Weekend Whipper: A Rather Wild and Uncomfortable Upside-Downer 

Readers, please send your Weekend Whipper videos, information, and any lessons learned to Anthony Walsh, awalsh@outsideinc.com. 

Trad climbing at your limit can be one of the great joys of life. It’s also a space where simple mistakes are common. Even though your beta may be rehearsed, and you have the gear-placements memorized, when you enter that gloriously focused try-hard state, your attention can skip over key climbing practices—for instance keeping your leg on the right side of the rope.

This climber was relatively dialed on the beautiful arching splitter Mi Lada Me Ha Dominado (8a/5.13b) at La Pedriza, near Madrid, Spain, but he loses his focus around 01:00. The nut below hadn’t slotted as easily as he’d hoped, he’s pumped, and the steep layback moves are wearing on him. As a result, after he barely catches the crack with his right hand, he quickly peels one foot out of the crack and shuffles it higher. He’s too focussed on the climbing to notice that it’s now between the rope and the wall.

Thankfully Mi Lada Me Ha Dominado is dang steep and the climber was wearing a helmet. Despite the wild, spinning, inverted fall, he was largely unharmed.

Happy Friday, and be safe out there this weekend.

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