Don't want to sound like a troll but I was leading an ez beginner sport climb, (not ez for me) and when I got to a couple of the bolts I had no prob getting the quickdraw clipped but I had such a precarious stance that I needed one hand to hold on to the rock. I couldn't get the rope into the biner and blew my clean lead by grabbing the Qd with my other hand to steady me while I clipped.

I tried making a loop and using my thumb on the spine to support the biner wile I pushed the loop against the gate (it was bent gate)but I scrooed the pooch.

Any suggestions...I guess practice ..practice

Please take any advice I give with a grain of salt and heed at your own risk.

I'm about where you are, so know what you mean.

1 - don't be so frantic to clip the bolt that you do it from a crappy stance. be patient and find a stance first - if a bolt was set on lead, believe me, the person who drilled it had a good stance.

2 - it only takes a few minutes to put a handful of bolts in your residence - practice until you can do it out of the corner of your eye after holding your hands in icewater till they're numb.

and I'm sure someone who really knows something will respond with more meaningful info later on.

IMHO (FWIW)

Since it was a "beginner route" I'll assume the rock wasn't overhanging, i.e. the draw was resting against the rock and not naturally hanging away from it. If that's true, then the most important thing to do is relax and get a good stance. This means straightening the arm holding you to the rock, if possible; breathing deep and regular; don't overgrip the rock; keep your feet below your body, if you can. If you're calm and relaxed, you'll have no trouble clipping the draw.

As you get better and try more overhanging routes, you'll need to pay more attention to what you do with your clipping hand. As the routes overhang more, the draw naturally hangs from the rock into the air and it's harder to clip because of that. I like to use the middle finger of my clipping hand to steady the biner by hooking it around the bottom. This will keep it from moving. I'll grab the rope between my thumb and first finger to actually push the rope past the gate of the biner. You might find this useful in your beginner or moderate routes, but relaxing and getting a good stance is way more important in that arena. I didn't have to worry about the clipping hand much until climbing overhanging 5.10 or higher routes.

Hope that helps.

I was very nervous about blowing clips when I started leading. I hung a quick draw from the rear view mirror of my Ford Escort and practiced clipping while I was driving. This helped me a bunch, though now that I think about it, being distracted while driving was probably far more dangerous than botching a clip would have been.

Practice, Practice, Practice! You will get better. I found that orienting the gate towards you helps, only because I clip using my middle finger to control the caribiner, just by placing downward pressure. (Not much, just enough to stabilize) At the same time using my index finger and thumb to clip the rope into the biner. But it is practice that will make it all make since.

All good advice and much appreciated. Thanx bros

I have a question about this as well (noob alert!). When I watch the "pro's" in the video's, I notice that they kinda half-twist the rope first before clipping. Does that make it easier?

Depending on which hand holds the rope and whether the gate faces left or right, you have four situations (two symmetric pairs). You may want to make sure that you practice all of them.

The second page of this document has some diagrams illustrating common techniques.

Holy crap, I just spit krautburger on my screen!
jfox, you totally rock dude!! Damn, that picture is brilliant!
I haven't had a burst of laughter like that in far too long.
Thank you for the awesome picture brutha!

Re: topic.
If I'm off-balance I'll grab the biner loop with my ring finger, providing some (body) stability while I clip with my thumb and forefinger - the beauty here is that if you're around soem absolute purist (regarding hanging on gear), it's really hard to tell if your stabilization is benefiting from your clip. . . ha!

Next time you're on the couch, tie a rope to your belt loop. Then hold a draw out in front of you and clip with the other hand. Alternate hands and gate direction so you practice every combo with both hands. Experiment with different technique and find what works most efficiently. Once you get the muscle memory down, it makes it so easy on the rock. I did this after blowing clips when i first started. Next time out it was a no brainer. Plus its safe and you can waste a whole evening or two gettin it down.

-E

Ethics are for bar stools "Warren Harding". If your trying for the X games I can see where this might matter. As long as you are having fun and climbing, your doing OK in my book. I personally would rather grab the damn thing clip in two seconds and head up than spend minutes fiddling around trying to clip for some profound esthetical purpose. I guess at times I am impatient and just want to get on with the climb and am not too worried about the puriest matters of the sport. But practice would help. Put an eye screw in the ceiling over your couch and run a long sling down to a biner. That way you can sit on the couch while watching Oprah and practice cliping the rope in with one hand. After awhile you can clip fast in your sleep. Lying on the couch will prepare you for clipping under a roof (never tried this, but it would make good U-tube) Just make sure that you wash your hands with the beer your drinking so the oil from the thick crust pizza does not get exsorbed into the rope. Makes the line quite slippery and is no substitue for a dry treatment. :)
Cheers

practice, practice, practice. watch a movie while you practice clipping- remember to practice all 4 clipping styles (gate facing left, right hand and left hand, gate facing right, right hand and left hand). do it until its second nature on all 4 techniques.

also, generally speaking, if the route is bolted properly, you should have a good stance or at least a really good hold to clip off of- this usually means the bolt will be at your waist for the clip. so, if the stance is precarious, it would be a good idea to look above to see if another move or two would put you in a better position to clip. this can be hard because the natural urge to clip as soon as possible can be overwhelming (especially if a ground-fall is possible) sometimes.

The best advice I can offer is to climb with experienced people who can show how they do things and can correct you before bad things happen.

I see that you've climbed near Tucson and assume you live nearby. I live in Tucson and would be more happy to show you some basic stuff sometime. Just PM me.

Thanks Brenta. I had to draw this scenario out to see it clearly. You're right in both cases the leader would take a 16' fall. So missing the clip above your head you'd land 12' below the last bolt, while missing the clip at waist level you'd land 8' below the last bolt. Depending on how far down the ground or ledge is...

That instinct of wanting to clip above one's head is pretty strong for some of us.

I'm new to this so tell me if I'm way off. I was leading a hard climb yesterday (hardest Ive ever done) and it occured to me that if i cliped the Qd to the rope while it was hanging from me, and then clip the qd to the bolt/ancor I had much less of a chance of missing the clip and panicking. I didnt actually try this but I thought it was a good idea?

you guys will probably see problems with this that I overlooked, but the biggest issue i see is if you drop the quick draw between being clipped to the rope and the ancor it will slide down the rope and be just a s good as dropped unnatached.

I'm guessing there is a reason that people don't do this so please enlighten a NEWB.

Not so famous, thanks for the response. I figured that it would be ok but didn't want to just go for it and then realize it was stupid because of some unforseen result. Now i Wish that I had because it was definatly a desperate situatiion where I could not get comfotable enough to hang off one arm for an extended period of time, and I think that I could have done it quicker clipping the rope first. I ended up taking a 12-15 foot fall and banging my hip pretty hard, so that kinda sucked, but it worked out OK in the end.