10 Rules for Sport Climbing
Updated May 23, 2024
Sport climbing deservingly has the reputation as the “safest” form of rock climbing. Arguably, it is the discipline of climbing that offers the user the greatest level of control. Because of the predictability of our systems and equipment, we can push our free climbing ability to its maximum potential. However, the unpredictable threatens to throw off our systems without a moment’s notice. Mishaps and oversight can lead to catastrophic disaster. While this is rare in sport climbing, we shouldn’t become complacent, thinking that “it won’t happen to me.” And what we don’t tend to appreciate is that even a minor mishap can cause major setback due to missed opportunity, downtime, or trauma. See “How to Slice an Avocado.”
Our safety systems in sport climbing are repetitive. We tend to do the same thing every time. Our routine brings consistency but it also opens the door to accident if we are repeating a pattern that is riskier than an established “safer” method.
As the spring climbing season meets us with full force, please review your safety systems. Check in with your ego. Check your partner. The covid era has been a disruption to our partnerships. As it becomes safer to meet up with our friends, let’s make sure we’re meeting up with behaviors that will keep us all safe.
The list I present here isn’t doctrine. I’m not proclaiming that if you do these things, you’ll stay safe. Life doesn’t work like that. You can do everything right and still have setbacks. However, life has a lot to do with odds. When we take on risk in life, we are playing the odds, trying to stack them in our favor. We also need to rule out luck - if we are relying on luck to stay safe, it will run out. So please join me in using skill and craft to work towards not getting hurt.
I have no problem declaring that if you consistently practice these 10 rules, you will substantially minimize your risk exposure to the most common hazards of sport climbing. Build good patterns, don’t let your ego hold you back, and keep checking your partners. Accidents happen, but in most cases, only if we let them.
I was going to add photos but I think I’ll leave them out. I want you to read the words here and not get distracted by images. If any of these suggestions don’t make sense, hit me up and let’s talk about it. It’s your well-being that I care about.
Avoid rockfall
Gravity waits for no mountain. The rock is trying to erode. This is its predisposition. Get out of the way and don’t try to stop it. It’s a bit of a paradox for a climber. We spend an incredible amount of time at the mercy of gravity. It’s a given that the rock will fall at some point. Do you want to be standing under it when it happens? Do you want your valuables under it, like a $1000 iPhone or your Sprinter van? Not only does weather and gravity pull rock down, but so do animals: goats, squirrels, birds, cougars, snakes, and more. They don’t care that you are below them. Seismic shifts cause rock that was once solid to let loose. When approaching the rock, hanging out at the base, and belaying, keep rockfall at the front of your risk management awareness. It is one of the easiest hazards to avoid, yet also one of the most unpredictable. Wearing a helmet can help protect you if the rock happens to fall on your helmet, but isn’t it better to avoid the falling rock altogether?
hands off the Grigri - Hand on the brake rope
I thought we were on track to become better belayers. I thought that campaigns led by high profile athletes would convince the masses to belay better. I was wrong. It’s been heartbreaking to see the careless and cavalier belay technique that is getting passed around right now. I’m stunned. I’m shocked. I don’t care how hard you train. I don’t care how many one arm pull ups you can do. If your belayer drops you it could all be over. We need to belay better, and quickly, otherwise we’re going to have a whole generation of belayers that need to be convinced they are doing it wrong. This is the wrong way to go about it.
Don’t keep your hand on the Grigri. PLEASE. Don’t take your hand off the brake rope. EVER. I don’t care if you’re careful, and if you promise me that you won’t drop me. The only way I know this for sure is if you aren’t constantly pinching the Grigri and switching hands, momentarily removing both hands from the brake end. Please, just belay like Petzl shows you in their how-to videos. It doesn’t matter that you’ve never let anyone hit the ground. I don’t want to take this chance, because the consequences could be death. If you keep a hand on the brake rope always you will minimize this chance.
COACHES - you are the single most important piece in this equation. Please set a good example for your athletes, correct mistakes, and don’t tolerate indifference.
Knot the end of your rope
This a very simple habit to start forming right now. It takes very little effort. It takes no judgement. If you always do it you will never lower your climber off the end of the rope. My suggestion is to use a rope bag and always keep the bottom tied in. It’s critical to remember to check this when you flip the rope after a bunch of falls. While you’re at it, get into the habit of tying the top end in, eliminating the possibility of getting a knot in your rope. While this isn’t as much of a catastrophic safety concern, it can mean the difference between sending and not. It takes minimal effort.
