Top-roping at your local crag and gym climbing are great starting points if you’re thinking about leading a route outside. Before you step up to the challenge though, get familiar with the risks and hazards lead climbing introduces, so you can progress in a way that’s safe as well as rewarding.
Terrain, rockfall and weather are factors for any outdoor climber, but leaders also face potentially longer falls, rope management issues, the responsibility for building and cleaning anchors and rappelling safely. It’s important to learn these new skills in-person from a qualified instructor. This article offers experience-based advice, but it does not replace learning from a professional.
A few things to consider before you step up to the sharp end:
- Find lead climbing courses through the Alpine Club of Canada or from qualified ACMG guides
- Most climbing gyms teach the basics of leading indoor routes
- You’ll need gear including quickdraws, a device for rappelling, helmet and rope
- Practice your clipping technique and try some mock-leads
- Choose an appropriate route well-within your climbing ability
Gearing up for sport leads
We’re assuming your first outdoor lead is going to be a sport route. If you’re planning a trad route, many of the same principles apply, but the learning curve is steeper, requiring more knowledge and considerably more gear. Learn about Trad climbing basics.
If you need a refresher on the differences between top-rope, sport and trad climbs, check out How to start rock climbing.
Quickdraws for sport climbing
In addition to the shoes, harness and chalk bag you probably already own, you’ll need an assortment of sport quickdraws. These have a stiff keeper loop on the bottom or rope-end carabiner that makes them easier to clip and prevents the carabiner from flipping around. It’s useful to have a selection of different lengths. Placing longer draws where a route moves sideways or goes over a roof helps keep the line of the rope straight, reducing the amount of friction and rope drag you’ll experience as you climb.
You can save some coin with a six-pack of draws from Black Diamond, Edelrid, Petzl or Mammut. Or save 15% when you buy six or more of the same style draw at MEC.
Anchor materials
At the top of the route, you’ll generally find a pair of fixed bolts with chains or quicklinks attached. To limit wear on this gear, you’ll attach your own anchors to the bolts and only use the fixed gear when the last climber in your group descends. The minimum needed for an anchor is two quickdraws — one with a locking carabiner. Adding a Personal Anchor System (PAS), a cordelette and extra lockers expands your margin of safety and lets you adapt the anchor setup if needed.
Belay/rappel device
To rappel a route, you’ll need a tubular belay device that fits two ropes. If you prefer a mechanically assisted device (such as a Petzl Grigri) for belaying, keep your tubular device attached to your harness so you don’t forget it when it’s time to clean the anchor and rappel off.
Rope
A 60 or 70-meter rope is standard at most crags. The rope you’re using must be at least twice as long as the route so you can lower off safely. If you have a rope that you use at the gym, it’s likely too short.
Helmet
Rockfall can happen even at popular crags. Climbers above you can easily kick off rocks or dislodge them when they throw the rope down to rappel. It’s also possible to get knocked off balance during a fall and strike the rock with your head. Modern climbing helmets from Black Diamond, Edelrid, Petzl and Mammut are comfortably light and low-profile.
Stick clip
These are nice to have if the first bolt is high off the ground and the moves below it present a challenge. The Trango Beta Stick Evo allows you to clip the first bolt with the rope before you start climbing, so you’re protected from a ground fall for the first section of the route.
Pro tip: Get local beta. If you see a line of bolts going up from the ground but can’t see the whole route—don’t assume it’s 100% bolted. It’s the practice at some crags not to bolt sections that can be traditionally protected. Double-check the guidebook or ask a local if the route you’re eying needs a couple of pieces of trad pro to send it safely.
Preparation and practice for leading
When top-roping routes, climb at a slightly slower pace. Stop at each bolt and locate an in-balance stance that allows you to clip. Get good at finding positions where you can rest and shake out your arms. Practice down climbing the tricky moves as well.
Clipping quickdraws and managing the rope
Clipping is the act of hanging the top carabiner on the bolt and putting the rope through the bottom carabiner. It’s a climbing skill unique to leading and it’s totally worth practicing. There are a couple of recommended techniques for passing the rope through the carabiner. Taking a climbing course is the best way to learn them, then you can practice until clipping feels natural with your left and right hand.
Practice helps develop a smooth, efficient clipping technique and prevents some common problems: gates facing the wrong direction and ropes exiting through the back of the carabiner (called back clipping). These mistakes can cause a carabiner to twist or cause the gate to open during a fall.
