Weekend Whipper: First Trad Fall … in a Chasm?!

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A climber’s ideal first trad fall—or, at least, the safest possible first trad fall—takes place on bomber gear with a clean landing.

That wasn’t quite the case for Joshua Johnson, who decided to take his first-ever fall on gear on Heart of Darkness (5.11a), a popular warm-up in Joshua Tree.

Heart of Darkness ascends a 40-foot splitter up a chimney that’s too wide for a full-body bridge. That means any climber who leads it risks hitting the back of their head on the wall behind them.

According to Johnson, he “aided up the route, built a nest” of several pieces close together, then “placed a single .5 above the nest, climbed to the anchors, and let go.” Presumably, his goal was to test the effectiveness of his .5 cam placement with a lead fall.

Luckily, when Johnson removed his personal anchor system and dropped from the anchors onto the .5, he absorbed the 25-foot drop with bent knees and perfect form. His .5 held, and his friends erupted into cheers.

If he had leaned back slightly further, his first trad fall might have ended in a hospital stay. Instead, Johnson’s head misses the chimney behind him by about a foot, while the extra cams on his harness brush the rock. Even though he’s wearing a helmet, we probably would have chosen a different route to test our gear on, with less potential for a back-of-the-head concussion or giant back contusion.

Happy Friday, and be safe out there this weekend.

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