What kind of leader are you?

Do you sew up splitters and shake in your boots? (nothing wrong with that)
do you purposely skip good gear so you feel more engaged with the rock?
Do you love R or X rated climbing?
Are you all about following and saying "hell if someone else wants to take the risk and i still get to climb it that's fine with me"?

I know i personally feel so good after climbing my way out of a spicy situation it can't be explained... However, i don't like the feeling of being out of control... It's important to me to know when to back down...

How about you...???

Well, somedays I'm totally badass and do hard moves above small pro, without a sound, no bother like,

and somedays I whimper and cry and shout down that "I don't want to do this, I'm getting really scared, eeep I'm falling off, eek eek eeeeek" and then fall a measly 1 foot onto my gear, cry and go home.


I'm currently trying to work out the exact cigarettes:coffee:donuts ratio (currently good at 5:1:2) that results in cruising rather than crying...

I tend to run it out in easy terrain, protect moderate (5.9ish, for me) terrain pretty well (pieces every 10ish feet), but if I'm getting into the ten range for a sustained pitch, all bets are off. If I can find the stances with relative ease, then I'll throw the gear in, but if it isn't obvious, or I can spot a stance 15 feet off, I'm way more happy running it out until it's convenient.

generally speaking, I do like R rated climbing, and runouts tend not to phase me too much - i might even be exhibiting physical signs of nervousness; heart pounding, weak feeling limbs, but my head is pretty much always in 100%. there have been some scary moments on the rock, but they're the exception to the rule. this tendency to be alright without much pro is, i think, reflected in my enjoyment of granite slab climbing and wide cracks. can't get enough of the scary stuff!

I tend to sink a whole rack in a 40' pitch. I'm a pus.

Tis better to pro when one is able
Then to take the long fall and be disabled!

I take a drill on already established sport climbs.

Depends on the day. A couple weeks ago I was simul-climbing 5.10 terrain on crappy rock with a single .75 between us. It was a no fall situation and I was whining and shaking at a fall that would have killed us both. I felt really out of control in that situation and didn't feel like I could back down or move forward. I'd never done a climb where I felt so completely out of control both of the moves and the situation in general while being extremely run out.

Usually if I run it out I feel very confident in myself mentally and physically.

A while after getting dropped I had trouble leading the easiest of climbs without hyperventilating.

For me it has a lot to do with how much control I feel over a situation and myself. I feel good running it out when I get good rests or have good holds on good rock but I tend to start sketching out on pumpy terrain or anything where I feel out of balance or don't see a safe position in the near future.

My head is in shambles. I have been bouldering for the past 4 months and not able to get on a rope. Don't get me wrong though, just because I have been bouldering does not mean I have not been off the deck or been in the no fall range. This whole time not paying attention to grades b/c none of the problems really have any. At the end of the summer I was able to get up to the tramway and it turns out i flashed/2nd try some v4s and climbing v5 on third or fourth tries. I was stoked to say the least. As my ramble continues I went out and climb flower of high rank at tahquitz a week later and I was walking gear up with me so i was never really to high above a piece, not committing and just climbing in bad form. none the less I need to get out on a rope more often If any one want to climb up in Idyllwild give me a shout.

It's amazing to me how one day you can feel like a super star and another day the vibe just isn't with you...

Most of the time I try to go for pro every 10-15', and can do that on thinner cracks pretty well up to my limit. Get me in a wider crack and suddenly there is gear every 5-10' and I'm getting sketched doing 5.7 moves. I do love running out easy pitches higher up multi pitch climbs though, won't even look for pro if I'm feeling comfortable enough, but will clip if something shows up like a fixed piton or a tree.

Then there are bad days, where it takes some self motivation to move above pro before I'll get comfortable and settle into my normal ignorant and blissful pro habits.

Depends on the day, but mostly, depends on the route...I climbed Chicken Delight and Nutcracker this past Sunday. I wasn't gripped, but Chicken Delight felt hard and I placed gear about ever 8 feet. Nutcracker felt comparatively easy, especially the top.

Basically, laybacking scares me, and I feel very secure in handcracks.

The following credo has served me well:

Puff tough and run it out.

naturally, I'ma mother clucker. I have forced myself to be more bold but still cluck alot.

When I'm firing on all 8, I like it spicy. It's a rare day that everything lines up, though. Depends on a couple of things: 1- How much I've been leading lately; 2-How much I want it; 3- Who I'm with (if they expect me to step up, I usually will; if they think it's over my head and they can cruise it, I may chicken out); and 4- What music is playing in my head. For a while, if I cranked "The Rough Guide to Irish Folk" on the way to the cliff, I would be totally in the zone--don't know why. Last weekend, it was Airborne Toxic Event... "I wish I had the guts to scream/that things aren't always what they seem..." Totally in that lead-space. A good night's sleep, cool temps, and lucky pants help, too.

