Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late — Lessons Learned from a 30 Ft Trad Fall
I watched as my friend cruised up a climb locals call “Scary Canary.” On the last move he struggled with an awkward mantle. He reached for a hold, grabbed dirt instead and suddenly was flying back towards me.
He was well above his last piece of protection, but I was ready to catch him — until I heard the ping of gear popping and watched as he fell 30 ft, back first onto a ledge. In shock, I lowered him down to me. His helmet was smashed and his back was swollen, but amazingly I found no serious injuries. I was sure that the adrenaline of the fall was covering something up so we went to the ER, but the doctor concluded that my friend was made of rubber.
After the fall and as we hiked down the mountain a bunch of thoughts ran through my head but the biggest was a feeling of love for my friend. I was worried he was badly injured and we’d never climb together again.
In that moment I realized how fragile our friends, family, co-workers, and climbing partners are and how they can be swept away in a moment. It made me realize how foolish it is to wait until it’s too late to give thanks for the people who make our lives better.
Give thanks early, often, and spontaneously.
In addition, here are 3 climbing specific lessons from our near miss…
- Be A Better Belayer
I have reached the point in my climbing where I’m confident in my belaying skills. I know I can give a safe catch and since let’s be honest, belaying is way less fun than climbing, I don’t give it much thought. What I learned in this instant is that when you’re climbing and trad climbing in particular you can always be a better belayer.
It never crossed my mind that my friend would deck on this fall. My problem was assuming his gear was going to hold and not anticipating the fall consequences if it didn’t.
2. Check your Headspace
After this fall I wrote a note to myself — “Always know your mental bandwidth before a climb.”
Because trad climbing involves more gear, more route finding, and more stress, I requires more mental energy. Distractions lead to fumbling, which lead to accidents and injuries. On this day, my partner was tired from a long flight and distracted from losing his phone the night before — both these issues that should have told us to stick to easier climbs.
3. Increase Grades Slowly
Everyone knows that you’re supposed to ease your way into trad climbing. That said, when you’re on a road trip and don’t know when you’ll make it back to a climb, it’s easy to push. Don’t. There are so many things that can go wrong on a trad climb, from ropes getting stuck to getting off route. Easing your way into harder climbs allows you enough room for error to learn from these mistakes rather than get worked by them.
