Clipping the rope with one hand

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.

Devin C. wrote: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.

This is commonly done when you know a clip is going to be especially desperate. I wouldn't think it would be efficient for all clips, but I know I've done that a bunch for first clips off the ground when it's so strenuous I didn't think I would be able to hang the draw, then pull the rope up and clip, without risking a ground fall before getting it clipped. The downside is that at least half the time, I get it twisted, so I usually don't use the rigid style draws for that and use a regular looped runner.

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.

Jay Knower wrote: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.

Yes, this is the way.

I was surprised when reading through this thread that nobody suggested the most obvious remedy. That is do a bunch of lead climbs in the gym. New leaders can practice clipping a rope while they are being belayed on a second rope rigged for top rope. Not so new leaders can do the whole deal. You can get a lot more pitches in (and a lot more clipping practice) climbing indoors than you can climbing outdoors. And it's arguably a lot safer and forgiving of an environment than most outdoor crags. In addition to becoming proficient in making the clip, you also want to practice other good safety measures like avoiding back clipping, avoiding z-clipping, and being aware of how your leg is positioned with respect to the rope. Of course these are all things you need to pay attention to while trad climbing too. Most gyms have staff who can help you develop good clipping techniques. Have fun out there!

Dave Pilot wrote: avoiding z-clipping,

The worst is when you accidentally z-clip at the crux and blow your on-sight flash fiddling around trying to redo it.

Not So Famous Old Dude wrote: The worst is when you accidentally z-clip at the crux and blow your on-sight flash fiddling around trying to redo it.

Yep, or when you don't notice that you z-clipped and you do the desperate dyno to the next clip and the rope stops you in mid flight. WTF?!?