Like most, it depends on the day and/or the route. Some days are chill, and others (I’m ashamed to say) I have been known to drive people away with a profanity laden tantrum that would make Ralphie’s father blush. That’s what I like about trad. I can space it how I feel. On ice I am more at home and usually keep cool (no pun intended).

I was actually thinking about starting a similar thread after this weekend.

I'm glad Im not alone when it comes to good days and bad days. Last weekend I totally freaked myself out on an easy lead, I stuck with it but my style was terrible!!! Its amazing how low my confidence went after that climb. Other days I have what I consider great leads and my confidence sky rockets. I recently just chalked my lead head inconsistency's up to the fact that I am fairly new to leading trad and because of that Im going to take it slow and not worry about chasing grades.

It matters - to me, anyway - who's on the other end of the rope. I do a fair amount of climbing with students, and that usually puts me at NerveWrack Point pretty quickly. Good friends and my favorite partner (my honey) keep me feeling comfy with pushing things.

Soloing and leading in the Flatirons have generally helped my lead head quite a bit. But there are still days when I can't buy a strong move. I try to just let those go and know that the next one will be better. After all these years, you get way, way more good days than bad. Like anything you do a lot that really matters to you, the bad ones feel awful while they're happening, but you know that you come out way ahead overall.

Some of the simplest, best advice I ever got on how to climb well, consistently, came from Ken Trout back in the mid 1980s: "Get a good night's sleep and eat a good breakfast." It works.

I have an urge when I am pushing myself (5.8-5.9 for me) and I get scared, if I can see the next belay I want to run it out the rest of the way to get to the belay. I have to fight to control that impulse and sink some gear. I associate the belay with safety and a place to decompress. Obviously a belay can be different things for different people but if I see a juicy ledge or ramp with pro ahead..... stay out of my way.

I climb to get to the top.
My style could be called " floundering ".
I may have a smoke or a brew at the top.
I'll try a move clean until I'm tired .Then I'll grab anything.
I climb with total strangers .
When strong I run it out .
When weak I bail.
I know my limits so I rarely get gripped.
I'd rather rate climbs on a 'fun meter".
I often stop mid pitch to look around (and rest ;-)
I'll eat the rest of that sandwich if you don't want it ...

It's all about the day for me. A 5.2 in the drizzle can be just as fufilling as the Gunks 5.8 in the fall sun .It may sound like my heads not in the climb . Maybe its not . Maybe thats why I find climbing relaxing.

it changes from day to day for me. on good days, i climb with little awareness of how far i am above the last piece of protection.

those are the days when i'm able to focus on the aesthetics of the moves. my awareness of the movement is from a more external perspective. i picture my body moving, imagine the center of gravity shifting, and anticipate the transfer of force from one point of contact to another. everything becomes very fluid and i see the moves in connected sequences.

on (many) other days, i do laps between bolts. i climb halfway to the next bolt, get spooked, down-climb to the last solid position, and repeat until I fall or I get to the point that down-climbing seems significantly more difficult than continuing upward. and, if i make it to within reach of the next bolt, i tend to attempt a desperate clip from the earliest and, usually, worst possible spot to clip from...only to find that bomber rest that'd been waiting for me at the bolt all that time.

those are the days when i have tunnel vision and i see the moves one hold at a time.

All over the map with my head, Consistancy is my crux, wish I could remember what I ate for breakfast when I'm on and if there is some connection with why I was a pussy one day and killing it the next! When I'm climbing well physically my head can sometimes interfere, maybe the X girlfriend or something in the back of my mind, or other times I am climbing like a pussy but my head is in the right place and I surprise myself,

I guess this supports my theory that the head is the strongest muscle in the body.

Consistency is a bitch and has always been my crux.

I'm the type of leader that gives you shit the night before about how early we need to get up and then call about when we should be meeting to let you know I stayed out 'till 4 am. drinking too much and not getting laid once again. Then I smoke a shit load of weed while we drive to the crag as most of my coffee spills out onto my feet since I don't have a travel mug. Luckily, I make strong coffee and by the time we get to the base I have to waste some more time dropping a deuce and returning with one sock. After some complaining about being sore from climbing the day before I try to talk you into bailing on the route I've been talking about for the last month for some shit we always do. Finally I say I don't care and that I'm going to climb like shit as I take a bunch of stuff off the rack to save weight. I start climbing slow, feeling a little nervous from the caffine. I get up into the crux and mention I should have brought all those pieces I left and that there isn't shit for gear. Then suddenly I sack up and onsight my hardest shit yet. I rarely project climbs and when I do it's more like I make a go at it once a year to see if I am any stronger. Onsight climbing is the best.