I was rummaging through some of the climbing photos I have taken in the past and across something interesting. If I remember correctly, this is her first time leading:

Note the super hard catch being given by the belayer...

Hard catch? Looks like she fell with the bolt at waist level and ended like 10 feet below it... That's gotta be heavy sarcasm...haha

nice angle, action pics. how did she survive?

In picture 4 you see about 18" of rope out from her harness to the draw. Is that an optical illusion?

not how you're supposed to catch a fall

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I haven't been at this for very long. What do you all mean by a hard catch? I was under the impression that as a belayer, I should throw the rope in the brake position as soon as I see a leader starting to fall, and that we use dynamic ropes so that we don't have to let the rope run to provide a soft catch... am I misguided? If so where am I going wrong or what am I missing? If not for all the criticism, I would have thought this guy did a good job, simply because he did catch the fall quickly.

It's sport...soft catch hard catch...meh?

Lets talk about her falling posture and how close her un-helmeted head came to the rocks?

When I was part of a trad class I spent a lot of time catching falls and found I could give a soft catch with my eyes open or closed. Granted I knew the climbing was going to fall at any moment so that made a difference. I just found it interesting I was able to give a soft catch with my eyes closed just as well as when I was looking at the climber.

Where is that though looks like fun :)

The main problem here is this chick doesn't know how to fall. I don't know how any of you jockeys can look at those photos and not see a total rag doll shit show of a fall as the main issue.

She needs to add some indoor, low to the floor bouldering into her routine and work up from there.

The whole hard catch theory is nearly irrelevant. The route just isn't steep enough for it to matter much.

I'd say there was way too much slack in the rope before complaining about a hard catch.

Always got a chuckle and cringe out of this one. On I Claudius at Shelf.

mountainproject.com/v/106245860

A softer catch is just as important in sport climbing as it is in trad climbing. First priority as to whether the catch is hard/soft is to keep the climber off of the deck and off of any ledges...obviously you don't want to give them a soft catch right onto a ledge. If there is nothing to hit, then a soft catch will not only affect the impact force but will prevent the climber from slamming into the wall. In sport climbing, this is a major consideration and will save lots of ankle injuries. This is even MORE important when the route is not extremely steep since it is more likely the climber will slam into the wall. If it is really steep then there is nothing to hit but air (although a soft catch still feels better). Keeping slack in the rope does not reduce the fall factor unless the fall factor is greater than 1. Do not introduce slack in the system to give a soft catch, learn to let the fall pull you up (or step into the fall) or learn to allow some rope through the ATC if you are a heavy belayer with a lighter climber. As a light climber with mostly heavier partners, I find it easy to give soft catches and that my partners have to work to give me one.

HELMETS, PEOPLE!

Was she trying to latch onto the fin/feature with her outstretched right hand while in flight? If she did, I think that action might have spun her around and nearly causing a nasty head injury.