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clee03m
Nov 17, 2008, 4:42 PM
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And it held.
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caughtinside
Nov 17, 2008, 4:45 PM
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voodoo. You're lucky to be alive!
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lena_chita
Moderator
Nov 17, 2008, 6:25 PM
Post #3 of 18
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How big a fall?
I'm a chicken. I only had one 'take' on gear -- and yeah, it held.  I went back to redpoint the route couple days later and felt really good about it.
Ah, the trad gumbiness-- I am sure my partners have a lot of fun watching me climb... It's funny (no, not really) -- I got completely sketched out on a climb a couple of weeks ago. Something that sholud have been well within my ability level... But I bumped my knee really badly (to the point where tears were streaming out of my eyes and the knee was locked and completely numb), sketched out more, realizing that my last piece was quite a bit farther below me than I wanted it to be, and trying to remember how good a piece it really was, decided that I needed to put a piece right there and then, dropped a cam  , managed to put in another piece, and all the while I was thinking-- man, if this were a sport climb, I would have said "take" already... I'm pretty proud of NOT saying 'take' on that climb-- I guess it was within my ability level after all.
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clee03m
Nov 17, 2008, 6:59 PM
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I think the piece was at my foot and I had long slinged it, so what ever that turns out to be.
You should see my gumbie rack. It's so heavy, it's a wonder I can get off the ground. When it's a hard climb, I am placing every 2 feet, which makes the climb harder. My partner and I joke around about how all the hard moves shall be top roped and all the the holds shall be filled. And then I run out of slings and gear and forced to run it out at the top. And apparantly I sound like I am giving birth while doing this.
Oh, well. I am still ecstatic that I am gear leading and finally leading as hard as I can follow. I started in April, so that's pretty good in my book.
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happiegrrrl
Nov 17, 2008, 7:29 PM
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Congratulations on getting a good safe fall.
About sewing it up and then running out of thread - that's often been my case....hahah. At least if I am climbing on someone else's rack. Especially when climbing on double ropes, for some reason. I often will bring extra draws with me if I think my partner doesn't have enough.
I sew, sew, sew off the deck. I really like G-level placements for the first 30 or so feet. For some reason, ledges and stuff (which I know can maim and kill on contact) doesn't cause the same anxiety for me as the potential for groundfall.
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j_ung
Nov 17, 2008, 7:32 PM
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Hey congratulations on surviving! It's a pretty unique experience, huh?
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tavs
Nov 17, 2008, 9:27 PM
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Congrats!! I have absolutely no idea when, where, or what route my first sport fall was on, but I will always remember my first gear fall!
Something I did that helped my comfort and confidence in gear--I aid climbed. Nothing serious and not very often, but a few single pitch aid routes did wonders for my gear placement and ability to trust pieces. Once you see what kind of crap (tipped out, one lobe engaged cams, for example) can in fact hold your body weight, those fully engaged bomber cam placements start to look like bolts. And placing tons and tons of pieces, often in less obvious spots, while having the time to relax and think about it, really helped my eye for placements.
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kostik
Nov 18, 2008, 4:18 PM
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Congrats, Chris! You are my heroine. Leading on gear scares shit out of me. I'll never do it myself, but I respect those who do.
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shorty
Nov 18, 2008, 11:53 PM
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clee03m wrote: And it held.
One way to become even more comfortable with your gear placements is to learn how to aid climb (assuming you haven't done so already). My first experience of standing on my own placements is as vivid today as it was so many moons ago. Again, assuming you haven't already aided a pitch or two, I'll through out some suggestions:
Find someone who knows how to aid and is willing to teach you. Then bribe that person with vast injections of No-Doze during the session and a steak dinner afterwards. And have them use a gri-gri (belaying aid makes watching rust form on garden tools seem interesting).
Find a short, overhanging crack route that sucks up gear like a Hoover. Then throw every piece know to mankind into the crack every 18 inches and stand on them. Rock back and forth, bounce, then jump to see if you can pop the pieces. Oh yeah, wear impact resistant eye glasses when you do this -- I logged a little air time and took a few stoppers in the face the first time.
