Posts tagged climbing
I would like to prepare for a long route (700 m altitude gain, 12-16 hours, including descent, with alpine start), one like which I have never [successfully] climbed before. It involves many sectio...
I'm looking at improving (actually starting) my training regime. My local climbing Gym has just installed various campus boards. How do you use these to train effectively? What's the technique p...
I am climbing for quite a while now and would consider myself a beginning-intermediate climber. I feel my technique has significantly improved over the last year. I am very heavy (1,80m and ~100kg)...
What are the practical aspects of using good quality hiking boots (e.g. ones shown below) for climbing? Arguably, an outdoor enthusiast might be involved in various sorts of activities from hik...
I am wondering if anyone else has experienced fear/panic that gets in the way of bouldering, and what their tips are for dealing with this. (There is a prior question on fear in lead climbing, but ...
This question was borrowed from a comment on this question. But what is meant by an "aggressive" climbing shoe? What is the difference in a non-aggressive shoe? And when would you use one over the ...
I had been a regular climber half a decade back. And, then I got off the routine. Now I am trying to get back into climbing. For that, I go to a local climbing gym kind of thing managed by a frien...
In this excellent answer to Ideal and Minimal Rope Diameter for Lead Climbing it is shown how the falling weight affects the drops a rope is expected to survive. This led me to the following ques...
I resumed climbing a couple of months back after a gap of a couple of years. After spending a month of quality time at the wall regularly in order to get back in touch, I have started to try differ...
I have a climbing rope (Maxim, 11mm) that I bought back around 2008-2009 (so it's about 10 years old now). It has never been used, it's been stored properly, and the sheath and core appear to be i...
Alpine slings are usually 60cm long and while they can be slung over one shoulder, it's much easier to carry them on your harness at 1/3 of the size in an alpine quickdraw. How would one shorten t...
I sometimes climb in the gym with a partner who outweighs me by about 50%. When he's leading and falls from above his protection, I can get pulled up to the first clip. If he's not very far up, thi...
I have been piling up carabiners, cordelette loops, webbing, ATC devices, Gri-Gri, etc., and it is all now hanging from my harness. This adds a considerable amount of weight and becomes a bit unwie...
I used to really enjoy climbing (almost all indoors). I was bouldering around V2-3 and leading at 5+. The mismatch was all down to fear of falling - I would repeatedly bail or fall from routes th...
I have a 120cm nylon runner that I want to use to tether me to an anchor bolt while cleaning the anchor. The runner has a small fray (pictures below). Is it safe to use?
If you want to walk on a glacier you usually do this roped together as a team. How to walk as a roped party on a glacier? What I have to pay attention to when knotting the rope? Related ques...
Is it safe to girth-hitch nylon webbing through my harness tie-in points and then shorten the webbing via an overhand loop (assume it is too long) and clipping the non-bight part to the bolt in the...
I think the title speaks for itself. I have done a basic google search and I do not find the references to be sufficient. I'm looking for a short synopsis that would educate a layman such as myse...
My girlfriend often complains that a route or boulder was created for tall climbers. In my experience that sometimes is true: I easily get a hold, she has to jump. However, Lynn Hill proved that a ...
Obviously by anyone's definition, you need to reach the top to successfully climb a mountain, but after hiking to the top of Guadalupe Peak, where the peak is at 8,751 ft, but with a prominence of ...
What is your opinion: Does it make sense to train rock climbing wearying a weight vest or a small backpack carrying a small amount of weight (let's say 1-3kg or 2-6.5lb) to mimic the actual weight ...
We have a number of questions dealing with how start climbing, how to learn it (and how not to learn it) - e.g. Is it realistic to teach yourself rock climbing?, What to teach someone who wants to ...
I recently wanted to climb that mountain because I literally love pushing myself and it looks fun. Information about me I am a 15.9 year old male teen (14-12-02) I live in İzmir Karşıyaka (30 me...
I want to rappel off of 10mm dynamic rope. The rope will be fed through both sides of the ATC device (parallel). Is it safe to use a 4mm cord for my French Prusik auto-block knot? There is a simil...
