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macattack22
Mar 23, 2003, 6:17 PM
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Anybody have any stories of spectacular falls while leading trad?
Oooh, ooh! I do! I do! :P
I just lead my first trad route at Mission Gorge San Diego yesterday, as well as taking my first true fall. It was my first real long fall on my rope as well as my first fall from above a piece of pro that I placed. Anyway, I was slowly working my way up a nice juggy 5.7 pitch with a very decent crack running along it, called "Skyline". Just to be safe and to practice making good placements I was putting gear in about every 2 moves, like 5-6 feet, on this otherwise easy route. I got to the top of the crack where there was a bit of a slanted ledge before the crux and the top portion of the route, which was slabby and bolted. Before I tried the cruz move, though, I changed my mind and downclimbed a few feet to add one more placement in case I fell - a #8 BD Hexentric placed end-wise and perfectly contoured into the crack. Then I climbed back up to the slab part, and attempted to get on it. I was now 4-6 feet above my last placement. Slick feet, bad hands, and I couldn't reach the bolt..... then I slipped.
My feet slid off the slab and landed hard on the ledge below, just as the word "Falling" came out of my mouth. I toppled backwards off the ledgeand spun halfway aorund in midair before I hit the face below, so my butt slammed into the rock. It occurred to me somewhere in here in a flash that I had been so nervous about leading trad and trying to gather my rack that I had forgotten to put my helmet on. Stupid, stupid, stupid. :oops: About here I hit the stretch in the rope, and swung around one more time as my left shoulder dragged across the face, then finally came to a stop horizontally dangling about 20 feet below where I'd slipped.
Thankfully, my head never even touched the rock. But it could have. That was the first thought that was going through my head after my life stopped flashing before my eyes.... why in the F*** did I forget my helmet?!!? Funny thing is, it wasn't the actual fall that scared me, because I've taken long falls into thin air while practicing leading in the gym. My partner and a few climbers around who had witnessed this, (one was on the route right next to me), started asking if I was ok, and I assured them that "I'll be very bruised tomorrow, but I'm all right!" I could really only feel the scrape on my shoulder. Then my partner asked if I wanted to be lowered, but I refused. I wanted to make it to the top. So I went back up, and tried to get onto the slabby part from the left side, which had much better feet. Flawless moves to the first bolt, and the second, and then the top.
When my partner got to the top he said my fall had looked pretty spectacular from his standpoint. After sitting at the top belaying him I could feel a large bruise forming on my left butt cheek, and when we walked off the top to decend I noticed my left heel hurt. I just kept thinking over and over how lucky I was that I didn't hit my head, and had "only" come out with two bruises and a scrape... and how glad I was that I changed my mind and placed that #8 hex, before I attempted the slab the wrong way.
Oh yeah, and one of my larger hexes decked when I fell (I have no idea how, the biner holding them must have dragged on the rock and opened). It only has two small divots on the edge on the end. I've never placed it, and the rest of it was unmarred and it wasn't deformed... Should I retire it? :? (Side note, imagine the instant of fear that went through my mind when I saw that hex fly, hoping that it wasn't the one that was supposed to be stopping my fall!! :shock: )
Anyway, that's my story. I'm curious to hear about other people's stories of their first trad lead/first trad fall. It seems to me like you're not "broken in" to leading until you've taken a big fall on a piece of gear and it held.... am I right? :P
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fritzski
Mar 23, 2003, 6:36 PM
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Also took my first true trad lead fall last week. About 30' up a very awkward small 5.8 dihedral with about four pieces in when I came to a crux I couldn't figure out. After too much exasperation I tried a layback move that should have worked if I had been calm enough to focus on good footwork. Instead I instantly pealed, went inverted, and ended up hanging upside down about 15' below. It happened so fast I had no time to even think about it.
I came out without so much as a scratch and ended up laughing about it. This was because I was wearing a helmet that did make definite contact with the wall, I did set a multi-directional as my first piece, my bomber placement of a small #3 DMM nut held like a champ, and the dynamic aspects of the whole system resulted in a very nonshocking stop.
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dig_scott
Mar 23, 2003, 6:37 PM
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do you write books?
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bvb
Mar 23, 2003, 6:43 PM
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Speaking of leads at Mission Gorge (which are always dicey 'cause the climbs are so short that if one or two pieces fail you're on the deck) I took one helluva whipper off of the Trapeze Roof in '76. Frank Noble had freed it on TR'd, and about two weeks later Kenny Cook and I were going toe-to-toe for the first lead.
