Posts tagged climbing
My late husband died 7 years ago & I still have his gear. I'm not comfortable leading (and I've lost half my shoulder tendons anyway), so I won't use it. I think the ropes, etriers, etc shoul...
The comment on a previous question I posted here: I am not sure whether this biner was aluminum, but it could be, so a warning (please excuse me if the biner is steel): Aluminum biners are ...
In the past I saw climbers climb alone on multi-pitch routes only by themselves (but not free solo). What's a correct technique to do this? I know how to do it with two ropes, rope ascenders and o...
The following is a scene I have always been perplexed about. I’ve seen it many times. A mountain climber has no one above him as he descends and is trailing rope behind him that he is using to stab...
Reading the description for a clove hitch on animated knots by Grog (the go to bible of knots IMO) I was surprised to read: Caution: The Clove Hitch was, originally, included here with the in...
I'm reading the UIAA standard for climbing ropes, which is supplemented by the EN 892 norm (which I can't provide a link to, since this would be piracy). I'm sort of confused about the fact that, e...
I was watching a video this am where a guy tied a clove hitch and passed it though a carabiner one handed. This seemed a very handy technique to know. I usually use both hands to tie this, make a ...
If I made a noose with this knot and lifted a heavy object by putting it inside the noose / knot: the knot should slip and hold the object tightly automatically it should be difficult to untie th...
A little grim this but I was discussing free soloing with a non-climber in work and I said "Well once you get over a certain height you're not going to survive a fall anyway so anything over ...
Commercial slackline solutions seem bulky, heavy, overpriced, and a little too industrial for my liking. I have 6 carabiners and 50m of tubular webbing. What knots do you recommend for building, an...
When drilling new holes for expansion anchor bolts, you need to clean the dust out of the hole before you hammer in the bolt. People will accomplish this by either using a blow tube or a bellows an...
Doing multipitch routes with double ropes is great, but (at least for me) inevitably results in messy tangles, twists, and crosses of the two ropes. What are some strategies to prevent the ropes f...
What are the differences between a shock absorber as it is used in professional rope access and a via ferrata set? As I found out that in my country shock absorbers have to fulfill EN 355 and via ...
Please refer the image below. This is a screenshot from the movie Meru which is about the successful attempt of climbing Meru by Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk. I didn't understand, why...
I was backpacking in Coyote Gulch, Utah this past week and ran into an issue with my 70 liter backpack. The entrance to the gulch through "Crack in the Wall" was a narrow "slot" entry, so the backp...
I have read some posts here regarding the expiration dates of climbing material, especially trad gear. Friends and nuts (as all climbing equipment) have a lifespan of 10 years according to all manu...
I have just got Grivel The Tech Machine Ice Axe. It comes with Ice blade by default. Mostly I am going to do Mix climbing on granite in Norway with Ice climbing occasionally. Do you recommend to g...
Close to my home, there is only a bouldering gym, but no climbing gym that offers roped climbing. But my real goal in climbing is leading harder/longer routes. The bouldering really improves my str...
Apologies for the word problem. I'm sure there's a simple solution or two, but I'm trying to work out a real world scenario. We used to indoor top rope belay but that was years ago in boy Scouts so...
We know left-footed football players, we know right-handed and left-handed batmen and bowlers, we know left-handed or right-handed tennis players, and so on.. I know being a right handed guy I co...
This question made me wonder how one should be pulled up in a rescue situation, e.g. when lowering is not an option. This answer explains a Z-pulley when in an alpine/glacier environment. I'm mor...
In sport and trad climbing, a sit harness is widely used (except for children). However, I wondered if there is the possibility to fall out of it? One situation where I could see this happen is in...
I am going to do a climb that has a long lateral traverse I drew up three options, and Option #2 seems to me to be preferable to the other options. What do you think the best option is for this ...
Hearing someone above you yell ROCK when climbing is a scary experience because that means that an object (usually a rock) is plummeting down to the route towards you. Hopefully you are wearing yo...
The Skytop area at the Gunks has a number of stellar climbs including Foops (5.11) and Super Crack (5.12+). From what I can piece together, climbing there requires a guide and buying a meal/pass at...
I just started rock climbing recently. I don't have any gear of my own and the first thing I wanted to get was a rope. There are various ropes of different prices. What should I look for when buyin...
Does anyone know if standard climbing harnesses (not chest harnesses) are actually rated (e.g. tested and certified) for use in upside down falls? Obviously falling upside down is a bad idea, and ...
I saw this a few times, years ago I met some guys who were top roping next to us in Jackson Falls, IL 25 years ago who showed us a method of retrieving your top carabiner(s) when you were done top...
I have just watched the docudrama "Touching the void" for the umpteenth time. I am a climber and mountaineer and have a great deal of respect for Simon Yates and his efforts to save Joe Simpson and...
This question asks how to set up a top rope anchor. It states that No angle of tension shall exceed 60 degrees. Why?
The other day I was so desperate to go climbing, but I couldn't find a partner, so I ended up self belaying after googling and watching this video. I did check Petzl's site to learn that modifying ...
A friend would like to start climbing but he can only use one arm. I've read about a few people climbing with one arm, but I haven't found advice on which gear to use. We are only at the beginning...
I have a bicycle helmet that fits well. Can it be used effectively as a rock climbing helmet? Most climbing helmets have a hard shell that the bicycle helmet does not. However, one of the more e...
In an English climbing guidebook about a French region, I read the term spit anchor in the general description of the equipment of the (multi-pitch) routes of some crags. I never heard that term b...
The scenario My climbing partner and I are at the top of a pitch and we drop a belay plate to the ground. There is no safe descent, we were planning on rappelling down off safe anchors. What do w...
It is said that a semi-static rope should be submerged for 24 hours before first use. Why is this, and is this before every first use ?
In climbing competitions there are usually the familiar competitor categories of beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Sometimes there are categories for youth or older climbers too. At bigger comp...
So 1/4" bolts, although not suitable for free climbing protection, are apparently still used for aid climbing to hold body weight, and for alpine rappels. What I want to know is, what do you use ...
If I were a couple of decades younger, I would seriously consider trying climbing in a climbing gym, but I doubt I have enough flexibility, and I would feel horribly out of place. The thing that a...
Avalanche shovels come equipped with holes in the blades for use as rescue sleds and making anchors. I've got plenty of my own ideas, but I'm looking for any documentation provided by manufacturers...
The local climbing gym has several TRUBLUE auto belays but one can soon tire of the same routes. Will the auto belay work if one climbs a route next to it? At what angles does it still arrest a fal...
Climbing route grades in Yosemite Decimal System can be suffixed with an "R" to notify a runout. The Wikipedia entry for a runout is A lengthy distance between two points of protection which in...
I've recently retired a rope (dynamic) and a harness. They're both in very good shape, but just over 8 years old. Common sense dictates I throw them away, but I wonder if there are other uses I can...
Both my fiancee and myself bought some climbing gear recently and we're planning our first trip to an indoor rock gym this weekend. We decided to practice our knots and belay technique before we we...
I was out ice climbing with a group today and they were using three-point anchors using two vertical v-threads (abalakovs) with one backup ice-bolt. They said the vertical v-threads (one hole over ...
Ferrata harnesses (FH) can be probably safely used also for climbing, as stated in another post. However, I am not sure how to use the reverso with FH. This is because in a usual FH, the belay ...
On a multi-pitch route when all climbers have reached the belay point, what is the best way/what considerations need to be made, in order to swap lead? Obviously the leader will need to be tied int...
In climbing, a double fisherman's knot is used to tie together two separate pieces of rope. How would I tie such a knot?