lead climbing field notes

Summary

Things I’ve learned about lead climbing.

Terms and definitions

Knots

• Figure-eight: used to tie into harnesses as a climber.
  • Well-dressed: ensuring all sides of the knot are symmetrical. This balances the forces on the knot and can help with straighter falls.
  • Yosemite Finish: tucking in the tail into the far end of the figure-eight. Since falling will tighten the knot, this ensures the knot remains loose enough to untie.
• Stopper knot: tied at the far end of the rope opposite of the climber to stop the rope from slipping through in the event that the rope you select was too short for the climb.
• Make sure to untie all knots after a lead climb, or else the rope will get stuck at the anchor!

Belay Devices

There are a bunch of other offerings on the market, so feel free to do your own research. Here are the most common tools:

• Grigri: Petzl’s most popular offering with cam-assisted blocking. This is the safest belay device (both for climbers and belayers) since it automatically protects against the widest range of falls, but is also the hardest to use since it’ll lock up more frequently.
  • When feeding an arms-length of slack or more for clipping, you will need to deactivate the cam by holding the base of the lever in place (typically with your thumb+index finger).
  • You may need to release the lever entirely during a full lock-up, which can happen after a lead fall.
• ATC: Black Diamond’s offering, also known as a “tube-style belay device”. Cheapest and easiest to use, but provides no assisted braking (so if you accidentally let go of the brake, bad things will happen).
• Neox: A sister device to the Grigri with a more lightly-tuned assisted braking mechanism that makes giving slack much smoother (at the cost of not locking up in certain fall situations).
• Ohm: Extra assisted braking quickdraw for when the climber is much heavier than the belayer.

Rope

• Flaking: untangling/removing knots and inspecting the rope for defects. Should be done before and after each lead climb.
• Tension: how much pulling force a climber feels.
  • A climber is “on tension” if they’re top-roping. Climbers can also yell “take” or “tension” to request more, usually before a fall or rest.
• Slack: the opposite of tension; how much extra rope is available to a climber.
  • Lead belayers spend most of the climb “giving slack”; i.e. feeding rope.
  • You’ll also sometimes hear people talking about “slack in the system”, which refers to any droopiness in the lead line that will cause climbers to fall further during a lead fall.
• Cleaning: “cleaning a route” refers to pulling the rope out of the quickdraws (and if climbing outdoors, removing the quickdraws/protection points/anchors themselves).
  • Remember to yell “rope” as the rope falls through the anchor, and optionally right before you catch it, to alert nearby climbers to look out.
  • In a gym, pull the rope from the climber’s side, not the belayer’s side, so it falls through all the quickdraws and won’t whip anyone on the way down.

Basic Clipping

• Bolt: drilled into the rock to allow for a quickdraw to be attached.
• Carabiner: a metal loop with a gate.
  • Locking carabiners are used for attaching belay devices to your harness and have an additional mechanism to ensure they don’t accidentally detach (like a spring-loaded push gate, or a screw gate).
• Quickdraw: two carabiners attached by a flexible material (known as the dogbone).

Clipping Mistakes

• Backclip: clipping through a twisted carabiner, such that the climber is between the clip and the wall.
  • This is dangerous because the carabiner could twist back during a fall and cause the rope to slip through the gate.
  • To resolve a backclip, simply unclip and re-clip in the correct orientation.
  • Backclips are hard to spot as a belayer after the fact; they’re most easily caught by watching your climber’s hand motion while clipping. If they’re fiddling with the rope a lot / forgot to twist it during an opposite-hand clip, call them out even if you’re not 100% sure it will result in a backclip.
• Z-clip: clipping a higher carabiner before a lower one.
  • This is dangerous for two reasons:
    • It introduces extra friction into the system so it’s harder to reach higher clips.
    • During a fall, the lower carabiner will catch you instead of the higher one (so it’s effectively a skipped clip).
• Skip clip: forgetting a clip.
  • To resolve, climbers may need to downclimb/unclip higher clips to avoid Z-clipping.
• High/low clip: when the position of the clip is unusually high/low compared to your body (the most comfortable position is when the clip is around chest-height). Not always a mistake and sometimes unavoidable.
  • The first clip should typically be a high clip, since you want to get the protection as soon as possible.

Other Mistakes

• Hard catch: when there isn’t enough slack in the system, such that the climber rapidly whips into the wall during a fall.
  • Usually not dangerous, but has a higher chance of causing sprained/broken ankles and other injuries so should be avoided when possible.
• Crossloading: when your belay device shifts to the long side of your locking carabiner.
  • Usually not dangerous, but carabiners are rated for far less force on the cross-direction, so it’s more likely for them to fail during a fall while crossloaded.
• Caught rope: when the rope catches/wraps around the climber’s heel.
  • This is dangerous because the climber’s leg may get caught in the rope during a fall, causing a very hard catch and/or flipping them upside down.
  • Belayers should yell “heel” or “foot” if they spot a caught rope.
• Decking: when the climber falls far enough to hit the ground.
  • VERY BAD and will probably result in serious injury, even in a gym.
  • Most common during the first few clips. Make sure you’re keeping enough tension before the climber reaches the 3rd clip; hard catches are almost always preferred over decking.
• Short-roping: when you’re belaying and don’t give your climber enough slack to clip or move upwards.
  • Could cause some frustration, and could be a safety issue if your climber is tired and misses a clip. Most experienced lead climbers prefer risking a longer fall over being short-roped.
  • It’s a gradual process to learn the right amount of slack to give and take at all times. Don’t expect to get this perfect until you get a lot of practice in!

