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 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.