how do you take a safe fall on lead?? without your leg catching the rope and fall head first into the wall?

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Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Are you serious?

If you are and I am not being trolled (I suspect I am, but I'm bored so what the hell):
Most of the time you know you are going to fall before you do actually come off and you can tell your belayer to watch you. Even before you start the climb (only on sport really - unless you know the trad route like the back of your hand) you can assess the bolt placement and any risks like ledges. If you know about the risks beforehand you can make plans to avoid them i.e. "If I come off above the 5th bolt, I want you to give me lots of slack so that I can push off and avoid breaking my ankles on that ledge". On the foot entanglement thing: make sure that you don't get between the rock and the rope if at all possible.

The only real way to avoid any danger when falling is to climb very steep/overhanging rock so that when you fall you fall away from the rock into free air.

The irony of climbing is that it is usually the harder routes that are safer, purely because of their steep angle but beginner climbers (those more likely to make a mistake) are restricted to climbing easier routes that are lower angle and therefore more dangerous.

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Happy climbing
Nic

Ja, it happens lots.

Try and catch the rope running down from the last draw to your belayer with your one leg.
The friction on the leg is sometimes so great that the belayer don't have to catch your fall.

You can also wrap it around your foot, if you are quick enough.
This then saves the impact loading on the rest of the rope extending the ropes life dramatically.
Hence people climbing with 60m ropes: The foot-wrap technique generally impacts only the last 10m of the rope.
Thus you can use the foot-wrap for 5 years, chop 10m off your rope and still have 50m left that has never taken a lead fall.

Hope this helps

Hi Johandre,

Most of the time when you fall you wont get caught up in the rope, remember you are 'behind' the rope. So when you fall away from the rock, you also fall away from the rope. That said, an old climbing partner fell on the 26 up the middle of cedar rouge boulder once and got his leg caught up in the rope and ended up upside down - without hitting his head though.

I think this is what he's going for:


If you go left, put the rope over you right thigh and if you go right put the rope over your left thigh. Alternatively you can put some thought into it, but sometimes it is just bad luck (especially with long falls)

Now this I would love to see.

@ Hann....

Your joking right!?


I mean.... suppose there are times when I might (emphasis on might) have time to wrap/ grab/ hold the trailing rope, but those would be few and far btwn!
Do you carry rope burn marks on you legs at all?

Don't be too sure, he's been talking about the end of the world being near and finishing his single malts....

If it's a proper lob, you can try to hit your belayer - nothing breaks a fall like a spine.

and you'd be justified doing that too, I mean for f#$% sake, he's staring at your ass most of the time!

Thanks for all the comments guys!
@ Shorti,yes that is the exact thing i was going for.if been top roping a wile now but i am super scared to try lead climbing,because i saw a women fall at Higgovale Quarry i wile back and her leg hit the rope as she was coming down, flipped her over and she hit her head on the rock face

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Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Which is why even sport-climbers should wear a helmet....

Perhaps Ollie, the educated German should come in here.

He was the belayer who the above happened too.

I sh!t you not

You are not familiar with this advanced technique?

It’s fabulous.
After the 3rd or 4th time, the rope burn on your leg grows calluses easing the pain...

I know of other people with shoe rubber on their helmets also.

You lot crack me up!

[/quote]
and you'd be justified doing that too, I mean for f#$% sake, he's staring at your ass most of the time![/quote]

Sounds painful! Did it wash off in the shower?

I didn't check, but I believe the particular guy in question lost his helmet not long thereafter. I think he cried a bit about that

You lot are funny

What you need to keep in mind the whole time while climbing is rope position. I welcome penis jokes as a reply to this . What you need when climbing directly above your last draw is to have the rope in between your legs. When off to the left you want the rope in front of you but over your right leg, and when off to the right you need the rope in front but over the left leg. This will ensure you have a clean fall. Oh the opportunity for penis jokes is immense! Go wild!

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Climb for life!