Clear Creek Canyon Practice Falls

Hey all,

I am trying to get one of my climbing partners more comfortable with giving me some slack, and catching falls. Just wondering if anybody can suggest a good place in Clear Creek to practice falling....

comes to mind looking at your difficulty preference on your profile. There is a nice dihedral section with clean falls if I am remembering correctly. The overhanging 5.10+s to the right of that route are better/safer for falls, but obviously a little harder and a little run out to the first bolt.

Wall of Justice if you're so inclined. Make sure you check the permanent draws first... and maybe bring a replacement or two.

I did mine at the Canal Zone, Cut Loose. Nice overhang to climb out to and let go!

I wouldn't recommend cut loose to anyone for any reason ;)

If your belayer is relatively new to lead belay and catching falls, I'd probably steer clear of the Wall of Justice too. Although all of the falls are super clean there, the belay ledge is exposed, and most people go in direct to belay (at least until the first couple bolts are clipped). Anyhow, I'm pretty sure it would freak them the f out. Also, anything worth climbing over there starts at 5.11

Best place for practice falls is on the steep wall at your local climbing gym with another friend giving a back up belay. Good for lots of reasons. 1. That ain't your rope you are whipping on repeatedly. 2. Nice and clean falls with closely spaced bolts. 3. Having a back up belayer ain't a bad idea until you are confident your friend will catch you and keep you off the deck.

Gyms are good in general for new belayers to learn to lead belay. Lots of bolts gives them lots of practice with feeding rope quickly taking in and giving out slack and catching falls.

Keep in mind that you can break your friend's ankle if you try this on a vertical wall and take too tightly. Not fun. I did that to a friend years ago and have decided to never do this "practice falling" thing again. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks for the feedback everybody.. I actually drove out yesterday afternoon to look at all the spots you guys mentioned. The gym is always my first choice for "practice" I just wanted my buddy to see that I can fall when leading a route on actual rock, and still be ok (hopefully). I was thinking about climbing up to the 4th or 5th clip and then coming down to take out a clip or two before leading the rest of the way, so it doesn't pull him in to the wall so direct. Any thoughts on this?

stupid. Do it in the gym... no difference, safer, engineered wall... etc. If you get hurt taking "practice falls" and I was the one that had to go rescue you and found out you fell on purpose when there are 21423940 climbing gyms you could have went to I'd be pretty pissed. But I generally think "practice falls" are stupid anyways. Want to practice falling? Climb harder...