Grabbing the rope when falling?

I was told not to grab the rope when falling and prepare my hands to handle the impact. However, If the climbers hit a little ledge or slope in the middle of the fall, grabbing the rope can save them from flipping upside down. What do you think? Would you even have time/opportunity to grab the rope? Should you grab it with a single hand?

Are you talking about grabbing the belayer's side of the rope, on the other side from you, relative to your last piece of protection? You definitely shouldn't grab it during the fall, that is just asking for rope burns. AFTER you finished falling though, on the swing in, feel free to grab it, if you can. It will help you get back on the route.

Are you talking about YOUR (climber) side of the rope? Right around the knot? That is not going to help you avoid flipping in the scenario you describe (hitting the ledge and flipping backwards). You should avoid falling in the ledge scenario anyway. The concept of no-fall territory is new for people coming out of climbing gyms, where you are expected to take falls on an easy route while taking a belay test. But on real rocks you will be sometimes in a you-must-not-fall scenarios. Ledges on low-angle terrain fall under that category. Either protect them by placing gear, if you can, or don't fall.

Bottom line: don't grab your rope in a fall. There are some exceptions. I have seen a video of someone grabbing the rope that was behind his knee is a very long fall, and freeing the rope before the end of the fall. I don't think this is something you should be trying right now.

Just DON'T do it!

I took a fairly small slab fall this summer where my hand ended up on the outside of the belayer’s side of the rope and I got some nasty rope burn. Not a fun time and NOT what one should ever try to do.

In courses like Warriors Way you will be taught not to grab the rope when falling but in my observations I would say about 99.9% of climbers grab it.  It will take a lot of practice falling while specifically not grabbing it to stop instinctually grabbing the rope in an unplanned fall.

Ivanchenko Vladimirwrote:

If the climbers hit a little ledge or slope in the middle of the fall, grabbing the rope can save them from flipping upside down. 

I'm imagining this in my head and if you're hitting the ledge or slope with any meaningful amount of force, I don't think grabbing the rope would fully prevent you from flipping. You would have to be like bracing your arms to stop that from happening, wouldn't you? I'm sure you can find videos of inverted falls where the climber was initially holding the rope as well. 

I took a lead to permit me to lead climb and lead belay in an indoor rock climbing gym recently. The tester made a comment about "be sure not to grab the rope when you whip". Idk what the thought process was.  I regret not asking the teenager "why", instead I looked the kid in the eye hoping they would know how big of deal I was and give me the lead permit.  Now curiosity runs deep like an infection inside and it keeps me up at night wondering "why" cant I grab the rope.

edit: thinking about, the 'no grab rope' warning may just be a way to signal to someone else that you know nothing about rock climbing

I can imagine a scenario where (grabbing climber end) the rope could loop around your finger/hand while it's loose, then tighten as you weight it. Ouchie.

Micah Robinsonwrote:

I can imagine a scenario where (grabbing climber end) the rope could loop around your finger/hand while it's loose, then tighten as you weight it. Ouchie.

Amputation of right index finger due to lead fall in climbing gym

I took a very much unexpected lead fall. I think my feet must have blown as I was neither pumped nor expecting a fall. I knew immediately that something was wrong, and when I looked at my right had this was affirmed. My belayer lowered me to the ground (which I was not far from), and I got a better look at my hand. My right index finger was fractured cleanly through the proximal phalanx (between knuckle on palm and next knuckle) and the bone was protruding out. It was quite a messy finger and hard to describe because of how twisted and gnarly it looked. Refer to the attached x-ray. I was bleeding, but not a whole lot. Long story short, EMS came immediately and I was taken to the ER. By 9:30pm I was in surgery. I spent 11 hours in surgery as the surgeon did a nerve graft harvest from my Achilles region and vessel graft harvest from my right wrist. He reattached the finger, and it stayed on for 2 days however it received minimal blood flow. I had the entire right index finger amputated on Monday sept 5th, 3 days after the accident/reattachment, as it was very clear that it was the best option (and only option, at this point). What happened during the accident was somehow, I am not quite sure how, the rope looped itself around my index finger during my lead fall. I am not one to grab my rope during a lead fall, and I take hundreds of lead falls per year.

https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201214419/Thumb-Amputated-By-Rope-in-Fall 

a male climber (age 29) was attempting to lead Cottonmouth, a 5.10a sport climb at Cotton Top, a small crag on the north side of the New River Gorge. The climber moved quickly through he lower portion of the climb. Once he was within arm’s reach of the fifth bolt, he clipped a quickdraw to the bolt hanger. Taking slack in the rope, the climber attempted to clip the draw with his right hand and at that point fell approximately 20 feet. At some point during the fall, the rope encircled the climber’s left thumb, and when the rope came taut the thumb was amputated at the midpoint of the proximal phalange (just above the MCP joint, the second of the three joints in the thumb).

