Bailing off a climb

I was going to start going leading outside this spring and I was wondering how you guys bail out of climbs if there too hard or you run out of time and need your draws, texas rope trick looks kinda sketchy and I'm not crazy about leaving carabiners, maybe those are the only ways, i just wanted to hear from you.

Leave a carabiner.

Or downclimb.

Man up and finish the climb or leave a biner. Dont leave quicklinks please they're annoying to get off. If youre just starting out leading your limiting factor is probably going to be your mental game, so this will be a good way to motivate ya to finish the climb

Get some old biners and leave them. 

Take a stick clip. You can anchor to a bolt and send the rope down. Bring up the stick clip.  Be a top rope hero for the hard part.

You may get scoffed at. I climbed with a woman who did this constantly.

If it's your first season, get some bailer biners.

Stick clip through the crux.

Yeah no quicklinks please. I just dealt with removing one - I was in a stem corner so I could use both hands and it still sucked. 

This guy has 35 ovals for $2 each. That's even cheaper than a quicklink. And you're giving some money to a fellow climber instead of home depot. 

Leave a full draw every time you bail. Soon enough that will incentivize you to keep pushing through the hard stuff. 

Stick clip through... fuck the haters

Bail up.

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/106368116/bailing-on-sport-route
https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/106703095/cleaning-a-route-you-didnt-get-up
https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/110225870/links-for-bailing-sport-climbs

Ryan Swanson wrote:

Like we learned in the Gripped trailer, the only way down, is up

And then only if you've suffered a head injury and are climbing with a hot blonde boulderer with no lead climbing experience.

Parker Wrozek wrote:

Stick clip through the crux.

Don't do that. 

trailridge wrote:

Don't do that. 

Why?

Parker Wrozek wrote:

Stick clip through the crux.

Yes, do that.  There is absolutely no reason not to, it is perfectly safe, it will allow you to try working the hard moves on TR, and it keeps you from having to leave gear which can be a pain to remove even if it's only a biner (i.e. a hard clip in the crux with a hanger that is too small to alow a second biner to fit).

Biners are cheap. Your life and your partners life are not. Ditch one and keep the other. ;) 

Jack main wrote:

... i just wanted to hear from you.

Rap in from above to recover whatever bail gear you left?

Of course that is not always possible.  But when at that stage in life where the cost of a 'biner matters, add access from above when choosing single-pitch routes that your team may not be able to finish.  

 "Stick clip through the crux", you can sure do that.

However the most important part of that advice which is lacking from above is don't do anything stupid doing it. You want to avoid being clipped in to just a bolt with a a quickdraw while you're pulling tons of slack to stick clip through. Go with someone experience for details. Basically just be aware that while your messing around with a stick clip & pulling in tons of slack, you may be in a situation where you're going to hit the ground if for some reason your tether comes undone or if you just happen to have leached to a single bolt that's shitty and not able to withstand the possibly weird directions of pull you may exert on it a you move around.

You may also inadvertantly drop the said stick clip onto your belayer.

So yes no shame in stick clipping through the crux, but just make sure to not be stupid.

=============

That being said, the REAL advice is that this situation you're describing should probably not happen. When you're starting to climb outside, your primary focus should be to understand how it's different from the gym (both from a safety perspective but also just a climbing perspective), not pushing grades. You're gonna feel like you're learning to climb all over again the first times (read: a few dozens/hundred climbs). Once you start to "get it" it may make sense to start pushing it, but by then you would normally have a better of sense what you can and cannot do. Because practically speaking, if you're climbing say 10+, it just makes little sense to me to get on some cruxy 11c/d with a really hard crux move that makes the grade (so read descriptions). A better approach if you want to push grades would be to get on some sustained (but without any single move that's particularly hared) 11-. You won't be able to link it, but you won't be stopped by a single very hard move either.

Grades only really matter from the perspective of evaluating YOUR personal progress in climbing.  Getting on some climb that's way harder than your grade and somehow flailing your way up it while cheating half the moves doesn't do any good (saved for undeserved spraying rights). If you start to see "the grade I'm climbing" as meaning "the grade I can REGULARLY climb" then the temptation to get on something that is way too hard for you and get into the predicament you describe will ease.

If you want to do really hard single moves, get into bouldering! Way more bang for your buck if that's what you need....

Just aid through it, use a sling or yard the dogbone through the moves. Better to finish filthy then bail. Otherwise you have to leave a bail biner and accept it will get bootied by someone who can finish the climb. It happens. Leaving quicklinks is bad form. But frankly if you're just clipping bolts, you should know your limitations well enough to predict whether you or your partner can finish a route.

There’s times you want to bail due to weather though. If it’s single pitch I recommend this method
https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/111475785