A common mantra in trad climbing is “the leader never falls.” It sounds tidy, but the first time you’re run out above a cam you’ll want a real answer, so let’s deal with it head on: is falling on cams and nuts dangerous, and how do you place gear safely so you can trust it? The short version is that good placements hold, and most of the risk comes from how you set the gear, not the gear itself.
When placed correctly, cams and nuts (the gear you use for trad climbing) are safe to fall on. Most gear is rated for 8 to 12 kN, or roughly 1,798 to 2,698 lbs of force. That means you’re more likely to get hurt because a piece was placed too low, because of a belayer mistake, or because it was set in the wrong direction than you are from the gear itself failing.
Some climbers swear you’ll never really trust your gear until you fall on it and it catches you. That’s fair, but before you get there, there are a few things you can check to ease your mind as a beginner. If you’re still getting your bearings on trad, our 17 bits of advice for new trad climbers pairs well with everything below.
One thing up front: reading about placements is a start, not a substitute for hands on coaching. Trad climbing carries real consequences, so learn from a qualified instructor or an experienced mentor, and get your early placements checked in person before you commit to falling on them.
How to place gear safely for the best results
The way you place gear is the biggest factor in how safe cams and nuts (stoppers) are while trad climbing. When the gear is placed well, it’s more likely that the webbing or carabiners would give out before the piece does, which is usually comforting to new trad climbers because they already learned to trust webbing and carabiners earlier in their climbing.
The key factors for safe gear placement are these.
Use the right size cams or nuts/stoppers
With nuts it’s usually easier to judge, since the piece has to be small enough to slide into the crack and big enough to catch on the constriction so nothing pops out.
Cams are a little different. When you pull the trigger, you should be able to move the cam into place while only retracting the lobes 50 to 80% of the way. If you have to squeeze it more than that, the cam can end up jammed and won’t open again to come out.
Once the cam is set, the lobes shouldn’t be wide open. Sitting around 70 to 80% retracted is better, so there’s as much cam surface against the rock as possible. More surface means more friction, and more friction means it’s less likely to walk or pull out.
Place cams and nuts/stoppers in the right direction
The direction you place a piece is a huge factor in how much force it can hold when you fall. The piece should be strongest in the direction you’d actually load it. If you’re climbing up and to the right, then the piece should be at its strongest when pulled down and to the left, because that’s the way you’d swing if you came off.
You can sanity check a placement by pulling or tugging it in the direction you’d fall. Your hand won’t perfectly simulate your whole body coming onto the piece, but it gives you an idea of how the cam or nut would move in that scenario.
Place the cam and nuts/stoppers at the right depth
The best depth for trad gear is deep enough to get as much friction as possible while still being able to retrieve the piece later.
New climbers are more likely to place gear too deep than too shallow. That’s probably because it feels safer to have more rock between the end of the cam or nut and the outside of the cliff.
If you place a cam too deep, the next climber won’t be able to reach the trigger to retrieve it.
If you place a nut too deep, nobody will have the leverage to work it back out.
How often do you need to place gear for safe climbing?
A lot of climbers point at a simple math problem to figure out how often to place gear. That’s an incomplete picture, though, so I’ve put together a short checklist to help you think about it more completely.
The math equation for how often to place gear
In sport climbing, bolts are usually 6 to 8 ft apart, and that’s probably a decent place to start for trad too. If you want the math equation everyone talks about for spacing your placements, here’s a quick rundown.
Placing gear is a bit like a math problem. If you place a piece at 10 ft off the ground and then climb another 10 feet (20 ft off the ground), a fall would put you on the ground. At that point it wouldn’t even matter if your gear was placed correctly, because the amount of rope out means you’d hit the deck.
If you place gear at 10 ft and then climb another 4 ft before falling, you’d fall a minimum of 8 feet. On top of that, the dynamic stretch of the rope and how much slack the belayer has out also add to the distance. A good belay makes a real difference here, so it’s worth reading up on the best belay devices for beginner climbers and getting comfortable with your setup.
If your rope is 60 m long with 20% dynamic stretch (a common rating for a dynamic rope), then when it’s fully stretched you’d expect 60 m plus 20%, which is 72 m.
In the example above, the climber has at least 14 feet of rope out (10 ft to the first piece and 4 ft up to the climber). That rope would stretch about 2.8 ft. 8 ft plus 2.8 ft is 10.8 ft of falling, which means a ground fall.
