First Trad Fall

[Crillz]

I'm kinda curious...

Do you remember what piece held your first fall (size doesn't matter)? And by fall, I mean a real fall, not a "oh no, take" and weighting a piece. I wonder if there is a particular size that will stand out???

[builder206]

BD #9 nut. Distance was 8' to 10'. Location was a 5.7 on Upper Sam Hill.

[ivan]

seneca rocks - 100 degrees in the shade - freaked n' greased n' fell at least 10 feet (HUGE!!!) - was using some awfully junky hb-kinda cams at the time as i was poor(er) then - musta been 1-2 inch size - held fine - the iranian who was belaying me, scared to death of the american snake buzzing around his ledge, haranguaged and giggled at me in persian

[builder206]

That's a much better story.

[kevbone]

Madrone. I fell onto a number 2 Camalot. About 10 feet.

[rob]

Classic Crack, blue camalot

[kevbone]

Classic Crack

 

You have climbed at Broughtons?

[mattp]

I had my bacon saved by a John Stannard baby angle on Strictly from Nowhere in the Gunks. I fell 15 feet or a little more.

[marc_leclerc]

a #8 BD stopper. I didnt know how to place gear and never lead tad before and bought myself a set of stoppers, I went straight to Harrison and got my friend to belay on a 5.9 dihedral called great expectation. I got pumped out laybacking and trying to place my stoppers and when I blindly placed that stopper I just started hauling for the top, sure enough I fell off and ended up about 6 ft below my stopper that had held me. I rested and finished the route!

[DPS]

Diedre at Squamish in November. Slipped on ice and fell onto a small tcu.

[Crillz]

My first was in 11worth. I mixed the climb up with a different one I had seen in the guidebook a couple weeks earlier. About half way up I thought it was the stiffest 5.8 ever , and about 10' above a green BD C3 I went for the ride.

[rob]

Classic Crack

 

You have climbed at Broughtons?

 

Icicle Canyon

[kevbone]

I suppose there is a classic crack at every crag.

[shapp]

Fell on about a number 6 wild country stopper placed blind on the first pitch (right hand variation) of West Face Variation Monkey Face at Smith. Climbed the pitch several times before, usually never placed any pieces until after the traverse left. This was the first piece of the pitch, on the traverse I broke a hold while foot shuffling in the left traversing crack. I fell backwards and upside down about 12 feet. Rope caught me upside down about 6 feet from the deck. Lowered to the ground and immediately fired the pitch. Glad I din't wait around to think too much about it. Now I always climb the left hand start!

Edited June 11, 2008 by shapp

[G-spotter]

The first fall I still remember was a 20 footer off of a wet section of Eagle's Domain onto Cairns' old rigid #2.5 Friend, which promptly broke and tuned a 20' into 50'. I'm pretty sure that I had taken some small falls and hangs on gear before that though.

[rob]

The first fall I still remember was a 20 footer off of a wet section of Eagle's Domain onto Cairns' old rigid #2.5 Friend, which promptly broke and tuned a 20' into 50'. I'm pretty sure that I had taken some small falls and hangs on gear before that though.

 

Why did the friend break? Was it placed horizontaly?

[sobo]

Like marc leclerc, I had never led trad nor placed gear yet, it was a lieback section of the route, and my forearms pumped out. Unlike marc, I did not finish the route that day...

 

It was a Coonyard #3 wired stopper, the 30-year-old ones, not the larger BD #3’s of recent vintage. I took two 30-footers within 5 minutes of each other, falling from the same spot both times. I scurried away with my tail between my legs after the second flight. Went away and trained harder, came back two weeks later and sent flawlessly. I retrieved the nut on rappel, and it has hung from the rear view mirror of every rig I’ve owned since that day in the fall of 1983. It’s hanging in my truck right now. Excellent conversation starter. Oh yeah, it was Zig, 5.9, Bridge Buttress, New River Gorge, WV

 

from last year's "Pictures from the Wayback Machine" thread

[G-spotter]

The first fall I still remember was a 20 footer off of a wet section of Eagle's Domain onto Cairns' old rigid #2.5 Friend, which promptly broke and tuned a 20' into 50'. I'm pretty sure that I had taken some small falls and hangs on gear before that though.

 

Why did the friend break? Was it placed horizontaly?

 

The route is predominantly finger sized and Andy only had about 2 pieces that fit the crack, so after placing everything that fit I started placing things that did not. I had the friend in a pod with two cams tight and two cams mostly open. When it was weighted, the swages on the trigger wires of the tight set of cams broke (they were about 15 years old and heavily used at that point methinks) and the cam then rotated out of the crack and came sliding down the rope with me till the next piece - which I think was a #7 Rock or something - held me.

[underworld]

1st fall on gear was aiding in the rain at squamish. philistine grove, i think. anyway, a #4 bd nut caught and the wire of the nut was caught in the gate of a doval (the old dovals have a step from the gate stop thing as opposed to newer ones that have a ramp...whatever...it was nearly crossloaded)

 

1st free-climb lead fall on gear was the fault in leavenworth. i had only placed a hex in some flake down low - only piece of gear). well, coming out of the chimney, i broke off a hold and took a ride. stopped about a foot off the ground. finished off the climb and went on to go up catapult, where another hold broke off on me (with no fall). we bailed and went drinking.

[counterfeitfake]

My second time up R&D I was rusty and overconfident. Going up the short fist crack on P3 (I think?), I blew it and fell backwards. A gold DMM cam caught me. I wound up lying on my back in the little low-angle ditch. Silly.

 

For some reason I remember the second one, falling onto a red ABC Huevo on Clandestine Affair, in Squamish. That one was actually vertical and much more exciting.

[billcoe]

Tumbling @80 footer P4 (counting the traverse as a pitch) onto a small angle piton SE Corner of Beacon in 1973 while downclimbing with @ 20 lbs on my back as it got dark. Knocked me unconscious for @ 5min, cracked my wrist bone and almost killed us both as the partner I lowered first was not roped into the tree on pitch 3 on the ledge as he belayed me down. The story he told later was this, as I fell, he stepped back to brace for the impact thinking "Oh Holy Fuck, this hip belay is gonna hurt". I augered in on final approach just as he as starting to fall over the edge of the cliff and lose his balance for the long ride to dirt, simultaneous to the rope becoming tight on the single piece of gear between us: it yanked him back up onto the ledge. It was a fixed baby angle piton with a now bent eye which is still there I think.

[billcoe]

I still don't like falling.

[sobo]

Now THAT'S a substantial fall. Dare I say ginormous? And that was your first one? Sheeeeeeeeeeeit

[fenderfour]

My first real lead fall was on Strawberry Jam at J-tree. I placed a #1 DMM and tried to step across. I blew the flaring jam and fell.

[JoshK]

N ridge, eldorado, trying to go the "cool" way instead of the logical way. maybe 8 feet tops, #3 blue camalot, held perfect in a perfect fat crack.