The pro at the crux, turning the lip and establishing yourself in the short dihedral that leads to the top, really sucked -- a short angle driven stright up into the little slot right at the lip. I got over the lip, started wobbling trying to get into a secure stem in the dihedral, and pitched. The pin shifted big time, and between the long runner we had on the pin, and the massive rope strectch you got with 70's era edelrid ropes, I got stopped just as my feet were tapping the ground. Hey, did we know how to have a good time or what?
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macattack22
Mar 23, 2003, 7:38 PM
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dig_scott, actually I don't write books, but at one point I wanted to.... I guess I just have a thing for detail. :P
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ricardol
Mar 24, 2003, 5:40 PM
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i've had 2 falls on gear ..
the first was a straightforward .. i blew the crux which was a fist jam where you had to put your feet just below the fist on friction and stand up .. i had a #8 BD nut at my feet when i fell .. no biggie
the 2nd was abit more spectacular -- i was finishing a 30ft right traverse under a roof -- had a 1.5 tricam wedged passively about 6 feet to my left .. and placed a #4 BD nut infront of me -- as i tried the last move .. my feet slipped -- and i started falling backwards .. my shoulder bounced ona small ledge -- the #4 nut blew ... and the 1.5 tricam held ..
the fall put me about 12 feet down from the tricam placement .. on a pretty blank face .. so i had to batman my way back up to the placement ..
only injuries were a nice sized bruise on my shoulder..
-- ricardo
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pbjosh
Mar 24, 2003, 5:59 PM
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Laura,
Glad to hear that you're ok. You know Carol, my climbing partner... she had a 50' + nasty tumbling scraping bouncing lead fall on El Milenio which put her in the hospital for stitches and kept her limping for a couple of months, but thankfully she was ok.
I've taken a good number of falls up to about 20' on gear, but never injured myself (thankfully).
Always wear your helmet!
josh
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rockprodigy
Mar 24, 2003, 6:45 PM
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Check this out for the full story:
http://naclassics.com/.../washastr/ma_502.pdf
Here's the excerpt:
"It’s a cold April morning in Yosemite. I crank up the 5.10 second pitch and reach the belay for the Boulder Pitch, the technical crux of Astroman. It’s my lead, so I grab the small gear and make a 15 foot horizontal traverse to the base of the arching finger tip crack. Reaching the crack, I see that the gear will not be easy, I place an RP as high as I can get it and fire into the strenuous lieback. About 10 feet later, the RP pulls out.
“Oh shit!…uh, I mean…you’re solid,…you’re solid!” is the response from Dave, my belayer whom I had met the night before in Camp 4. It turns out his original assessment was correct. I now have a 20 foot loop of rope leading from myself to the belay. In my panic, I attempt to place gear from a terrible position, crouched in a tenuous lieback, with strength quickly draining from my forearms. From this crouch, I can’t possibly see into the crack…I have to place gear by Braille. #2 TCU…? No. Too desperate to re-rack, I lay it in my lap and try again. #1 TCU…? No. At this point I realize that I have no strength left.
“Dave, I’m coming off.” I say with an attempt at calmness, but the crack in my voice reveals the graveness of the situation. I take a deep breath and let go…. I feel the impact on my heels when I hit the first ledge ten feet below…then I’m falling backwards…my back slams the slab below followed by the whiplash of my head…luckily I’m wearing a helmet. I slide head first, on my back towards the abyss when the rope finally pulls me to a stop."
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camhead
Mar 24, 2003, 6:54 PM
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the only fall I've experienced that was even close to epic was in Little Cottonwood Canyon, and my very first climb of the day at my very first rockclimbing.com gathering.
I had just returned from as big binge at Indian Creek and a steady diet of hard crack routes, was a little cocky, and thought nothing of hopping onto a 5.10b/c crack called Equipment Overhang Right, if I recall correctly. As I set up the climb, belayed by Lew, whom I had just met the day before, falling did not even enter into my head. It was only a 5.10, right?
The climb had a lot of contorted cracks on it, and it did not accept my big old rack of cams that well. Thus, I quickly approached pumpage as I fiddled stoppers into each placement, a skill that I had not (and still have not) yet perfected (yeah, I learned trad the wrong way). I was not sure how good any of my placements were, and just kept praying for a bomber cam placement to appear. It did not.