And, this is WHY YOU SHOULDN'T TRY TO GRAB THE ROPE -

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1580/PR10-05 

An 18-year-old otherwise healthy, right-hand dominant, experienced rock climber was climbing at an indoor climbing wall. After leading a 12-m long climbing route, he attempted to use his left hand to clip the rope into the anchor carabiner at the end of the route, 2 m above the last protection. During this maneuver, he lost balance and fell approximately 5 m before he was caught by the dynamic climbing rope. During falls, experienced climbers are taught to grab the rope approximately 50 cm away from their harness to stabilize their body during the deceleration phase. While attempting this maneuver, the climber's right index and middle fingers became entangled in a loop of the rope. The full force of the fall was thus transferred to his middle and index fingers before being distributed by the harness. This caused a near-complete amputation of the index finger at the distal interphalangeal joint level. Only the flexor digitorum profundus tendon was in continuity, whereas all vessels, nerves, and soft tissue were completely avulsed. A minor soft tissue injury occurred at the middle finger. Because of the mechanism of injury with severely compromised soft tissue as well as delays during transfer resulting in a presentation 12 hours after the injury, a replantation was not attempted and a completion amputation was performed at the distal interphalangeal level.

 With all due respect, these are mostly surprisingly unhelpful comments. Of course, it is a climber side of the rope. And flipping is a real thing. Would you rather hit the wall with your butt or you spine and back of your head? Don't fall? Thanks a lot for the lame advice!

Don't fall is valuable advice. You'll need to learn that skill if you want to avoid injury in certain situations. You'll also need to learn humility, to learn anything. Climb safe.

I’ve learned something- would have thought entrapping a digit like that was much more unlikely than it seems to be. That said I think it’s situational- I have absolutely stopped myself flipping upside by grabbing the rope. Sometimes it’s a good idea, sometimes it’s not.

I think there are many “rules” that are helpful to keep beginners out of trouble while they have no context within which to make more informed and nuanced decisions based on specific situations. 

Ivanchenko Vladimirwrote:

 With all due respect, these are mostly surprisingly unhelpful comments. Of course, it is a climber side of the rope. And flipping is a real thing. Would you rather hit the wall with your butt or you spine and back of your head? Don't fall? Thanks a lot for the lame advice!

Ivanchenko Vladimirwrote:

 And flipping is a real thing. Would you rather hit the wall with your butt or you spine and back of your head? Don't fall? Thanks a lot for the lame advice!

Yes, flipping is a real thing, hitting the wall with any body part hurts - this is based on personal experiences. And, no, rope being wrapped around anything had nothing to with the flips. 

As to grabbing the rope and doing something useful - sure, go for it. But, be warned about the consequences of fucking it up - look at the links posted above.
Now, it is really easy to believe that YOU would do better, that is understandable. And there are quite a few ways that climber taking a fall may fuck himself up when trying to prevent impact with the wall - broken wrists, arm/elbow dislocations being the most common. 

Sounds to me your experiences are based on very mellow falls,  you need to be exposed more to what climber's fall may look like - here is the best female comp climber in the world taking a comp fall -

https://youtube.com/shorts/uPELPmLtozs?si=bNEe8gQ2pcU2tIjT 

Wasn’t Tommy honwell able to belay himself when climbing the nose for the speed record by grabbing the rope when he fell?

Adam Wwrote:

In courses like Warriors Way you will be taught not to grab the rope when falling but in my observations I would say about 99.9% of climbers grab it.  It will take a lot of practice falling while specifically not grabbing it to stop instinctually grabbing the rope in an unplanned fall.

This isn't even remotely true. Good climbers with experience falling basically never do this. I'm not saying it's weird to have it be your first instinct, but it's not common. Half the time you're done before you even register that you're falling, honestly.

Coral Bowman on - or rather - off the Naked Edge in 1978 springs to mind. Somewhat different situation, admittedly.

Natalie Blackburnwrote:

This isn't even remotely true. Good climbers with experience falling basically never do this. I'm not saying it's weird to have it be your first instinct, but it's not common. Half the time you're done before you even register that you're falling, honestly.

Jasonwrote:

Pic possibly guy "frozen" in position starting to pull up rope to clip then falling. Probably not actually grabbing rope due to falling?

Watch when you lower someone from a sport climb. If they grab the rope then? They're a rope grabber to their core.

If, on the other, ahem, hand, they lean back, oblivious to the primal danger of leaning backward over a void, and swing their arms around like monkeys hootin and hoillerin, and carrying on like a kid?

You're looking at a climber right there, not a rope grabber.

Hope that helps you spot the tribes better.

Ivanchenko Vladimirwrote:

 With all due respect, these are mostly surprisingly unhelpful comments. Of course, it is a climber side of the rope. And flipping is a real thing. Would you rather hit the wall with your butt or you spine and back of your head? Don't fall? Thanks a lot for the lame advice!

Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but didn’t you have a thread about having a propensity for flipping upside down that you thought was due to poor harness fit? 

Like most things, there is no 100% consistent best practice but generally it’s best to not grab your rope when falling. 

You don’t want to go limp and fall like what skiers call being a “dead sailor” either, you want to practice enough body awareness to fall like a cat. This is why experienced  skiers will commonly grab a ski edge or do something that sets them up for the landing and inexperienced skiers will instinctively “roll down the windows” trying to maintain position. The same goes for climbers, observe the difference how one boulderer will fall and stick a perfect landing while another will fall and land in the back seat and collapse to their butt. Climbers can practice this awareness by jumping on a trampoline, jumping into foam pits, jumping into pools,  bouldering and practicing good form when falling. 

I hope that you found a good fitting harness (if you’re the same person) and that my advice seems clear and reasonable and helpful.