Gates face away from where you’re going
When correctly clipped, the rope passes over the spine (not the gate) of a carabiner. Most of the time the orientation will be correct if you hang a draw so the gates face away from your body. But before you clip, look at the location of the next bolt. If it’s far out to the side of you, hang the draw so the gates face away from the direction you’ll be going as you climb up to the next bolt.
The rope comes out to you
To avoid back clipping, pass the rope through the carabiner so the sharp end (that’s the end you’re tied to) exits outward away from the rock, toward you. If it’s reversed, the rope is directed through the carabiner backward toward the rock and then out to you. It creates a super-sketchy s-bend around the carabiner that can cause the rope to unclip when weighted.
Quickdraws hang free
Once you’ve clipped the rope, check that the bottom carabiner isn’t being pushed over an edge or a bulge in the rock. If contact with the rock could twist the carabiner or force the gate open, swap it out for a longer or shorter draw, so the bottom carabiner hangs free.
Step over the rope
If you need to cross the rope, make sure to put your leg over, not under, it. If your foot is between the rope and the rock and you fall from above a bolt, it’s possible to be flipped upside down. This type of fall is one of the reasons to wear a helmet when leading.
Pro tip: Avoid z-clipping by starting at your knot. (If bolts are closely spaced and you pull up slack from below the previously clipped bolt, the result is a rope-dragging, zig-zag nightmare.) Place your hand at your tie-in knot, slide it along the rope, lift up and clip. Voila, you clipped the correct strand. Also, in Canada, it’s pronounced “zed-clip.”
When to clip
As a new leader, your first instinct as you approach a bolt will be to get clipped as soon as you’re able to reach it. Totally understandable. With the rope clipped above you, you’re effectively on top-rope until you climb past the bolt. But it’s safer and considerably more efficient to climb up and clip a bolt when it’s around chest height. When you reach up high to clip, you add lots of slack to the system and increase the distance you’ll fall if you don’t successfully make the clip.
Clipping stance is key
It can be extremely strenuous to clip from an awkward stance. You’ll be hanging on with one hand while pulling up big armfuls of slack with the other. The longer you’re there, the more energy you’ll expend. Your anxiety increases and your focus shifts from climbing the route to getting clipped. Instead, as you approach a bolt, try to focus on finding the most comfortable, secure clipping stance available. It’s worth the time to climb up a few moves into a position where you can clip smoothly — keeping your cool and preserving your strength for the rest of the route.
Pro tip: Don’t bite. Don’t make a habit of putting the rope in your mouth. Practice pulling up enough slack to clip with one sweeping movement. If you fall with the rope clamped between your teeth, you can hurt your jaw and damage your teeth.
Mock leading
Essentially a mock lead is climbing on top-rope while clipping a second rope. The process allows you to get comfortable with the logistics of leading, communicating with a belayer and managing the rope without risking a fall. As you descend your mock lead, inspect the draws to make sure they’re hanging free and each one is clipped correctly.
Racking up
Bring as many quickdraws as there are bolts on the route (plus a spare in case you drop one). Rack draws on either side of your harness with bolt-end carabiners clipped to the gear loops. All the gates should face the same way, but gates facing in or out is a matter of personal preference. Most climbers put longer draws toward the back and rack the anchor material and belay device on the rear gear loops.
Taking practice falls
If fear of falling is preventing you from climbing well, you could practice taking short, controlled falls until you feel more comfortable. Start a good distance up on a route that overhangs slightly, where you won’t contact the ground or anything protruding from the route.
- Make sure you’re belayer is experienced in catching falls and knows what to expect
- Ensure the rope is correctly clipped into every bolt below you
- Ensure the rope runs cleanly between you and the rock
- Relax, flex your knees and elbows and keep your hands spread
- Don’t push outward
- Don’t try to grab the rope
Choosing a route to lead
When you’ve gained proficiency and feel confident enough to lead, pick a route that’s comfortably within your climbing ability. If you haven’t top-roped it before, make sure the grade is accurate and not a “sandbag,” one that’s notoriously tricky for the grade.
Take a close look at the route and visualize how you’ll move up it. Will you have to traverse sideways? Are there obstacles you could hit if you fall? Can you easily clip the first bolt? Talk to your belayer about what you see. Also communicate with your belayer about what you’ll do when you reach the anchors.
Pro tip: Start good habits now. These are things like not talking while tying in. Always tying the ground-end of the rope to one of the loops on the rope bag. Putting on your belay jacket before you start belaying. And if you see someone practicing a good climbing habit, it’s fine to borrow it and keep it forever.
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