If I'm using a natural feature such as a boulder or a lump of rock as part of an anchor by tying a static rope around it, what are the best knots to use? I'm thinking that there would be different ...
When comparing dynamic ropes (single ropes) for climbing, which properties do really matter? I'm thinking about weight per meter and price, maybe diameter for very special belay devices. I'm goi...
Is it still considered a 'figure 8' knot when you dress it so the loop is perpendicular to the rest of the loop?
Recently we were climbing up a glacier with the ice at an angle of around 80°. We were placing the ice screws angling slightly upwards with respect to the slope of the ice wall. However, one from...
We went climbing on a glacier recently. There was one issue which I couldn't find a solution to. While belaying from below (on the first pitch), it was pretty much impossible to protect self from r...
What products and process should be used to clean a climbing rope when it gets sufficiently dirty? How would I remove as much dirt and grime as possible without negatively affecting the strength o...
I did my first via ferrata this weekend and noticed there were often long vertical distances separating the cable anchors. At times this length was around 10m. This meant that a fall before reachin...
I am aware that the statistics regarding a 40ft climbing fall, which result in "decking-out" are not favorable. I survived such a fall only recently. Major injuries seem to have only been a broken ...
I am looking for an article that was published in either Rock and Ice or Climbing Magazine around 1999. I know the area and route of the article topic as well as the author's name. I may even have ...
Like most climbers in my area, I use a rope bag to avoid having to reflake the rope after every climb. The downside of this is that the rope gradually aquires twists and after enough climbs, the r...
One person I regularly climb with uses a belay technique that I was taught to be unsafe, so I would like to know just how unsafe it really is. With a classic tube-style belay device, after taking i...
Are there backpack types/systems that would allow to both conveniently carry snowshoes and ice tools? I always find that packs with good ice tool attachment system simply have no place for snowsh...
It is often said that when using two carabiners at the same point, such as an anchor, they should be opposite and opposed. What exactly does this mean?
I am wondering what is the best way to progress from being a consistent V4 and on-sight/redpoint 5.11 climber? I seem to have hit a plateau in my progression and it is super frustrating. Indoors, ...
Rock climbing and bouldering tours are classified e.g. Sierra from 5.2 to 5.15c or Fontainbleau 2 to 8c+. As you advance in your climbing experience you achieve higher grades and learn new move...
After I've been climbing for a while, my finger joints are very sore. Is there anything I can do to relieve that pain?
I'm a beginning trad leader, having done about five easy fifth class leads. I've had some formal instruction, but don't currently have access to a teacher or mentor. I'm finding that I'm extremely ...
I occasionally place slings on rock spikes as trad climbing protection. If the spike is not very tall or thick the slings can become easily dislodged as the rope passes though the quickdraw/carabin...
I have climbed indoors and outdoors for several years, both top rope and sport, and I somewhat recently took an outdoor trad climbing class. In the class, we placed protection while on top rope and...
Suppose you're leading a short pitch (20-30m) and you have two followers, or you want to double rope the route, and want to simply half your rope and tie into the centre, pulling the two halves up ...
I am trying to learn some history about rock climbing. I know initially rock climbing was purely an outdoor activity, and according to this article in the 1990s indoor climbing gyms started to spri...
I work in ecologically sensitive areas in NZ and my ropes routinely get soiled. I have been asked by the Dept of Conservation to clean and disinfect my ropes to minimise the chances of accidentall...
I mostly climb at a rock climbing gym, and I can climb for hours until my forearms run out of gas. However, when I climb outdoors, usually the reason I have to stop is because the skin of my palm...
I was reading this question and the first thing that popped into my head is what do you use to mark the middle of the rope? I was taught not to use any kind of marker on the rope (because there's ...
If an individual walks with a pronounced duck-footed (splayed) gait, and is actively trying to correct this, is there any harm for the individual to begin rock climbing. I feel like a lot of edging...
I have got this annoying issue when bouldering: a sheared callus on the small finger: I would like to tape this and continue climbing (with extra caution). I am not an expert in taping, and any ...
