Lessons from my recent deckout (take note)

Things I Could Have Done Better…

1. I was Unprepared

This is a demanding size in a demanding setting (a roof), and I hadn’t climbed on this width or style of crack for four years, so my body was ultimately detrained for it.

I had been preparing for another climb (Autobahn), which involved a completely different style of crack fatigue. While I was strong in one style, I had gotten weak in another. This is totally fine, as the objective I trained for all came good, but if I’d wanted success on Enorm, at least a little bit of specific training would have been nice.

Lesson: Train specifically for your projects, but don’t expect to be good at everything at once (even moving from crack style to crack style can engage very different muscle groups).

2. I Decked Out When I Fell

Yes, bit of a biggie this one…

What I learned is that when climbing across a roof, there can be more slack in the system than what it looks like. As the rope runs horizontally and is held up by cams, small loops of slack can gather between the pieces, collectively forming a lot of unwanted slack. From the ground, it might not look like much to you or the belayer, but it’s there, trust me.

I had never considered this dynamic so closely before, but after decking out, it highlighted why this is different from a normal belay. With a normal belay, gravity drops the rope from the climber back to the belayer, giving you a decent gauge of the free slack. In a roof, slack is secretly collecting and hiding in the system. This applies to all roof climbing, not just cracks, so pay close attention.

Lesson: Pay even closer attention to slack in the system on roof climbs.

3. I Had the Wrong Hand Protection

Even though I knew I was going to this climb, I forgot to bring the sufficient crack gloves. For this style of crack, I like to have gloves on the back of the hand and on the palm—I didn’t bring the palm glove.

I’d been so caught up with so much going on (travel, filming, life, work) that I’d forgotten a really simple piece of equipment. As I always say, the equipment you choose to use can really make or break your ascent (it’s exactly the same as bringing the wrong pair of shoes to the crag for the project you’re trying).

Lesson: Be better prepared.

The Good...

I Put in a Really Good Fight

This was one thing I was really happy with. By 5m into the pitch, I could already feel the struggle, but I kept fighting for another 20m before finally dropping off at around 25m (just 5m from the belay). Every time I made it another 5m, I really thought, "My goodness, how the heck can I do another one of those?"—and each time I somehow managed. I’m definitely a good fighter when it comes to climbing (or anything), but this was just another reminder to go for that next move, even if you feel like you can’t make it or finish the route!

Lesson: Always go for that next move!