In reply to Oogachooga:
I wrote this list of tips for my club newsletter and then never published it:
0 - It's all about footwork. Seriously. That upper body strength you
have? It's useless if you can't move your feet right.
1 - When abseiling, check everything, then check it again, with a
backup sling still attached weight the rope and make sure it's all ok,
check everything again and then just for luck you might as well check
it again. Remove the sling and carefully go. On long abseils that
don't reach the ground knots in the end are a good idea. Just make
sure you take them out when you pull the ropes.
2 - When tying knots, always make sure you tighten and dress the knot
properly. Always leave long enough tails (as some knots will pull
some rope through when you tighten them up) and tie a stopper.
3 - If you have to bail from a single pitch route, then put a decent
amount of gear into the lower-off, I'd actually setup a proper belay.
You can always walk/scramble/climb an easy route to get to the
top of the cliff and setup a belay so you can abseil down to retrieve
the gear. Don't ab off a peg and a thread cause you can't be bothered
to do all that, it'll be the worst abseil you'll ever do.
4 - On overhangs/traverses always extend the gear. Lots. No, more
than that. Yup, little bit more. This is where having 5-6 slingdraws
on your rack is essential. You don't want to reclimb Osiris after
fluffing the overhang to see your backup piece on the overhang has a
mashed wiregate. Yes, that's happened to me. On the upside I sent
the gear to DMM for testing and open gate it still failed at over 11kn
(supposed to be a fair bit less than that) and they gave me a new
quickdraw.
5 - Before setting off on that hard lead, check your knots, check
you've got a belay device, nuts, cams, quickdraws, slings and locking
krabs. Clean your shoes properly so there's no mud on them. Check
your second's belay device.
6 - One solid runner = good. Two solid runners = better. Especially
if the next few meters look like the crux. Allows you to 'go for it'
on those cruxes where there's no point hanging around to put gear in.
7 - Knowing when to 'go for it' is a tricky skill to learn. On one
level it'll get you up stuff in safety. On another level it can put
you in a very bad place. If you're in a bad place, don't think about
the outcome, think about getting yourself safe. Stay calm. Commit
fully to every move you do. Allow no self-doubt to creep in to your mind.
8 - Linked to the above the most important skill you can have on trad
is the ability to downclimb as well as you can climb. Never do a move
you can't reverse. Best to downclimb as then you've not blown the
onsight if you don't weight the gear.
9 - On most popular well travelled UK trad climbs up to about HVS
there are good rests every few meters. An important skill is finding
them and using them. If it's a sport route, there is no resting, try harder you wuss!
10 - Belayers, check your leader has everything. Make sure the ropes
are the right way round in the belay device (easier said than done).
Check your gate is done up and the device is the right way round. Pay
attention. Don't talk to your mates (well saying 'hi' is ok, but just
don't spend 20 minutes catching up with the). Conversly, don't spend
ages chatting to people belaying people. Don't sit down. If the leader
looks iffy, you need to get right close into the bottom of the route.
Make sure you know what 'unzipping' means with regards to nut
placements.
Yeah, it's 10 points. Meh. They're good I reckon (if they're not, please tell me why!).