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Getting used to falling on gear

Original Post
Ted Pinson · · Chicago, IL · Joined Jul 2014 · Points: 252

Hey everyone,

So I'm a relatively new trad leader. I've done a decent number of moderate leads and have started pushing the grades but it seems like my current boundary is any climbs in which there's a real possibility of falling on gear. I did what turned out to be a sandbagged 5.8 in the Red and it scared the crap out of me, as I had to take at one point and realized I had never really loaded gear on lead before. Even though I knew it was a bomber placement, it was still a whole different thing to be 60 ft off the deck with all of your weight on it.

I was wondering what you guys have done to get used to taking and falling on gear. 1 thing I was considering was doing a super moderate lead and testing each placement by taking on it, then maybe gradually moving up to light falls (at/below the placement with slack), and finally real-world above-the-pro falls. Has anyone tried this sort of thing, or how did you become comfortable falling on trad lead?

Derrick W · · Golden, CO · Joined Jun 2012 · Points: 868

Never say take. Just go for it, no matter how scared you are.

Joe Garibay · · Ventura, Ca · Joined Apr 2014 · Points: 86

The following comments will be much more informative than mine but you brought up an interesting topic for me. I've been leading 5.8-5.10 sport climbs and I've followed some trad. Working on gearing up to lead.
You suggested falling at low grades for practice rather than high. I know in sport, falling at low grades typically means on slabby rock. This, too me, is scarier than falling on something harder. I'm more afraid of being grated than I am bracing for impact.
I'm curious if I would feel the same way when falling on gear. I feel I would be more comfortable falling on hexes or nuts verse cams but I know that's just from lack of any experience.

Rich B · · Boulder, CO · Joined Feb 2014 · Points: 10

Go aid something. Aiding something on top rope would be a good place to start.

Experience works wonders. Once you've led a hundred or more pitches you will start to feel more confident - place gear faster, know what you can trust to hold a fall. Start with easy stuff. Work your way up. Enjoy.

Mike P · · Saint Louis · Joined Apr 2013 · Points: 71

To be clear, I'm still a new trad leader and still experiencing fear. But one thing that has helped me considerably was to find a couple of sport routes that had opportunities for gear placements (even just one or two cam or nut placements). Then I was able to intentionally take falls on gear, with bolts just a bit below the gear as a backup. As it turned out, the gear caught my fall just fine every time.

Steve Marshall · · Concord NH · Joined Jul 2014 · Points: 45

go to the gunks. climb pine tree crack (5.3). then climb The Dangler and whip a few times. make sure your draws dont get cut on the edge.

no really i'm just getting into it as well. i just look for routes where I have a chance of falling but are known for good pro around the crux. cracks are usually pretty bomber.

Patrick Pharo · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2003 · Points: 30
Rich Bergstrom wrote:Go aid something. Aiding something on top rope would be a good place to start. Experience works wonders. Once you've led a hundred or more pitches you will start to feel more confident - place gear faster, know what you can trust to hold a fall. Start with easy stuff. Work your way up. Enjoy.
+1
William Kramer · · Kemmerer, WY · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 935

Gain confidence in your gear. What works best for me, and I still do it, is climb with lots of different climbers with experience. Do a lot of following and cleaning, you will learn tons of ways to place gear of all kinds, in all kinds of spots. Everyone has their own preferred way of placing gear, be like a sponge and absorb it all. Then have them follow you and critique, learn and grow. As you become more confident, you worry less about your gear, and concentrate more on the climb. Worrying about your gear is the head game that kills a good climb. And when, not if, you do fall, you have learned to place gear well, and it will hold, and it will happen again, and again, and pretty soon falling is no big thing.

jacob m s · · Provo, Utah · Joined Apr 2011 · Points: 135

You are always going to feel fear from time to time, its natural. I know that Chris Sharma and Alex Honnold have both admitted feeling fear and I'm sure many other pros have as well.

That being said you have to learn to deal with fear, it does get easier, and learn your limits, and then when to back down. Some climbers are okay with climbing X or R rated climbs, I never will its not worth the risk to me Ill go climb something else.

If you know your placement is good, and the fall is clean Derrick's advice of climbing through is good advice, you will push yourself and be strong for it.

I think both Rich Bergstron and michaelp have good ideas of how to learn to trust gear. I also think your plan is a pretty good one, it will help you learn what a good placement is, and then it will help you learn to trust it.

George Wu · · Newport Beach, CA · Joined Jul 2015 · Points: 62

I'm pretty much in exactly the same place as you, Ted. I started leading trad earlier this year. I did a 5.2, then a couple of 5.4s, etc. Today, I'm comfy on 5.7 and 5.8, but consider a 5.9 trad lead scary.

I've run into two schools of thoughts - learn to trust falling on your gear, or almost never fall. I've tried to follow the almost never fall philosophy. I know eventually I will, but I tried to only lead stuff that was inside my comfort zone, just inside. With the help of some great friends, I've pushed my boundaries, which has been scary but not like frozen in fear scary. A week ago, I took my biggest fall, about 10 feet. I wasn't even afraid at the time - the foot that unglued was totally solid in my mind.

Like Joe mentioned in his reply, I can't do the learn to trust your gear approach. A mentor tried to get me to fall on my piece, but the angle is so low that I know I'll come away with a bunch of road rash. I just can't do it. My fear of heights doesn't help.

