Pink-points on gear
Pink-pointing refers to sending a route with pre-hung draws. It is extremely common in sport climbing, so much so that many people (myself included) don’t even make a distinction between pink-pointing and red-pointing (placing the quickdraws on bolts and clipping them on the same attempt). Pink-pointing takes the focus away from the gear and shifts it to movement, which is what sport climbing is all about in the end. Some people believe pink-pointing is also a tactic that can be used by novice trad climbers. I am not in this camp. When beginning, trad climbing is much more about the gear than it is about moving over rock. By using someone else’s placements, a novice is cheating themselves of the biggest learning opportunity while simultaneously placing themselves in danger.
Incremental steps are a cornerstone of learning. It’s wise to progress slowly, starting with low-consequence scenarios before being placed in dangerous situations. Pink-pointing is one way we can do that with sport climbing, so why can’t we do it on gear?
The issues with pink-pointing trad routes:
Gear placement is more about the rock than the gear
Rope and gear management is a skill required for trad climbing
Gear shifts when climbers are lowered
Reading the rock
The climber has no say on where a bolt is located. We can only hope the first ascensionist made a thoughtful decision about the clipping stance, potential rope drag, and most importantly the quality of the rock where the bolt is placed. As trad climbers, we decide where to place gear. A textbook cam placement is worthless if it relies on the strength of a two millimeter thick flake. When we pink-point, the placements are already established. While this may give a novice leader an opportunity to see the general location of good placements, the same outcome can be reached without the additional consequences of a lead fall by following a competent mentor on a multi-pitch trad route. Following may even provide a better example of gear placements than pink-pointing (more on this later). Additionally, a novice may have a harder time selecting the right size piece of protection in the future if they don’t have to figure it out on their own. They wouldn’t want to always lose at Trad Golf!
Managing gear
My favorite thing about trad climbing is that you get to make decisions. How much gear do you want to bring? Where does it go? Should you extend that placement? Where should you belay? What anchor style should you build? So many choices! If someone else is making those choices for you, then they could force an option that isn’t right for you. Your mentor probably is super relaxed while placing gear, so they may choose to have more space between placements than a novice leader would. One person’s reasonably spaced gear may be another’s terrifying run-out. By having the placements already in the rock, the novice also doesn’t have to worry about saving the correct gear for upcoming terrain or accounting for rope drag. Removing these aspects is fine at first, but they’re things that must be learned eventually (hopefully not on a live lead). Finally, pink-pointing may encourage novices to place gear from unstable stances. After all, it’s much faster to just clip a carabiner than it does to place a stopper or cam. I believe people will select better locations to place gear if they have to stand there long enough to make a placement.
Shifting gear
By far the biggest concern I have with pink-pointing is the fact that gear shifts when a climber is lowered. Ever hear of zippering? Gear should be placed in the direction of pull (i.e. mostly down). With lowering, gear gets pulled out away from the rock, causing it to rotate into a sub-optimal position, potentially into a dangerous one. This can be mitigated by unclipping the gear from the rope and resetting it while lowering, but the mentor must be aware of this risk and take steps to mitigate it, lest they leave their novice in a precarious situation. Another option is to use gear that was never loaded in the first place, thus keeping it in the original orientation. Asking the novice to make accurate assessments of the pre-placed gear may not be appropriate depending on their experience.
What to do instead
I’ve taught countless people how to trad climb. It’s literally my job. So how do I do it?
I start with ground school. After going over placement fundamentals, I have students bounce-test gear they place. This allows them to have some consequence of poorly placed gear (a spooky tumble with me spotting, resulting in little more than their stomach rising to their throat) while reinforcing their solid placements. After that, I have them follow a pitch full of my placements so they can see the choices I make during a climb. Follow is an important distinction here. I belay my student from the top of the pitch so all my placements stay just as I set them. Lowering to the ground would be more comfortable, but it would also cause my placements to change (requiring me to reset them). Next, students will mock-lead and bounce-test placements. A top-rope takes away nearly all of the consequence, but the risk of gear pulling is still present. A trailing rope allows the student to understand if rope drag is an issue negatively affecting them. If I have the resources (another belayer), I’ll top-rope-solo (TRS) next to the student to provide live feedback and assess the gear they placed, perhaps offering alternative options they overlooked. If it’s just the two of us, I’ll have the student untie from the lead rope, then lower via the TR. I’ll climb the pitch on TR and check their placements, taking pictures so we can talk about it together. Finally, when the student is ready, I’ll have them live lead, perhaps with a pre-clipped first piece if the start calls for it. I’ll TRS to provide emotional support, extra gear, reassurance, and bail them out if necessary. If that’s not an option, I’ll hang a static rope from the anchor. At key locations throughout the pitch I’ll have alpine butterflies available so the student has 100% bomber gear to inspire confidence or provide a gaurenteed bail option.
Why the hate?
Pink-pointing seems like it would be a great precursor to actually leading. It is. But does it add value that other methods can’t provide? If so, is the risk worth the consequence? The only benefit I see pink-pointing offering is a sense of confidence for a budding trad novice. Is that worth additional danger? I personally don’t think so. In my opinion, trad climbing should be a slow journey. Climbing while placing your own gear requires a lot of nuance. There’s a reason many questions during my trad lessons are answered with “it depends.” Context is key. Without seeing a wide variety of situations in low risk and consequence environments, a novice may inadvertently find themselves in a situation they didn’t expect or aren’t ready to handle. By following mentors, climbing well below their limit, and testing the integrity of their gear in low-consequence settings, a novice can expose themselves to more novel terrain without fear of getting hurt or hurting others.
If you must…
Some people just like the danger! If you still insist on pink-pointing, there is a way to do it with less risk. First, have the novice place gear while they top-rope and mock-lead (untie the lead rope before lowering). Then have the mentor TR the route and assess the gear. Once back on the ground, the mentor can even climb up and clip the first piece to mitigate the risk of a ground-fall for the novice. Now the novice can pink-point if they feel it would be truly beneficial for them.
Wait, so I can pink-point on gear?
Sure! You can do whatever you want when it comes to climbing outside (as long as it’s legal, doesn’t hurt anyone or causes undue damage to the environment). But I hope you now have a more thoughtful approach to learning how to trad climb. If pink-pointing feels like the right choice for you, by all means do it (assuming you take the proper precautions). I prefer to teach using different methods and hope you will now do the same.
