Backstepping lead climbing accident reddit 10 sport climb that had a tricky section a few bolts into it. 15c I believe, and there are plenty of 5. Fast clipping makes lead climbing so much easier. The researchers were surprised at the incidence of injuries from top-rope climbing, as top-rope was assumed "safer" than lead climbing or I never climbed with the same confidence after even though it’s been a year. I think I am safe and a decent belayer, but want to improve to be a great belayer. Both climbers fell from 15 feet off the deck. I'm a solid V2 climber and can get some V3's too as of late. However, I am looking to get into lead climbing and potentially start going outside once I'm comfortable with the basics of lead (and when New England winter allows it lol). e. The home of Climbing on reddit. He was not tied in, and slid off the edge. Jul 21, 2016 · Lead climbing means you tie into the rope that is connected directly to your belayer and you clip into protection as you move up. Appreciate if you can explain this in detail. Everyone that taught me to lead / I have lead with / I have even talked with about leading has called this mistake a "backstep", but it is entirely possible that this is a regional thing. Posted by u/DispoDealer918 - 139 votes and 14 comments Posted by u/bodhibell02 - 3 votes and 30 comments For lead, it’s usually one fall at the “x” bolt (although one gym I went to had no practice falls and said you would fail the test if you took or fell so that was weird). “WTF is bro talking about?” Apr 21, 2020 · 2. ~~ lol we aren't pussies One of my coworkers was climbing top rope at a gym in Europe and was belayed by an incompetent belayer. Lay on your back all day with a lead climber, but they fall above their last clip, they're falling a distance. The hardest sport climb in the world is 5. Mastering the V2's has been forwarding my interests to the overhangs more often. I have been climbing for about 2 years, but only bouldering and top roping indoors, and I have only ever used a typical ATC belay device, which I am very comfortable with. We tend to see a person and say "wow they've been climbing for years they must be the safest person ever" whereas the accident reports I see are always "person X has been climbing for over 10 years". Posted by u/Just-Palpitation-176 - 1 vote and no comments Urgent prayer request: A friend was in a climbing accident. There is no toprope here! Because there’s no rope above you, the falls are bigger and you must pay attention to more than just moving up the wall, including clipping the rope. “Constantly adjust your modeling” My first lead climb was a 5. Climbing instructor of 10+ years here chiming in. Yeah it’s fun to climb a lot, but despite what you think, you’re probably not climbing at your limit for 2 days in a row on a board. Climbing shoes are designed to help you feel the holds and wall surfaces! 06. Sometimes the more experienced we get the less we fear of gravity and make silly mistakes. Everything I saw was a technique that I have been taught was called a "back-flag". Surprised to see anchor failure be the most common top rope cause of accidents, with belay failure way lower down. I have been climbing for 15 years and was taught these techniques at a young age. ” Good call on not using the finger pockets yet. Trad, sport, aid, doesn't matter as long as it's on lead. He completely stopped lead climbing. That accident definitely changed my dad. Aside from belayer error, there's a few things that can go wrong. She was dropped from the top, broke her spine, legs, and injured several other body parts. You can do this by establishing good clipping techniques as a budding lead climber. Idk why I was wearing jeans that day but they saved my leg flesh! I escaped with some dented pride, a little cut on my pinkie and a simple lesson learned the hard way, “don’t put your foot behind the rope. Dude flips upside down and smacks into the wall. i. 14 trad routes. Posted by u/PimpingCrimping - 27 votes and 7 comments Lead climbing a sport route is similar to lead climbing at the indoor wall, but with a few more factors to consider. To practice, take a quickdraw at home and just tape it up or hang it somewhere in your house. I really hope OP can find a more supportive group of people as 'suck it up' isn't the way to introduce people in lead climbing. I don’t know happened but the next t 1. Lead climbing moreso. I guess just do what you feel comfortable with. I 100% understand the allure and freedom, it’s honestly the hardest adrenaline rush you can get climbing. Bouldering injuries were primarily due to falls on the mat. Sure the classic atc has it's benefits when multi pitching, but safety is not one of them. I can't conceive of a scenario where you could lead climb without having been climbing with a leader on several occasions. Lead climbing is an important skill to have and when you’re transitioning from indoors to outdoors and there are a number of things you want to pay attention to. If you don't have good footwork, you could really end up hurting yourself with a nasty ropeburn if you fall wrong. The other day at my gym, a young woman climbing for the first time fell off the auto belay from the top of the route. If you're still afraid to lead climb after meeting all 3 of those criteria, it's not for you. So, I did a somewhat overhang 5. General insight: footwork is everything with lead climbing. Also, don't rest or take when you're tired - just go for the next move until you fall. It was the very last clip to the anchor. TLDR: Pay attention at the gym or the local ER doc will try to pull your leg off. As highlighted in this article, Backstepping enables you to climb more efficiently. If you’re climbing / training 5-6 days a week, you’re probably just constantly fatigued, and trying as hard as your fatigued state can manage, rather than what you could do if you were properly rested. The section was about dead vertical, and there was a healthy amount of space between the bolts where she fell. I was climbing with a girl at Malibu Creek in CA, and she was a relatively new leader. And as always, the best place to learn a new climbing technique like clipping is on the ground. 