Far Out Son of Lung...

Leading

This past Sunday I practiced more lead climbing and things went quite well. Better, I should say, than I expected. The preceeding Tuesday I had also been up on the wall leading, and had gotten on a couple of easy routes (5.6 & 5.7) to learn clipping. Things went well. I had no trouble placing the the draws, very little trouble clipping the rope and set anchors at the top chains as well.

The safety in practicing comes from being on the top rope while dragging a second rope and acting as though you are clipping and leading the entire route. Should anything go wrong your fall is arrested by the top rope instead of the lead rope, and this does a lot for confidence. It also serves as a training tool if the climber gets stuck, back clips or tangles in the rope as the belayer can easily tell the climber to make a correction without risking a fall.

Sunday
Sunday was spent practicing more clipping, which involves planning my moves so that I could properly clip draws from the safest possible position on the wall. It also involves more thorough planning in regard to where I will carry my draws and how I will climb the route. Leading introduces a new set of variables that are not difficult in themselves, but when it is a new process it can seem a little daunting.

Old Faithful
Having climbed up the 5.7 route successfully both Tuesday and Sunday Rock Gal thought it would be a good idea to try a more difficult route, but one I am familiar with and comfortable climbing. To that end I jumped on my old faithful, a mildly overhanging route marked with neon green tape, rated 5.9.

On top rope I can blaze up the climb in a matter of seconds. Each of the moves comes naturally and going from floor to summit typically takes about 30 - 45 seconds. Obviously, I've done this route entirely too many times. I have however, found it to be a lot of fun and it builds my confidence when other routes are troubling me. It has also taught me the importance of flow and continuous movement on the wall.

I was pretty certain that I would not complete the route on lead. In fact, I was pretty sure I knew exactly where I would pump out and need a take. Oddly enough, this didn't happen. I worked the route as swiftly as I had done previously on top rope, but even with the added challenge of clipping the rope on preset draws I was able to complete the route without a single take or fall!

Falling!
Falling on a top rope involves a brief blip from which a few feet are lost as you scrabble for any last grip left on the wall before you end up 3 feet lower than where you started. Falling on lead involves something entirely different, and requires more muscle memory. Falling is definately something I need to get used to...

We practiced a few times Sunday afternoon and I felt pretty comfortable with the idea of letting go of the wall and dropping. The big problem comes with controlling your body's momentum and not allowing yourself to lean back as you drop. If you do, it stresses your back and is a quick way to get yourself seriously injured when the rope runs out of slack. I was using the rope as a means of centering my body as I fell, and this didn't seem like a bad idea as long as I let go of the rope and catch myself from smacking the wall when it goes taught. I picked up this idea from a single photo in a magazine advertisement, and it seemed like a logical thing to do in my mind.

Grapping the rope does not, of course, mean grabbing it in an effort to stop your fall. instead, I reached down to my knot and held the rope with one hand, then extended a leg to arrest my swing into the wall. My other leg was out to the side but in a position to secondarily slow my inward momentum when the rope caught. This position seemed to work well but there's no telling what position my body will be in when I am climbing, so I need to establish a better sense of balance and sense of awareness about my body as I climb. Reaching for a hold and being off balance is so much more common, and this puts a climber in a position that is ripe for injury should you not fall properly.

Next Step
My next step in leading is to actually lead a climb. There's a certain sense of dread and maladjusted anticipation that goes along with leading your first few climbs and not having the implied safety of a top rope, but I think I'm ready to start leading some easier climbs. I'll start again with the 5.6 and 5.7 routes to be sure I am confident in myself and not getting psyched out of something I already know I can do. After that I'll progress slowly and learn how to manage the climbs, my body and the routes for best efficiency.

posted by GreSam @ 10:22