You may find that your preference for certain types of gear changes, and you will likely develop more confidence in running it out over good gear when necessary.
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lena_chita
Moderator
Nov 19, 2008, 6:04 PM
Post #12 of 18
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camhead wrote: kostik wrote: Congrats, Chris! You are my heroine. Leading on gear scares shit out of me. I'll never do it myself, but I respect those who do. don't worry kostya, lena will be putting up topropes on the 5.11 cracks for you in no time! hehe.
I'll make sure you wear a helmet, if you are going to belay me. With my gear placement skills, I don't want you to really become a CAMhead.
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lena_chita
Moderator
Nov 19, 2008, 6:05 PM
Post #13 of 18
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kostik wrote: camhead wrote: don't worry kostya, lena will be putting up topropes on the 5.11 cracks for you in no time! hehe. Cannot wait for that to happen, Paul.  Btw, Christmas is coming, and she needs a rack...
BD #2, 1 and 0.5 would be good, please...
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kostik
Nov 19, 2008, 7:21 PM
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lena_chita wrote: BD #2, 1 and 0.5 would be good, please...
Girl's toys? How many of each?
(This post was edited by kostik on Nov 19, 2008, 7:23 PM)
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tradrenn
Nov 26, 2008, 9:37 PM
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kostik wrote: lena_chita wrote: BD #2, 1 and 0.5 would be good, please... Girl's toys? How many of each?
If we are talking RRG get her 3 of each, but 4 would be perfection. Don't forget .75.
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caliclimbergrl
Jan 2, 2009, 10:56 AM
Post #16 of 18
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Registered: Feb 19, 2008
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Congrats!! I think that is quite an accomplishment! I'm so terrified to fall, it's a wonder I climb at all! My main climbing goal right now is to take a lead fall on gear. But I can't do it on purpose. So I'm trying to push myself to climb harder routes in the hope of falling. But I'm in the bad habit of taking and hanging on gear instead of pushing myself to either get it clean or fall. But I'm working on it -- one of these days I'll be celebrating with you!
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caliclimbergrl
Jan 2, 2009, 11:00 AM
Post #17 of 18
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Registered: Feb 19, 2008
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shorty wrote: One way to become even more comfortable with your gear placements is to learn how to aid climb (assuming you haven't done so already). My first experience of standing on my own placements is as vivid today as it was so many moons ago. Again, assuming you haven't already aided a pitch or two, I'll through out some suggestions: Find someone who knows how to aid and is willing to teach you. Then bribe that person with vast injections of No-Doze during the session and a steak dinner afterwards. And have them use a gri-gri (belaying aid makes watching rust form on garden tools seem interesting). Find a short, overhanging crack route that sucks up gear like a Hoover. Then throw every piece know to mankind into the crack every 18 inches and stand on them. Rock back and forth, bounce, then jump to see if you can pop the pieces. Oh yeah, wear impact resistant eye glasses when you do this -- I logged a little air time and took a few stoppers in the face the first time. You may find that your preference for certain types of gear changes, and you will likely develop more confidence in running it out over good gear when necessary.
Chris, I really need to get some more aid practicing in. So we should totally head over to Index together one of these days and do some aid climbing together! I'd be happy to teach you if you provide the gri-gri! With our combined racks (and maybe an extra set of nuts), we should be able to get up a whole climb! What do you say?
(This post was edited by caliclimbergrl on Jan 2, 2009, 11:02 AM)
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clee03m
Jan 3, 2009, 4:19 AM
Post #18 of 18
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Registered: Oct 29, 2004
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Hey, long time! I am a total wuss and hang dog more than I would like. Lead falls are never intentional, and after the second one, I was thinking I want to cut back on the grade some...
If we could get a good weather weekend, I would love to get together for Index. Let's pm next time we go out.
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