The Importance of Being Stick-Clipped

It was a clear, sunny day in SoCal. It was a send day. It was also the day my stick clip saved my life.

If you are newer to outdoor climbing, a stick clip is a device you use to clip in the first bolt so that you are protected from the ground up. They can be cumbersome and unwieldy at times. They take some time to use, and some people feel like their send is less “clean” if they use a stick clip because they put in a piece of protection from the ground. Even if the ego isn’t involved, sometimes people don’t use them on easy climbs because they know they won’t fall and it’s not worth the time to them.

Luckily, this was not my mindset that day.

My friends and I were at Echo Cliffs, near LA. None of us had been there before, and reviews on Mountain Project suggested that there was a bit of rock fall there, so we were sure to have our helmets on the entire time. After a solid 5.8 or 9, my belay partner (let’s call him Cal since we were in SoCal) decides to hop on a 5.10b just one route over. I was clipped in before he even had his shoes, so while waiting for him to get ready I just automatically stick clipped the first draw. Cal then climbed the route, only struggling a little bit at the crux about 5 or 6 draws up. Then it was my turn. The bottom was very juggy, and Cal forgot to unclip 2nd draw for me, so I figured I’d probably climb the route without stick clipping anything. For whatever reason, I decided I wanted the first bolt still clipped, so as we pulled the rope we used my stick clip to pull the rope between 1st and 2nd draws such that 1st draw would stay clipped.

Totally in autopilot, I start cruising up to first draw. Right before I get there, I go for this massive jug with my left hand. It felt great. Then I felt like my hand was somehow moving even though it was on the hold. Then I realize I am falling backwards as half of the face I was on was falling with me. Before I put the pieces together (pun intended), I was about to land on my neck on the ground. Then the rope stops me and the rock tumbles down the hill behind us.

In that moment, the entire crag went silent. In the next moment, everyone is yelling to check if we are okay. Indeed, nothing hit Cal or me, and because I was clipped into first bolt, Cal was able to catch me before I landed on my neck. Once the adrenaline had dissipated some, I realized that this is exactly the reason we have specific safe practices as rock climbers. Uncontrollable things like this happen, and practices that we used let us walk away from those situations unscathed. Naturally, I wondered what would have happened had I assumed I didn’t need the first draw clipped.

For starters, I would have almost certainly landed on my neck. Who knows what damage that would have done, but it wouldn’t have stopped there. I would have tumbled down the hill with the rocks as well. Since I was tied in to the rope, I would have pulled Cal with me down the hill, too. We would have been a pile of rocks and limbs at the bottom of that hill. I probably would not have died, but without a doubt I would have had some sort of major injury. When you factor in the long and somewhat technical approach, things really could have gone rather sideways rather quickly.

Anyway, the moral of the story is this: climbing is dangerous for everyone, and using best practices can help mitigate that risk. I’m not some pro climber on some new rock. I’m just a regular climber who was on well trafficked rock and was just unlucky. I could have been anyone. But I was okay because of the practices the climbing community has created.

Shout out to Trango for their life-saving Squid! Yes, my stick clip is called a Squid. It’s great. And I’m going to use it on everything from now on.