Either way, experience is what let me advance. I went from 5.2 to 5.9 by just leading alot and gaining confidence at each grade. I figure that's how I'll progress from here. I'm not shooting high; I hope to be able to lead 5.10s someday. The lower grades went quickly because they weren't really that scary. From here, I will have to put in alot of routes.

T340 · · Idaho · Joined Oct 2011 · Points: 5

The idea of placing pro on a sport climb is a good one IMO. Also, having a belayer that you TOTALLY trust can help a lot.
Good luck!!

Kristen Fiore · · Burlington, VT · Joined Sep 2014 · Points: 3,383
Derrick W wrote:Never say take. Just go for it, no matter how scared you are.
+1 for this because not many people will say it.

I love climbing with a 'never say take' mentality. When I lead sport or gear and I think there is even the slightest chance I will send it I never say take. It doesn't work for everyone but when I've had that mindset is when I'm pulled off my most impressive ascents.
Bill Kirby · · Keene New York · Joined Jul 2012 · Points: 480

I think having friends and guides inspect my placements and tell me those are bomber or good every pitch I lead helps. If you hear that enough it should build your confidence. I also double up placing gear at a crux of a route at my limit.

The first time I had to yell "take" and sit on gear was scary. I would imagine that happens to everyone. You just have to have faith! The first time I fell on gear was easy.. I didn't see it coming!

William Kramer · · Kemmerer, WY · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 935
Bill Kirby wrote: The first time I fell on gear was easy.. I didn't see it coming!
+1

Like that every time
Mathias · · Loveland, CO · Joined Jun 2014 · Points: 306

I haven't fallen much on gear, mostly because I've not pushed myself to lead close to my physical limit. But it helps me get past the mental aspect of falling on gear to have a more experienced partner fall on his placements, and to also evaluate mine every time he cleans one of my leads. I see his placements hold, so when he tells me mine are good, I have more faith in them.

justgoodenough · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2012 · Points: 41

I recommend taking practice falls (your placements are bomber right?). Find a clean fall with a parallel crack. Back up your piece with a couple below it. Drop from chest high onto it. Drop from waist high. Knees, ankles, etc. Make sure to reset the piece between falls because cams can shift (read that tip from an AAC accidents book).

I did this on Peruvian Flake 10a in Yosemite. It's fairly steep and the fall is free of features to hit. Hardest part of this exercise is finding an easy enough climb that has safe falls.

If you need more on the mental aspect, I recommend Dave Macleod's 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes.

Karl Kvashay · · Phoenix, AZ · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 225

Maybe Im a wimp but I don't see a problem with "taking" or hanging on gear (except for losing the "send"). It generates Much less force on all your equipment and in friable stone a piece may hold with a gentle take but rip in a fall. Safety first, right?

But don't get me wrong, there's nothing like "going for it" when the gear is good and you have a chance at the send

Tim Sherry · · Portland, OR · Joined Sep 2013 · Points: 551

Lots of great advice here, wanted to give my two cents.

Climb a lot. Your head game will get better the more you climb trad. I've been solid on 10b and taken whipper on 10c, but the last time I was out climbing trad I was wimping out on a 5.9. Didn't take or whip, but it was a long slow climb.

A couple of factors:
Start of the season? I always am way more scared and place way more gear compared to if I've been climbing trad a lot. This can be funny to look at from the ground (tons of gear low down and then super run out at the top as all the gear is placed).

How familiar is the rock? One of the reasons I was wimping out was that I was new to climbing trad at that crag, I wasn't used to how the rock takes gear. Added to my nervousness. I even said to my belayer: "Where did my head go?!"

Eli Buzzell · · noco · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 5,507
KrisFiore wrote: +1 for this because not many people will say it. I love climbing with a 'never say take' mentality. When I lead sport or gear and I think there is even the slightest chance I will send it I never say take. It doesn't work for everyone but when I've had that mindset is when I'm pulled off my most impressive ascents.
+2 for "Never say take". This approach to climbing took me really far mentally.
Medic741 · · Des Moines, IA (WTF) · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 265

Read a rock warriors way - has a systematic approach to assessing risk that's really helpful (to me at least) if I start to freak on the wall.

I didn't get over that fear till I started falling on gear, after a few falls you just get used to it and trust a good cam as much as a good bolt.

Ted Pinson · · Chicago, IL · Joined Jul 2014 · Points: 252

Awesome replies, guys! I definitely like the idea of placing pro on sport routes. My first "trad" lead was actually a mixed route...100 ft with maybe 2 or 3 bolts, lol...enough to make you feel better, but definitely not enough to get you to the top without pro. Yeah, at this point it's a purely psychological thing...I've set a million topropes on gear and feel pretty confident about my placements, there's just a huge difference between "that would hold in theory" and "that held," lol.

tsherry: that's an interesting point about being new to a crag, as my "scary" lead was at a new crag for me (leading trad there). I'm used to rock-solid Devil's Lake Quartzite, and Kentucky sandstone felt a little sketchy in comparison.

ollieon: really good point about resetting placements, although I would imagine you would have the opposite problem if you fell repeatedly on a nut or hex, lol. Time to get out the chisel...

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Trad Climbing
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