Editing Fall factor (section)

== Sizes of fall factors ==
[[File:PetzlScorpioShockAbsorber.jpg|thumb|[[Energy absorber (climbing)|Energy absorber]]]]
The smallest possible fall factor is zero. This occurs, for example, in top-rope a fall onto a rope with no slack. The rope stretches, so although ''h''=0, there is a fall.

When climbing from the ground up, the maximum possible fall factor is 1, since any greater fall would mean that the climber hit the ground.

In [[multi-pitch climbing]] (and [[big wall climbing]]), or in any climb where a leader starts from a position on an exposed ledge well above the ground, a fall factor in [[lead climbing]] can be as high as 2. This can occur only when a lead climber who has placed no [[Protection (climbing)|protection]] falls past the belayer (two times the distance of the rope length between them), or the anchor if the climber is solo climbing the route using a self-belay. As soon as the climber clips the rope into protection above the belay, the fall factor drops below 2.

In falls occurring on a [[via ferrata]], fall factors can be much higher. This is possible because the length of rope between the harness and the [[carabiner]] is short and fixed, while the distance the climber can fall depends on the gaps between anchor points of the safety cable (i.e. the climber's [[lanyard (climbing)|lanyard]] will fall down the safety cable until it reaches an anchor point); to mitigate this, via ferrata climbers can use [[energy absorber (climbing)|energy absorber]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebmc.co.uk/get-into-via-ferrata-the-gear|title=Get into via ferrata: the gear|last=Davies|first=Carey|date=July 16, 2017|website=www.thebmc.co.uk|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-02-16}}</ref>