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Tribute Wall accident 11/09/2018 2-Oct-2018 At 12:27:22 AM One Day Hero

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On 27-Sep-2018 Rawpowa! wrote:
>Yeah I'm with gordeste, shit happens and everyone seems relatively OK.
>I'm sure you'll learn from it, just keep climbing.

Unlike Stu, I don't agree with this. If you take sizable falls on vertical or slightly less than vertical rock with big chickenheads sticking out, it's quite likely that you'll wreck yourself. I mean, who would voluntarily take a big whipper on some low angle grade 15 at Araps? It's nuts.

The reality is that many routes (including sport routes) have large sections of "leader probably shouldn't fall" ground on them. Easier routes are more likely to have don't fall sections, and much more likely to have those sections at a grade not too far below the grade of the route. Can anyone imagine taking deliberate 5 or 6m falls on something like the first pitch of The Bard or Arachnus? You couldn't pay me to do that, it's so frigging dangerous with all the shit you're going to bounce off. If you're climbing grade 15s or whatever, you really can't fall off most of the time, unless the gear or bolt is above your knees.

Fark, the first year and half I was climbing I'd just randomly come flying off the rock with no idea why. Another good trick was going from 80% fresh to "too pumped to see" in about 5 seconds flat. It's not to do with how strong you are, there's some quantity of climbing you do on actual rock and those flameouts and sudden explosions don't seem to happen anymore. I dunno if all these other old farts are just glossing over that phase, but I nearly hit the deck half a dozen times in my bumbly years. You just have to get through the wild first bit of your climbing with ankles intact and things get a lot more under control.