Posts tagged rock-climbing
Subtag of climbing
I have always been very careful while handling climbing gear. Last year while returning from an expedition, I met a group that was returning from a tough-looking climb. They were selling off a few ...
I follow the international rock climbing scene, and we constantly hear of repetitions of hard routes on El Capitan. On Youtube, it is possible to find many videos of strong climbers from all over...
The most recent (2013) edition of Climbing Anchors, by Long and Gaines, makes some interesting statements in the preface about catastrophic failures of anchors. Long first says that: when belay anc...
Being a climber one aim is to toughen up your hands (related: How to toughen up hands?). Building up callused skin is important but how do you keep it? Having dry hands especially from the climbing...
There's a lot of talk in the media about Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell's free ascent of the dawn wall of El Capitan. This wall has been climbed before, but this is the first time it's been fr...
I am a long time gym climber, and I climbed outdoors for a couple of times. I fail to understand why climbing outdoors is more appealing than climbing indoors. If the goal is to climb harder, whi...
I'm planning to go deep water soloing in Majorca as soon as weather conditions will allow it, I don't mind cold water as long as it's reasonably warm outside (~20°C). Since I'll probably be travel...
I am always interested in the history of rock climbing. Lately, I tried to collect data about male and female first ascents to visualize progression in rock climbing over time (I have a small blog ...
If you tie a figure-8 knot while rock climbing and fall a few times (especially if they're dynamic lead falls), the knots will become so difficult to untie that you sometimes have to use a carabine...
the "politicised" debate of female clothing not having pockets (it is especially about skirts and dresses) left aside, I wonder if there are any cotton climbing pants left on the market that have a...
I did a few sport climbs this week, and on two, it seemed that the area between bolts was just blank, and if I went to the side it was easier. I could still reach the bolts, but I was afraid I was ...
An answer to a related post mentions that: It's worth pointing out that these are assisted and not auto belay devices, you can't just not pay attention and expect them to work. Does this mean...
Sometimes when setting up rock climbs for people you will have climbers of various abilities and yet not have enough resources to set up enough climbs so that everyone has something that is hard en...
So there's this limestone quarry that looks like a beautiful place to rock climb. It's about 40 feet high, and the top is easily accessible and has many trees that look like they'd make fine top-r...
I would like to understand if skills/experience gained in rock climbing are going to be useful in climbing steep ice/hard-snow. Of course the gear as well as techniques involved in either are diffe...
I have been climbing for more than 10 months now. I had been climbing regularly for 6 months before, unfortunately, I had a 2-3 months break from climbing. When I have gotten back to it now, I find...
So just questioning some advice I received once: When in guide mode when belaying a second from above, is it ok to take the locking carabineer and attach it to your belay loop? The primary benefit...
One of the hardest routes on El Cap, The Dawn Wall, was done by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson in January 2015. What are some of the reasons to choose to climb such a hard route in winter, when ...
I've had now a couple of days when going rock climbing while the temperatures are below the general comfort zone (meaning below 6 °C/ 43 °F). When starting to climb, my fingers got cold rather fas...
I've been having a problem where my hand skin starts to crack and peel on extended climbing trips and I can't get it heal, even by taking several rest days in a row. Instead, it just gets worse and...
I started to track my finished routes and I cannot find anywhere a definiton of an attempt. Of course if I try to send the route, give up in falf, go down, have a snack and then go again and finish...
I am interested in hearing how people take their dslrs (digital single lens reflex camera) onto multi-pitch-rock-climbs. I have carried mine up in a small pack, but I end up taking hardly any pictu...
In the last years, there were a few occasions when companies would put out recalls on their climbing gear due to manufacturing defects. For example, Black Diamond recalled some improperly riveted c...
I plan to visit a summit which involves a few hours of easy scrambling, with a slightly more technical part at the end, which is very short (2-3 m) but exposed. I expect no problems on the way up b...
I have never found a good answer to this one: How do you clean rock-climbing shoes, without ruining them? Let me be more specific. I have a pair of modern leather-and-fancy-rubber climbing sho...
