a single pitch route, otherwise I would have placed more gear. I probably should have backed up my first piece, but it really could not have been any better. As for the rope between the legs, the thing I'm still worried about is hitting the rope between the gear and belayer on the way down. I think the best thing to do is get the belayer more directly below my first piece. Or place something along the way to prevent the rope from moving too much.

I do think you have a good point about expanding a skill set to avoid being in dangerous situations. I think the evaluation and control of risk is one of the most interesting aspects of climbing. Before this climb I hadn't fallen on anything less than 5.10 in a year or more. However, I also knew that it wasn't my preferred style, so I wouldn't have attempted it if the gear hadn't looked so good. I also knew I could back off in the first section if it didn't feel right, which is what I did right before I slipped. Also, I'm being a little flippant about my ability to jam - not my strength but I've done it on some routes. It just seemed more secure to lay back because the right side of the crack sticks a few feet past. You know what they say about hindsight.

Writing this makes me want to try it again, on top rope this time. I'll keep working on the jams before leading something like it again.

Keep at it if a little rope burn happens from time to time you are probably relitivly safe for the most part. As long as u r placing good gear and not decking out on ledges all is probably going pretty well. And lie backing is kind of scary but after time you can learn to place pretty good gear by feeling the size of the crack while placing gear and get good peices. And I am defiantly one that prefers to jam but in some circumstances the lie back is definitely the preferred technique.

This happened to me once. My belayer was standing 20 feet back from the base of the climb. I fell on my first piece and caught my leg behind the rope.

Could have been prevented by:

A. Repositioning the belayer closer to the climb

B. Placing more gear

Derek Jf wrote:...ps don't down climb in the future if you can avoid it - it only allows for timid thoughts to take over, heightening the probability of minor accidents to occur. if you know you climb 5.8 well, keep moving and you'll find the next obvious comfy position to place your next piece

i wish i could directly link this to the 'dumbest advice you have ever heard' thread. the ability to downclimb is a fundamental part of climbing safely on gear at lower grades as a beginner, as well as onsighting harder gear routes. advising a beginner to just go for it is pretty asinine.

slim wrote: i wish i could directly link this to the 'dumbest advice you have ever heard' thread. the ability to downclimb is a fundamental part of climbing safely on gear at lower grades as a beginner, as well as onsighting harder gear routes. advising a beginner to just go for it is pretty asinine.

+1

I'm assuming he was talking about not backing off just because you're psyched out...

But there are a whole lot of reasons for downclimbing that have nothing to do with being psyched out, and a fairly large number of them applied directly to this situation.

slim wrote: i wish i could directly link this to the 'dumbest advice you have ever heard' thread. the ability to downclimb is a fundamental part of climbing safely on gear at lower grades as a beginner, as well as onsighting harder gear routes. advising a beginner to just go for it is pretty asinine.

Beat me to it. Don't downclimb? Sonds like downclimbing even just a move or two may have kept the OP off a ledge.

@Ryan D - Take any advice you get here with a grain of salt. You've received mostly armchair conjecture so far, from people that obviously haven't been on the route.

Sounds like you have a few things to work on (jamming, route selection, and just general awareness). I would recommend NOT trying to learn them here.

Derek Jf wrote: don't down climb in the future if you can avoid it

slim wrote: advising a beginner to just go for it is pretty asinine.

Optimistic wrote: +1 I'm assuming he was talking about not backing off just because you're psyched out...

In this situation, my wording should have been better. I am not dispelling down climbing as a useful and practical way to help a climber finish a lead. By no means am I advising you Ryan to be unsafe on a climb. If moves on this climb feel out of your comfort zone, you already gave yourself the best advice and go ahead practicing the hand jams on TR.

Expanding on the down climbing, go for it and climb down some moves if you can't avoid it in a situation. Inversely, avoid down climbing if you can: a) place a piece where you currently stand on the route; or b) are closer to the next obvious rest position you can protect rather than down climb to your last piece of gear.

