“Nose Hooking” Broke My Partner’s Neck. Here’s How to Avoid This and More Freak Accidents.

After a disastrous fall at the Red River Gorge, I investigated the root cause of several seemingly unexpected accidents in our sport.

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(Photo: Caroline Reed)

This spring, my partner Harrison was hanging from a jug after pulling through the crux of Fibrulator Direct (5.11d) in the Red River Gorge. He had been projecting this single-pitch crack for weeks, and had shaken out on that hold dozens of times. But this time, when he locked off to move up, the hold snapped and sent him airborne. His highest piece of protection, a 0.4 cam, ripped out of the wall. The carabiner attached to his next cam snapped in half (a result of “nose hooking”—more on that below). His lower pieces, two 0.3s equalized with an extended alpine draw, somehow unclipped from the rope. Harrison fell 40 feet to the ground.

Over the last four decades or so, climbing gear has become increasingly stronger, more reliable, and easier to use. But it’s not infallible. Pete Takeda, the editor of Accidents in North American Climbing, explained that when gear fails to perform its intended purpose, “there’s almost always an underlying error or environmental factor that has come into play.” He doesn’t like the term “gear failure” for this reason.

With Takeda’s help and a careful look at several years of accident reports, I’ve put together a list of common ways in which gear “fails.” Some might consider these instance “freak accidents,” but there are often reasons behind these failures—and ways we can do our best to prevent them.

Unclipping

On rare occasions, a carabiner can unclip from the rope or the bolt hanger to which it is attached. This type of failure leads to unexpectedly long falls.

How it happens

A carabiner can become unclipped from the rope in several ways, but back-clipping is the most common cause. When a climber falls from above a back-clipped draw, the rope can wrap around the gate of the carabiner, unclipping from the draw.

In 2024, a rope unclipped from mussy hooks at the top of a sport climb after a climber removed a carabiner above the hooks. It is unknown whether the rope accidentally unclipped or the climber unclipped them on purpose, but it is possible that the rope loaded the hooks incorrectly as the climber weighted the anchor, causing it to become unclipped.

In much rarer instances, during sideways or very long falls, quickdraws can become unclipped from the bolt hanger if the hanger-side carabiner twists/rotates inside the dogbone, causing the carabiner to be loaded against the hanger at the gate. This type of loading was the cause of two unclipping accidents in 2024.

Prevention

The most obvious way to prevent this kind of accident is by avoiding backclipping. If you’re not confident in this skill, seek qualified instruction.

On bolted routes, quickdraws should be clipped such that the gate of the carabiner is facing away from the direction of travel. On angled bolt hangers (common on expansion or mechanical-style bolts), clipping the draw toward the nut (from the opposite side) reduces the chances of levering the gate open.

Sling breakage

Slings used for permanent anchors can break after years of wear, causing long and sometimes fatal falls.

How it happens

Nylon webbing, common in “tat” anchors in the alpine, is weakened by UV exposure, freeze/thaw cycles, precipitation, and rockfall. When an anchor has many layers of webbing, it can be difficult to assess its quality. Worn-out slings can break under bodyweight or during a fall.

Prevention

Knowing how to assess the quality of nylon webbing—and taking the time to do so—can protect you from a fatal fall. Worn webbing might appear frayed or sun-bleached; be especially vigilant in alpine environments where webbing is exposed to direct sunlight and freezing. If you’re unsure of the webbing’s quality at first glance, spinning it around to look at the “backside” or inspecting the material at the knot might provide more information. If the material in these spots, which are subject to less wear, looks brighter or less weathered, the anchor may not be safe to use.

Be wary of white or gray nylon: webbing in these colors is sold, but it’s less common, and may indicate wear. Precipitation makes descending feel urgent, but wet webbing often appears brighter—be extra careful when inspecting webbing anchors in rainy or snowy conditions.

If you decide that an anchor is unreliable, you still need to find a way down. Fresh webbing and rappel rings are lightweight and inexpensive, and carrying them will allow you to replace worn anchors. A small knife should always be part of your kit on long routes—use it to remove old, worn-out webbing once you sub in your fresh piece. Doing so will help reduce the confusing “rat’s nest” of anchor material on popular climbs.

Protection pulling out

A perfectly placed cam in bullet rock can be as inspiring as a bolt. But gear placements are more often imperfect. Bad placements equals big falls.

