Have you ever fallen while clipping?

I got to thinking about this after climbing Reason To Be last weekend at Smith Rock. It's a sport route but it occurred to me that if you were to fall while pulling up rope to clip the 3rd bolt you'd almost certainly deck. Whether that adds up to a poorly bolted and unsafe route or just a bold lead is for another thread, but that situation on a sport climb demands some focus and good planning while making the clip.

I've taken a few stupid falls in my career (dynoing for a quickdraw at Wild Iris to avoid falling off a hard move-- yeah, that was brilliant) but never the dreaded clipper. It was drilled into my head repeatedly while learning to lead that that was simply something that should never, ever happen.

Has it happened to you? What were the consequences?

Peter, some of my best whippers have occurred when blowing the clip. I have never decked or come very close to it, but having an armful of rope next to the draw when you pop certainly makes for a longer and scarier ride. I have never been hurt while taking one of these falls.

A few years ago while climbing at Shelf, I was making a clip on Purple Toenails. I was in a pseudo layback reaching for the draw with an armful of rope when my foot popped. Similar falls over the years while sport climbing, but never clipping gear.

I have only seen one person deck and guess what, he was clipping.

I also ran across an interesting picture thread on day that featured people who had just moment before, lost there front teeth.

Clipping high relative to a bolt is safer than clipping from well below it- so you pull less slack. Draw out a "last bolt" a "next bolt" and your tie in point. Now move your tie in point up and down and sketch out where your finishing point would be after a fall. You fall the same distance regardless, but the starting and finishing points are lower for pulling more slack, increasing your odds of decking.
Regardless, unless all holds are equal this is only a secondary concern. But some routes are put in to "clip high" and have no good holds for some stretch that dictates that.

-T.

Yeah, I've fallen clipping and was about 2' above the deck when my stop finally came, scared the shit out of me...come to think of it, it was the third bolt! Ha, good thing I anchored by lightweight wife belaying me or...splat. Nevertheless, I learned to take a good hard look at the 2nd and 3rd bolts on climbs now to see if I'm gonna' have issues with it.

Falling while clipping is a good excuse to climb with double ropes. Not only do you benefit from less rope drag and greater resistance to cutting your lifeline on a sharp edge, but you can alleviate issues of falling farther while pulling up slack to make a clip.

Example: Say you're on a fairly straight line of a route. You alternate which rope you clip into protection. This way your previous pro is clipped into rope A and you pull up rope B to clip your next piece, thus preventing a fall that is needlessly longer due to additional slack in the line because if you fall at this moment, rope A would catch you and the extra slack on B won't matter.

And if the protection opportunities wander around the wall, you clip one rope in the left pieces of pro and the other rope in the right pieces, thus keeping the ropes straighter and reducing rope drag.

John

At the time I didn't realize I was off route on the second pitch of the Sundial. My first two pieces of pro where kind of sketchy; third was a good nut, and the fourth was a bomber yellow number 2 metolius cam. I was negotiating an overhang (off route)when I saw a good nut placement. I had an ok undercling that I was trying to clip off of. My hand unexpectedly slipped off the hold as I was pulling the rope to within an inch of the clip. Since I was pushing hard off my feet, my body lurched backward as I fell a good distance. The cam held strong and I got quite the rush.

Yea Peter, climbed a trad route, 1 piece 6 feet off, 2, 3, 4th pieces about 5' spaced, 5th piece had to go about 8' higher; so I moved up & brought the rope way over my head to clip; and I'm off. Ended up past the first piece. Not scary at all as the section was clean & at/near vertical. My fourth piece, an alien. Yes, it did hold.

One of the best falls I've ever had was when I was clipping. I had just about climbed through the overhang and the last bolt I had clipped was right where the overhang section started. Their was a bolt about one foot past the lip and as I was getting ready to go over the lip I decided to pause and reach up to clip the bolt. I clipped it and as I was bringing the rope up to clip the draw my left foot blew out and I slipped catching myself on the lip for a split second before I was off. All and all it wasn't to bad of a fall with rope stretch included it was somewhere in the 15 to 20 foot range. Luckily I was able to change my orientation in the air so that I came into the rock feet first and managed to only bruise my heels. It did teach me an important lesson though. Be it trad or sport whenever I find myself in that position now I always try and climb through first and then clip the bolt or place the pro.

