Scary fall in Joshua Tree

Re driving? Agricultural states often have exemptions for kids to get to school. A lot learn to drive on farms and ranches as soon as their feet can reach the pedals. Kids drive tractors and such, way young.

I didn't drive a car that young, but I was bombing around (illegally) on motorcycles at about 12ish? Learned to shoot before I learned to read.

Idaho is still a bit cavalier about technicalities like laws. Government is..... tolerated. Mostly. When we feel like it. :-)

Best, Helen

"It's only 5.6" at JTree...

One piece of advice I'll add is, if possible, don't stand directly under your climber. Sometimes this is unavoidable, but many times it just takes a little bit of creativity and foresight when building your anchor. Those things come with experience so it just reinforces the importance of not pushing grade too quickly and climbing with someone more experienced.

Glad both of you are ok!

Sloppy Second wrote: "It's only 5.6" at JTree...

quoted for truth

15 is too young to lead?

Many of the stonemasters were doing FAs in their late teens.

Thanks for the comments. A few more points to add:

1. Yes, we were both wearing helmets (always do)
2. GriGri being used to belay from the anchor
3. We've climbed several (short, very easy) multi-pitch climbs before as followers. One with a pro guide the day before and several before with friends. This was his first lead climb on a multi anywhere, though.
4. The 15 year old is a strong climber (stronger than me) and has had lots of gear placement ground practice, several days of pro instruction on gear placement and has led probably a dozen single-pitch trad routes
5. Ten year old (and Mom) were at the base of the climb, and we'd had our usual safety briefing and a good plan in place for what to do in an emergency
6. The beta on this route is a little confusing as you can see by looking at the various route photos and descriptions on this site as well as the JT guidebooks
7. We had a bomber anchor (mostly hanging, but a small ledge for our feet) of two solid bolts and a quad-tied cordalette.

I'm a firm believer in taking calculated risks. I made the call that his skills were up to this challenge, and then I recalled him when it was clear he was struggling/off route. Could I have done things better/differently? Sure, hindsight is easy, but do I think I made the right calls in the moment? Yep.

There are risks in everything we do and my job as a parent is to mitigate the risks as much as possible while still allowing my children the opportunity to learn from mistakes, even if those mistakes can have some pretty serious consequences.

I do appreciate all of the feedback and comments, however. 

Sloppy Second wrote: 15 is too young to lead?

Many of the stonemasters were doing FAs in their late teens.

IIRC, Chris MacNamara and partner did the Zodiac when both were around 15.

No doubt you made some mistakes, but I really don't think you made any serious errors in judgement.

Like many JTree moderates, that route is not straightforward and there is conflicting information in guidebooks and on MP. The only way to understand some of these challenges is to experience them yourself.

Thanks for the writeup, glad you're both okay and congrats for starting into the world of multipitch climbing. For me, reading through the route page, there were a couple of red flags that indicated that this route might not have been a great choice for a first multipitch / new trad leader:

• From the description: "If you're comfortable on run out 5.6 slab, there's no need to build the intermediate belay -- just don't place any pieces on the second pitch." This says to me that protection could be hard to find on the second pitch.
• From a photo: There's clearly some ambiguity about where the route goes, and which of the variations is actually 5.6
• From another photo: "felt easier & safer". This implies that there is a variation on this route that is harder, and is hard to protect
• From Dave Cox's comment: "If you want the 5.6 take the exposed arete to the left of these cracks (tie off flakes)". This says that while there is a 5.6 route up this, it again may not be easy to protect for a new leader, and the exposure can easily mess with a new (or experienced) leader's head.

When evaluating a climb, make sure you're reading between the lines to get a full picture of the route. As you're now aware, there's a huge difference between a 5.6 that's suitable for a new leader and a 5.6 that's exposed, unintuitive, and potentially runout. Especially as a new leader, make sure you're watching out for those warning signs and not getting in too far over your head. Guide books and grades will rarely give you the whole story (whether this is good/intentional to preserve the adventure is an entirely different discussion).

Sloppy Second wrote: 15 is too young to lead?

Many of the stonemasters were doing FAs in their late teens.

I don’t think anyone is implying that.  Only that the consequences are greater if a tragedy happens.

