Ice Climbing Techniques - Back Clipping & other Mistakes

How to Clip onto a Quickdraw

Ensure that the Quickdraw hangs naturally and will not twist by the rope movement.

Always make sure that the rope runs correctly through the spine of the Carabiner. If the rope runs through in any other way, the Carabiner could be unclipped. Aside from that, the strength of the Carabiner is greatly reduced.

Always make sure the Carabiner is closed, not only because the rope can slip out of it, but also because closed Carabiners are much stronger than open ones.

Avoid placing the Quickdraw onto rocks since vibration against the rock or an outcropping in the rocks could cause the gate to open.

Common Mistake No. 1: Incorrectly Clipped Quickdraw

Before you clip the rope through a Quickdraw, clip the Quickdraw onto the protection first. This can either be a bolt on a sport route or on a wire of your passive or active protection (nut or camming device). Ensure that it is clipped in such a way that it hangs naturally. Keep it from twisting when the rope runs through it.
Clipping your Quickdraw the wrong way may result to the following:

Chance of dislodging the wire placement

Back Clipping

By the rotation of the Quickdraw, the gate of the Carabiner could be pushed against a rock, whereby unclipping the Carabiner.

In all three cases, your risk of falling down is increased substantially.

Common Mistake No. 2: Back Clipping

If the rope runs along the gate instead of the spine of the Carabiner, then the Carabiner can easily unclip itself during a fall. This often happens to beginners since they are not yet aware that this can happen.
In addition to that, Back Clipping can occur if the Quickdraw is incorrectly clipped. In this case, the rope's movement will cause the Quickdraw to rotate and may, in effect, result to Back Clipping. Just like the case of the incorrectly clipped Quickdraw, committing this mistake can have fatal consequences.

Common Mistake No. 3: Z-Clipping

Z-Clipping does not occur as often as the previously mentioned mistakes, but the fact is that it still happens. It occurs when you pull the rope from the bottom end of your last clipped Quickdraw instead of the top and then bringing it up and clipping it to the new one. It can happen in situations where the protection is placed too close to each other and when you do not pay attention to where you get the rope from. When Z-Clipping occurs, the following may happen:

In case of a fall, Z-Clipping has negated the z-clipped protection. This will increase the fall factor.

Increased Rope Drag. In the worst case, this could cause the protection to be pulled out, increasing your fall factor.

Learning how to avoid the mistakes mentioned above is easy enough. All it takes is an ounce of awareness when climbing and lots of preparation before even going to the icefall or wherever it is you want to go Ice Climbing. Do those things and the chances of you committing those mistakes go close to nil. Have a great time Ice Climbing!