Techniques

How much slack to give

The amount of slack a belayer should give depends mostly on two things: how high the climber is and how heavy the climber is.

Height:

• Before the first clip, the climber should be given enough slack to reach the first clip. Climbers should be able to safely bail and fall just as if they were climbing a boulder outdoors. Belayers can optionally spot the climber if they know how to safely do so.
• Between 1 and 3-4 clips (in terms of how closely spaced they are in a gym), belayers should give less slack to avoid decking the climber. The rope should look like it’s diagonally connecting the climber to the first clip, with a very slight amount of droopiness.
• After 3-4 clips, see the weight section.

Weight:

• By default (assuming the climber and belayer are the same weight), the rope should form a tight J shape in between the belayer and the first clip.
• If the climber is heavier than the belayer, they’ll stretch out the rope more and thus have more time/distance to fall. So the belayer should reduce the amount of slack in the system to prevent decking.
• If the climber is lighter than the belayer, they’ll stretch out the rope less and thus have less time/distance to fall. So the belayer should increase the amount of slack in the system to allow them more time to fall (and create a softer catch).
• If the weight difference is extreme (>50lbs) then lead climbing can be more dangerous.
  • If the climber is much lighter, then they’ll be subject to harder catches.
  • If the climber is much heavier, then it may be impossible to avoid decking at lower heights even at full tension. (This can be mitigated with assisting devices like anchors or an Ohm).

Tips for falling

Before you start climbing, ensure your knot is tied close to your harness and well-dressed. Imbalanced or loose knots, especially ones with a lot of rope in between your harness and the knot, will increase your chances of an unbalanced fall (or flipping over).

A lead fall is NOT a bouldering fall. Pretending you’re free-falling can get you injured!

• When you fall, let go of all holds, clips, or ropes you’re reaching for. Raise your arms like you’re on a roller coaster if it helps :)
• Stick your legs outwards, towards the wall. Bend your knees.
• For most situations, you’ll swing back towards the wall. Catch yourself with all four limbs, bending your knees first to absorb the shock and then bringing your arms in to make sure your upper body doesn’t hit anything.
• Lead falls should be much slower than a free fall, since the rope will stretch out and provide a countering elastic force, (like a spring). Except for really long falls it should feel like a smooth and controlled descent.
• Falls from an overhang will be much softer and you probably won’t hit the wall at all.

Recovering from a fall

It’s typically fine for lead climbers to continue a route after falling. The protocol looks something like this:

1. Give your belayer a thumbs-up or some other signal that you feel good to go after taking the fall. (If you don’t feel ok, tell them to lower you immediately!!)
2. Continue climbing; your belayer should take in slack like a standard top-rope climb until you reach the clip you fell from. (It’s ok to belay while still floating; the belayer will get lowered back as you continue climbing.)
3. Once you start getting close to the clip, your belayer should transition back to lead belaying and give you enough slack to continue upwards.

How to avoid caught rope

Getting your rope caught on or behind your heel is dangerous (since your leg could get tangled when you fall and flip you over rapidly).

The easiest way to avoid this is to let the rope tend towards to one side of your body. If this is not possible, then try to keep the rope as centered in between your feet as possible.

• The rope and quickdraws should be in between the climber and belayer. So if most of the quickdraws tend to be on the right side of the holds in the route, then the belayer should also stand to the right.
• Even when the climber makes a mistake in positioning, it’s the belayer’s responsibility to catch it and adjust accordingly.
• When clipping, try to center the clip in between your feet as much as possible. This often involves briefly leaving a climb to get into proper clipping position, then undoing a move or two to get back onto the main route.

How to clip an anchor and lower

At the top of the climb, there should be an anchor with at least two clips facing the opposite direction to provide redundancy in case one fails. To complete a climb:

1. Make sure you’re in a secure position (in a gym, grab the top lip of the wall).
2. Clip the anchor clips normally. You don’t really need to pay attention to backclipping since you won’t ever be falling from above the anchor.
3. The belayer should take all slack out of the system and lower the climber as if it were a top-rope climb. Belayers may need to jump to take in all the slack if climbers don’t want to drop a couple feet before lowering!

Clipping positions

The best positions to clip in are frequently different from the normal position that might make sense if you were doing the same climb on a top rope.

