02/11/2025
Climbing is inherently risky, there are different risks and levels of risk associated with different sorts of climbing but all have some amount of risk.
If always climbing at the riskier end of the spectrum the numbers stack out of our favour and we begin to be playing a game of luck.
Deciding when a level of risk is worth taking and when it isn’t, when an approach or ethic associated with higher risk is important to you, and when it is meaninglessly living too close to the edge is personal and contextual but I’d advocate making deliberate decisions around risk, enjoyment and ethics. Lacking a thought process around risk, automatically doing what you’ve done in the past, what your mates do or what you think a community expects, isn’t a good approach to managing risk in climbing.
So here I am sport climbing in Croatia, my belayer using an assisted breaking device, we’re wearing helmets and I clipstick the first bolt.
Of course, I could make climbing routes super safe by only top roping, but that would limit my enjoyment of climbing here. I’ve been really pleased with how relaxed I’ve felt on the lead so far and have enjoyed getting to the magical flow state on a good number of routes. For me I wouldn’t gain that same feeling on a top rope, so clip sticking the first bolt to get me safely off the ground is a happy medium.
I imagine how annoyed I’d be if I fell before the first bolt and broke my ankle, preventing me going to Antarctica. A holiday sport climbing accident just isn’t worth it for me, heck, why not clipstick the second bolt as well.
What do you do to manage risk associated with climbing?
