Thy shalt not trad fall, period! AKA slower is faster.

I remember last Saturday, Feburary 7, pretty well.  Steve Annecone and I hooked up in the lower Eldo parking lot and headed out to do some multi-pitch trad climbing on Lower Redgarden wall.  We settled on Evangeline into South Face of Tower One.  After warming up on Temporary Like Achilles Steve launched off into the first/crux pitch of Evangeline and then continued past the usual belay where most parties bail and aided out the seldom done roof to the next belay putting us in position to tackle the upper face climbing pitches.  Steve lead

the next .10b/c pitch clean which was far from trivial.  Right off the belay was a weird crux on some semi crumbly feet and then an upper crux in a funky stemming corner that demanded keen attention.  While following I fell off the lower crux when my left foot greased out of a small dish and I was moving my left hand up and flagging with my left foot.  Before I had time to think ‘Holy Cow’ I was 15′ lower then a split second ago and level with the belay I had just climbed up from.  Excuses aside the only thing that matters here is not the fall, but the consequences.  In this instance there were no consequences (i.e., except my ego) as I was seconding and Steve caught me on a clean fall with little slack rope in the system and no obstacles below me like trees or ledges waiting to devour my frail body.  Often, falling circumstances do not meet this ideal.  This same day Jay Perry, who I have climbed with before, took a serious ground fall in Eldo on the West Ridge.  From the Upper Ramp as we geared up for South Face of Tower One I thought I heard a noise like falling rock over near the West Ridge and then intermittent screams for the next half hour or so which we took to be an upset climber working on a hard climb (e.g., this is not uncommon in busy climbing areas).  A few days later I realized it was Jay screaming in agony.  Still not convinced that falls can have serious consequences?  Have a read of this accident or that one.

The common thread in all falls that precipitate into “accidents” is a lack of lucid assessment of the consequences of everything going plumb wrong.  In our haste abled mis-guided judgements we trick ourselves into delusional states where the fall and it’s subsequent consequences are diminished or worse not even considered.  I am guilty of this charge.  Take the case of my following fall on Evangeline Saturday.  The .10b/c grade was well within my capabilities – a grade I have not failed to lead onsight probably  in fifteen years.  This was the third time in 25 years of climbing that I fell off a .10 following.  I was cold when I left the belay and my body felt clumsy.  The crux came immediately after leaving the belay, even unclipping from they belay was a strenuous semi aid effort.  Before I knew it I was mentally in a rush wanting to get moving and warm up, but my body was not firing on all cylinders.  I noted I was above a roof with no ledges below me so I knew instinctively that falling here would be ok, but would it?  A few days after the fall I inspected the rope and noticed that the end I was tied into had some fray on the kernmantle about 20′ out from the end point.  True, it would be the rarest of cases to cut a rope in a fall (i.e., it does happen every few years), but I never thought about it.  So in my case I was just lucky or if you prefer the climbing statistics were on my side.

Most, if not all falls, in climbing are due to a lack of planning, panic and an inherited need to get it over with faster.  Read Accidents in North American Mountaineering for any give year if you not convinced.  At some point we have to teach ourselves to move slower and wiser lest we relinquish our next day at the crag permanently.