A trick to start out with planning clipping positions is to look out for triangle positions: where your two feet are stable, and you have one arm on a supporting hold roughly centered in between your feet. This leaves you a free arm to comfortably clip at the hip-to-chest level (in the middle of the “triangle” created by your feet and supporting hand).

Another helpful mental model is to treat clipping like temporarily leaving the route:

• climb like you’re on top rope by default
• when it’s time to clip, find a position and get in it to clip
• once safely clipped in, leave your clipping position and re-enter the standard route

While you’re learning and haven’t gained positioning intuition yet, plan out every route from the ground. Identify potential clipping positions and decide what hand you want to use for every clip.

In terms of vertical position, it’s mostly personal preference— many people find that hip-level clips are the easiest to make. However, clip into the first clip as HIGH as possible because you have no protection yet, and will definitely deck yourself if you fall before it! This usually means making the first clip at shoulder to head level.

The lead check

I’ve attempted the lead check twice, both at a Movement gym (once in Belmont and once in Sunnyvale), and passed the second time. This seems fairly typical; the instructors warn you to expect not to pass first one! (unless you’ve already had a bunch of experience and/or lead climbed outdoors.)

The lead check is done as a partner exercise, so you’ll need 1 other person to test with you. Everyone who tests needs to have safely taken and caught a lead fall before (either through a gym class or outdoors).

The lead check typically needs to be scheduled in advance since it’s fairly involved. At Movement gyms it’s a 45-minute slot that can be booked for free 1-2 weeks in advance on the Events calendar online. Calling ahead or asking your instructor could also help you secure the spots you want if they’re filling up quickly.

outline

1. Show up 10mins early to change, put on gear, sign in, reserve a rope if needed, etc.
2. Groundwork: basic safety and clipping on a couple quickdraws while on the ground
   1. demonstrate you can clip and unclip all orientations with both hands
   2. demonstrate what a backclip looks like, and why/how it’s dangerous (flip the carabiner around, simulate a fall, and show that the rope slips out of the carabiner)
   3. demonstrate what a Z-clip looks like, why/how it’s dangerous, and how to fix it
3. Tie in as climber/belayer, perform pre-climb checks. Instructor will ensure everything looks good (if it doesn’t, it’s an instant-fail).
4. Climb normally up past the 6th clip. When the 6th clip is around the climber’s thigh/hip level, the climber will intentionally fall.
   1. The climber can either do this unannounced, or announce (yell “falling”) immediately while starting to fall.
5. After catching the fall and ensuring both the climber and belayer are safe to continue, the climber will finish the route and clip into the anchor.
6. Clean+flake the rope down; the climber and belayer switch roles and repeat from Step 3.

instant-fail conditions

1. Starting the climb without passing your pre-climb checks:
   1. harnesses tied+doubled-back+not twisted
   2. good knots (5 parallel lines, sufficient tail, etc)
   3. locked carabiners
   4. tied into the same rope
   5. belay device correct orientation + climber not on brake line
   6. nobody climbing on an intersecting route
   7. pockets empty
   8. rope flaked+no knots
2. Backclipping, Z-clipping, skipping a clip, or rope getting caught behind heel (100% OK if the belayer catches the mistake within 5secs and climber fixes promptly)
3. Unsafe/excessively hard catch during fall
4. Leaving too much slack in system during fall (i.e. belayer gets lifted past waist-height)
5. Not being able to complete the route / clipping anchor incorrectly

other pitfalls to avoid

Here are a few points of feedback we got during lead checks to improve on:

• Leaving too much slack before the first clip: I spent a few seconds taking in slack (which is dangerous because the climber could easily deck out during this time). Instead, I should measure out approx. how much slack is needed for the first clip and only have that much let out.
• Taking too long to clip: clipping is the most vulnerable time during a lead climb (besides pre-first clip), so it should be effortless muscle memory and take <1s to execute. Practice this a lot, and ask the front desk for a monkey tail to bring home!
• Rope management as a climber: ensure I gain the intuition to automatically/subconsciously avoid backstepping and rope-behind-heel. Even if corrected, they shouldn’t be happening at all on a test climb because we won’t have the mental capacity to deal with it for harder climbs.
• Messy top-rope to lead transition after a fall: ensure climber isn’t short-roped after passing the initial fall point. (It’s common for the belay device to catch during this transition- know how to deal with it, potentially releasing the lever to do so)
• Clean the rope by pulling it through the climber side rather than the belayer side, such that it falls through all of the clips instead of all at once from the anchor.
• Crossloading: it’s more likely for me to crossload than most other belayers since I’m left-handed. buy an anti-crossloading carabiner with an inner clip for the harness loop to mitigate this.
• Belay closer to the wall. Some gyms have floor markers suggesting the furthest point you should stand when lead belaying. This helps with slack management, and ensures you get lifted vertically rather than into the wall when your climber takes a fall.
• While fixing Z-clips by unclipping either clip is fine, it’s usually preferred to downclimb and unclip the lower one first from a safety perspective. Otherwise, you’re relying on your lower clip and can take a long fall while you’re fixing it.