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General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

When the pressure comes.... 9-May-2012 At 11:25:03 AM Olbert

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As a serious answer to the question of how to up your trad leading:

- Spend enough time placing gear in a variety of situations and styles of climbing before attempting climbs that you think you may fall off of.
- Try and not let being scared stop you. Assess your fear, decide if it is rational and you should back off, or it is irrational and its ok to keep going.
- Aiding can really help you trust your gear.
- You first fall should be *after* you have made the decision that you may fall but that falling ok.
- Experience - the more experience you have at trad climbing the better you are at it.

So in the situation you describe you should make the following assessments:

-Is my gear below me gonna hold a fall?
-Is the gear below that gonna hold a fall?
-How much redundancy is in the system if I am wrong with the previous questions?
-Is a fall a reasonable prospect ?(on a grade 9 I would wager that a fall would not be a pleasant undertaking - most people fall on vertical or steep routes where there is nothing but air to hit.)
If you have ticked all the above questions (the first question is not necessary but it's helpful if the answer is yes) then sure go ahead and attempt that crux, taking a big whipper in the process.

If you don't get adequate answers to the above questions then you should probably downclimb or aid.