How Should You Test Gear Placements?
The nuances for testing and advancing on gear are as diverse as the postures of the Kama Sutra, and are equally painful and awkward if done improperly.
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I am an inexperienced aid climber and have a question about the basic sequence of moving up on gear. Let’s say you are clipped to a piece with your daisy (call this your first piece), then you place a second piece above you. You clip your aider to the second piece and bounce test. If the second piece blows, won’t you fall onto your static daisy chain? That seems bad even if the fall is only a few feet. Is this OK, or am I just missing something?
—Matt Yamasaki, Oakland, California
