First fall on gear?

Going on 2+ years and haven't whipped on trad gear. Maybe because I climb at a much better level than my fiancé and we do routes that she enjoys without her having to jummar up, so I'm not really pushed to failure. Or perhaps my fear of whipping psychology is higher due to her being much lighter and i haven't "sucked it up" and projected hard enough. Point of the story, I'm at the point in my climbing career that I want to push my limits and see where it goes. Sure, I whip in the gym pretty darn good to increase my fiancé's active belaying skills, but that doesn't really count.....

Had been leading for about a half a year. Didn't plan on falling, but foot skated off a polished hold and I fell onto a yellow TCU that held just fine. I still try not to make falling a regular occurence.

My first fall was on a jingus nut in an irritable patina flake and it pulled and I died.

Colonel Mustard wrote:

My first fall was on a jingus nut in an irritable patina flake and it pulled and I died.

In the kitchen with the hammer?

Anyway --  Taking on gear is much different than falling on it.  The side argument is moot.

Down-climbing quickly comes into play, when you are above gear and need to get out of trouble!  Falling on gear is mentally hard to do! 

My first real whipper was very recent. I was liebacking in a corner with my left foot smeared, tried to transition that into a stemming, and the smear slipped. I had gotten overconfident because the previous climbing was easy, so I had not placed a piece in a bit. I also had been putting extensions on all my pieces, anticipating a traverse coming up. The result was a 30 foot drop, starting in air and ending with a short cheese grater slide down slab, caught by a #5 (blue) Dragon 2 cam. I took a minute to feel if anything was broken, then finished the route.

First day, 2nd pitch (at Acadia). Been whipping on rp's, peenuts, cams and rusty pitons ever since. Everything I trusted to hold held, everything that probably would hold held, everything I thought would blow blew. Learn to have solid footwork and good breathing technique, everything else falls into place when you are ready.

I started leading in the spring of 2012. My first fall on gear occurred in the summer after I'd led about 10 pitches over the course of a few months. It was a short fall, a foot or two, on a #1 Wild Country Rock (smallish). It held nicely. I didn't expect to fall, since I'd top-roped the route about 10 times already, and usually could do it clean. But the crux was well-protected, so I wasn't too concerned if I did fall.

Can't recall falling on a piece of gear since then, though. I am pretty cautious, especially about onsighting. I'm not strong enough to climb overhung routes and even most vertical ones, and there are generally bad consequences to falling on ledge-y routes.

hate falling on gear, love climbing near my limit on gear, end up falling sometimes.  I took yesterday on a climb below my limit because I was gassed, didn't warm up, and trusted my gear.  Some days are good, some are bad, falling is part of climbing.  

I've taken one fall on gear, and it was on either my first or second day trad climbing. We had been doing some sub-5.6 stuff and I was looking for one more good lead for the day. We found a nice looking crack, didn't bother to check what it was in the guidebook, but my partner said, "oh, it looks like it's probably 5.6 or 5.7". Turned out to be Breakfast of Champions (5.9) and I slid out of the fist jam at the crux onto a nice #3 C4.

That was about a year ago, and now that I'm trying to push my trad grade, I'm finding that I could still use an extra dose of confidence.

Hahaha yeah, a lot of people have whipped on that one.

I took my first gear fall on my first route. It was on a large BD Hex on the Wisconsin Side at Taylor's falls. 

I started leading about a month ago and took my first small fall on the 4th pitch in then another week later on a 5.9+ I took my first big whip (about 20ft.) while clipping the piece I had just placed on a traverse I fell on a #1 c4.

Must have been my second or third trad pitch ever. A 5.7 but rarely climbed and mossy. I don't even know what happened but I must have lost my footing in some slimy stuff. 12 footer onto a tiny nut, but I was confident it was bomber. That said, I got my thrills. Promptly asked to be lowered and left the nut and draw on the wall. I think by now I trust a nut that I've fallen on more than one that I just set. 

"A few weeks ago, a guy was climbing over on Three Pines and took his first trad fall ever, onto a purple 0.5 C4 cam. He freaked out a bit and asked to be lowered, leaving all of his gear on the wall. I offered to run up and get it for him, but he refused, saying, 'I don't need it, I'm never climbing trad again.' I ran up the climb anyway and got the gear, but by the time I got down he had packed up and left. I didn't have his contact info so I just kept it as booty. Five pieces total, three of them cams. I guess some people just take their first fall and realize trad is not for them."

That was when I realized I was going to stick with this trad thing, because after the fall, I was honestly really happy--happy that I had gotten though my first big trad fall okay, and feeling like now that I knew what it was like I could climb with a little less fear of falling (sport falls seem way less scary since).

A couple weeks into my first climbing road trip, which contained my first sport leading (American Fork) and my first trad leads (Cat in the Hat!). A clueless kid with a borrowed rack, a clueless partner, and more balls than sense. Then, in J Tree, I took a 10 footer onto a yellow TCU pulling a small roof or bulge on some 5.9 or so, I forget which one. 

I was stoked. I had no idea how dangerous I was climbing with such lack of skill, and instead interpreted the fall a license to push harder. 

A few days later another fall, poorly placed cam, and a quasi-deck fall ended me in the hospital, and a few feet from dead or maimed. But that's my second trad fall and therefore a story for another thread. Inauspicious start, without a doubt.

I went probably 8 months after my first lead on gear before I finally took a fall (was around late July).  It was on a #4 and really wasn't a big fall but I was still giddy and yelled out "OMG CAMS WORK!!".  Oddly enough I think all but one of my falls so far has been on #4s.  In fact just two and a half weeks ago I took my first more significant fall (about 10'-12') onto a #4.  It was even a little less than ideal as I had kicked it a bit out of the direction of fall (only by about 10 degrees or so).  No stem kinking, no lobes buckling.  So nice to have taken a few falls now as my headgame has improved dramatically which has made my trad lead ability improve dramatically thanks to being more comfortable placing at my waist and climbing above rather than wasting energy placing above my highest jam and climbing to my waist.  Also makes it quicker to assess my placement having it closer.

I'm new to Trad (14 routes up to grade 14 at the moment) and haven't fallen on gear yet.  I don't even like falling on sports routes! Funny about the 'leader must never fall' mantra.  The guy I climb with, who's been climbing for 38 years, always (rather aggressively) states this mantra, and my immediate thought is "if the leader never falls what the f&*k are we bothering to place all this gear for???" :-)

Carl Schneider wrote:

I'm new to Trad (14 routes up to grade 14 at the moment) and haven't fallen on gear yet.  I don't even like falling on sports routes! Funny about the 'leader must never fall' mantra.  The guy I climb with, who's been climbing for 38 years, always (rather aggressively) states this mantra, and my immediate thought is "if the leader never falls what the f&*k are we bothering to place all this gear for???" :-)

Mostly to keep the headspace of never falling lol.  In all honesty though while it's a good mental state to be in, falling on gear is not like it was in the days of only passive pro, sketch anchors, sketch bolts/pitons and runout offwidths/chimneys.