Playing With Blocks

I think that I have just about always traded leads.  If I have ever lead in blocks it has because one or the other partner has been much stronger and that it has been sensible in order to climb fast or get past a crux section.  The odd thing is that swinging leads is actually quite a bit less sensible than leading in blocks, especially in the mountains.  This is, of course, not new territory.  Strong climbers have been using this method overwhelmingly to eat up terrain on big routes, and have been telling the rest of us that it is the right thing to do.  It is interesting, then, that not many people put this advise into practice.

Lots of Terrain Complete, Lots Yet to Come

On the Ginat Graham and I traded leads for basically the entire route that we were not simul-climbing.  Dane's most recent blog about gear slings and not dropping gear made me thing about this.  When I look at it critically, just in the time that it took to trade gear on a pitch by pitch basis we would have been climbing a lot faster to have lead in blocks.  

Firstly, when leading in the alpine it is rare on most routes to place the majority or even half of your gear on any given pitch.  This means that at the end of a pitch the person who lead it remains the person with the most gear, and as such less gear need be given back in order to send them out on the next pitch.  Less chance of dropping gear, less time spent trading gear back and forth.

Next, by the time the second reaches the leader, including the time that it takes the leader to build an anchor, the leader is usually recovered.  I know for myself, by the time the second gets to me I have recovered.  By the time the second has switched to lead and climbed the next pitch I have been cold for quite a while.  Trading 60 meter pitches when it is cold seems more sensible than trading every 120 meters between the leading and following.

Getting Cold

Finally, and possibly most importantly, leading in blocks is good for the mental game. The leader can get in the correct head space and stay there for their block, and then relax mentally and follow during the block of seconding.  When you swing leads even as a second you are thinking about what the next pitch will bring on your lead, and are thus expending mental energy for the whole climb.

I think I may know why the swinging leads approach is predominant.  It is because it is simple.  The route needs no analysis, no planning.  New pitch means new leader.  On the other hand, if on the Ginat we had just lead in blocks it is possible that one person would have lead all the easy 60 degree stuff while the other would have lead all the cruxy stuff. Thus, if you are planning to lead in blocks and have it equitable then it is necessary to plan your approach for the route ahead of time, or plan to adapt if you you don't know what the route will hold.  Either way I think it would provide a more expedient, less taxing method for many routes.