8 in Rumney, New Hampshire, called Little Angler. One climber got a dislocated ankle and was out climbing just a couple of weeks ago. 955 votes, 196 comments. Hey all, so I know how to lead climb and belay and have been doing it for a year now. Yesterday I was helping teach a climbing course and a big guy shows up plus 95kg , I was supposed to belay him in a excercise for him to stop being afraid of lead falls and whhippers (because he was too heavy for the rest of the climbers to do it safely in this excercise) while he took whippers (I was lead belaying him and he also had another Jan 22, 2025 · Search and rescue teams responded to two climbing emergencies in Nevada’s Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area on Saturday, January 18, one of which involved a fatal fall. I’ve had a gazillion bouldering falls, many crazy ones, but I do what is in this video instinctually after just practicing it in my daily climbing, even on easy climbs and climbs close to the ground. when to back step in climbing. Got tired pushed off wall to only realize I only tied into the lead rope which no one was tied into. What had happened? Immediately after instruction by staff on how to use the auto belay properly, the woman let her 8yo niece clip her into to a gear loop. 3M subscribers in the climbing community. 8 and I'm not especially strong. Feb 10, 2023 · Keep practicing this foundational climbing move during every session. Leading is a dangerous activity that can lead to serious injury, or worse, if not correctly performed. Had to be airlifted out and she made a full recovery. Most people will say not to do any real hangboarding until you have at least a solid year of climbing under your belt. Lead climbing, as seen here, has their rope below them as they climb. When I… In 17 years of climbing there were a dozen of accidents in my circle. For that reason, most climbing gyms offer lead and belaying courses where you can learn to climb and belay safely. Super dangerous. I’ve aged out of free-soloing (mid-30s), but I did it quite a bit through my 20s. Stop top roping and always lead (and lead at least once a week or so) and it will improve pretty quickly. 5. 4 alpine routes. Try climbing hard problems on a steep woodie without using open hips. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone stick their leg so far through the rope! Glad he’s okay, butan instructor for 6 years? Maybe he needs to work on lead climbing basics a bit before he resumes teaching. b and just when I was about to clip to the overhead anchor I felt like my hands were giving up and took a fall. It was a completely avoidable accident (the climber was on the top of a frozen waterfall, setting up an anchor, and slipped. Its mostly mental. There are a few out there of z-clipping and… Damn, that’s a pretty impressive amount of backstepping. I was wondering if there were any articles/videos/tips that you gals/guys have that can help me improve my skills and move towards being a great belayer. Hopefully I can give back some confidence and help you First off, I’m almost a 100% sure you didn’t feed out rope during the fall. I’ve never had a climbing injury of any kind (knock on wood!!) I was belaying for the worst accident I have seen. I don't know a lot of details about the accident, but apparently the party was roped together so however it happened, they all went down together. Usually lead tests ask you to describe z-clipping, backstepping, and back clipping and sometimes “demo” it on the floors. Oct 29, 2018 · Most of the injuries in lead and top-rope climbing were due to belaying mistakes at 10 cases out of 23 lead/top rope climbing accidents logged. There are some problems with top rope as the climber becomes (almost) completely dependent on others, makes lead climbing seem scarier, and over time it becomes a confidence killer. But the risks are easily mitigated by utilizing good form, proper planning, and well-selected and -maintained gear. Both on a hangboard and at the gym. It's not out of 5. 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 11a, 11b, etc A 5. There is no climbing like free solo. You can climb as crazy as you want (huge flags, backsteps, etc) and really learn how to control yourself around a lead rope. At Joshua Tree a few years ago on New Year’s Day there were two climbing accidents. Even gym lead climbing isn't like outdoor lead climbing. 9 of them were atc related and the other were poorly tied knot, bad gear placement and ice climbing related. There's a couple reasons why it's harder/impossible to backstep for many moves: (1) The limited number of footholds aren't in the optimal positions, and more importantly (2) Open hips on steep walls often allow you to make bigger moves. With lead climbing the climbers bring their own equipment and the belay isn't tethered to an anchor point. Bit early to say. My gym has a 20% off deal I have a week to use for having taken the lead class/passing the belay check and I’d like to buy a GriGri for the assisted braking but I’d also like to be able to know how to use it. I’m with her cousin right now. I have been climbing for 4 years and still avoid 2-finger pockets. Both resulted in ground falls. Practicing during the warmup is how I incorporated backstepping (in combination with an outside flag) into my default climbing style. His right foot is clearly backstepped (you didn't provide an alternate term, so I'll just keep using it) and in the video his right foot, to the right of the rope, catches the strand