And that isn’t even a perfect example, because it doesn’t account for the slack the belayer has paid out or the slack between the climber and the gear.
The human/mother-earth equation for how often to place gear
Say you’ve decided you need to place gear every 6 feet. Then you get to the wall and reality sets in: rock formations don’t care about your plan, and it’s unlikely you’ll always have a good crack and the right nut or cam to place something every 6 feet. Here’s a step by step way to use the human/mother-earth equation for when to place gear.
- Do your research before you get to the crag. If a route has been done many times, sites like Mountain Project often have comments about which cams or nuts to bring for it, so you don’t haul too much gear and you can feel confident you’ve got the right amount and a sense of where it goes.
- When you’re at the crag, read the route. Think about where you want to place gear before you even get on the rock.
- Start climbing. As you go, pay attention to how you feel physically and mentally. If you’re getting close to fatigue, place gear. Always try to place before you really need it. The same goes for nerves. If you’re super nervous you’re more likely to make mistakes, so place gear before it gets to that point.
- Do multiple climbs, or repeat the same climb, until you start feeling confident about how often you’re placing gear. Perfect practice makes perfect, so keep at it.
Reading the rock and dialing in your spacing is exactly the kind of skill that grows a little every week. That’s why we send out short, focused climbing drills you can actually use. If you want to get better without overhauling your life, grab our free newsletter and level up your climbing with 15 minutes of training a week.
What happens if you place gear too often?
A lot of trad climbers say a common beginner mistake is placing gear too often. The only reason that’s actually a problem is if you run out of gear because you placed so much on the way up that you can’t keep climbing.
If that happens, you can usually get lowered, strip the pieces you placed near the start, and reuse that gear for the rest of the route.
Sure, you could just bring more gear, but since cams and nuts/stoppers get heavy and expensive, most climbers would rather figure out what a route needs and then practice until they’re good at bringing the “right” amount. If you’re building out a rack, these storage ideas for your climbing gear help keep it organized between trips.
The way you practice is simple: climb often. The more experience you have, the better you’ll get at judging how much gear to bring.
Minimize secondary pulls
Most routes don’t go straight up and down, so on top of the up and down force there’s often a side to side pull too.
Because of that, climbers recommend you extend the gear with a sling or some webbing so the rope runs as straight as possible. If you’re not sure what to rack for that, here’s a look at what quickdraws trad climbers use.
You can guess how long a sling you need by looking at where you expect the next piece to go. If it’s clearly going straight above the current cam or nut/stopper, then a single carabiner for the rope is fine.
But if you expect to move a few feet to the left, use a few feet of webbing or a sling so the rope stays as straight as possible when you clip it.
Reading direction and distance takes practice. If this is your first time trad climbing you probably won’t nail it, but the more you climb, the better you’ll get at looking at a route and anticipating the next placement.
Frequently asked questions
Is it actually safe to fall on cams and nuts?
Yes, when they’re placed correctly. Most cams and nuts are rated for 8 to 12 kN, or about 1,798 to 2,698 lbs, so a well set piece is very unlikely to be the weak link. The bigger risks are gear placed too low, set in the wrong direction, or a belayer mistake, which is why solid placements and a good belay matter more than the piece’s rating alone.
How open should a cam be when I place it?
Aim for the middle of the cam’s range rather than the extremes. You should be able to set it while only retracting the lobes 50 to 80% of the way, and once it’s in place the lobes should sit around 70 to 80% retracted so there’s plenty of surface against the rock. A cam that’s squeezed too tight can jam, and one that’s nearly wide open has less holding power. If you’re unsure, get an experienced climber to check it in person.
How often should I place gear on a trad route?
Sport bolts sit about 6 to 8 ft apart, which is a reasonable starting point, but the rock decides the rest. Place gear before you actually need it, especially when you feel fatigue or nerves creeping in, and always think about your fall so you never risk decking. Research the route ahead of time, read it from the ground, and let experience fine tune your spacing.
Can you place gear too often?
The main downside of placing gear too often is running out before the top. If that happens you can usually get lowered, strip the lower pieces, and reuse them higher up. Since a full rack is heavy and expensive, most climbers practice until they can bring the right amount rather than over placing.