Watch the swing or don’t take it
I’ve had multiple athletes take the swing after cleaning draws who suffered trip ending injuries. I’m not saying to not take the swing, but if you have to ask, “will I be okay?”, there’s a chance that you won’t. If you don’t know anything except taking the swing, find a good mentor who can show you some tricks. They might just save your climbing trip.
Get (or make) a stickclip that can retrieve quickdraws, this should always be considered as an option. Saving yourself from a broken ankle, face, punctured lung, concussion…this is worth the 5 minutes you’ll spend fishing off the lowest draw. Keep a bailbiner on your harness for steep routes. These are cheaper that a trip to the hospital.
And if you want to learn super safe an efficient methods for cleaning quickdraws, we will teach you in one of our programs. It’s all part of being a safer and more effective climber.
Check your belayer/climber
Every. Single. Time. Check the knot. Check the harness fit. Check the tie-in points. Check the carabiner. Check the loading of the rope in the Grigri. Check the carabiner-Grigri interface. Check the end of the rope in the bag. Communicate. Make a plan. Why not? Because you are too proud? Too rushed? Too defiant? An accident will happen to you if you let it, so don’t let it.
We used to blow off the safety check, as if it lowered our skill level somehow. I have former partners who were too busy to check who are dead now. Please check each other.
Wear shoes (and gloves)
If you are giving a good belay, it’s totally possible that you will get yanked into the wall. Ripping a toenail off isn’t fun. Tearing ligaments is even worse. Shoes give you more grip to help your climber. Closed-toed shoes protect your feet from trip-ending injuries. Take the time to put them on and lace them up. Approach shoes with sticky rubber help the cause even more. Gloves protect your skin from getting pinched or from nasty abrasions if you get pulled into the rock while catching a fall. They also protect your skin when you are yarding on the rope to help your climber gain ground after a fall.
Be specific and direct with commands
If you are the climber, you must tell your belayer what you need in a clear and direct way. If you are belaying, you are signing up for this duty. Most likely, you will also be a climber who needs your belayer to understand exactly what you need.
Passivity at the crag is a total head-scratcher to me. We can be nice and supportive of each other while being clear and direct with our commands. I’m genuinely curious why something as simple as “Take!” has evolved into, “okay, you can take that.” What was wrong with take? If it’s too direct, how about, “please take?” When my climber is 100’ off the ground in wild wind, I don’t know what all of those extra syllables are. When I hear a jumble of words, I can’t make a quick decision. It’s okay to be loud and direct when your life is in someone else’s hands. And here’s how to get around that feeling that you are being rude or too direct: just be kind. Thank your belayer. Be honest about how you are feeling. If you’re scared, say “watch me!” Don’t hide behind passivity.
One of the most common accidents in sport climbing comes from miscommunication when the climber is at the anchor. This is not the place to be passive. When you need the rope to be taken snug, just say take. When you need to lower, just say lower. And say it loud and clear so that there is no confusion. If you need to stop lowering, say stop. It’s pretty simple, and could prevent a lot of accidents and mishaps.
When you get to the ground, show your appreciation. Get ready to belay and be the best belayer you can be (and please don’t take you hand of the brake rope). Make your belayer pancakes. Buy them a beer or ice cream. Be their friend and be a good partner.
Stickclip
Use a stickclip. If your partners think that stickclipping is cheating, or if that old crusty dude at the crag makes fun of you, ask them how many time they’ve taken a ground fall. Free climbing isn’t about proving that you can solo to the first piece of protection. This is called free soloing. Do you boulder without a pad? Probably not. Stubbornness and ego are usually the culprits here. Impatience gets us into trouble really quickly. If it feels hard and is inconvenient, it’s because it’s a skill that needs to be learned. Practice. Learn the tricks that will keep you from shattering your ankle or pushing you tibia through your skin. Dealing with compound fractures isn’t fun. It will ruin your trip.
Sport climbs are getting slicker by the day with all of the increased use. A climb that you have done dozens of times might have become incredibly polished since the last time you did it. You might not be as strong as the last time you did it. These are variables that will cause a slip at some point. When this happens, do you want the ground to catch you, or your belayer?
Stickclipping skill goes beyond simply keeping us off the ground. Retrieving quickdraws, getting up a route, rigging ropes for rope soloing, rigging directionals, etc. - it’s a tool. Practice.
