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Rock Climbing Techniques – Practicing Falling in a Safe Environment

Posted on April 1, 2012
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Rock Climbing Techniques – Practicing Falling in a Safe Environment

For most rock climbers (including me!) the notion of falling off fills us with dread. I was brought up on the maxim, “The leader never falls.” In my first five years of climbing, in the 1960s, I fell off four times, twice from 12 meters. All four climbs were (then) protectionless. All four times, I hit the ground.

Thankfully, for most rock climbs and climbers, those days are long gone. Now we have an almost bewildering variety of protection devices designed to stop us coming to harm if we fall off climbs. And yet, for many of us, I suspect, the dread of falling off is well-nigh as great as it ever was. A million years of brain-programming is not going to disappear in a few decades!

In rock-climbing, if you climb within your limits, you will succeed 100% of the time. It’s very easy to go on succeeding 100% of the time. But, if you want to improve, you must lay yourself open to occasional (or not so occasional) failure.

In rock climbing, failure on lead means either grabbing a piece of gear – or falling. If you grab a piece of gear then, did you really need it? Hard to tell. Whereas, if you carry on until you fall, well then, at least you know.

Top rock climbers such as Chris Sharma and Dave McLeod probably fall off most days they go climbing. They manage the risks to an amazing degree. The rest of us have to be more careful. The best way to get over fear of failure in climbing is to accept the probability of falling. The best way to accept the probability of falling is to practice it as a skill. We just have to break through that old, once valid maxim, “The leader never falls.” But we have to do so in conditions of well-nigh perfect safety.

Probably the safest place to practice falling from roped climbs is a well bolted climbing wall, or climbing gym as they tend to be called in America.

Always ask the management: at the very least, it’s good manners. Some management’s will be fine; some won’t. Abide by their decision, even if you don’t agree with it.

With a deliberate fall, always make sure that you cannot hit another climber on an adjacent route. Always make sure that you cannot hit the ground. Always make sure that you cannot hit a projection. Always make sure that your belayer is competent and knows exactly when you’re going to take a deliberate fall. Check. Double check. And, if need be, treble check.

Start with very small falls, ideally with just sagging on the rope. Work up to a meter fall, two meters, three meters. Always keep checking that it’s safe. When you’ve got used to falling, then take your new found skill onto well protected routes, ideally indoors, where you might fail. Get used to climbing to your limit and ‘relaxing’ into the fall. I know, I know… it takes a while.

Safety, safety, safety. Never take falling likely. Practised carefully, it is little more dangerous than (safe) abseiling. But always expect the unexpected. Take great care not to let your foot get caught in the rope – where you could invert. If you feel wearing a helmet is warranted, then wear one, whether you like the idea or not.

When I practice falling, I get used to deliberate falls. Then, when I stop taking them, I get unused to them all over again. So taking them is probably something we need to practice on a regular basis. One Australian climber I heard of used to take a deliberate fall on a suitable warm-up route every single day. That way, he had no fear of falling, because he knew he was going to do it every single day. Radical stuff! But, for him, it worked.

Practicing falling on a regular basis can remove the in-built fear of falling and the consequent fear of failure. Practice it – but safely. Always be safe.

Michael (Mick) Ward has been climbing since 1967. Aged 56, he still climbs at around 5.12 or F7b+. He has made many First Ascents and written for many climbing magazines. He’s still aiming to improve.

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Rock Climbing Techniques – Bouldering Improves Technique and Power

Posted on March 25, 2012
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Rock Climbing Techniques – Bouldering Improves Technique and Power

Once bouldering (climbing just a few meters above the ground) was rock climbing’s greatest secret, known to the few and practiced only by the elite. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the visionary John Gill took rock climbing standards from V2 to V9 – or even harder. When E2 was cutting edge for rock-climbers in the UK and 5.10 was emerging in the US, Gill was pulling moves that would not have been out of place on rock climbs of E10 and 5.14. Gill was farther ahead of his time than anyone I can think of in any discipline.

If you want to improve your rock climbing, chances are you will need better technique and more power. Bouldering can be used to improve both. Notice that I mentioned technique first, then power. If you get power first, then it’s highly likely that your technique will remain shoddy at worst, indifferent at best. Please – get technique first.

Think of bouldering as rock climbing’s ‘laboratory’, where you play around in well-nigh perfect safety.

And make sure it is safe. If outside, use a mat and spotters, if necessary. If inside, make sure the mats are thick and that you will land on one if you come off. Never boulder in an unsafe environment!

In bouldering, rock climbing’s ‘laboratory’ you are free to push the limits of your physical ability. You don’t have to worry about the protection or whether you’re going to ‘top out’. All you have to think about is ‘the move’. All you have to do is execute the move -or a series of moves.

So – did you do the move or not? If not, what could you have done differently? If yes, could you have done it differently – and better? What if you pivoted here… heel-hooked there? At your limit, the slightest difference in body position can mean the difference between impossible and relative ease of ascent.

(At your limit) one to six moves will give you power.

(At your limit) six to twelve moves will give you power-endurance. (At your limit) more than twelve moves will give you endurance. Obviously most bouldering is one to six moves. But experiment with longer sequences. And always remember Wolfgang Gullich’s immortal dictum, “Without power, there is no power endurance!”

Bouldering can be low-ball (roughly up to six moves, three meters) or high-ball, (above this). You can boulder parts of traverses or the entirety of long traverses. You can even boulder sections of project routes. But, however you practice it, bouldering is your laboratory, your ‘realm of the possible’. Lessons – and power – taken from bouldering will enhance your climbing ‘game’, whatever that is. You may be the most diehard trad climber imaginable. Bouldering will enable you to crush ‘stopper’ moves. John Gill was 20 years ahead of his time. Fortunately we don’t have to re-discover what he learned – bouldering works!

Michael (Mick) Ward has been climbing since 1967. Aged 56, he still climbs at around 5.12 or F7b+. He has made many First Ascents and written for many climbing magazines. He’s still aiming to improve.

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