And here I thought down climbing was a necessary skill for leading onsight trad.

I get what the post implied, but the way it was written wasn't accurate.

He meant, when you start retreating to the comfy stance below the crux or harder moves you often create more fear and doubt in your mind that will probably lead to a fall. Been there, done that. The quicker you can commit to a series of moves, the better, especially if the moves are protected with good gear.

I disagree though that minor accidents are more likely to happen if you down climb and evaluate the situation, unless a minor accident is a fall on gear that is above your waist.

There is one reason not to downclimb, and that is if you are doing it solely out if fear. Even then, it is a good idea if you use thr rest to formulate a plan. I've onsigted and redpointed numerous routes this way.

Place some bomber gear. Climb up into the business, get some information, climb back down. Pick out the next piece you want to place, go up, place it, go back down (maybe). Now you've climbed the start of the crux twice, seen the next section twice, an have a high piece of gear. Rest, then fly through the first moves and you've got plenty of energy for the hardest moves.

That route is super easy to set a toprope on, which would have been a better option for you. If you styled it on toprope, (perhaps practicing placing the gear) then by all means lead it. I would have had 3 pieces in before the crux, which I find easier to layback than to jam even though I do know how to jam a hand crack.

Sometimes placing gear that you can't see well is still a good choice, but you needed to have more gear below so that blind piece wouldn't have been the only thing keeping you off the deck.

Be careful out there, and put more gear in :)

Ryan Dirks wrote:The first 20 feet was easy scrambling on a single pitch route, otherwise I would have placed more gear.

This is in no way a valid excuse for having one piece of gear between you and disaster.

Ryan Dirks wrote:I probably should have backed up my first piece, but it really could not have been any better.

Back it up anyway. Would you build a belay off of one 'perfect' piece of gear?

Ryan Dirks wrote:As for the rope between the legs, the thing I'm still worried about is hitting the rope between the gear and belayer on the way down.

I have never seen this happen nor experienced it. Have any of my fellow armchair quarterbacks fallen victim to this problem?

Ryan Dirks wrote:I think the best thing to do is get the belayer more directly below my first piece. Or place something along the way to prevent the rope from moving too much.

These are both excellent ideas.

Ryan Dirks wrote:I do think you have a good point about expanding a skill set to avoid being in dangerous situations. I think the evaluation and control of risk is one of the most interesting aspects of climbing. Before this climb I hadn't fallen on anything less than 5.10 in a year or more. However, I also knew that it wasn't my preferred style, so I wouldn't have attempted it if the gear hadn't looked so good. I also knew I could back off in the first section if it didn't feel right, which is what I did right before I slipped.

The moment you committed to difficult lieback climbing above your sole piece of gear you threw all the mitigating factors you just discussed into the waste bin. People "go for it" often with one piece of gear between them and serious bodily injury. It usually works out just fine. There are plenty of routes where it is necessary to do so, but that doesn't mean it is good practice. Especially on a moderate crack climb!

I don't mean to berate, I have done far, far dumber things and I'm still here. I just think you are being a little dismissive of the biggest takeaway here - the belayer side of the rope being in the way of your fall isn't in the same league of concerns as the gear placement judgement issues.

Alexander Blum wrote: ...any arm chair qb's seen this...

i have seen people get hung up in the rope well below them, usually if there is some sort of traversing aspect to the climbing, like traversing back and forth between paralled incipient cracks. when you get one leg on each side of the rope it is called getting flossed and tossed. it isn't pretty.

+1 for downclimbing skills.

Bottom line, learn to crack climb. Jamming #2 camalot sized cracks should be easy in any trad cimber's sleep.

Ryan Dirks wrote: I scrambled up the easy ledges to the start of the business

I have never climbed here. Are we talking 4th class or easy 5th class? Some are saying to put in 2-3 more piece before this one. What is the rock like? I don't see any pictures on MP of the route. Add pictures of the route and rope burn!