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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

leading confidently on trad 1-Feb-2012 At 8:21:37 PM Sabu

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On 1/02/2012 Nayda wrote:
>So for your aspiring lead climber, what are the considerations
>you make before you decide to back off a trad pitch

Consider this in the reverse. What are the considerations you need to make before jumping ON the route. I look at grade, how committing it is, how confident I feel, height, number of pitches, exposure, rest areas, the moves, what the gear looks like, weather, is there access from the top to retrieve gear etc. Think about all the potential factors not just the grade when deciding whether you want to leave the ground. This process then continues all the way up. A good practice is to constantly weigh up the relative risk you are in for every move and beyond. If i decide to back off its usually because I feel i can't keep going safely (ie high chance of a fall with a bad result).

Remember that trad climbing involves lots of going up and coming down. Go up: sus out gear. Down: rest, grab gear. Up: place gear, check it. Down: rest. Up: fiddle. Down: f--- around trying to decide if its good enough etc. You get the idea! So its not as straight forward and a key skill is to be able to judge whether the remainder of the climb is still within your ability to attempt safely.

>How do you build confidence that your gear will hold a fall, & how do you know
>when to retire a piece of gear that's taken a fall(s)?

I think stu covered this nicely. As for retiring gear, the rule of thumb is if you are uncomfortable with it then stop using it. But the reality is you won't be falling much and a few falls won't damage your gear to the point where it will need to be retired (unless something has gone over a sharp edge or something). You mainly want to keep an eye on slings, quickdraws, ropes, harnesses etc. Anything with webbing or something that can become too frayed and worn down. Hardware like nuts and cams don't really need to be retired unless they look really manky.