How it happens

If a cam is tipped-out (too small for the crack it’s placed in), unevenly cammed (in a flaring crack), or making otherwise poor contact with the rock, it can pull out under relatively low loads. Similarly, if a nut has poor surface area contact or isn’t placed in a constriction, a fall can pull it out. This is especially true of smaller pieces, which present a much smaller margin for error. Remember: the bigger the fall, the more force on your gear, making it more likely to come out if it’s not a perfect placement.

If the rock around a piece of protection is crumbly or loose, it can break under force, pulling your piece from the wall and potentially endangering your belayer too.

Prevention

Practice placing gear with a mentor or guide who can give you specific, actionable feedback. Learn to assess rock quality and avoid placing “mental” pro—pieces that will likely rip out in a fall.

Make trad anchors redundant by placing three or more solid pieces of gear, and avoid placing all of your anchor pieces behind the same block, even if it looks completely attached. Inspect your cams regularly for evidence of trigger wire fraying or sling damage.

Bolt failure

In most popular climbing areas, bolts are replaced as needed by a climbers’ coalition or access group. But bolts and hangers can pull out of the wall, especially on less popular routes.

How it happens

On two-piece mechanical or expansion bolts, the nut and washer that secures the hanger to the threaded bolt shaft can become loose with repeated loading, loosening the hanger. Left unchecked, the hanger will eventually fall off of the bolt.

The modern bolting standard is one piece glue-in bolts: they fail far less regularly since they do not come apart and they are less likely to corrode. Unfortunately, older climbing areas are more likely to have been developed with mixed-metal coatings, and those bolts can rust in their holes. In these very rare situations, the hanger may look fine but the bolt in the rock might be completely corroded. This kind of corrosion was the source of a 2010 accident in Index, Washington.

Prevention

If climbing in an area with mechanical bolts (common nearly everywhere in the United States), carry a small crescent wrench—many nut tools have built-in wrenches. Tighten bolts if you feel the hangers spinning or twisting on their bolts. If you plan to climb in a less popular area, research forums about the area to find out which routes are commonly climbed and updated.

Carabiner breakage (levering, nose hooking)

Modern carabiners are very strong in most orientations. But when loaded incorrectly they can bend out of shape or break completely.

How it happens

When levered against an edge or loaded over the nose, carabiners can break. “Nose hooking,” which occurs when the rope runs over the “nose” of the carabiner (the point where the basket meets the gate), preventing the gate from completely closing and isolating the force of the fall at this weak point. The nose of a carabiner can also get stuck on a bolt hanger, stopper wire, or sling. When nose hooked, carabiners can fail at forces as low as 2 kN. Carabiners are also weakened when levered over an edge in the rock.

Prevention

If you see a nose hooked carabiner, reorient it immediately. Several carabiners have broken due to nose hooking, including my partner Harrison’s, but also because of less-obvious levering. Levering can occur when two carabiners are clipped into the same bolt hanger (if loaded, the top carabiner is more likely to break), or, more commonly, when placing protection the carabiners can lay awkwardly against protruding rock features. Extend pieces of protection as needed to prevent levering.

Toprope solo device failure

Toprope soloing has exploded in popularity for rehearsing highball boulders, climbing multi-pitches quickly, and getting pitches in without a partner. But climbing alone is inherently risky.

How it happens

All four toprope soloing accidents reported in the ANAC during the last three years occurred when climbers used only one progress capture device. When these devices are jammed or incorrectly loaded, they can become unclipped or fail to “grab” the rope. Without a backup, climbers can fall to the ground.

Two accidents involved the use of a Petzl SHUNT, a discontinued device designed to be a rappel back-up. When the rope above the device goes slack, the SHUNT can disconnect from the rope completely. If the SHUNT is used without a backup, a disconnection here means that the climber is now free soloing.

In a separate accident, a climber using a single Petzl Micro Traxion fell 30 feet to the ground after a sling jammed in the device, blocking its teeth and preventing it from “grabbing” the rope.

Prevention

In all of these accidents, a second progress capture device would have kept the climbers safe. Redundancy is a key part of any climbing system.

It’s also critical to follow manufacturers’s instructions when using a new piece of gear. Social media personalities are constantly introducing “innovative” and efficient-seeming ways to climb, but qualified guides and gear manufacturers are far more reliable. Petzl has repeatedly discouraged climbers from using any of their products as singular protection devices when toprope soloing, and heeding this instruction could have prevented several accidents.

***

After a few months to recover from spinal surgery, Harrison’s climbing hard again. But we’re both a bit more careful, whether we’re clipping bolts or plugging gear.