Think of the person who will be cleaning the route. I climbed a fair bit with a partner who was shorter than I am last season, and we regularily gave each other feedback on placements etc, and she reminded me after a climb that I placed a piece of gear too high from a stance for her to reach and so she had to clean it from an awkward stance. now if that was the only placement opportunity, big deal, I'm leading and want good placements, but it wasn't and I could have placed it two feet lower and made it easier to remove for her without making it more dangerous to climb for me. The point is think ahead, if you're traversing through a crux, place gear after the crux to protect agains the second pendulming (sp?), don't set everything so hard that it's impossible to remove, etc. and don't be afraid of critisism, but also don't immediatly adopt every piece of advice, think about it first, some people give bad advice.

Two examples of personal experience where the “Never Fall” mentality was a problem.


Good friend of mine, we climbed in the gym together a lot but hardly ever outside because of scheduling problems. Took his first lead fall after 4 years of leading trad, fell on marginal placements and pulled three pieces before shattering both ankles on a ledge. Talked about how bomber his placements were when ever I lectured him after following him on second or watched him start up a route. He didn’t fall until he so over confident he’d run it way out, or start leading harder more dangerous stuff.

Perhaps I should clarify what I said and why I said it (I don’t understand why you’re getting so upset). First and foremost get confident with gear placement BEFORE EVER ATTEMPTING to lead. Yeah he/she has only climbed a few times but that will not always be the case. I also don’t think you should fall on purpose, but if you have it in your head that you can’t fall or you will die that can get you into just as much trouble. Also I’ve backed down on several routes because I was afraid of falling which is fine on single pitch but if you’re 6-15 pitches up (I understand he/she’s new) this can be a real problem. I did assume this person has some common sense or at least a survival sense strong enough to know better then to purposely pitch them self into a 50ft wipper with sharp spikes at the bottom and knife edges for the rope to run over, but I could be wrong. Another thing is I think it’s just as important to learn how to fall. I took my younger brother for a snow board lesson when he was 8, after the class I asked him what did they teach you and he said “all they did was teach us how to fall”.


Two examples of personal experience where the “Never Fall” mentality was a problem.


Good friend of mine, we climbed in the gym together a lot but hardly ever outside because of scheduling problems. Took his first lead fall after 4 years of leading trad, fell on marginal placements and pulled three pieces before shattering both ankles on a ledge. Talked about how bomber his placements were when ever I lectured him after following him on second or watched him start up a route. He didn’t fall until he so over confident he’d run it way out, or start leading harder more dangerous stuff.


I was up on Taquitz doing long climb, climbing party on whodoneit (sp?), leader took a 30 ft fall and grabbed the rope going to the piece out of instinct. Rope burn so deep it almost went to the bone. Instincts need to be honed.

That's very good advice, almost all of my trad partners and I are over 6 ft so it was never a problem until I started climbing with my wife who is 5'5" and she took a couple of falls or had to take because of my higher placements. Now I don’t place above my head when I climb with her.

Oh, and one other piece of advice to the OP:

Learn how to jam. Yes, there's plenty of face climbing required to be a good trad climber, but trad climbs follow the line of weakness, and that means cracks. Get friendly with 'em. Get personal with 'em. Get a little too personal with 'em.

If you know what to do with every size, shape, and orientation of crack, you will be a much better trad climber. And good to start off on the right foot, now, at the beginning, than leave it for later when it becomes your achilles heel.

GO

Stop shaving except on your rest days.

The snickers bar goes inside the iced nalgene to keep from melting in your pocket.

Wear a helmet. You don't want to be getting coloring books for christmas for the rest of your life.

I can shave on rest days????

climb within your ability.....push the grades on routes with "splitter" gear.....learn to downclimb... when in doubt, sew it up try some clean aid routes and you'll get a real sense of what gear is going to hold what.

First and foremost get confident with gear placement BEFORE EVER ATTEMPTING to lead.

Yeah he/she has only climbed a few times but that will not always be the case. I also don’t think you should fall on purpose, but if you have it in your head that you can’t fall or you will die that can get you into just as much trouble.

Also I’ve backed down on several routes because I was afraid of falling which is fine on single pitch but if you’re 6-15 pitches up (I understand he/she’s new) this can be a real problem. I did assume this person has some common sense or at least a survival sense strong enough to know better then to purposely pitch them self into a 50ft wipper with sharp spikes at the bottom and knife edges for the rope to run over, but I could be wrong.

Another thing is I think it’s just as important to learn how to fall.

Two examples of personal experience where the “Never Fall” mentality was a problem.

Yes, but only on rest days, and only with a straight razor, bowie knife, or busted glass.

I don't have a bowie knife. Could I use a Trango Shark instead?

what about a machete

would that work as well

The most iomportant piece of advice to any new climber: Get a mentor.
No book can replace climbing with a good climber and learning from them.

I'd say still get the aforementioned books. Many "mentors" could have bad habits that they had in turn learnt from their mentors. Besides, there is no way for a newbie to judge how good their mentors are and if their technique is safe and up to date. Therefore learn from others but always consult the books (FOTH and John Long) - the books are fruits of collective wisdom of many experienced climbers. And be bold in standing your ground with stuff that you learn from the books - so many times I heard "I've been climbing XX years - I never had to do this"...

That's very good advice, almost all of my trad partners and I are over 6 ft so it was never a problem until I started climbing with my wife who is 5'5" and she took a couple of falls or had to take because of my higher placements. Now I don’t place above my head when I climb with her.