Catching low lead falls

I'm new to lead belaying. While I've gotten some practice catching leaders who fall from high up, for obvious reasons my gym's lead class didn't have us practice catching leaders who fall while trying to clip the second or third bolt. I'm concerned about not doing the right thing when I encounter this scenario.

I have two questions: what's the best technique for catching a low lead fall, and how can I practice that technique?

The instructor for the lead class at my gym taught us that until the third bolt is clipped, we should stand less than a leg's length from the wall and keep as little slack in the system as possible, including taking in slack once a bolt is clipped; after the third bolt is clipped, we should allow more slack and can stand a little further away, in part so that we can move closer to add slack when the lead climber is about to clip. We didn't discuss any differences between catching low lead falls and catching high lead falls. In the depths of my ignorance as a new lead belayer, I would make the following guesses about technique for catching a low lead fall, which I would very much like to be corrected on:

• Guess #1: Giving a hard catch is preferable to giving a soft catch for a dangerously low lead fall, since a soft catch involves adding slack to the system.
• Guess #2: When I see that the climber has started to fall, I should remove as much slack from the system as possible: move back, lean back, and pull in slack, or whichever of those is possible. Being able to do this would rely on reacting quickly, since once the slack is taken up by the fall the force of the fall would overpower my arm/leg strength.
• Guess #3: Being anchored as the belayer might be an advantage, since I couldn't be pulled forward by the force of the fall and therefore inadvertently add additional slack to the system. But it could potentially be a disadvantage, since I couldn't move back to remove slack from the system.
• Guess #4: Using an Ohm might be an advantage even without a huge weight difference, since it reduces the amount of slack that would be added into the system in the event of a fall, by adding friction when rope is pulled up from the first clip.

Regarding practice for catching low lead falls, I have no idea how this might be done.

Any thoughts from more experienced folks would be much appreciated.

• Question 1: Stand close to the wall, but not right under the bolt line. Maybe 1 step to the side. Keep the belay fairly tight (minimal slack, not necessarily pulling your climber off the wall). Only dole out slack when you see them reach to clip. Try to only give enough for them to clip and no extra. Eyes on your climber until the clip is done. If they do pop, just try to be heavy. Sink towards the ground, resist the upward pull, sit back in your harness. 
  
  
• Question 2: You can do some low practice falls. but really, climb long enough and they’ll happen. My main partner caught me just after the first clip after a foot popped totally unexpectedly and after that, I knew I could trust him in any situation.
  
  
• As for your assumptions, I’d agree with #1. Hard is better than hitting the ground. If it is truly a low fall, any extra slack is not good. #2, I’d say yes with a caveat. You’re probably only going to take in one arm full vs multiple, but yeah, you can drop to one knee. I probably wouldnt recommend stepping back, as you’re liable to get yanked towards the wall which is less than ideal. But most important is brake-side control. Don’t neglect that because you’re trying to yard in rope. #3, I’m basically never anchored as a belayer. I like the option to move around. I think the cons outweigh the pros on that one. If you’re worried about being yanked way high due to a weight difference, that’s one thing, but for two similar people, I dont think its necessary. #4, ohms are annoying for the leader. You pull too fast and it grabs the rope and is hard to reset. Again, unless you have a bit weight discrepancy, don’t worry too much about getting yanked. Like I mentioned above, be heavy. No hop like trying to give a soft catch. You’d be surprised at how different you can make a catch just by your actions.

It’s good that you are thinking about it. But there is one very important thing missing from your thinking.

NOT EVERYWHERE IS GOING TO BE SAFE TO FALL.

There will be situations where the fall is not safe, and there isn’t much you, as a belayer, can do about it. Even if you don’t have any slack, even if you take in as much slack as possible, even if you don’t get pulled up. Just because in sport climbing we take falls on bolts, and it’s generally safe, doesn’t mean that you will always be able to take a safe fall, in every spot, on every terrain. Even in sport climbing, sometimes you are in a no-fall territory.

What do you do, as a new climber? You start very conservatively, to minimize the chance of falling down low, learn to assess the situation, but you should generally approach the first couple bolts as a no-fall zone. You downclimb and take, instead of falling. You stick clip the 2nd bolt, if you must. Just because someone bolted a route, doesn’t mean that you have to climb it, if you can’t climb through the no-fall zone without falling.

In the gym setters generally avoid putting hard cruxes in the first 2-3 bolt section. Outside, the first bolt often is out high (especially on newer sport routes, not necessarily everywhere) with the expectation that people would stick clip.

But even though people who bolt routes outside, and people who set routes indoors generally try to minimize the chance of people getting hurt on their routes, you do not have a guarantee of safety. You can get hurt taking a fall on a sport route. 

I did want to add: 

Your guess 3: anchoring belayer is a double-edged sword. Yes, it will reduce the chance of getting pulled up too much. But it can also make it harder to take the slack in quickly, and the ground anchor is never so tight that it doesn’t allow any upward motion at all, so if your concern is couple feet making a difference, the ground anchor may not be enough.

If the weight difference between you and your climber is less than ~15%, you as the lighter belayer can definitely still sit back and give a tight catch, without a ground anchor.

