UKC

Many climbers put the rope in their mouths to pul up the rope . 

I have for many years avoided that ,   (who wants bird,sheep or cow muck in their mouth.)

instead I use my chin and neck to hold the rope as a substitute , ( judge me if you wish . }

Others may wish to adopt this method if sharing a rope with " one other not from your house hold " 

I don't put gear in my mouth either unless im  in complete bulk 

Just a consideration at this time .

In most cases using your mouth means you are trying to clip high. Good form would be from the hip.

If you clip high because you have a good hold there, but the crux is after that, then there is no rush and you should able to just pull enough in by just using your hand.

So using your mouth is generally bad form anyways. I get why people do it. Bolt and pro might not be in the right place. Sometimes I do it too.  But indeed in these times, an extra consideration. 

Well, I'm one of those regularly put the rope (and gear) in my mouth. If we're going to find ways of climbing while social distancing from our climbing partner - which is the only way those of us not fortunate enough to have a climbing partner in our household will be able to climb and follow govt. guidelines for quite a while I fear - then avoiding this practice is one of a number of new and quite challenging things we may have to take on board.

If one hand is fully occupied hanging onto a hold, I've always thought it was almost impossible in some situations to clip high without putting the rope in your mouth to pull up a second handful. I can't see how tjin's idea that "if you've enough time" you can just pull it through by hand would work. And I don't think my chin is shaped like 193's. I may be finding myself experimenting with these ideas though when I can get back to climbing.

Yes, of course, we should ideally clip at waist level, and that may be possible on well-set sport routes, but with trad you are completely dependant on the what the rock throws at you. If there's good gear within reach but the crux is getting past it then I'll be clipping from below, as I expect will most of us.

Martin

It's not always possible. For many people it's automatic. Another option is to take and use a dedicated rope each, and your belayer avoids the top 4 meteres of 'your side' - so you can enjoy eating it. 

Indeed, i'm forever putting wires in my mouth when selecting one, so i think that a more dexterous one-handed technique needs to be learned.  I reckon it'll be August before i get the chance to try it out for real.  Me and my friends are the wrong side of fifty.  Same with my caving friends

I think the greatest risk will be from climbing walls.  I went down with a cold one Sunday evening in early March, as did my climbing wall partner.  We'd been two days earlier.  I shalln't be going again untill the autumn.

Putting the rope in your mouth is also a good way to lose teeth if you fall off at the wrong time.

This post really illustrates the levels of paranoia that can exist when people don't understand things and are afraid of them.  It's as bad as the notice I found attached to the climbing wall at the Sobell Sports Centre during the height of the AIDS paranoia asking climbers not to climb with cut hands in case they left blood on the holds.

i hear that a lot, but when I fall I invariably go Aghhh which kinda sorts it out  : )

Really, who says this?

And when did this become bad form?

Even with a short 50m rope I'd be surprised if the same bit or rope went in two leaders mouths ever!

Lead from opposite ends and just wear gloves to belay.

Everything is possible but not everything ever happens! 

I've heard this said a few times, wonder how often it actually happens. To be fair, falling off at the wrong time can be a good way to lose more than your teeth

If I did not trust my climbing partner, and their health, then I will not be climbing with them. And I will be climbing as normal outdoors sans gloves.

However I will not be climbing indoors for a very long time, for obvious reasons.

Yeti beat me to it.  I reckon that risk is modified quite substantially by whether you are a blurter or a clencher.  If your instinctive reaction to a slip is "AAARGH!" you're probably at much less risk of losing your front teeth than if it is "hnnngh". 

There's no way I'm going to be keeping a grip on anything I'm holding between my teeth beyond the first tenth of a second or so of a lead fall.

That seems to sort of make sense when people say it, but in 30 years of climbing I've never even heard a rumour of it actually happening. Have you lost teeth biting into a rope and falling off?

I stopped doing it when I bit clean through my rope

I'm ok then.  I clench the rope between my butt cheeks.

You've got a few months to practice that dexterity, then...

It happened to a guy called Bush McArra at Loudoun hill years ago. Fell off a route called The Lunge IIRC. Lost four teeth.

Can't think of any other instances.

You have now.  I missed a climbing outing due to work overload.  The guy I usually climbed with came into my office the next day and grinned at me.  Both top front teeth snapped off near the base.  Don't know if it was the bottom ones as well.  I didn't want to look.  He said when you fall you can't help but bite the rope.

Awful.

About 30 years ago I watched a chap sprinting away from Malham Cove with one hand clasped to a bloody mouth and fewer teeth than he had arrived with. He had fallen off while trying to clip the rather stiff krab on the anchor of Begozi and the Ledge Lizards and presumably forgot to unclench.

Not the same person.  I won't give the name.  Probably Stoney or Froggatt 1986.

Not really. If your going to climb in a socially distanced way ( which you may choose not to) then this seems sensible. I do it sport climbing and put gear in my mouth on trad , but will try to stop this . Hand to mouth transmission is a risk , so if surfaces have been shared ( rope , gear etc ) probably best avoid this ? 
 Interestingly, a lot of transmission has been traced to taking off PPE in a sloppy way , hands to mask , hands rub nose etc etc . One thing we know about our friend Covid is it’s very infectious!

Seems very likely, especially those not so well trained, and tired.  

