Comments like these typically get peppered in randomly in other threads, but there's no one source. Like the tips and tricks thread, this can become the all-in-one for things you didn't think would happen because you were educated.

What's a dangerous situation that happened to you, which you knew about before hand (from a book, a guide service, etc...)? You thought you could avoid it, by being aware, adding redundancy, taking extra precautions, whatever... These don't necessarily have to be tragic situations but things I'm thinking about are: lockers coming open, pro pulling/walking out, whatever. And if you know the cause, even better - perhaps others can learn from our mistakes.

I don't have a great example, but I'll get it started with this:

Climbing two weeks ago on some local basalt, I placed a nut in a nice constriction - textbook placement with the shape of the rock and nut nicely meshing. Tugged on it to set it. Torqued it at different angles to make sure it was solid. "Bomber," I thought, for sure this placement would need a tool to get out. Extended it with a shoulder length sling to reduce the rope jiggling it. Then just moments later and a couple moves up my belayer calls out to alert me, I look down toward him and see the nut finishing its ride down the rope toward my last piece. "I see it," I yelled back and quickly placed another piece. No harm, no tragedy - but even "great" looking placements aren't necessarily "good."

What's your story?

No fun whatsoever. My first lead fall happened when the small ledge I was standing on detached from the cliff while I was slinging a horn. Was a bit run out at the time (~15' above last piece) and went for quite a ride. Area has a reputation for being chossy, but damn!

I couldn't agree with this more. I have this crazy mental check list i go threw when rapping and have my partner or partners double check everything before anyone heads down the rope. I still hate being the last guy down the line because you don't have anyone to check to make sure you clipped in properly, especially in the dark. I just got a chill thinking about it

The other is bolt ladders. Steep A0 is hard for a 5.6 climber. Put them in tied aiders with spaced out bolts and they're in for an epic. I've witnessed this once and heard countless other stories about the bolt ladder on the Monkey Face in Smith Rock.

Potato goes in front. Now I knew about this issue for years, but I'm no tater abuser so I never saw it put to practice.

Then one day I saw a bloke at the crag... wearing shiny lycra (I am THAT old) with the potato in back.

The Horror....

The Horror....

DMT

Potato goes in front. Now I knew about this issue for years, but I'm no tater abuser so I never saw it put to practice.

Then one day I saw a bloke at the crag... wearing shiny lycra

My brother and his partner topped out on a multipitch climb and sat on the cliff looking at the sunset. Everything was great until the sun dissapeared and not one of them had a flashlight.

They had to walk off in pitch blackness not knowing where the path was.
The next day doing the walk off in daylight they realized in how much danger they where of dieing.

Here is a link to some accident reports [majid you around?] where there are hundreds of examples of "climbing dangers you learned about, but never saw until..."

http://www.friendsofyosar.org/rescues/PSAR.html

just because you kicked your nut or your rope doesn't mean it wasn't a good placement.

I tie in with a "yosemite finish" when I lead. I once saw a person tie it with a little loop "so it is easier to untie," and it seemed like a good idea. A few months later I built an anchor, clipped in, double checked everything before calling off belay and found that I had clipped through the little loop not my rope and belay loop. No more little loop for me.

How are you anchoring? What are you clipping the loop of your figure 8 tie in to? I guess I can't imagine why I'd want to anchor by clipping the loop of my figure 8 tie-in, so maybe I am misunderstanding.

from his post it sounded like clipping into the loop of his figure 8 was the error, not the intention.

While I had always been aware of the possibility as an abstraction, this weekend at Table Rock, NC, I saw a two-foot thick tree with slings and rappel rings that had fallen down to the access trail beneath the crag.

...My partner began to lower the tools clipped to the end of the rope with a locking biner (just to make sure). Everything was going fine until they managed to clip themselves to a quick draw on an ice screw halfway up the pitch...

You just want random improbable stuff?

