Improving my clipping skills
Jun. 3rd, 2016 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylDown at the Quay for a gentle practice session, I just happened to mention to Chef Paul that I need to work on my clipping technique and he gave me a really neat new method for making forehand clips without getting my fingers anywhere near the gate. Essentially it's just an inversion of a backhand clip but the you grasp the rope with your hand the other way round and put it through the clip from the rear — which ensures that you don't backclip — using your finger to stabilise the quickdraw.
I gave it a try on some of the auto-belays, pseudo-leading with a short section of rope, and within a couple of routes I'd gone from fumbling clips to making them all. As I got more confident, I cranked up the difficult and finished a genuinely tricky route without either falling or missing a clip. Best of all I discovered I could use the same method to clip into the anchor, solving the long-standing problems I've had with finishing lead routes.
It's amazing. All it took was one person to suggest a technique I was missing and suddenly I feel like my lead climbing skills — and my confidence — have moved to the next level...
I gave it a try on some of the auto-belays, pseudo-leading with a short section of rope, and within a couple of routes I'd gone from fumbling clips to making them all. As I got more confident, I cranked up the difficult and finished a genuinely tricky route without either falling or missing a clip. Best of all I discovered I could use the same method to clip into the anchor, solving the long-standing problems I've had with finishing lead routes.
It's amazing. All it took was one person to suggest a technique I was missing and suddenly I feel like my lead climbing skills — and my confidence — have moved to the next level...