15 feet above my #3.5 camalot on Schoolroom, of all places, futzing with a large hex, reached down to pull slack and...

whoosh

head down toward my belayer.

God bless that camalot. Saved my life.

I was climbing with some beginners at shelf one afternoon. I was climbing up a bolted route to set up a top rope above a gully grovel I thought they could do. Because I didn't trust them, I set up two of my "students" in series to belay me and tied the biggest one to a tree. Lucky I did cuz as I reached well below my feet to clip a draw just barely out of reach, I popped; took a good 20 footer. It was quite the cluster getting them to gently lower me the next ten feet to the deck but i was caught!

Peter Franzen wrote:Have you ever fallen while clipping?

Not yet, but I'm sure I will some day.

Another method for making a clip easier is to use a long runner (or several draws clipped together) to allow you to make the clip near waist level instead of overhead. Once clipped in near the waist, you can then clip a shorter draw up higher.

And being a chicken, I'll grab the draw to make a clip if I'm sketching and there's a bad fall if I blow it.

I wouldn't call it being chicken, Ron.. It just sucks getting injured! A lot of my partners give me a bunch of crap for grabbing draws. Just look at Gigette's photo; she doesn't look too happy! Hope you heal quickly Gigette, and at least get out and follow some climbs soon..

After 4.5 years of climbing have yet to fall while clipping..if I felt like there was any chance of falling with a bunch of slack in my hand I'd definitely grab the draw/sling on pro/etc..

andy peter tretiakoff wrote: Just look at Gigette's photo; she doesn't look too happy! Hope you heal quickly Gigette, and at least get out and follow some climbs soon..

Thanks, Andy; I'm really looking forward to climbing again, real soon.
Don't let the photo fool you ; ), I'm still happy 80% of the time, even with a little-ol sport injury.

P.S....... I exhibited a more despondent facial expression than my profile photo when I had resorted to feeding the carp at Lake Mead the other day, for a spur of the moment "crutch friendly" activity. : )

G// ~

About a decade ago or so, I saw this scenario occur at Red Rocks, NV. A climber reached up high to clip his rope to the 3rd bolt, blew it, decked, and appeared to have broken his ankle. Closed fracture, fortunately.

My worst fall was at Fall Wall, Vedauwoo. I was sketching on a 5.11, when i heard the crowd at the base suddenly get quiet as they sensed my trouble. Immediately i became very self conscious, and tried to make a clip one move too soon. The rope was on the wrong side of my leg and whipped me around in the 25' fall. I was on crutches the next day with a badly sprained ankle, but was able to climb the following weekend at Lumpy. An air brace over rock shoes works great!

Kevin Friesen wrote:An air brace over rock shoes works great!

Thanks for the tip!
I'll have to try that, but two weeks after accident, I still can't fit my damn foot into my climbing shoe. : (
(I sprained my foot, severely, along with my ankle in my fall~ D'oh!! )

G//

Gigette,

Also, I am a firm believer in natural remedies to speed healing. First, use bromelain for inflammation instead of NSAIs like ibuprofen which are very hard on your liver and kidneys. Bromelain is an enzyme from pineapples so it has no harmful side effects. Taken with a meal it is a digestive enzyme, but taken on an empty stomach, it is a very effective anti-inflamatory.

Next use a topical gel called Arniflora Gel. Apply as you would a sports cream but it doesn't stink. Sometimes a sports cream works fast but wears off fast. This is just the opposite-it takes a while to kick in but lasts a long time.

Mix a drink for first thing in the morning with these ingredients:
1 scoop type I and III collagen; 1 gram vit C powder; 2 capsules (break open) bromelain; 12 oz water; frozen concentrated apple juice for sweetening; dash of cayenne pepper. The collagen is like the bromelain in that it has to be taken on an empty stomach for it to be effective for muscle and ligament repair.

Heal Fast!

P.S. How did you fall?

After seeing this thread, I have to relate my most memorable falling while clipping story. This did not happen to me, but rather a friend.

He was climbing above somewhat questionable gear to the last bolt on a route. The last bolt was at around 40 feet. If the gear holds, I think you would deck if you fell right before the last bolt, but only because of rope stretch. If you fell while clipping, since the bolt is placed so most people have to pull up a lot of rope to clip, you would deck. He was about to clip the bolt, but fell right before he finished clipping. However, he was able to reach his hand out at the last moment and clip the bolt while he was falling! He pulled the rope and redpointed the route next go.