I was at awesome walls Stockport a few years ago when a bloke lost a crown by gripping the rope in his teeth trying to clip the chains on the tall wall. Not quite as bad as a real tooth, but fairly unpleasant all the same

The amount of people who think wearing gloves means that there is no risk of transmission is too damn high! People will handle anything and everything whilst wearing gloves then lick the finger to get a bag unstuck, I'm presuming they think because they've got gloves on then the infection is not on their finger, but they lick the finger of the glove! 

The fallacy of plastic gloves being "germ free" or "safe" is dangerous and I believe more education is needed.  All this stems from a food hygiene module undertaken during Year 9 Food and Technology, it's pretty simple stuff.

This is the danger of a dumb policy over a clever one.  Stay home, wash your hands. verses, think about virus transmission, stay alert. Get people thinking about it.

I registered as one of the NHS volunteers responders.  Not had a single task yet, very disappointing.  However, it got me thinking about safety virus and it's actually quite tricky to avoid accidental transmission.  You need to get into the concept of  'red zones' and sanitising when you exit.

So let's assume the crag is our red zone where the virus is lurking.  It might be on the gearing-up boulder, or a few holds where a bloke just coughed. And then you touch it. And your belay device and your gear.  How do you prevent it reaching your mouth?

I guess you need to sanitise your hands before you get back in your car.  So take some sanitiser with you, or leave it at the car.

Remember - the bigger the red zone (e.g. crag plus car) the more opportunity there is to touch your face unwittingly. Kaboom!

I disagree here, the length of the rope is irrelevant. Tying in requires a fixed amount of rope and climbers arm lengths fall into a fairly narrow bell curve. When climbing in habitual sport/wall mode both climbers use the same end of rope and there is a high probability of them mouthing the same piece of rope

I suggested this a few weeks ago and it was roundly pooh poohed. Funny how attitudes change. 

Bullshit, nowt wrong with it have seen videos of professionals (we're talking Chris Sharma) level do it!

I'd suggest that the seeing as I only need to bite down on the rope hard enough so that it doesn't slip in my mouth (so not very hard at all) it's my tooths grip on the hold that's weak point here, so that'll go before any of my teeth.

This is all unrelated to COVID-19 & hygeine, just general!

If COVID finally stops me high clipping, then at least some good will have come from it haha

"He said when you fall you can't help but bite the rope."

Believe it.

Happened to my climbing partner, she lost one incisor.

CB

edit: the best way to do it is to hold the rope with yourl lips rolled inwards, which guarantees that the rope can slide out of your mouth even if you bite down hard.

Totally agree. 
The first thing we do to patients attending with gloves is ask them to take them off and wash their hands. 
Used properly they are excellent protection but most people will not use them in this way . 

Why not just use different ends (mark one end with tape) and use gloves for belaying?

Literally every good climber I've ever met holds the rope and gear in their mouth on a regular basis. It's part of climbing and totally normal. 

I also have somehow managed to get through my entire climbing career thus far without dousing my ropes in animal feces so will likely continue with the assumption that I'm going to not do that. 

Obviously biting the rope whilst pumped out of your mind or on shite holds is another matter and best avoided. 

As with most things climbing related - be circumspect, be sensible and most important - No Takes  

Whether it is bad form or not, whether it is an infection vector or not, rope and gear is more likely to go in the mouth when people are clipping high or don't feel comfortable on holds to one hand long enough to make the clip. Both of those things are more likely to happen on routes that are towards the top end of a climbers ability. Whilst climbing might very well be okay from Wednesday climbing hard routes that require rope in mouth techniques might be deemed a little irresponsible given the messages from MRT and not wanting to overload the NHS in the event of an accident.

I was climbing at Headbury once when someone slipped with the rope in their mouth and damaged their teeth badly, so along with others above, it does happen. Not sure I would want to be searching out emergency dental treatment in the current climate.

Climbing slightly easier, and reducing the chance however small of hurting myself through putting the rope in my mouth is one of the smallest "new normal" adjustments I will have to make in my life, so I think I can cope with that for the next few months.

Use your arse cheeks.

Me and my partner have a joke that every day is "no take day", so if she looks nervous before getting on a route I'll give her the thumbs up "Remember, it's no take Sunday!" 

Her response is usually pretty direct and contains four letter words.

Paha yes. Best rule to instigate! 

You'll be telling me next I can't use my knees either. 

Glad you are not a worrier , sincerely ,   unfortunately I have that tendency , I know most good climbers put the rope in their mouths, I've climbed with most of them from a certain generation .

It is a practice I have adopted it alleviates anxiety when I am in one of those times . I passed it on if anyone else is similar , I know its slightly paranoid , but I don't have issues with snakes or spiders so need to place my phobias elsewhere . I ve also had campylobacter ,unpleasant .

If it eases someones mind , all to the good , if everyone thinks I'm odd,  I ve known it for years ...

Regards 

Oops one end of my rope is already marked red - to remind me - do not lead on this end !

Long before covid-19 I was speculating about avoiding mouth in rope manip. Came up with the idea(s) - chest harness with sailing dinghy cleats - think of jib cleats - mounted on harness and/or shoulders

And if she complains: Penalty slack!

CB

The very nature of sport climbing means that the limit of ability is a common climbing zone

Is it ok to bite on a hold if I'm gripped?