I am relatively new to climbing, and so far I have only done bouldering climbing. The hardest route I have climbed is a V5, and I am a solid V4 climber. My question was, to anyone who has climbed E...
When learning to sport climb, I was taught not to pass any of my fingers through the gate of the carabiner when clipping into a quickdraw. Lest any of my fingers get stuck and degloved in the case ...
It has been suggested to me in a comment, about an answer of mine that suggests using a hip belay, that: There's a reason ATCs, plates, GriGris, etc got popular: they're safer. I know I stopp...
I have been writing my initials onto the dogbones (webbing connecting biners) of my quickdraws with a sharpie (permanent marker) so I can tell them apart from everyone else's. Recently, one of my c...
Assessing potential lead climbing partners for competence and safety asserts that a lead climb belay is more complicated and has higher potential for a serious accident over a top rope belay. I...
I've been going climbing (indoor bouldering) for about six months, using shoes I rented at the gym, and wearing socks (and everything was fine). I've recently got a pair of climbing shoes, and want...
Why do climbing professional use less than 5 fingers on some holds? From https://www.lagrimpe.com/abc/le-mono-ou-bi-doigt/ I mean, why don't they put the other fingers, even if they don't quite...
When preparing for a trad climb, I usually divide my rack into separate groups where each group is connected to a single carabiner. So for example all the small nuts go into carabiner 1, middle ran...
When climbing multipitch, what is the cycle of things you do when climbing each pitch, and what are the associated voice signals?
Based on comments on this question. If the moving cam on a Gri-Gri is prevented from engaging (perhaps by a belayer firmly holding onto the device), can you still brake effectively? By "brake eff...
I've noticed when climbing and bouldering I have a tendency to get occasional flappers on my palm. A flapper being a callus or blister that has peeled back and hangs on like a flap of skin. I trim ...
Very recently I had been to a climb where I learnt about an alternate route that requires a huge crack to be climbed. It is of about a 100-120 ft roughly. Though I have experience in climbing open...
I have been trying to find the "canonical" post on this topic without success - each post has its own take on the issue. And I understand that opinions and preferences abound - but I'm looking for ...
I know there is a degree of "gray" in this question but: I have a Beal Top gun II 10.5mm, I've had this rope for around 4 years now and I'm starting to think about retiring it. It's been used m...
So this happened the other day; shouldn't have happened if I had been taking my time and paying attention to what I was doing, but it did: I was cleaning several ropes from the top of a short cra...
When I'm rock climbing, I feel like I've got hand holds down as far as where to grab on and understand that the hands are mainly for balance. However, I can't seem to figure out my feet. There are ...
Has anybody ever tried to use a cross-load protecting Black Diamond Gridlock carabiner with a Smart Alpine belay device? I do think the Smart Alpine does not go very well with the CRAG Smart HMS ...
There are some no brainers like don't throw your climbing rope next to car batteries in the back of your car. The effect of bug sprays containing Deet seem to be controversial. I have also heard a ...
Because a number of accidents have occurred when a climber was lowered or rappelled off the end of a rope, it is wise to tie a stopper knot in the end(s) of the rope. My question is what stopper k...
Can anybody reccommend a climbing guide for the Yorkshire Dales area? I'm off for a weekend trip there in a couple of months but I'm having difficulty finding a guide for the area. Roughly the Askr...
Consider an ascension of a single rope with an ATC guide in locking mode and a foot loop with a friction hitch, as described in this answer: Quickest / most efficient way to ascend a hanging rope ...
Definitely not a duplicated question to this one... Rather a much more specific question... The situation arises when there are bolted anchors at foot level on the edge of the cliff: The issue ...
I take public transportation to my work and the climbing gym. This means my climbing gear stays in my office all day with me. My climbing shoes stink and are really offensive to have in my office. ...
This is a follow on from my answer here. I took this photo of my belay and shared it on Facebook, where I friend of mine (A qualified climbing instructor) pulled me up on it as I'd made one or two...
I was reading: “The larger the foot-holds, the more beginners tend to put as much of their shoes onto them. Instead, also when the foot-hold offers more space, we must still use only the forefo...
