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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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I saw these two guys climbing Hair Raiser Buttress just after we'd done it on October 9th 2007... except, they weren't - they'd got onto another route to the left. Realising his mistake, the leader unclipped the bolt he was next to and traversed right towards HRB. This was harder than he thought it'd be and he fell, catching his foot in a hueco before the rope caught him, and flicked him upside down. Bust his ankle. We helped him to his car and he and his partner drove off to Mammouth (where he worked in a climbing store) to get patched up. Hey, if you're reading this, I hope the ankle's mended well. I'm more afraid of this happening than going for a slide...
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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a couple weeks in Tuolumne can definitely answer this question...good rubber is a key...C4 works well...the steeper the slab, the less the grate
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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I'm afraid I strongly disagree with the previous post: the less steep the slab, the smoother it has to be in order to be hard enough for you to fall. Steeper face climb (not truly slabs) has features, and if you fall, somewhere along the way down, you're going to hit these and be grated or fully flayed. Yes, the cheese grater is real, but not on true slabs that are difficult. Even in Tuolumne, the knobby face climbs you can get pretty grated on; but the Orange, now that's slab climbing.
Running downward only works for short falls. The big wings, you slide on your hands and shoes or turn around quickly and butt-slide. Over 40+ years, I've had about four short slab falls and two that deserved frequent flier miles (60-70 ft). The first of those (Glacier Pt. Apron) I did not even get the slightest abrasion on my palms, instead one biggish blister. Just like glass. The second (11b R/X at Calaveras Dome - not sure which of the routes on that face that gets the same rating, as we had no topo or info at the time). That one, I quick jumped around and butt-slid the whole way with zero ill effects of any kind.
Cragman nails it: get really good at footwork (and I would add, at calculated downclimbing to a decent edge to reassess), then get better at it, finally go for it. Ideally, never, ever fall until you get to upper grades, or you are probably pushing your leading level further than you ought to and this does not really help in slab climbing. Steep climbing, you can perfect movements by trying and falling (on toprope or slack toprope [also known as "sport climbing"]), but slabs and to a large extent cracks you get better by climbing within your no-falls ability for long continuous stretches.
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Blitzo
Social climber
Earth
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Whatever!
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ec
climber
ca
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Tami,
I was just remembering artwork of the cheese grater O/W...
 ec
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nevahpopsoff
Boulder climber
the woods
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also old and fat, love to climb slab. footwork is essential, also you must believe. best to keep moving, at least between good stances.
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
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It's weird, back in the day of EBs and even Fire's if you started to slide you could count on your shoes sliding with you at a controlled speed. With modern shoes you slide and the shoes stick causing you to overcompensate and actually tip backward into a worse fall.
At least that's how it works for me...
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Chinchen
climber
Way out there....
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Did a bit of slab climbing today at Pine Creek. The John Fisher Memorial Route, 5.10c-ish....lots of well protected slab moves mixed with tips laybacks, roofs and everything in between. Classic!
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Decko
Trad climber
Colorado
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Ah Slab climbing..........
Nothing gets you more focused than climbing up nothing......
Years back, (you know your getting old when you say that) Twas down in the mighty mighty South Platte.....
We'd just finished climbing Topographical Oceans a 10b or so slab climb....there was a gentleman at the base with his rope, and partner, but they were at the wrong area where you start....
It was a warm day, actually had turned hot, we were tired and real thirsty as we'd only brought a little water......
This guy had peeled off from too high........slid down the face at a high rate of speed, and he turned over his hands to show them to us......
Everywhere there was skin on his palms was a big ole blister caused from the friction of his slide down the face.......
They were done climbing for the day, and seeing how they were packing up we thought heck why not help them with their weight in their packs...
So we said, "Um do you have any extra water you could spare "......
True story......
Only run out ice climbing compares to slab climbing......
TRUST YOUR FEET TO STICK TO TEETH SIZED HOLDS.....
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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I'm not very fond of the turn of the run approach. If it works, great. When it doesn't work well, it can be even worse.
I wear knee pads (under loose, long pants) and try to stay balanced and keep my weight between the balls/toes of my feet and my knees.
I also wear long sleeves and have slid on my forearms to save my finger tips. More than once I have thought that it would be a good idea to wear thick leather cuffs on the wrists (to provide something to slide on), but never followed through with that.
Focusing on climbing is a good idea. However, I also think it is a good idea to already know what you want to do before you fall (turn and run, turn and slide, "cat" slide, etc.) and to always know how the rope is running and whether there is terrain that can flip you.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Ah....just back from two days of multi- pitch in the Black and not a single move of slab climbing.
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sac
Trad climber
Sun Coast B.C.
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Yeah, was on this route the other day,"Gone Postal" @ Khartoum.
A few pitches up from the photo, my buddy takes a few "spills". Tried to arrest his fall. first lead falls on gear.
I notice @ the belay, the hole, in the ass of his swank NF "climbing" pants.
Not a rip... a hole ,silver dollar size hole, then I see a hole in his "ginch"
... then I see skin... then I see blood... yep.
Anyway, good times!!
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