Ten feet above my last piece, and I started feeling a little more shaky as the crack began to peter out. I fiddled in a little #3 stopper into a seam, and it only fit about halfway. Not bomber at all. Oh well, psychological pro. I fired up another ten feet on thin face moves, getting more and more freaked, until I saw a perfect spot for a big old #11 stopper. Yeah! My whole body shaking, I quickly slotted the stopper and clipped in. safe.
Above this piece, the route did a weird step-around move onto an exposed aréte, and from there up a steep slab. No more pro for a while. Still shaking and pumped, I attempted to commit to the move. No go. I did a half fall, halff downclimb down to my #11 placement, giving up the onsight for a much needed hangdogging rest. really bad style.
pop.
In the split second after the #11 pulled out, sending me flying, all that went through my mind was the 25+ foot whipper that I was about to take on the little #3– MY halfway slotted bit of psychological pro. No doubt that it was going to pull, and I was going to crater from about 50 feet onto the grantite boulders.
My psychological pro held.
I finished the climb, scared the whole time. Subsequently, it took four people and a giant hex to hammer the stopper out of its placement. badly damaged, I hung it on my rearview mirror, and bought Lew a new one the next day. I then swore not to lead trad for at least another three months.
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lalamur
Mar 26, 2003, 9:53 PM
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laura, i couldn't have put it any better myself. viewing your fall from the other end of the rope was nothing but spectacular, one of the longest i've seen too. thinking about it now i realize that your fall would have been double or more if the #8 hex hadn't held, and even after that the questionable cam. so good, very good call placing that piece. also i have to give you props for giving it a second shot right away and finishing without a flaw. great job,
Dave
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macattack22
Mar 27, 2003, 4:40 AM
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Thanks man :) I'm still impressed with myself for finishing the climb after that too, and relieved that my foresight kicked in and I thought to place the hex, as well as kicking myself for forgetting the helmet.
Just so ya know, I went to SHARP to get my heel checked out because I still couldn't walk on it 2 days later... turns out I gave myself a contusion or bruise of the cartilage and tissues around the bone. Go figure. Guess I won't be hiking up to Mission Gorge till it gets better, but that should only be ~2 weeks from the time it happened.
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knate
Mar 27, 2003, 5:55 AM
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well, i took my first real trad fall on saturday also. 20 feet off the deck, 7 or so feet above a happy little #1.5 forged friend trying to place a second cam in a hand sized crack, then i got really nervous looking down that the forged below me and seeing how it walked. right as my sweaty hand grabbed the cam off my sling my other greasy mit slipped out of the crack, i pivoted on my feet still in the crack, then fell back first. i remember hearing a nasty pop(the forged friend poping out) then the dull thump as i landed back first. they told me a rolled around for a couple minutes, i remember trying to talk and move but nothing responded. then the pain hit and a nice "F*&kin shit" filled the otherwise silent area. i guess i really should have listened about forgies walking so bad.....im just feeling lucky to be walking around at the moment.
