Assessing Fear, Consequence and Risk:

I have seen Alex Honnold repeat this concept of risk and consequence in a lot of his interviews and a few other pros as well, wording it slightly differently.

Consider the worst outcomes, the most horrific (maybe even a bit absurd) possibilities your mind conjures up before a lead. Be as specific as you can about the outcomes. Now ask yourself these two questions for every outcome;

How serious is the consequence of the outcome? What is the probability of that outcome actually happening?

Even if the answer to one of these is low, then the risk associated with that particular outcome is acceptable!

Climbing is all about understanding and taking calculated risks, and what might seem sketchy to you, might seem like a scramble to someone else and vice versa. Only you can truly answer these questions because they totally depend on your current level of skill and comfort. To be able to assess the seriousness of these outcomes, and to be not affected by others' fears/opinions, it is important to have an unbiased knowledge on falling.

Do not be affected by the ‘whippers that go horribly wrong’ videos online. Do you see/read about a road accident happening, and completely rule out commuting? There are a lot of things that have to be taken into consideration all the way from, how the rope is taken care of, to the humidity in the area; Most of which can’t really be assessed from an online video.

Consciously put in an effort, to not let your mind feed more into irrational fears every time you see or hear an epic. The concept of priming the mind, and how drastically it affects your thoughts and decisions, has been proven time and again in psychology. So it is also crucial to surround yourself with people, who instill trust and not fear during this stage.

Understanding the most common fears:

I have put together a list of 4 most common fears that people have, when they start lead climbing, or when they just start taking lead falls. Let us apply the technique of assessing risk, to understand these fears better. If you already trust your gear and have been climbing for a while, maybe just skim through this section.

Note: Mentioning every possible fear/ scenario here would be impossible. But the same technique can be used to break them down!

1.Number of falls on a climbing rope? What if the rope snaps?

The number of falls mentioned on the rope specifications is the UIAA rating and is measured at a fall factor of 1.77. In theory, a fall factor of 1 is achieved when the climber falls at the belayers level (aka a ground fall in a single pitch). The fall factor gets higher as the climber falls further past the belayer which is impossible in a single pitch fall; so, the number of falls rating becomes quite irrelevant in single pitch usage. The damage to a rope is usually on the outer sheath from abrasion and is visually seen. If you are constantly taking falls on a project, swap the ends between burns, so the rope gets some time to recover. Run the rope through your hand periodically, to check for mushy spots.

Here is an article by a climbing rope manufacturer, that explains this further:

https://sterlingrope.com/journal/232-fall-rating-really-mean

2. Big whippers, big forces? Will the equipment fail?

Most of the UIAA ratings are extremely severe (for good reason), and in real life, it is hard to generate forces even remotely close to the gear ratings mentioned. The rope is the main dynamic component in the gear side of things, and it is designed to dissipate most of the fall forces easily. The forces on the gear, depends on the length of the rope that is there to release the energy generated by the fall. The higher off the ground you are, the bigger the whipper you can take, as there is more length of the rope to dissipate the energy. So, the impact on the whole system (bolts, quickdraws , the harness and the climber in it) is much lower!

As a simple idea to understand this, in single pitch climbs, the intensity of the whipper isn’t directly related to the length of the whipper; but depends on how close the climber gets to the ground (Rope drag increases the intensity of fall factors. Having a freely running rope through the system is also necessary)

Here’s an article to understand the forces that are involved in a fall:

https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/Forces-at-work-in-a-real-fall

In both these scenarios, the consequence of the equipment failing is high: ground fall/ death. But the actual probability of the outcome happening is extremely low, making the risk acceptable.

Regularly inspect and take good care of your climbing gear; the last thing you want to be doing is second guessing your gear on a lead. Read up on gear early on and learn to trust your gear!

3. Grating oneself on the way down or hitting hard against the wall at the end of a fall?

This one is extremely common and the mind usually conjures up the worst of possibilities, but in reality it isn’t bad at all! Most people imagine them grating against the rock once they fall, but this is not the case on most sport climbs (steeper than 75 degrees, bolts 6–8 feet apart). So, it is not necessary to be pushing away from the rock while falling. If your hand/ foot pops off a hold, you will usually fall straight down and the swing towards the wall is not violent and can easily be stopped with your feet. But if you jump away from the rock, you will pendulum in with the momentum of the fall, and the impact there is much higher.

If climbing on very steep terrain, a dynamic belay helps mitigate this. Also if you’re new to leading, always ask your belayer to call out if the rope gets behind your leg, to prevent getting flipped.

Here the consequence is grating oneself or hard impact against the wall which is not too low to neglect, but the probability of it happening becomes very low on most sport climbs and once you stop jumping away. So the risk again can be acceptable!

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