Weekend Whipper: Be Careful on Those Low Cruxes…

On the laundry list of things to be aware of while sport climbing, consider adding one more: taking a low fall when there is little friction in your system. You might just end up on the deck.

Sanda Sai was climbing Magnum Opus (5.12a) at the Red River Gorge’s Muir Valley. According to the belayer, Noah Steinberg, Magnum Opus has a committing crux where you can either clip a bolt from bad, cruxy holds—or skip the clip, throw to a ledge, and clip the bolt later.

Sai opted to skip the bolt, but, evidently, missed the ledge too and soon plummeted back to the sandy Kentucky earth. Now, we know what you’re asking: The belayer doesn’t look that much lighter than the climber—so why did he get sucked up so high?

Take a look at how the rope runs from the belayer up to the first bolt. It runs straight, unencumbered. There’s no lower quickdraw pulling the rope off to one side, or beneath an overhang. In other words: there’s no friction. Rope friction can make harsh falls feel like a butterfly’s burp to a belayer. Indeed, Climbing’s editors have caught 30-footers that barely registered as Weekend-Whipper worthy because the climber was 120 feet out on a pitch with a lead rope that zig-zagged every which way. On the flip side, if your rope is running straight as an arrow and you’re within spitting distance of your belayer, should you fall, you should prepare to rip them off their feet.

Happy Friday, and be safe out there this weekend.

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