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General Climbing Discussion

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Wearing helmets 24-Nov-2005 At 1:04:22 PM littlethor

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On 24/11/2005 Rich wrote:
>Don't know if anyone mentioned that even if there is minimal chance of
>rockfall, on trad, if you fall and your top piece pulls, there is a high
>potential for you to spin out of control and potentially smack into the
>rock. So as well as rockfall and potentially more dangerous falls, thats
>the other reason for wearing on trad.

Rich - i just got back from Arapiles and am currently nursing a badly sprained ankle and pulled muscles in my neck and back from exactly that- spinning out of control and smacking into the rock.. I fell after getting off-route, landed badly on one foot but then swung around so that i was facing away from the rock, subsequently doing a big human pendulum and hitting the other side of the little gully HEAD ON with all of my falling force.

i think i probably pendulumed about 3 metres and all of my force ended up being taken by my head (and subsequently my neck) and had i not been wearing a helmet i am pretty convinced that a screwed ankle would have been the least of my worries. this was my first ever lead fall.

The route was Jezebel (13) on the Pharos. The first pitch (as far as i got) is pretty low-angled and mainly sticks to a tight chimney-corner system. It was not very steep, something which my fall even worse and more painful as i hit things on the way down.

So, not only is my confidence in the system (and my own ropework and gear placements) greatly increased but the whole episode reinforced my philosophy to WEAR YOUR HELMET, even if you think it's easy.

i'm off to lick my wounds and recover for my next trip, with helmet firmly attached to noggin!