I'm more afraid of the route falling off. Happened to some climbers in N. Wales, many Moons ago. They'd just finished a route a Tremadoc, sat back from the edge at the top, and began eating their sandwiches. Crump, the route peeled off the crag, right in front of them.

Did they delete the page?

I worry less about the things outside of my control (lightning, rockfall, general weather) than the things inside my control. If I get squashed by a random boulder cascading down the mountain I'd chalk that up to bad luck. I just don't want my obituary to read something like "fell off the mountain while trying to take a duckface photo of himself".

For us who love to climb, rockfall is simply something that we have to live with. I'm not saying that we should expect it or think that wherever we climb, there would be one, it's just that there will always be things - natural occurrences, that we couldn't stop even if we want to. I'm afraid of it, yes, but I don't let that fear get in the way of one thing that I love to do. The best thing is, equip ourselves with as much information on these things, research on the route that we will take and be prepared for eventualities.
If you want to climb, deal with rockfall. If you can't bear the thought of its "possibility", then read a book at home.

I've been involved in trail maintenance (construction?) where we were moving rocks off the trail ... one B.F.R. moved and ended up crushing my coworker's leg.

I've always been an advocate for Free Choice ... If you choose to work, climb or play among rocks, there's always a chance something might happen ...

Guess your own level of experience would dictate the circumstance ... ROCK ON!

How afraid?

Very.

Almost killed my brother once. Would have except we had setup the belay behind a solid rock outcrop. The three foot slab/boulder I thought rang good when smacked fell out beneath me leaving me hanging on one hand as I did the Flinstone trying to keep my feet ankles out of the cascade of boulders. Said three foot slab Slammed into the rock outcrop where my brother was hiding. If we hadn't taken said precaution... As it was we lost the rope making the rest of the climb rather... Interesting. It was mashed/severed in several spots.

Guy I learned rock climbing from almost had his brother die from rockfall on the North Face of the Grand Teton.

I simply refuse to climb super loose choss fests. Guess I will never get the 100 highest points of washington as several of those are class 5 rotten vertical choss fests. I am not bummered in the slightest.

Only yea much life to live.

I really tried hard not to think of sharks when I was surfing on the north coast of California even though I looked like a seal in that black wetsuit.

I took a ping pong ball sized rock on the shoulder at Seneca Rocks WV. It got dislodged by a party about 150ft above me. Talk about pain........and I wasn't wearing a helmet......that may have been my 8th life.

RayMondo wrote:I'm more afraid of the route falling off. Happened to some climbers in N. Wales, many Moons ago. They'd just finished a route a Tremadoc, sat back from the edge at the top, and began eating their sandwiches. Crump, the route peeled off the crag, right in front of them.

Yeah well, that's Welsh rock for ya! I was on Clogwyn and some stuff near Barmouth......you guys have some loose rock! You're maniacs for putting routes up on that stuff! Especially the seaside routes......shudder.......