after the draw, and his left foot catches the strand below the draw. The other climber died. Mar 17, 2024 · David Weisberg wrote: No reason? If you can't visualize the situation, then press on the link. The other way to avoid back clipping while lead climbing is to clip cleanly. There is also 5. Even sport climbing you want to follow someone up first and get some basic instruction on back clipping, z-clipping, and anchor cleaning before you go out on your own. Just goes to show that sport climbing and alpine climbing are wildly different beasts. All climbers feel around for the best part of a handhold, but many just plop their foot down on a hold. 10a or so in difficulty. Mar 1, 2021 · Whether you’re new to climbing or going into your 10th season, there are a number of lead climbing mistakes that are easy to make if you’re not paying attention. At St Peters they have 15M lead climbing walls. 8 is easy, the first day I ever climbed I lead a 5. If, as you backstep, the rope ends up behind your leg and you fall while you are above your protection, the rope may get caught in your leg and flip your body upside down. Not sure why this was downvoted - sport climbing and alpine climbing/solo-ing are not the same and just because you're a strong sport climber doesn't mean you can or should solo 5. 10. Basically this leads to "I split my head open at the crag" and quite a few head injuries from this lead to death. In case some of you aren't aware of the original story (Click here for the OP), I lost a friend in a climbing accident about a month ago. Posted by u/krymson - 11 votes and 4 comments Hi all, I am bit confused on getting my footwork corrected. And yes we are scared of falling. Ropes courses are all set as top ropes, with ropes clipped/attached above the individual. As your rock climbing skills progress and you start pushing into the next grade, you’ll come off the wall now and then. She was trying some 5. I think between losing his friends and becoming a father, his risk tolerance changed a lot. “No back-stepping?” I thought. 1. Both falls pulled the only piece of protection. Maybe lead with a route you’re comfortable with, and obv with a belayer (or two) that doesn’t keep a lot of slack. Don’t know how bad it is, but from what we gather, she was at the very top (right at the ceiling) when she fell, and something happened and basically the rope wasn’t secure or it broke, and free fell to the bottom Feb 9, 2024 · The best way to avoid back clipping is to prevent it from happening in the first place. And even then, be careful. 10 route does require skill but it is still pretty much beginner climbing. Overall no helmet was a significant portion of all climbing accidents, nearly as much as rap errors. I just looked up vids for "climbing backstepping" so I could get on your page. In trad nearly half of all accidents were gear failure. Jan 18, 2018 · Mesa Rim setter Enrico demonstrates the backstep, which is often used on overhung and vertical terrain and helps keep the hips close to the wall and the arms Oct 7, 2022 · Modern climbing gyms take lead climbing safety very seriously, and for a good reason. In fact, the lead test at my first gym had far more spacious bolting and you would fall from the anchor to the last draw in the lead test, which was about the same distance I would have fallen were I to have fallen with that skipped clip. What is that one thing that happened that you immediatly think of when someone asks have you ever fallen or had an accident when climbing. Absolutely. Quickdraw Ends Quickdraws have a bolt-end carabiner and a rope-end carabiner. So much different doing a ropes course than lead climbing. Climbing single/double pitch routes up to 5. One of them was wearing a LEAD CLIMBING MISTAKES; this is why they tell you never to have your feet behind the rope. She’s in the ER and we are waiting for word. Dec 17, 2022 · Also, though it may seem tempting, don’t wear socks with your climbing shoes. Wife is learning to lead at the gym, and we're looking for videos of what to do, but also what NOT to do. I wish I could say it was a rope-stretching classic, but it was in truth a runty little route, 30 feet of traversing jugs and small knobby feet. Find the best part of the hold. Nov 21, 2023 · In the last episode of The RunOut podcast, I shared a story about taking a belay test from a Generic Gym Gumby (G3) who told me that there was no “back-stepping” allowed during the lead-climbing test. ) Aug 23, 2022 · Section divider Part I. As far as protecting oneself from such an accident, it seems like people forget how dangerous climbing at a gym really is and don't get a full spotter or really consider their pad placement. Backstepping in lead climbing can give you some trouble if you are not careful. Climbing slower, overgripping, second guessing clipping positions etc. : Knot tied poorly Equipment failure Lead climber failed to clip in correctly etc Finally, climbing in general is dangerous. Jul 10, 2019 · Trevor Massiah (MIA - Director Rock & Sun) demonstrates how to avoid rope burn and the risk of serious injury when falling upside down due to having the rope Hi! I just learned to lead in a gym using an ATC and I was wondering how big the learning curve is to learn on a GriGri. Taught me how to lead! Worst accident I ever saw was someone who twisted or sprained their knee. One way to get around this is to practice lead climbing with a lead rope AND a toprope. While it’s always scary, if you pract We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. I wouldn't have been anywhere near decking. My story: Climbing inside practicing clips for lead while on auto belay while listening to music. r/LeadClimbing: ~~Climbing, on the sharp end. Accidents happen and it’s better to be safe than sorry. Something else to remember. .
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