The Hidden Danger of Tramming (Climbing) Technique

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Amongst other genre of climbing, I am also an ice climber. One of the maxims of ice climbing is that “the leader must not fall.” Many climbers, particularly boulderers and sport climbers might think that sounds pretty antiquated. Those climbers are often trying hard moves at the edge of their abilities. Falls are part of the experience. But in ice climbing, we have tools, potentially lodged in the ice above us when we fall that we then yank on to try to stop the fall, and now we have daggers falling onto us. Plus, we have crampons on our feet; should we catch a crampon point as we fall, we might fall past a lodged foot, and now we’ve broken an ankle. It’s not really about the fear of death, it’s about the fear of significant injury.

What does this have to do with “tramming”?

Tramming, as the video points out, is about keeping a climber, lowering from an overhanging or traversing route, close to their lead line so that they can reach the gear or draws placed on the route and clean them as they come down. And as the video points out, we run into a particular set of problems when we reach the last protection point above the ground. Now, in most circumstances, there isn’t a problem at all, but when get steep enough overhangs, or lateral enough traverses, it can be. The video goes into the geometry of those issues and explains why that geometry can create a problem.

Now, a swing into the ground from the height of the lowest piece of protection probably isn’t going to kill anyone (although there might be some weird routes out there). But a broken ankle isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Or, should the swinging fall run the climber into an object like a rock or a tree, then other types of injuries, including head and neck, are also in play.

We also need to mention the belayer, who can also take a swinging fall (watch the video to see why the belayer is at risk). Now we’ve added in the possibility of the belayer hitting something and loosing control of the belay. So, both partners have some risk.

Well, let’s mitigate that risk. The video gets into the problems and how we can work to reduce their likelihood or effect.