Climb safe = don't fall

"The majority of acute climbing accidents are due to falls", therefore climbing is exponentially safer if the leader does not fall. This is objectively more consequential to avoiding injury than any other single precaution. The ethos of the leader should not fall and the skill of downclimbing should be taught along side belaying. Learning when it is safe to fall and pushing personal ability to the point of falling should be secondary. A lot of energy in the climbing community is spent on safety, yet falling is rarely included in these discussions despite being the leading cause of accidents. Has anyone heard of or experienced instruction in this? Anyone want to theorize why? 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6981967/#:~:text=The%20majority%20of%20acute%20climbing,14%2C17%2C19%5D.

I too have noticed that most serious climbing injuries start with a fall.  Something to think about.

I'd argue the majority of acute climbing accidents are due to climbing.  Reducing the amount of climbing we do would greatly reduce the number of accidents climbers have, so I'm instituting the new rule "The leader must never climb".

I also heard a study showing the majority of deaths due to firearms actually come from bullets.  Something to think about next time you engage in gunplay. 

Maybe this is a troll. Maybe not. In any case, improving your ability to climb harder and harder grades is in vogue right now, as is getting comfortable with taking leader falls. Has this led to more injuries? ...maybe? Every year we lose a few climbers in fatal accidents, and these are often unrelated to willingness to fall on sport lead. I can think of more recent fatalities that happened on walk-offs, rappels, or while soloing than leading sport. So maybe the most numerous climbing accidents are the bangs and scrapes of lead falls, but perhaps not the most serious ones.

Still, there are many ways to enjoy being a climber. I've been climbing about 3x/week for 20 years, gym or outside, and have always avoided falling on lead. It's just simple math that the more falls you take, the higher your chance of eventually catching a bad landing. Sure, practicing falling can make you better at it, but math is math. It's similar to how putting yourself in the back country in snow season frequently increases your chance of being caught in an avalanche, no matter how skilled or thoughtful you are about avalanche danger.

Avoiding injury so I can keep climbing and get that sweet, sweet dopamine fix, and be a steady date for my climbing partners, is more important to me than testing my limits of fear and physique. Ymmv. Everyone finds their niche. It would be nice if those who enjoy falling were more accepting that there is no one true way to climb. 

Andy,
Its not the fall... It's the stop.

Ergo, the leader must never stop.

Cause whippers are cool bro.

OP is absolutely right. Something the sporties will never understand.

While risking pointing out the "obvious" OP refers to accidents, not fatalities or serious injuries. While the latter do generally seem to be often due to issues with descent (rap, lowering, walk off) - highly recommend the book Down - falling does seem to be the cause of many accidents and we all could probably benefit by reflecting more on when and how to fall/not fall.  Thus the concept of the "no fall zone" but more than that constant vigalence and situational awareness while climbing, especially on lead is critical and should be taught and reinforced much more. 

I notice a much higher willingness to lead up something one can't climb without falling than 20 years ago. I see people falling on trad routes, hanging, like it's a sport climb. This used to be considered lame. Don't know if the rate of injury is higher than it used to be.

But nobody used to wear helmets unless they were under stuff that fell off. And they made sure the rope was not under their leg which would flip them upside down if they fell.

Andy Wwrote:

 A lot of energy in the climbing community is spent on safety, yet falling is rarely included in these discussions despite being the leading cause of accidents. Has anyone heard of or experienced instruction in this? Anyone want to theorize why? 

I would venture to say that what you are proposing was pretty routine instruction before sport climbing and before the advent of gyms.  What you say is exactly what I learned when I started climbing in 1980.  

But I also learned that all climbing entails risk, and that are a lot of other risk factors that can lead to injury or death.  Once cams were introduced to trad climbing, options for good protection increased and risk from falls-  in some circumstances - was greatly decreased.  Falling became a more acceptable risk. When sport climbing on very steep to overhanging rock came along, the risk incurred from the leader falling again decreased.  So my own evolution has been "the leader must not fall" to "this placement is bomber" to "I'm not worried about this fall".  The thing is, because of my background, I can assess those various situations, whereas someone making the reverse journey - coming from a gym background and trying to transition to outdoor climbing, often does not have the perspective.