Top roping is dangerous - So is rapPelling
Serious spine injuries can occur from falls of 2 meters or less. Climbing ropes stretch up to 40%. A top rope set up on a 30m route will offer enough elongation for the climber to ground fall from as high as 9 meters (about 30’), given rope stretch and belayer movement. There is no defined height limit in this equation. Variables in the system will affect it: the rope used, the height of the anchor, belayer positioning, climber weight, and most importantly, the tightness of the rope. A rope that has been snugged only through arm strength won’t keep your climber off the ground if a fall occurs low enough. If there is a top rope up, we can assume that this is for safety, fitness training, or convenience, so why take the risk of serious injury? This is a scenario in which I’ve seen so many close calls: the climber pops off unexpectedly and narrowly misses tagging their ankle or tailbone on an outcropping or boulder. While it seems like this accident is purely in the realm of the beginner, I’ve seen multiple 5.13 climbers, when belaying, let their climbers hit the ground on top rope. I cringe just thinking about it. It’s unnecessary and entirely preventable.
The belayer must winch the stretch (not just the slack) out of the system using the strength of their arms and weight of their body in a successive up-and-down motion. The tightness of the rope may interfere with the climber’s motion, but is this inconvenience too much to ask for the safety it provides? As a belayer, it’s your job to keep your climber off the ground. Please don’t assume that they won’t fall, because otherwise they are soloing until they get high enough to eliminate the possibility of a rope stretch caused ground fall. As the climber, if you don’t think the rope is tight enough, tell your belayer to make it tighter. If they say they can’t make it any tighter, tell them to use their whole body.
This is one of those mishaps that we don’t really think about as even being a possibility. It’s important to consider the potentially catastrophic consequence.
Regarding rappelling, it’s hard to know where to begin. Numerous deaths occur every year from rappelling mishaps. It can be a reasonably safe exercise when done correctly, but in most circumstances, it’s entirely unnecessary at sport climbing crags. Get good mentorship. Learn what accidents others have made and learn how to avoid them.
Wear a helmet
I’ll be honest, this is a complicated one. It’s still not a black and white issue in performance climbing. Most established climbers don’t wear a helmet while sport climbing. Although helmet use has increased in recent years with improvements in design, it’s still inconsistent at sport crags. It’s nowhere near being “industry standard.”
Anecdotally, I’ve never been in a sport climbing situation in my 30 years of climbing where having a helmet on would have prevented or minimized injury. No head smashing falls and no rocks to the noggin. However, I have been spared in the mountains while wearing a helmet. Despite my luck, I have performed first aid on other climbers who have had bad falls or taken rocks to the head.
From a data driven perspective, helmet wear does help prevent serious head injury. This primarily occurs with rock fall protection. I, for one, don’t like to be hit by rockfall, and try to avoid it in the first place. If you don’t want to get wet in a downpour, get out of the rain. We know rocks will fall, so avoid rockfall. This doesn’t necessarily mean “don’t wear a helmet,” since rockfall cannot always be avoided.
What is harder to minimize, are unpredictable falls. They do happen and they can be nasty. More helmets are being made to protect the side of the head from impact, not just from blunt force from a falling rock. The traditional means of testing climbing helmets is inadequate and does little to address the side impact that can occur during falls. Some manufacturers are responding to this need by certifying their helmets with additional steps used by other industries, such as skiing, kayaking, and cycling. If your climbing helmet is industry-approved for one of these other activities, this is a good sign that it will offer greater protection.
Helmets don’t make us safe. Our skill, judgement, and actions can help make us safer. A helmet should be not used specifically for protection, as much as it should serve as part of our greater system of risk management. It’s entirely reasonable to think that, in some situations, a helmet might not offer us any additional safety. However, in most situations, it will.
Like many of the other rules I’ve presented, helmet usage might not seem necessary. If you’re a young adult and have been climbing since you were tiny, you might not think you need to wear a helmet. If you never have, why should you? Here’s why: because life is precious. It’s finite. So much of life is how you respond to the world by what is going on inside your head. Your faculties, your independence, your decision making, and more, are all packaged up in the miraculous ball of mush inside your skull. Protect this. In doing so you honor your life, and the life of those who love you and care about you.
Bonus rule: use a spring loaded locking carabiner
I don’t have a reason to not use a spring-loaded (also known as a twist-lock) carabiner on my Grigri. Most work really well (here’s my favorite). A traditional screw gate can get stuck. They can unscrew easily. Twist-locks snap into place and are easy to check. Using a twist-lock can prevent unnecessary complications. If you climb enough, it will. A twist-lock costs a few dollars more than a screw lock version. This is money well spent for the safety and convenience it will deliver.
Be safe. Be proud of who you are. Help others to be safe and proud of who they are. -Aaron