Weekend Whipper: A Reminder to Make Your Friends Hang Draws

There’s no doubt about it: hanging draws while climbing onsight is significantly harder than having them pre-hung. And when you’re hanging draws on a route that’s at your physical limit? Well, that’s just not fair. 

Brandon Abrams was climbing at the Red River Gorge’s Funk Rock City for the first time and was eager to onsight some classics. First up was the long and juggy Funkadelic (5.10b), then Manic Impression (5.10a). A nearby party had draws hung on Eye of the Needle (5.11b) and Abrams gratefully squeaked out an onsight of that, too, clipping pre-hung draws for the first time of the day.

“At this point I was feeling confident, warmed up, and ready to hang the draws for [my] group and give Prime Directive [5.11b] a proper onsight attempt,” Abrams told Climbing. But as he climbed higher up the arête, traversing from the left face onto the right, he realized he was too pumped to clip the draw he’d hung at the crux.

“I attempted [to clip],” he said, “the first attempt was a struggle [and] the rope drag had other ideas for me. The second attempt was a miscalculation of where the gate was on the carabiner which resulted in me dumping the rope and giving up. Deciding to climb away from this missed clip, I was unsure about the next moves I had ahead of me, unable to identify the next sequence.”

Abrams stabbed his feet desperately before ultimately pitching off, receiving a “softy” of a catch from his belayer. “I’ll be back for you next time Prime Directive,” Abrams said, “hopefully with someone who will hang the draws for me.”

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