When I take newer people outside, a lot of my emphasis is on where and when it is unsafe to fall.

Falling off of routes has never hurt anyone.

It's the sudden landing.

Andy Wwrote:

"The majority of acute climbing accidents are due to falls", therefore climbing is exponentially safer if the leader does not fall. This is objectively more consequential to avoiding injury than any other single precaution. The ethos of the leader should not fall and the skill of downclimbing should be taught along side belaying. Learning when it is safe to fall and pushing personal ability to the point of falling should be secondary. A lot of energy in the climbing community is spent on safety, yet falling is rarely included in these discussions despite being the leading cause of accidents. Has anyone heard of or experienced instruction in this? Anyone want to theorize why? 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6981967/#:~:text=The%20majority%20of%20acute%20climbing,14%2C17%2C19%5D.

The entire point of Sport Climbing is to focus solely on movement over near impossible (for you) terrain. The edge of performance is right at the border of being spit off, thus falls are integral.

All you are doing is reiterating the age old trad ethos.

P Chetby wrote:

I really believe this whole mess started with Sir Isaac Newton. If he hadn't invented gravity none of this would matter. 

There’s no such thing as gravity, only time travel.

L Kapwrote:

Maybe this is a troll. Maybe not. In any case, improving your ability to climb harder and harder grades is in vogue right now, as is getting comfortable with taking leader falls. Has this led to more injuries? ...maybe? Every year we lose a few climbers in fatal accidents, and these are often unrelated to willingness to fall on sport lead. I can think of more recent fatalities that happened on walk-offs, rappels, or while soloing than leading sport. So maybe the most numerous climbing accidents are the bangs and scrapes of lead falls, but perhaps not the most serious ones.

Still, there are many ways to enjoy being a climber. I've been climbing about 3x/week for 20 years, gym or outside, and have always avoided falling on lead. It's just simple math that the more falls you take, the higher your chance of eventually catching a bad landing. Sure, practicing falling can make you better at it, but math is math. It's similar to how putting yourself in the back country in snow season frequently increases your chance of being caught in an avalanche, no matter how skilled or thoughtful you are about avalanche danger.

Avoiding injury so I can keep climbing and get that sweet, sweet dopamine fix, and be a steady date for my climbing partners, is more important to me than testing my limits of fear and physique. Ymmv. Everyone finds their niche. It would be nice if those who enjoy falling were more accepting that there is no one true way to climb. 

FWIW I have been injured more from climbing than I have from falling.

I would think the leading cause of climbing accidents is leaving the house in the first place. But don't worry - meta is working on a solution.

Connor Dobsonwrote:

FWIW I have been injured more from climbing than I have from falling.

How so? Repetitive stress injuries? Working harder than your tendons can support? Imbalance in your muscles? Making a weird move and pulling something? 

l thought rapelling accidents trumped all, and lowering accidents followed?

Falling is part of climbing.  You gotta learn how to first assess fall dangers, how to react when you fall, and how to downclimb, just like you gotta learn how to ascend.

Ignorance is the cause of most accidents

L Kapwrote:

How so? Repetitive stress injuries? Working harder than your tendons can support? Imbalance in your muscles? Making a weird move and pulling something? 

Overuse/tendonitis. Ruptured a pulley. Lots of fucked up skin from crack climbing. Lots of bloody knees from kneebars. Small stress fracture in my foot from standing in slings barefoot.

I have a friend that broke her rib on redpoint (still sent somehow) from trying hard.

I think I've been spiked once which bruised and ankle but have otherwise been fine falling across thousands of falls (I'm bad at climbing). 

I think falling on 5.low is generally a bad idea because it is ledgy but falling on 5.hard is generally fine if you place good pro and have a competent belayer. Heck often when it's redpoint time at my limit on projects I am thinking about what gear placements or bolts I can skip but still keep the falls safe. 

 I never understood people who boulder but aren't willing to take lead falls, bouldering you always hit the ground and you have some foam pads between you and the ground. Lead climbing you have a nice supple rope that takes most of the load (ideally). But I mean it's whatever people want to climb, climbing is all for whoever is doing :)

No