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Liam hinted at the method that was popular in the US while back, and probably still is: follow an experienced climber and clean their gear. You'll get to see actual placements & find out how ha...
As a child, I remember walking with my family over the Gornergletscher to reach the Monte Rosa-Hütte. I remember the same for crossing Vadret da Diavolezza. In both cases, we did not have crampon...
First of all, there's no such thing being too safe, do whatever you feel makes you more secure as long as you can do it safely. As long as you place all of your pro properly, then you're unlikely ...
I do not know a definitive answer to this question, but as there is no other reply so far I will share what I know: When aiding in Yosemite a fellow climber used nuts for this purpose. You pull ba...
While perusing my gear this morning, it occurred to me that I hadn't bothered to buy or make a stove for backpacking. On the whole, I'm not a big fan of hot food, even when I'm a mite chilled. Wh...
Combing through the 2015 issue of Accidents in North American Mountaineering, here were the four mistakes that I saw over and over: no helmet not placing any pro, or climbing unroped starting too...
This question is extremely subjective, so anyone with experience will (and should) come up with his one personal way. What I will describe is therefore just an idea of when and why to use shoes wit...
As others said, you don't need special equipment. Shoes: If you're going on sufficiently marked, easy short trails, you can even do it in bad shoes or barefoot. Our family, including my 6 year ol...
I assume you're talking about the south base camp in Nepal, which is the more popular destination. The typical route gains about 8000 feet over 40+ miles, which is really quite gentle, although the...
Rock climbing and canyoning/canyoneering are very different. However, it seems like the two disciplines would also have significant overlap in skills and gear-- knots, rappel techniques, harness, r...
TL;DR Yes there are lots of rock climbing techniques that are transferable to canyoning (or gorge/gill scrambling as it is often called in the UK) but there are other specific skills required also...
The disciplines are very similar, and it is very easy for a climber to make the transition because they already have experience with ropes, but there are a lot of canyoneering specific skills and g...
As a teen I took an Outward Bound winter mountaineering course in the Cascade mountains (lots of elevation change) in which I traveled 7-10 miles per day for 10 days, carrying a 70+ pound backpack ...
Was it safe? Yes, you were not in any danger here (unless your tree was a Charlie Brown Christmas tree). Was it the best thing to do? No, for a couple of reasons, the most important being that it ...
Climbers have traditionally used redundancy for metal objects rather than ropes/slings/etc. because a piece of metal can fail completely, and instantly, from one crack. This is the same reason th...
I do not have knowledge about the particular accidents stated in the question, so my answer is directed at rope soloing in general. The fact that more reported accidents happen when rope soloing i...
This answer is based on a 17-foot plastic Coleman canoe with an aluminium frame. The length and the plastic increase the challenges. I have over 100 miles experience now, with legs of 14 to 15 mile...
I am temporarily relocating from a region with mild climate to Montréal. I run almost every day, in summer and winter, as the temperatures rarely go much below freezing point. Now, I guess I will h...
The answer to this question depends a lot on your skill level. You say you want a ski that does a little bit of everything, so I'd recommend a ski with both camber and rocker, but you're going to ...
I assume you're referring to a single pitch climb. In which case, the simplest thing to do–without leaving any gear behind–is to rappel as if you were descending a multi-pitch sport climb. Tether ...
It's fairly easy, with modern gear, to be around one third to one quarter of your body weight, including food, water, and camera. Some tips applicable to Colorado (and thus most places): Bring a ...
Your number one concern when winter backpacking is breaking out into a sweat while hiking, getting your clothes wet, and then getting hypothermia after you stop for the day, but at temperatures of ...
For the situation you're talking about (3 days backpacking in winter), knowledge is more important than experience. Know how to use your gear. Know how to keep warm and dry. Know not to walk on thi...
You have three real options: Lower off of your last quick draw and recover the others as you descend. This will loose you one quick draw, but is a safe method for lowering. (As an alternative yo...
Seam sealant should do just fine. I use this particular one which has worked well for a number of patch jobs. If the exist tape is dirty or damaged then you will want to trip it off and put on ne...
