The 5 Biggest Safety-Related Myths in Rock Climbing

paging Locker, paging Locker.

on #5- how do you know what side of the bolt you are heading up past if you have never done the route before? I know its kinda silly to ask since we all know most sportos have the moves/beta dialed and draws hung before even touching the route.

TR purist wrote:paging Locker, paging Locker. on #5- how do you know what side of the bolt you are heading up past if you have never done the route before? I know its kinda silly to ask since we all know most sportos have the moves/beta dialed and draws hung before even touching the route.

You just look ahead of you and use your best judgment :-) It's usually easy enough to tell, and if not, well, you tried.

Marcy wrote: Like this here

I like this much better!

I actually learned something....

I'm interested in the idea that how you face your draws may by of some importance, but I don't see your anecdote as showing how one way is safer. Please, help me see the nuances of your argument.

The climbing route could trend left, staight, or right. I agree that that it is safer for the gate on the rope end of a draw to face away from the direction you will climb above.

From what I understand of your description, if I clip a bolt with the hanger to the right of the bolt head. I would want my top 'biner with the gate facing right. If the route trends to the right, however, my bottom 'biner is in a compromised position.

It seems like a rule is not appropriate, and climbers need to make good decisions depending on the situation.

Am I missing something?

I just always clip a bolt with gate facing away from the rock. I always use alpine draws , in sport as well, so the second biner ends up facing whichever way. I have not used a dog bone in at least 4 years.

here is something I came up with: I always wondered if gasoline , antifreeze, car oil, or any other cleaning products like bleach or ammonia are actually harmful to a standard climbing rope. I think they all are , but to what extend? Also exposure to water and direct sunlight.

Gasoline , antifreeze, car oil, or any other cleaning products like bleach or ammonia if properly mixed in the correct ratios have actually been proven to strengthen a rope. Soak the rope in this mixture for 23 1/2 hrs, then dry it out on the engine block of a truck.
I also like to soak my gear in a vat of seawater once in a while. That way I can lick the salt off later on long routes when I forget to bring enough water.

SHEEEESH!

I heard that taking a bar soap to yur rope works better than any dry treatment...just sayin...btw there is no seawater in the Springs.

Calvin Laatsch wrote:I'm interested in the idea that how you face your draws may by of some importance, but I don't see your anecdote as showing how one way is safer. Please, help me see the nuances of your argument. The climbing route could trend left, staight, or right. I agree that that it is safer for the gate on the rope end of a draw to face away from the direction you will climb above. From what I understand of your description, if I clip a bolt with the hanger to the right of the bolt head. I would want my top 'biner with the gate facing right. If the route trends to the right, however, my bottom 'biner is in a compromised position. It seems like a rule is not appropriate, and climbers need to make good decisions depending on the situation. Am I missing something?

I don't think the way the hanger is sitting is really relevant, except in rare circumstances. This article explains it pretty well: spadout.com/a/face-those-ga…

Tom-o Erectus wrote:Gasoline , antifreeze, car oil, or any other cleaning products like bleach or ammonia if properly mixed in the correct ratios have actually been proven to strengthen a rope. Soak the rope in this mixture for 23 1/2 hrs, then dry it out on the engine block of a truck. I also like to soak my gear in a vat of seawater once in a while. That way I can lick the salt off later on long routes when I forget to bring enough water. SHEEEESH!

That's some really dangerous advice you're handing out—everybody knows ropes should only be soaked in battery acid, and definitely no longer than 23 hours, or else you start to undo the strengthening effect.

Black Diamond engineers have tested chemical effects on gear many times. A good read is "The Electric Acid Harness Test."
Good blog OP.
On trad draws i've always kept my biners loose. I've always wondered how big of an issue the biner being so loose might be. Anyone have any trustworthy references with reliable information on this? Tests and results preferred. A general consensus is lovely but nothing beats repeated testing and written results from a reputable team of reliable people.

PS: No, I don't want those little rubber biner holders. I understand what they do but i would prefer to not spend money i don't have to.

Abram Herman wrote: That's some really dangerous advice you're handing out—everybody knows ropes should only be soaked in battery acid, and definitely no longer than 23 hours, or else you start to undo the strengthening effect.

Okay, i don't wanna be that guy, but what you guys are saying might get someone less experienced really hurt. Not everyone knows you guys are kidding. To those who have read these guy's post, they are kidding. Soak your rope in battery acid for 48 hours after purchase to remove any stiff parts that may break during a lead fall. If you accidentally overdo it, throw it in an open fire to harden it back up. The rope gets black but dont worry, thats just the chemical oxidizing. Safe climbing.

Marcy wrote: Like this here

Compelling info about lead fall forces being higher with grigri vs ATC

Thanks for that link

ChaseLeoncini wrote: Okay, i don't wanna be that guy, but what you guys are saying might get someone less experienced really hurt. Not everyone knows you guys are kidding. To those who have read these guy's post, they are kidding. Soak your rope in battery acid for 48 hours after purchase to remove any stiff parts that may break during a lead fall. If you accidentally overdo it, throw it in an open fire to harden it back up. The rope gets black but dont worry, thats just the chemical oxidizing. Safe climbing.

