Avoiding Catastrophic Errors

i think my advice would be something along the lines of when you find yourself thinking that you are finally getting experienced and know what you are doing, maybe slap yourself in the face a few times and wake the fuck up. without a doubt almost all of my close calls came when i was thinking things were going really swell.

slim wrote:

i think my advice would be something along the lines of when you find yourself thinking that you are finally getting experienced and know what you are doing, maybe slap yourself in the face a few times and wake the fuck up. without a doubt almost all of my close calls came when i was thinking things were going really swell.

...and to add: look up the Dunning-Kruger effect.

There's a wealth of fantastic advice already up thread. But, the value of a good mentor cannot be overstated. Ideally, you'd start out with mock leading, with your mentor vetting your placements afterwards or, better yet, alongside you but on their own TR walking you through each placement in real time.

Something that new leaders often overlook is properly extending gear placements, so that the rope runs as straight as possible.  Yes, extending pieces will reduce rope drag, but lack of extension can also compromise your gear placements, because it changes the direction of pull being applied to those placements.  Don't just extend pieces that zig-zag, but also extend pieces under roofs and over ledges.  

Something I read in one of these forums, that always stuck with me was, "Keep, at least, two pieces of gear between you and the hospital."  As a new trad leader, I'd say keep four or five pieces between you and the hospital.  Sew it up!  

Triple check everything, especially anchors and repels.

Have fun!

Learn many different ways to do things. Drop a belay device, no big deal their are other ways to belay. Same with most other situations. 

The best way to learn how to place gear, is to take a lot of gear out aka by following an experienced trad leader.