And if you are extremely lightweight, the safest thing would be for a heavy climber to find another belayer for a route with a dicy start, or pre-clip a 2nd bolt,  at least until you have a lot more practice catching safe falls higher up, and a much better feel for the timing of taking in slack/sitting back for hard takes.

Your guess4: no, I wouldn’t advise an Ohm, if your climber isn’t much heavier than you. Ohm doesn’t do a lot, if it’s the only piece of gear.

the fall at the first bolt, with ohm on the 1st gives a bit more friction, but the mechanism of Ohm function needs Ohm to have at least one bolt clipped above it, so Ohm can slide up on the rope. And it could make falls higher up more dangerous for your light climber, because the catch would be much harder, and they would be more likely to spike into the wall.

When I’m climbing with my husbsnd, who outweighs me by 100+ lb, we pre-clip the 2nd bolt, and hang ohm on the 1st, if there is any concern about the possibility of him falling between 1st and 2nd bolt.

Carabiner wrote:

I'm new to lead belaying. While I've gotten some practice catching leaders who fall from high up, for obvious reasons my gym's lead class didn't have us practice catching leaders who fall while trying to clip the second or third bolt. I'm concerned about not doing the right thing when I encounter this scenario.

I have two questions: what's the best technique for catching a low lead fall, and how can I practice that technique?

The instructor for the lead class at my gym taught us that until the third bolt is clipped, we should stand less than a leg's length from the wall and keep as little slack in the system as possible, including taking in slack once a bolt is clipped; after the third bolt is clipped, we should allow more slack and can stand a little further away, in part so that we can move closer to add slack when the lead climber is about to clip. We didn't discuss any differences between catching low lead falls and catching high lead falls. In the depths of my ignorance as a new lead belayer, I would make the following guesses about technique for catching a low lead fall, which I would very much like to be corrected on:

• Guess #1: Giving a hard catch is preferable to giving a soft catch for a dangerously low lead fall, since a soft catch involves adding slack to the system.
• Guess #2: When I see that the climber has started to fall, I should remove as much slack from the system as possible: move back, lean back, and pull in slack, or whichever of those is possible. Being able to do this would rely on reacting quickly, since once the slack is taken up by the fall the force of the fall would overpower my arm/leg strength.
• Guess #3: Being anchored as the belayer might be an advantage, since I couldn't be pulled forward by the force of the fall and therefore inadvertently add additional slack to the system. But it could potentially be a disadvantage, since I couldn't move back to remove slack from the system.
• Guess #4: Using an Ohm might be an advantage even without a huge weight difference, since it reduces the amount of slack that would be added into the system in the event of a fall, by adding friction when rope is pulled up from the first clip.

Regarding practice for catching low lead falls, I have no idea how this might be done.

Any thoughts from more experienced folks would be much appreciated.

It depends on the situation, weight difference, wall angle, bolt position, etc, there's no blanket answer. In general give a little tighter belay and expect to be yanked into/up the wall.

In other words look at the physics of it all and adjust accordingly.

Godspeed!

ah... If you're soft decking every time you fall between the second and third bolt in the gym, then either your gym's first two bolts are very low, or your belayer may be giving you a tad too much slack given the condition.

Really appreciate the responses!! Thanks all.

rock climbing wrote:

I’m pretty sure that every time I fell before clipping the 3r or 4th bolt in the gym has been a slow ground fall.

Get a new belayer.

In a low lead fall you obviously need to give a hard catch for the climber not to deck and it is a little violent. I did it in my lead climbing course at the super commercial gym in Sweden. Being anchord is probably not that good in this situation since if your are not anchord you can throw yourself back to take up slack. This will result in you as belayer getting thrown forward, but it still reduces the falling impact. You will still however probably collide with the climber. Your understanding of the Ohm seems wrong.

As Lena points out, sometimes there’s nothing you can do in these scenarios to prevent a ground fall, except stick clip.

That said I think it’s best practice to be extra vigilant and precise with the amount of slack you give and the timing thereof for the first few bolts, because our judgement is never going to be perfect about whether a ground fall is possible or not.

I often use a strategy of dropping to one knee/standing up which lets me take in/pay out a chunk of rope quickly while staying close to the wall so that I get yanked up rather than sideways in the event of a fall. With practice you can very smoothly payout/take in  an armload of slack while you do this which should be enough slack for most any clip.

Re the timing aspect- really watch your climbers body language and try to match their demand for slack very precisely-you want to be just slightly ahead of them so that they don’t feel resistance as they pull for slack, but quickly remove any extra slack from the system after they clip. This way you minimize the window of time in which a ground fall could occur.

Michael, that gets me thinking about whether how you learn (gym vs outdoors) changes your perception of what constitutes a soft catch.

For me, if you fall and don't immediately get slammed into the wall, that's more than halfway there. Making the catch softer past that point is gravy (definitely nice to have but ultimately not necessary).

I've also climbed with people who define a soft catch as dropping 30 out of 40 feet. Anything less is "hard". YMMV.

nowhere wrote:

I often use a strategy of dropping to one knee/standing up which lets me take in/pay out a chunk of rope quickly while staying close to the wall so that I get yanked up rather than sideways in the event of a fall. With practice you can very smoothly payout/take in  an armload of slack while you do this which should be enough slack for most any clip.

Ah, never thought of that, but I really like that idea, will try that!