Took a Ground fall at CCC and wanted to spread the word on proper QuickDraw clipping into the wall.

I took a ground fall on Tuesday at Anarchy wall as the QuickDraw unclipped itself from the bolt. It wasn’t  the belayers fault. I researched a bit and the video below shows what probably happened. Interestingly enough I was never taught the proper way to clip a QuickDraw into the bolt and after asking a few of my friends, they weren’t either.

I have soft  tissue impact / injury and a few bruised ribs but unfortunately my stubbornness is here to stay. I’m lucky to have walked away from this relatively unscathed.

Please pass the word along and prevent an improbable but not impossible situation from happening. 

Circle is the second bolt that I had stick clipped. Top x is where my left hand blew. Middle x is where my right hand was and lower x is where my right foot was. Fell to where where the guy with the white shirt is.

I've also witnessed occasions where the offset D carabiner is facing to the right and the top of it hangs up on the nut and makes the carabiner vulnerable to unclipping. This is especially the case if it's a stud bolt with extra threads sticking out, increasing the chance for a hangup. Using an oval carabiner results in a rounder shape that is less likely to get caught up, but all sport draws these days have offset D's for bolt-side carabiners.

Ultimately, we have to try and make the best choices for each specific situation: anticipate the directional forces and estimate how critical that protection point is for avoiding a consequential fall.

The more I climb, the more I've seen how often carabiners come unclipped. Ten years ago it seemed like a one in a million chance. Nowadays I don't assume that every link in the system will work perfectly 100 percent of the time. Redundancy is a key practice.

Thanks for this heads up, I wasn't aware of this possibility. Glad you came out of the fall relatively unscathed.

I dunno - disagree with that video.  There are many failure modes for unclipping at both the rope and bolt end and I think it can happen at the bolt with the gate facing either way.  In the video - he *almost* shows the same thing can happen with the gate pointed the other way too.

More significantly - a better rule to follow is to have the gates facing opposite the direction you are going or the side of the bolt you are on - either now or ahead a bit where you think you are most likely to fall.  Note in the video the gate was opposite of this rule and has to be in order for this failure mechanism to occur.

EDIT - climber above was on right side of bolt, video shows failure mode with draw pulling to the left.  Therefore citing this video seems rather thoughtless and incorrect and the accident here likely supports that it can indeed happen in either gate direction.

Thanks for sharing your story. THis happened to me last year. 4 bolts up on a short wall, leg dragged across the draw at the crux and unclipped the bolt which instantly put me into decking territory based on bolt spacing. I noticed MID CRUX MOVE and was only fortunate to stick the move and clip the next bolt. Freaked me out for sure. I put a locker on that draw for the redpoint attempt. Stay vigilant.

BITD I was taught that when you clip a bolt, you rotate the bolt biner so that the gate is facing down and out. 

With modern, stiffer, stitched draws that are tight on the biner, this is much more difficult to do. Back then a quick draw was merely a 6" loop of 9/16" webbing tied with a water knot.

Marc801 C wrote:

 Back then a quick draw was merely a 6" loop of 9/16" webbing tied with a water knot.

And you hung it on your gear belt with your onion!

There’s no exact “rule” , it depends on the circumstances, make a quick assessment of your fall at each bolt and clip accordingly.

glad you're ok. i know of at least 2 other accidents in CO where this happened (one in boulder canyon the other in eldo). i definitely think about this more now...

Good idea to have any critical bolts (hard moves at first bolt or low crux bolt, bolt just above ledge, high first bolt even if easy climbing) stick-clipped with either a single autolock carabiner or a draw with an autolock carabiner in the bolt and rope side. Sport climbing is a lot like rappelling. Everything has to work right or the climber will be on the ground in a split second.

I've done this route many many times as a warm-up and yeah, you always need to watch out with low bolts and clips. IMO people place too much faith falling on or relying on single bolts while sport climbing, people who more often than not would freak out about lowering off a single bolt anchor as is common in Europe. If there's hard climbing down low, pre-clip two bolts. Your ankles (and who knows what else) will thank you.

Definitely not a hard and fast rule but more that you just need to be aware of it.  I clip the hanger in both directions depending on which way the route trends.  If the route trends right I face the gate to the left for various reasons.
Longer draws or less stiff draws can reduce the chance of the biner un clipping itself by keeping the biner from moving around. Depending on the route sometimes I will carry a locker draw for more security but you can’t really use it harder routes because who wants to dink around with screw gates when your pumping out.
Bottom line is think about all this stuff before heading up so you don’t have to while climbing.  

For critical clips (i.e., failure could equal ground or ledge fall), I like to use the "Canadian locker" method which is two draws clipped to a bolt but in an opposite and opposed fashion. I find this provides me with a good confidence boost and negates the need for special locker draws.

jonfoster wrote:

For critical clips (i.e., failure could equal ground or ledge fall), I like to use the "Canadian locker" method which is two draws clipped to a bolt but in an opposite and opposed fashion. I find this provides me with a good confidence boost and negates the need for special locker draws.

sounds like a good way to break a carabiner

JaredG wrote:

sounds like a good way to break a carabiner

Not sure why you see that as a failure mode? I’ve been doing it forever. 

Photo above is the configuration he’s describing.

phylp phylp wrote:

Not sure why you see that as a failure mode? I’ve been doing it forever. 

Photo above is the configuration he’s describing.

Most hangers don’t allow biners to sit next to each other without interference.  One usually sits on top of the other and during a fall can cause a leveraging action on the top biner causing it to break or become damaged.   I bent a biner doing this while aid climbing.   if you do this you should always make sure the biner taking the load is the one on the inside against the wall, not the outside one that might end up on top of the other.  

Kevin Mokracek wrote:

Thanks Kevin, I haven't noticed that interference but I'll check it out over the next few days when I'm out.

I recommend having a couple draws with Edelrid Pure Sliders on both ends.  It’s not what you want to clip at the crux, but they work quite well for low cruxes and any other single bolt or death situations.  Keep them lubed well, they can stick.  No screw gate to unlock after pulling the rope.

+1 - don’t put 2 biners into 1 bolt - kind of goober and numerous cases of breaking, including a video posted here not too long ago.

James W wrote:

+1 - don’t put 2 biners into 1 bolt - kind of goober and numerous cases of breaking, including a video posted here not too long ago.

Thanks! I read these threads because it’s always good to learn about failure modes. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks.  I only find myself doing this maybe once a year, but I’ll use other methods now. 

For those bringing up the pros and cons of locker draws for critical bolts - consider using Edelrid slide locking biners to create a locker draw. Not much added mass and a whole lot more security. They are auto-locking, and with a little bit of practice, aren't too hard to clip the rope into one-handed either. I bought a couple to try out and really like them for a few specific use cases.

JaredG wrote:

sounds like a good way to break a carabiner

Possibly. But who cares if it's a crucial clip and it keeps you from getting hurt. If you don't have lockers, and don't anticipate falling (even though it's "crucial") then it gets the job done.

Not everybody plans on sport wanking on the same crux bolt all day. 

nbrown wrote:

Possibly. But who cares if it's a crucial clip and it keeps you from getting hurt. 

????  If the biner breaks and you hit the deck it doesn't keep you from getting hurt.