Fall Factors (wikipedia.org) The picture to the left shows a climber at different heights on the route. The maximum amount of force he will feel is dependent only on the fall factor:  h/L. Even though h is equal in both cases, as L (left) < L (right) he will feel more force when he falls on the left than when he falls on the right. The maximum fall factor in a system is not 1 but 2! This happens if the climber falls below his belayer, as in the following case: (http://www.ukclimbing.com/) To understand how this is implemented, we will look at different ropes elasticity.