-knate-
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enigma
Mar 27, 2003, 3:09 PM
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In reply to: Anybody have any stories of spectacular falls while leading trad? Oooh, ooh! I do! I do! :P I just lead my first trad route at Mission Gorge San Diego yesterday, as well as taking my first true fall. It was my first real long fall on my rope as well as my first fall from above a piece of pro that I placed. Anyway, I was slowly working my way up a nice juggy 5.7 pitch with a very decent crack running along it, called "Skyline". Just to be safe and to practice making good placements I was putting gear in about every 2 moves, like 5-6 feet, on this otherwise easy route. I got to the top of the crack where there was a bit of a slanted ledge before the crux and the top portion of the route, which was slabby and bolted. Before I tried the cruz move, though, I changed my mind and downclimbed a few feet to add one more placement in case I fell - a #8 BD Hexentric placed end-wise and perfectly contoured into the crack. Then I climbed back up to the slab part, and attempted to get on it. I was now 4-6 feet above my last placement. Slick feet, bad hands, and I couldn't reach the bolt..... then I slipped. My feet slid off the slab and landed hard on the ledge below, just as the word "Falling" came out of my mouth. I toppled backwards off the ledgeand spun halfway aorund in midair before I hit the face below, so my butt slammed into the rock. It occurred to me somewhere in here in a flash that I had been so nervous about leading trad and trying to gather my rack that I had forgotten to put my helmet on. Stupid, stupid, stupid. :oops: About here I hit the stretch in the rope, and swung around one more time as my left shoulder dragged across the face, then finally came to a stop horizontally dangling about 20 feet below where I'd slipped. Thankfully, my head never even touched the rock. But it could have. That was the first thought that was going through my head after my life stopped flashing before my eyes.... why in the F*** did I forget my helmet?!!? Funny thing is, it wasn't the actual fall that scared me, because I've taken long falls into thin air while practicing leading in the gym. My partner and a few climbers around who had witnessed this, (one was on the route right next to me), started asking if I was ok, and I assured them that "I'll be very bruised tomorrow, but I'm all right!" I could really only feel the scrape on my shoulder. Then my partner asked if I wanted to be lowered, but I refused. I wanted to make it to the top. So I went back up, and tried to get onto the slabby part from the left side, which had much better feet. Flawless moves to the first bolt, and the second, and then the top. When my partner got to the top he said my fall had looked pretty spectacular from his standpoint. After sitting at the top belaying him I could feel a large bruise forming on my left butt cheek, and when we walked off the top to decend I noticed my left heel hurt. I just kept thinking over and over how lucky I was that I didn't hit my head, and had "only" come out with two bruises and a scrape... and how glad I was that I changed my mind and placed that #8 hex, before I attempted the slab the wrong way. Oh yeah, and one of my larger hexes decked when I fell (I have no idea how, the biner holding them must have dragged on the rock and opened). It only has two small divots on the edge on the end. I've never placed it, and the rest of it was unmarred and it wasn't deformed... Should I retire it? :? (Side note, imagine the instant of fear that went through my mind when I saw that hex fly, hoping that it wasn't the one that was supposed to be stopping my fall!! :shock: ) Anyway, that's my story. I'm curious to hear about other people's stories of their first trad lead/first trad fall. It seems to me like you're not "broken in" to leading until you've taken a big fall on a piece of gear and it held.... am I right? :P
I'm just beginning to lead trad, and I really don't want to take any falls, and the part when the pieces zip out is not an experience ,I look forward to. That story of Miss B, is real enough for me.
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rockprodigy
Mar 27, 2003, 8:11 PM
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In reply to: --what doesn't kill ya, makes you stronger in the end!!!!
...obviously you really believe that....
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veilneb
Mar 27, 2003, 8:58 PM
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Actually,
"What doesn't kill you, almost kills you." Isn't that how it goes?
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lalamur
Mar 27, 2003, 9:50 PM
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more like,
"what doesn't kill ya, leaves you battered and bruised in the end"
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ricardol
Mar 27, 2003, 10:15 PM
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In reply to: well, i took my first real trad fall on saturday also. 20 feet off the deck, 7 or so feet above a happy little #1.5 forged friend trying to place a second cam in a hand sized crack, then i got really nervous looking down that the forged below me and seeing how it walked. right as my sweaty hand grabbed the cam off my sling my other greasy mit slipped out of the crack, i pivoted on my feet still in the crack, then fell back first. i remember hearing a nasty pop(the forged friend poping out) then the dull thump as i landed back first. they told me a rolled around for a couple minutes, i remember trying to talk and move but nothing responded. then the pain hit and a nice "F*&kin s___" filled the otherwise silent area. i guess i really should have listened about forgies walking so bad.....im just feeling lucky to be walking around at the moment. -knate-
wow -- that sonds pretty bad knate .. what kind of injuries did you sustain..
sorry to hear about your accident ..
-- ricardo
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enigma
Mar 27, 2003, 10:47 PM
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In reply to: more like, "what doesn't kill ya, leaves you battered and bruised in the end"
Probably,well It's a little bit of irony,in the climbing world,hmmn??? :shock: :P
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knate
Apr 2, 2003, 6:39 PM
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i walked away with two or three broken vertebrea, and a nicely swollen hand from it sticking in the crack.
-knate-
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sparky
Apr 5, 2003, 3:50 AM
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Check out the viedo "Hard Grit" there are some sweeeeeet falls in there! The first on makes you cringe!
