Just took my first "real" whipper, of about 20-25 feet on an orange #3 i think rock empire cam, and came about three feet from decking. besides some rope burns and my right shin rashhed up a bit,and my anke a bit sore, I was fine, it held great. I was above it a good 6 or so feet trying to clip into another cam I had placed really high above me, all wile having bad feet and and my tips in a tiny crack with my forearm pasted(so I thought) in a big flaring crack. Well devil's lake quartzite doesnt adhere well to sweat, so I popped out and fell. Great time, especially since I didnt deck and walked away.
Other than that Ive taken a few shorter falls on my smaller cams. they have all held. Sure gald too, since it always seems to be my first peice, a ways up the rock to the only placement! thank god, or yvon chouinard and the other gear inventors! It had to be scary climbing old school on actual nuts slung with cord. or imagine climbing on gear made of cord and webbing tied in knots!!!!!

Josh- I took a similar whipper onto that piece (which I believe is the smallest made by Metolious?) on the Moratorium. Totally held. Definitely a confidence building experience.
And Holmes, is that the Sacherer Cracker story you recounted to me once?

The thing I've always wondered is how many people get back the nuts that they whipped on? Most of the placements I make feel as if a whip would weld them pretty good. Maybe my second just doesn't like cleaning them...

(First post!)

I took 2 falls on a blue tcu, #1, about 8 feet, on some queen creek dacite tuff. Held just fine, got a good catch from the wife, just a little freaky on small gear on some ash tuff.

Three years ago I was attempting to onsite the 1st pitch of Rosy Crucifixion . I got past the bolts and immediately placed a gray and a yellow Zero. I fiddled with the gear too long. (While I was hanging out there I equalized the two pieces with a sliding 'x'!) Definitely the wrong approach to protecting that climb since there are several cam placements to the lower right. I got tunnel vision and made a bee-line for the anchor without placing any more gear. Went way too high and was about to lose it when I grabbed the nylon and started to Fred Flintstone up the rock. Couldn't hang on. My pendulum fall took me all the way back to smack my heel on the slope below the belay.
Those little cams held.

Anatomy of a 40 footer:

Staring up at my belayer from below, I replay the fall in my mind.

Ah. Rosy. Hersey and others have soloed you. I was clearly not ready for you. A blue alien held my first 15 foot pendulum. Gaining the traverse, I brought my belayer over to the shit-infested belay. Up two more pitches and the adrenaline would the dissipate. On lead again. 5.9 never felt so hard. Cruised to the crux, only a coupla pieces placed. The pump starts, I weight my gold link-cam.

It holds.

Sigh of relief.

Try again at the crux. NO GEAR!!!

The pump overwhelms, the last piece is far out.

downclimb.

--------
Foot Slips
--------

Launched airborne. My descent slows. I watch as my weighted link-cam flies from it's home.

Acceleration resumes.

The next piece is 6 feet down, despite the plentitude of protection below the formerly lodged link-cam.

The rope grows tense. The yellow alien holds, my belayer flies by.

I hang in space and look above at my work, a link cam dangles from my belay knot.

Thanks for the catch Simone!

I fell ~15ft on a 100% pumped-out & blind nut placement on the Sword pitch on the Grand Wall in Squamish. That was exciting, but it held just fine.

I fell three times onto a #3 Metolius nut before I finally pulled through a 10a mantle. Each fall was about 6 feet. It was an amazing feeling looking up and seeing that little nut holding me.

I broke a grey tcu and fell @ 15ft onto my orange

I think this video belongs on this thread.

first day out early this spring in eldo, first piece in was a #2 balnut. went past it, slipped and fell on it. it wasn't a very good placement and i figured i would crater into a snow bank below. it held, and i slowly opened my eyes and looked up at it. just then it slipped until 1/2 the ball was hanging out of the crack. i shit myself.

My first lead fall (Trad or sport) was 8-10' onto an orange BD slung Hex. Maybe 1.5x2" or so. It held just fine. Fell onto it 4 or 5 more times trying this roof that was way past my skill level.

I was at my home crag in South Dakota and I was 12 feet above a purple link cam...it was wet...and muddy...and vegetation was all over...it was dark. My foot popped and I came to a gentle halt. I looked to my left and I was eye level with my belayer I put my feet on the ground and took a breath. you know, although complicated and may be not perfect link cams work some of the time.

About a year and a half ago I had just finished a single-pitch trad course, and, like a zealous new graduate, decided to bite off more than I could chew by doing my first real trad lead at my limit with a less experienced belayer. I also decided to link the first 2 pitches but didn't carry more gear, so I ended up running it out after I realized my mistake off the ground. Got to a tough spot about 15' above my last piece and fell while I was worrying about how badly I needed to not fall. I remember being distinctly aware of the sound of the wind rushing past my ears, right before I did my best to tuck and roll off the sloped P2 belay ledge. The rope wrapped around my right calf and tightened up as I bounced off the ledge. I remember seeing my shoe flying off into the wild blue yonder.

