Why Expert Climbers Keep Forgetting to Clip In

When the German Alpine Federation approached us about developing a safety system, they told me something that shocked me.

Auto belay accidents weren't a beginner problem.

Experienced climbers were the ones getting injured.

One accident is already one too many. But the pattern was clear. These weren't newbies making rookie mistakes. These were people who'd climbed thousands of times, who knew every safety protocol, who could tie a figure-eight in their sleep.

They just forgot to clip in.

The Climbing Zone Where Focus Becomes Fatal

I started investigating what happens in those moments before someone ascends unclipped. What I discovered was counterintuitive.

Experienced climbers don't fear heights anymore. They enter what I call the "climbing zone." They're so focused on the route, the holds, the moves, that safety becomes automatic. Invisible.

They're certain the auto belay will catch them. And it will. If they clip in.

But in that zone, they climb right over the belay gate. Or they clip the carabiner to their bag instead of the gate. The easiest first step becomes the forgotten step.

German research confirmed what we were seeing: higher experience correlates with lower risk perception but more errors. Safety analysis from Yosemite showed experienced climbers outnumbered inexperienced ones two-to-one in belay chain accidents.

The confidence they'd built through repetition had become their liability.

The Technical Breakthrough Nobody Wanted to Talk About

Here's the thing about these accidents. No one likes to talk about them.

It's shameful to get injured by something so easily preventable. But silence doesn't save lives.

Working with the German Alpine Club, we spent countless R&D hours on one question: How do you reliably detect if someone is clipped in?

The breakthrough came from watching the belay gate itself.

When the gate is vertical, the auto belay is clipped into it. When it's horizontal on the floor, it's clipped to the climber's harness.

We built Clift Sentry as a two-part system. The bottom sensor sits 30-50cm above ground, monitoring gate position. The top sensor sits 2

-2.5 meters up, detecting climber presence.

When the top sensor detects someone climbing and asks the bottom sensor about the gate, the system knows. Vertical gate means unclipped climber. Red lights. Audible alarm. The climber exits before reaching dangerous height.

What Happened When Real Climbers Used It

I expected resistance. I got curiosity instead.

Climbers appreciated that their gym invested in their safety. But something unexpected happened with the green light confirmation.

Even when properly clipped in, that green light became a behavioral reinforcement. A reminder to double-check. Not just error detection but habit formation.

Since rolling out across Germany, Sweden, Spain, and Hungary, Clift Sentry has done something more important than catch mistakes. It started a conversation.

The system logs every climb, giving facility operators usage data they never had. And yes, it catches unclipped attempts. But like insurance on your house, you hope you never need it.

When it does alarm, no staff intervention is needed. The climber realizes before it's too late. Many facility managers never know an alarm happened unless they check the analytics.

The Behavior Puzzle That Keeps Me Investigating

We're still at the beginning of this journey.

Human behavior is incredibly hard to predict. Now we investigating "travelers." Climbers who start on one line and switch routes mid-climb. Some are tired. Some are so focused they tune out everything else. Some are beginners who don't understand the system and just freestyle.

The same technology that addresses experienced climbers' overconfidence now needs to address beginners' lack of understanding.

Opposite problems. Same potential for tragedy.

Every climbing gym still has staff on the ground. But there's peace of mind in knowing an extra guardian system is watching climbers who climb alone.

Because in climbing, experience should make you safer.

Not more dangerous.