I disagree any dummy knows the open fire will destroy the rope...well duh..what you do is stick it in the microwave make sure its covered in foil real good ...for about 5 minutes...the microwaves will combine with aluminum foil and will make the rope totally harder to break...ye and yer gonna die..

One more thing..send me all your gear you dropped more than 5ft ....for testing..just to make sure its still works okay....cool?

Although I won't say I agree or disagree with your myths, I would say the tone may lend to a more casual attitude, especially with dropped gear. Also, your comment about the EDK is way over simplified. Casual attitudes are probably one of the biggest killers in climbing.

It would be nice to see some emphasis on things that contribute significantly to climber accidents like poor communication or gri gri misuse. Not sure how that would be "myths"... more like facts.

I would never direct anybody to your site. You have way oversimplified some important concepts. The most agregious comment was "Agreed, a figure eight is such a burly knot that it could hold even if it's only partially tied." This is down right moronic. What is a partially tied eight?

PS. Helmets are dorky? This is not a myth. This is subjective. They are dorky imo. But I wear one every time I climb.

Greg D wrote:Also, your comment about the EDK is way over simplified.

In what way? It is a perfectly safe knot, as long as you have enough tail that it won't fail if the knot rolls. But I'm certainly interested to hear why you disagree.

Greg D wrote:Casual attitudes are probably one of the biggest killers in climbing. It would be nice to see some emphasis on things that contribute significantly to climber accidents like poor communication or gri gri misuse. Not sure how that would be "myths"... more like facts.

That's a great idea for a future topic, maybe I'll try that angle as well. The 5 Most Common Unsafe Practices in Climbing, or something like that.

Greg D wrote:I would never direct anybody to your site. You have way oversimplified some important concepts.

Fair enough, you're entitled to your opinion, and with the number of readers that have seen my post, I certainly didn't expect to hear nothing but 100% agreement. If there was agreement on this stuff, I wouldn't have felt the need to label some of the things as "myths."

Greg D wrote:The most agregious comment was "Agreed, a figure eight is such a burly knot that it could hold even if it's only partially tied." This is down right moronic. What is a partially tied eight?

That would be an eight that hasn't been followed through all the way. Try pulling the tail back through one of the loops (so it comes out of the middle of the knot); that's a partially tied eight, and it will most certainly hold. Either way, I doubt there's anyone out there reading that who's saying to themselves, "Well in that case, I'll just start climbing on half-tied figure eights from now on!"

Greg D wrote:PS. Helmets are dorky? This is not a myth. This is subjective. They are dorky imo. But I wear one every time I climb.

Yes, it's subjective. I guess the "myth" for me was the idea that helmets being dorky is a good reason not to wear a helmet. There may be good reasons not to wear a helmet, but how you look isn't a good reason.

More testable statements (without agreeing/disagreeing to any):

1. Dropped gear is subject to failure from micro-fractures in the metal.

2. The bowline knot is inherently unsafe.

3. Back-up knots are necessary to maintain the primary knot.
3a. Setting the Figure-8 primary knot is unnecessary.

4. Helmets don't prevent severe head-injuries.

5. Quick-draws can be used in any manner.

TR purist wrote:paging Locker, paging Locker. on #5- how do you know what side of the bolt you are heading up past if you have never done the route before? I know its kinda silly to ask since we all know most sportos have the moves/beta dialed and draws hung before even touching the route.

Locker is out baking in the summer desert.

I am actually very interested in your second point. I've known since before I ever clipped a bolt on lead that I should face the rope-end carabiner away from my direction of travel.

But this is a messy thing. Sometimes I think I'm trending right, but I go left. Somtimes you are left of the bolt while the rope is above you or near your waist, but right later.

It's not really simple to just follow this rule, especially on an onsight. Sometimes, I'll re-orient my quickdraw when it's below my waist because I realized I guessed my direction of travel wrong, but sometimes I don't, because my gut tells me it is more dangerous to re-clip than to climb on and accept the (small) possibility of the rope hooking the gate.

• shrug*

I'd like to do an experiment: set 100 climbers loose, and make them clim at random, and 100 climbers loose that clip the "right" way, and see if the random climbers die more often after 20 years of climbing. Alas, such an experiment is "unethical." Boohoo.

Sometimes I really do think the time spent analyzing is a bit dangerous, I'm looking at my longest possible fall right then. And the gate hook is rare... Our guesses are imperfect and any time spent thinking rather than clipping ALSO adds risk.

I'm not saying it doesn't matter which way we face our gates, but I am saying it's a more complicated situation than our climbing manuals let on.

I think you still have the pictures of back clip vs gate direction switched.