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inflight
Jul 29, 2003, 11:09 PM
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I took 5 leader falls on the now re-rated Grit Roof (5.10c originally. Hard Man Wally calls is 5.11?). The falls were clean and averaged about 15'. I certainly enjoy climbing my hardest when the falls hold no consequence. I got gased on the 5th attempt and aided to the anchors.
THe climb is a 6'-7' roof problem in Joshua Tree in the Rock of Horors area. It has a very gradual round lip with a crack that starts out with thin hands and widens to offwidth as you pull around the lip. Originally, there was a flake that you could heel hook to help pull the lip of the roof keeping the rating at 5.10c. Well, it broke off by the time I tried to lead it and so I was comitted to offwidth technique to pull it off.
I set #1 and #.75 cams self equalized with a sling and went to work. I got completely horizontal on a small hand jams and started to 'moving on up' and out a few moves then I reached far and stuck a perfect hand jams at the apex of the lip when my feet cut loose(the crack is really thin so campusing seemed easier) Handing by one hand jam, I thrusted my right hand into another perfect jam and reset my feet and moved on with the enjoyable task of moving into the offwidth. As I pulled the lip and moved into the offwidth (the rock still being more that 90 degrees) I stuck an armbar and a cammed knee. As I tried to move my one armbar that was keeping in the rock, I sensed it was time to fly. I looked down to see my journey's end with my last peice of pro under the roof 6-7 feel below me. TAKE! I howled and embrace my moment of weightlessness with the anticipation of a sudden jerk from the rope on my harness. Then is came, huuuugh! Clean! It was quite cool and liberating to face my fear of falling and not be harmed all due to a well calculated risk. I was so comfortable, I tried the section 4 other times getting a bit higher each time, but never pulling it. I was gassed and I decided I had logged in enough flight time for the day. Crowds were wanting more but I could not oblige.
Near the camp fire, I reveled in conquest over the fear of falling and the inspiration of climbing with more focus and poise rather than fear.
Peace!
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tenn_dawg
Jul 29, 2003, 11:23 PM
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/\/\Good story. It's so nice to hear a story of someone taking a normal fall on trad, and not some goofy tumbling pro pulling noob fall.
I fall on trad all the time. The only difference between trad and sport is that you know how good your trad placements are. Or at least you better know!
Travis
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manacubus
Jul 30, 2003, 12:19 AM
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In reply to: THe climb is a 6'-7' roof problem in Joshua Tree in the Rock of Horors area. It has a very gradual round lip with a crack that starts out with thin hands and widens to offwidth as you pull around the lip. |
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ptone
Jul 30, 2003, 1:03 AM
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First time I fell on trad I was over a small ledge. I had just placed a piece, then mantled the ledge and continued up the face to a shaky stance before the crux. I fumbled a nut and grabbed for it as it fell, (only time I'll do that) ended up following it down! I did have the instinct to push out somehow, and cleared the ledge.
The catch was softer than I would have expected, TG everything held fine.
Learned two things. One, never dive for a dropped piece when you are up on a wall, and Two, I think manteling added alot more height than I thought it would. In a sec my feet were 7 or 8 feet above my last piece!
For a great vid of a pretty nice fall, click the link in the post on Dean Potter sending in Tombstone. His finger gets a bit stuck and he peals for a 50 footer on a micro cam! He just keeps getting smaller and smaller!
p
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dirtineye
Jul 30, 2003, 1:29 AM
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My first leader fall was 27 feet, onto air, didn't feel a thing. Stupid 5/10a/b sport climb at Twall, I misjudged a hold about a foot below the bolter's hanging jug, DOH! Actually the climb is a classic, "A turn of the page", if you go there, do it.
My last leader fall was a grounder, about 20 feet, blew two pices while trying to get another one in, Top one that I was hanging on sorting thorugh a disorganized rack just popped out, the next one had looked good but what was a constriction is now a flare LOL, landed on my ass in soft dirt between rocks, felt the old discs in the back compress a little, belayer got a little in on the only good piece, got up, iced it, climbed some more. We top roped the rest of that day haha. Dumb luck saved my butt, but it was sore.
Somewhere in between these two, I had three 15 foot ground falls out of a layback on my favorite boulder problem on a wet day, had to rotate in the air and hit on all fours and roll over a big rock. Didn't hurt a bit cause I was ready for them.
They didn't seem very spectacular, I think you gotta get close to 40 feet or more to be spectacular.
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