Competent Leader wrote: Hell when the locals found out some out of towner let his son lead his first multipitch at South Woodson, well, let's just say nobody ever saw that guy again rumor has it the body was cut into tiny pieces and glued to the glue-ups up near K2 nawmean? CHeers

Maybe the yokels in Jahtree need to start carding the juveniles, eh?

Ted Pinson wrote:

Only that the consequences are greater if a tragedy happens.

How so?

I didn't read all posts in their entirety, but did not see this concept posted:

It is more conservative and perhaps safer to do first leads of climbs you have already followed, especially if followed with the intent to subsequently lead. Being observant as follower you learn the route itself and gain knowledge of protection options and rope management strategy.

Sounds like you both learned a very powerful lesson. Glad you aren't injured.

If you knew he was pumped and might fall how is it you didn't know he fell until he hit you? Sounds like you were a bit unattentive. I'm not trolling you, just pointing it out. Also - his piece held so that was good...

 I think you had a pretty typical JTree experience. The easier graded routes can be extremely funky and/or sandbagged. ie the "5.6 which should only be led by those competent at 5.8"

Glad you're both OK and I think you will be just fine going forward, as it's easy to see you emphasize safety.

To add another data point. My first 5.6 multi in the park was Mike's Books. I jammed straight up the flake and neglected to put a piece in so my follower could go around on the ledge if needed. I went to pull onto the slab and greased off. Thankfully I have the agility of a meerkat and landed in the bush unscathed but that sure served up a slice of humble pie. Don't even get me started on the wide bit on pitch 2 of that route!! 5.6 my butt!!!

David Dentry wrote: Thanks for the comments. A few more points to add:

1. Yes, we were both wearing helmets (always do)
2. GriGri being used to belay from the anchor
3. We've climbed several (short, very easy) multi-pitch climbs before as followers. One with a pro guide the day before and several before with friends. This was his first lead climb on a multi anywhere, though.
4. The 15 year old is a strong climber (stronger than me) and has had lots of gear placement ground practice, several days of pro instruction on gear placement and has led probably a dozen single-pitch trad routes
5. Ten year old (and Mom) were at the base of the climb, and we'd had our usual safety briefing and a good plan in place for what to do in an emergency
6. The beta on this route is a little confusing as you can see by looking at the various route photos and descriptions on this site as well as the JT guidebooks
7. We had a bomber anchor (mostly hanging, but a small ledge for our feet) of two solid bolts and a quad-tied cordalette.

I'm a firm believer in taking calculated risks. I made the call that his skills were up to this challenge, and then I recalled him when it was clear he was struggling/off route. Could I have done things better/differently? Sure, hindsight is easy, but do I think I made the right calls in the moment? Yep.

There are risks in everything we do and my job as a parent is to mitigate the risks as much as possible while still allowing my children the opportunity to learn from mistakes, even if those mistakes can have some pretty serious consequences.

I do appreciate all of the feedback and comments, however.

Is this a grammar issue, or were you really belaying a leader directly off the anchor with a gri-gri on a multipitch route ?

Tim Schafstall wrote:

Is this a grammar issue, or were you really belaying a leader directly off the anchor with a gri-gri on a multipitch route ?

I was going to ask this same question and Tim beat me to it.

I hope you know that you're never supposed to belay a leader off the anchor. Ever. Even when you belay the follower off the anchor and they swing into leading, you need to take that Grigri or ATC OFF the anchor and belay from your harness. 

Sloppy Second wrote: "It's only 5.6" at JTree...

LOL at this. I led a 5.4 at J-tree just the other day  that was more, uh, thought-provoking than a bunch of 5.9-5.10s elsewhere. 

I got to that same spot same climb years ago with very little experience (after having studied the topo carefully) and we bailed.

Señor Arroz wrote:

I hope you know that you're never supposed to belay a leader off the anchor. Ever. Even when you belay the follower off the anchor and they swing into leading, you need to take that Grigri or ATC OFF the anchor and belay from your harness. 

This is not true. There are definitely situations where it is appropriate to belay a leader off the anchor. However, you are correct that you should NOT belay a leader directly off the anchor with a GriGri (or any other type of ABD unless explicitly stated by the manufacturer). This technique is called fixed-point belaying (or direct anchor belaying).

Video from the ACMG: vimeo.com/44869774
Video from ENSA: youtu.be/eqZQnCGl24A
Some slides I've compiled: staff.weber.edu/derekdebrui…