Uploaded September 2020 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Impact forces during Lead Climbing Falls - a bonus episode of Belaying Masterclass
Understand what role rope length, stretch and friction plays in climbing falls and you will be an awesome belayer ;)
Ryan testing real climbing fall forces:
youtube.com/watch?v=m8z6adEqaOs
There is no Gravity:
youtube.com/watch?v=Xc4xYacTu-E
And I intentionally skipped talking about fall factors... they almost mean nothing in lead climbing scenarios.
Fall factor = fall distance / rope length... But it misses the factor of how the climber was stopped (hard catch vs soft)
And you can't compare fall factors of lab experiments dropping weights vs real life, because climbers body will absorb 70% of the impact compared to rigid weight drop
petzl.com/BE/en/Sport/Fall-comparison-with-rigid-human-mass
And please don't tell anyone that 1kN is EQUAL to 100kg because not only it's approximation it also depends on the context ;)
0:00 Intro
0:25 What is Force
1:59 Gear rating
5:54 Soft gear breaking at low kN
7:48 Dynamic Falls
10:54 Real life fall forces
11:22 Big whipper vs Small fall
17:07 Friction
Here is a bunch of other goodies:
DMM break sling:
dmmclimbing.com/Knowledge/June-2010/How-to-Break-Nylon-Dyneema%C2%AE-Slings
Gravity changes from month to month:
earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/matter-in-motion-earth-s-changing-gravity
Simple way to calculate Impact forces:
sciencing.com/calculate-force-impact-7617983.html
Max allowed force for climbing ropes:
petzl.com/BE/en/Sport/How-was-the-max--impact-force-of-12kN-determined-
Rope drag Friction increases the force on a climber:
petzl.com/BE/en/Sport/Consequences-of-poor-rope-drag-management-in-a-common-fall
GriGri vs ATC impact force
petzl.com/BE/en/Sport/Influence-of-the-belay-device
If you are getting value out of my videos and wanna feel good - consider supporting me: hardiseasy.com
Because that makes a big difference and is the main reason I do this project!
Deep Thanks!
Ben
Impact forces during Lead Climbing Falls - a bonus episode of Belaying Masterclass
Understand what role rope length, stretch and friction plays in climbing falls and you will be an awesome belayer ;)
Ryan testing real climbing fall forces:
youtube.com/watch?v=m8z6adEqaOs
There is no Gravity:
youtube.com/watch?v=Xc4xYacTu-E
And I intentionally skipped talking about fall factors... they almost mean nothing in lead climbing scenarios.
Fall factor = fall distance / rope length... But it misses the factor of how the climber was stopped (hard catch vs soft)
And you can't compare fall factors of lab experiments dropping weights vs real life, because climbers body will absorb 70% of the impact compared to rigid weight drop
petzl.com/BE/en/Sport/Fall-comparison-with-rigid-human-mass
And please don't tell anyone that 1kN is EQUAL to 100kg because not only it's approximation it also depends on the context ;)
0:00 Intro
0:25 What is Force
1:59 Gear rating
5:54 Soft gear breaking at low kN
7:48 Dynamic Falls
10:54 Real life fall forces
11:22 Big whipper vs Small fall
17:07 Friction
Here is a bunch of other goodies:
DMM break sling:
dmmclimbing.com/Knowledge/June-2010/How-to-Break-Nylon-Dyneema%C2%AE-Slings
Gravity changes from month to month:
earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/matter-in-motion-earth-s-changing-gravity
Simple way to calculate Impact forces:
sciencing.com/calculate-force-impact-7617983.html
Max allowed force for climbing ropes:
petzl.com/BE/en/Sport/How-was-the-max--impact-force-of-12kN-determined-
Rope drag Friction increases the force on a climber:
petzl.com/BE/en/Sport/Consequences-of-poor-rope-drag-management-in-a-common-fall
GriGri vs ATC impact force
petzl.com/BE/en/Sport/Influence-of-the-belay-device
If you are getting value out of my videos and wanna feel good - consider supporting me: hardiseasy.com
Because that makes a big difference and is the main reason I do this project!
Deep Thanks!
Ben
