To learn the answers, you can begin by examining roles within the typical climbing partnership, as well as by studying fundamental ascent systems and methods. But the paradigm doesn’t really come into focus without some sort of historical context. By exploring the recent evolution of the roped rock-climbing experience, you gain a general understanding of the most common techniques and styles used today.
ROLES & SYSTEMS
Leading is a roped ascent system with two people fulfilling roles as leader and belayer and, sometimes, follower. In another system known as top-roping, the partnership involves a climber and belayer.
Top-Roping
If you are the belayed climber in this system, a rope redirected through an anchor above protects you from a serious fall. While your anchored belayer might be situated above you if you are following a route, the belayer is more commonly below you via a yo-yo or “slingshot” arrangement. (See illustrations.)
An anchor is established atop a climb—no longer than half the distance of the length of the rope—for the yo-yo top-rope. A climber either leads the route (see “Leading”) or hikes up to access the summit. If the climber attains the top via hiking, he or she threads the rope halfway through the anchor and tosses the rope strands to the ground.
The belayer of a yo-yo arrangement is situated at the base of the route and threads a bight (or fold) of the rope through his or her belay device. The rope runs up through the anchor and back down to the climber who ties into the other end. The top-rope belayer takes in slack rope as the climber ascends. If the climber falls, the belayer engages the device’s braking mechanism and, if properly belayed, the climber falls only the distance that the rope stretches.
Leading
Leading provides the answer to the age-old nonclimber question “How do they get their ropes up there?” It is the only method for rigging a top-rope on a climb if its summit cannot be attained by walking or scrambling. Here’s how it works: The belayer pays out rope through a belay device at the bottom of the climb as the leader, tied to one end of the rope, moves up the rock. The leader clips the rope into preestablished bolts, or places pieces of protection in cracks and crevices en route to the belay stance, where anchors are either preexisting or created on the spot with the leader’s remaining gear. (See illustrations.)
If the leader falls “on lead,” the belayer engages the braking mechanism, so that the rope is halted at the last piece of protection placed. If the piece is secure, the length of the fall will equal the distance above the last piece of protection placed, multiplied by two, plus rope stretch. For instance, if a fall occurs 7 feet above the leader’s last piece, the approximate length of the fall is 14 feet, plus several inches of rope stretch. (See illustrations.)
A typical lead fall
Once the leader is anchored at the top of the climb, the partners’ roles change. Shifting into belayer mode, the leader provides a top-rope for his or her partner, who then takes on the role of second, or follower (illustration). The second is responsible for cleaning (removing) lead gear. Another option if route criteria allows is for the leader to lower from the anchor, cleaning the route as he or she descends, thereby establishing a yo-yo top-rope.
The second (follower) in action
BASIC ASCENT METHODS
Roped climbers attain summits via one of two ascent methods: free climbing or direct-aid climbing (or sometimes a combination of both). In general, the extent to which climbers rely on equipment best defines each method. When free climbing, equipment is used passively, while aid climbing requires active reliance on gear. Free climbing is the most common ascent method used by the majority of climbers today. Both methods might be used on a single route, most commonly on big walls.
Free Climbing
Free climbing is often confused with free soloing, the act of climbing without a rope and protection. However, free climbing involves roped climbers who wear harnesses and use belay systems and climbing hardware for safety.
Free climbing can occur either on lead or top-rope. Traditionally, free climbing means that you attempt to ascend a route by relying on your own strength, using hand- and footholds for purchase. The rope, protection points, and anchors are used passively as backups, arresting your fall should a mistake occur. But there are modern ascent tactics in which free climbers use equipment for periodic rests between a series of moves (see “Sport Climbing” and Appendix 2).
Most free climbing today involves clean lead ascents, meaning to ascend without the use of pitons (pins) as protection. From the turn of the 20th century through the mid-1960s, pitons were carried up free routes and hammered into cracks for lead protection. But during the early ‘70s, preservation issues related to the increasing rock damage resulting from hammering fueled what is known as the “clean climbing revolution” (see Appendix 1). The elimination of pitons on free climbs was eventually supported by the mass production of alternate, lightweight hardware that climbers could place into cracks and remove with relative ease, all without a hammer. I discuss these devices along with other equipment in Chapter 3.
Pitons are still used occasionally on free routes, particularly on first ascents where leaders lack opportunities to place low-impact hardware. In such cases, a leader will often choose a piton over the more time-consuming and expensive option of placing a bolt.
Direct-Aid Climbing
Direct-aid, a.k.a. artificial climbing (see illustration), is another method of ascent. Aid techniques provide options when the wall is too steep or blank to allow passage via free climbing. In this method, you place a piece of lead protection, clip yourself directly into it, and then literally lean back and rest (hang) on it. To get higher to place your next piece, you ascend a pair of webbing “ladders” called étriers (aiders). Upward progress is slow in aid climbing as pieces cannot be placed more than a body-length apart. On harder routes, you’ll frequently place lead protection that can hold only the weight of your body to get high enough to place a better piece that will hold a potential fall. Used in big wall climbing, aid climbing is sometimes alternated with free climbing on such routes.
Direct-aid climbing
The ascent of the second in aid climbing is supported by the use of mechanical ascenders, known generically as Jumars. These devices slide up the rope but not down it. Piton craft is still common on some big walls. Clean-aid (sans pitons) ascents are also popular, providing significant challenges for climbers up for the task. Severely scarred piton cracks are notoriously difficult to protect with clean-climbing gear.
ALPINE CLIMBING
Alpine