RRC Archives

So I heard this story about someone that was leading. He put the rope in his mouth to draw up more so he could clip. While the rope was in his mouth, he fell - and the rope pulled out lots of teeth.

can anyone verify if this is this true?

Yup. Even better is when you fall and the rope wraps around a finger and rips all the flesh off, better known as degloving.

I know that my Matt saw it happen to a guy. ICK!

I don't believe that some dudes teeth were ripped out by a rope. You'd like, open your mouth!

But they could be knocked out.

it has happened more than once. been written up in the climbing rags and internet. if its on the internet its got to be true. when a lot of people fall or get nervous they clinch their jaws. i could see this happening very easy. i do it sometimes as well, its not a very good habit to start.

yep, i've seen it happen first-hand...on moonbeam no less. he took the whip while in the process of clipping. a few screams later, he was on the ground with blood running out of his mouth and front teeth not in the place you would want them.

It depends. If I'm pulling rope up twice to clip above my head, I bite the rope between the first and second pulls. If I'm up next to the bolt and just need to pull up once, I don't. I can see how falling might initiate some sort of cringe reflex, but I think that if you're aware of what you're doing, you should be fine. It's like being aware of anything else while leading, like keeping your feet out from behind the rope or z-clipping.

ask Hamsco about his Perot wall sojourn at Summersville, pushed his front incisors back in place and reluctantly bailed- you may just wanna lip it

yuck. ruthless toothless.

I fell once with rope in my mouth, but thankfully I let out some sort of scream or "Whoop!" which dropped the rope.