A sprained left foot/ankle, pulled calf muscle, 3 bruised ribs, a fractured elbow, and about 45' later, I looked up and saw my shiny new .75 C4 holding in its very first placement...

After barn-dooring onto a blind placement at my waist, it blew and sent me 15ft onto a purple C4. When I climbed back up to the piece, I found that is had shifted, and that only two lobes were in contact with the rock. Good thing C4s are super bomber even in shitty placements.

My first decent lead fall was on granite slab. I placed a number 6 BD stopper in a flaring pin scar. Not the best placement. I was about 7 feet above it when I came off. I estimate the fall to have been just under 20 feet. I had always been told to just lean in and kind of cheese-grate to a friction stop. To me, this seemed counter-intuitive. When I came off, my instinct was to just run really quickly with short steps backward, so that's what I did.

I had instructed my belayer to give me a running belay should I come off, but I'm glad she didn't. I'm convinced the softer catch kept the nut from popping. I tried the move twice more and took the same fall and bailed off the nut. The next day, my buddy led the route and when he got up to my bail placement, he pulled it ever so slightly sideways and it came out with zero effort. Needless to say I'm glad I fell straight down and learned a quick and thankfully painless lesson in the importance of getting passive pro placed as directional as you can.

Well after close to thirty years I've fell on gear a few times, first was after I just started leading and placed a stopper in a shallow crack, my partner questioned my placement but I stayed with my original placement reached for a jug which instantly blew and I was off, banged my little finger, rock nearly hit my partner and all were shaken but I got back on and led the pitch to the top, then found out I just put up a new route as the route I thought I was climbing was in another area! That fall was a defining moment in my climbing, for one I had fallen on gear I placed, second it held just fine and after a few beers I was ready for more. Partner fell on my brand new yellow Metilious TCU which had just come on the market, did its job in shallow sandstone we were psyched. There were others but all was fine, did get hurt on a sport route though, blowing the first clip.

This was a fall I belayed for, but my buddy Dave and I were climbing the Vampire at Tahquitz in socal, and he was on the crux on the top of the bat crack pitch. He had placed a metolious "blue" tcu and climbed up about 10' to the bolt just below the finish. He was pumping out and only had enough energy to 1) clip the bolt, or 2) go for the glory and make the move. He chose #2 and ended up botching the move! He took probably a 35' whipper and disappeared from my view behind a ledge. With not much ability to move I couldn't take in as much slack as I would have liked but, he ended up not even close to the ledge which was a HUGE relief. Moral of the story, those cams are strong! If placed well...

I was climbing what I thought to be an easy pitch, and was running it out a little bit. About fifteen feet above my last piece, my huge jug handhold ripped out of the wall and I fell 35-40 feet. It was an old school #1.5 forged friend that caught me, and in Smith Rock tuff of all things. We were two pitches up and I stopped my fall right next to my belayer. After quick damage control we just looked at each other and laughed. Oh the joys of climbing. I got right back onto the pitch and we climbed several more to finish the climb.

I was leading my first multi-pitch Trad route in Sedona and had a BD #5 Nut tucked under a roof with a double length runner and fell twice trying to pull the roof, both times stopping eye level with the sketchy #4 C4 I placed 10ish feet below the roof. My follower cleaned it and said it came out with ZERO effort pulling 90 degrees from the fall direction.

Also, just about every time I place a tricam I feel good about it. One time my partner was mad that I got one stuck, and I remember having to dig it out for what felt like 10 minutes while a freak lightning/rainstorm moved in on us...

First fall on a #2 Lowe Ball was a 10 footer on Indian Creek sandstone. Held no prob.

Sorry to disappoint, but good small gear does often BLOW. I had a partner deck from 30 ft up. We spent 4 hrs in High Desert Hospital getting him poked, prodded, X-rayed and fully assessed before he walked out with a few bumps and bruises. He sketched while transitioning from a layback to thin face. All 6 pieces ZIPPERED, but what impact each piece held before failing kept him upright, so he landed on his feet and tumbled. The gear that failed, in excellent Joshua Tree Quartz Monzonite, were three medium to small BD stoppers, two BD C3 cams, and a small Metolius Master cam. Upward pull on the lower pieces and the leaning nature of the thin crack on the lot contributed to the dismal failure of six pieces of protection. The leader was an experienced trad crack climber. HEY SHIT HAPPENS!!