I had to rescue a girl in the group I was climbing with who somehow managed to cam her elbow into the crack and couldn't get it out. I helped from below while my partner who just topped out pulled the rope up and rappelled down to her to get her free. Must have taken 15 minutes or so to finally reverse the sequence that got her elbow in that position.

just because you kicked your nut or your rope doesn't mean it wasn't a good placement.

Like I said, my example sucks, and trust me when I say I didn't kick it or the rope. It was all rope wiggle.

Would it have held a fall right then and there...probably. Would it have held a fall two moves up....who knows.

so the placement was good enough to resist a test pull down, left and right. and you slung it with a 24" runner. and then you climbed more or less "up." and you DIDN'T kick the rope. and yet the nut magically fell out.

Now that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about! Sorry, my intro got a bit wordy and I kind of lost the spirit of the idea.

Henceforth let's call this "Random stuff you'd never expect, and probably couldn't reproduce in a million years, even if you tried"

I passed a climber on a path once on the way to another route and a draw on my harness clipped to one of his. I got swung around and dropped my rope in the dirt..

I've tried to let it happen on purpose a few times after that, seems a great way to meet chicks.

"Hey baby, looks like we clicked."
"We are draw together"
Or something stupid like that.

EDIT: it doesn't work on purpose.

Henceforth let's call this "Random stuff you'd never expect, and probably couldn't reproduce in a million years, even if you tried"

One time at band camp, I was leading this dihedral and the loop of my shoe clipped the cam below me. Since it was a hard size to downclimb, I kicked the shoe off (slipper) and finished the route one shoed.

What instrument did you play?

Twice, I've got my fingers stuck in a finger crack so desperately that I had to clip into gear and haul a water bottle up so I could wet the crack and get my fingers out.

Rusty trombone?


At Kangaroo Point in Brisbane, there's a small finger crack that has a cartoon piranha drawn around it, from the time when a guy didn't manage to get his fingers out.

I never thought of this until it happened.

About to rappel, it started to rain. To speed things up, we decided to simul-rap. My belay device was extended (this will be important in a second). This particular rap involved a few ledges that we had gather the rope and toss it off. Off the last ledge, We launched off. Me being heavier and probably launched a split second before my wife, it put me below her. As her weight stretched out the rope, she came down such that my extended belay device wedge itself up the back of her helmet, practically choking her with her chinstrap (Her particular model had a lot of space in the back).

Kind of awestruck about what was going on, and hearing her desperate gasps, my first instinct was to reach up and try to dislodge it. Then I realized that if I just lowered, it would come right out .

Josh

Climbing on El Cap on a high wind day will teach you something about rope management. I once had my rope get stuck on a flake at least 50 feet to the right of the route we were rapping down. Nowadays, if it's windy, I bring the rope down with me.

and yes, this all happened while climbing...and unfortunately for my A$$ it's a tiny portion of my pearls of wisdom

Most of the dangers can be looked at in three fashions:

2. Failure to check / review systems
It has happened to everyone, and thankfully for the large majority of us, fate smiled upon us the first time, and we learned a valuble lesson.

From unlocked carabiners, halfwrapped knots, and poor anchors, the simple act of double checking before commiting to a system has probably killed more technical rockclimbers than everything else put together. We are at fault for this one. I advise this to everyone looking for free guide advice on anchors. If you are unsure... make sure everyone you are climbing with agrees it is safe,... that way when it fails, no individual is to blame, you are all at fault.
EXAMPLE: 18 years and 50 lbs ago, we were getting ready to toprope a short 5.11. While my partner ran around to rag an anchor and toss the ropes, my girlfriend at the time decided it was the perfect opportunity to check me for wood. I was understandable light headed by the time my climbing partner came down. Itied in and started climbing, and was easilly 10 feet up when my partner pointed out my harness was undone.
My fault YES! His fault YES! failure to double check each other is Both your faults.

A chipmunk??? Really?