Before:

Watch me

Tight rope

Take in

I’m going

Got me?

Coming off

After:

Oops

Crumbs

I wasn’t expecting that

Geronimo

And of course *^*^*^*^*^*^*!

Not so long ago I read an article in which a chap went on a course run by, I think, Neil Gresham and the first thing that they did was set up a top-rope and, by creating some slack, practised falling. Practised falling? Well yes-and I seem to have spent the last few weeks doing just that. Over the last month or so I have “enjoyed” “air-time” whilst both leading and seconding, over a range of grades and in a variety of settings. I can also remember a time a while back doing a bit of “fall-practising” at an indoor wall with an IMC bod.

And now comes the proof of the pudding-what has it all meant? I am still assimilating some of the lessons.

If you can’t trust your gear you might as well be soloing.

If you only think you can’t trust your gear you are effectively soloing with the head-games that that entails.

If you think you can trust your gear but really can’t then you are soloing but don’t know it.

So I suppose for me it all boils down to well-placed gear with the accent on “well” and “placed” and “gear”: there should be sound gear with reasonable spacing.

I have proven to myself that I can place gear that will hold a fall though this does not necessarily mean that all my gear will always hold all my falls. I have shown that I can space placements such that they prevent me from falling too far though this does not mean that I always find all placements so therefore sometimes I might inadvertently run things out a bit with the attendant possibilities.

These are just random thoughts as I had a little spare time today what with Grandma being away and with us out of eggs anyway.

I am not glorifying falling nor, necessarily, encouraging practising doing it; but if some thought and discussion about gear placement and falling ensues then the blood and skin I shed will not have been in vain.

I would like to express my thanks to my attentive belayers.

Any views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and may not be meaningful anyway

Oh, just one more thing – don’t ignore a “bomber” placement.