Posts by anderas
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...
Context: I'm planning to take my self-inflating sleeping pad on a bike trip this year. The bike doesn't have any mounting points for a rack, so space is somewhat limited. Currently, my plan is to s...
There is no generic answer to your question - it all depends on the kind of boulders you'll encounter on your destination. For example, if you have overhanging jug problems, the technique required ...
I have used both Grigri devices (the older one much more often than the new one), but I own neither. So I can answer at least most of your questions: have you used this device? I have used it a f...
The belay class in the linked answer is in reference to the typical methods one would use in grade 4 (or 5) Yosemite Decimal System. Typically, in a rock climbing context you typically see grades ...
I started setting routes in the small bouldering gym of our climbing club. I'm basically learning by doing this, so my approach is basically to try to think of some interesting moves, put up the ho...
I wouldn't count ascenders as common climbing gear, so I'm answering for gear that almost every climber has available: An ATC Guide (or Reverso, or similar device with a guide mode) and some cord o...
In (probably) most of northern Europe, it is somewhat cold and wet outside. Despite this fact, I'm trying to get as much outdoor climbing done as I can. A backup plan for somewhat cold weather (i...
This answer is going into a slightly different direction than fgysin's one since I just noticed that your question is about activities, not technique itself. My suggestions might be obvious to som...
In a bike accident, I managed to damage a softshell jacket. The damage consists of some smaller holes, and the manufacturer provided me with a patch kit that is basically a piece of the material th...
On a recent multi-pitch climb, we encountered a strange situation: The wall was basically divided into three parts: 200m of climbing, a large steep grassy part where you untie from the rope and wa...
"Dish holds" are holds that are (in relation to their total size) rather flat. That seems to be their defining property - they can be round, have pockets, edges or other interesting features on t...
The basic steps are to clip the rope, form a loop with one end, move it around the other end of the cord/rope and clip it into the carabiner again. In the following images, I'm using a somewhat st...
A recent question made me wonder how a running belay is really done. Suppose you are climbing an alpine route, maybe of difficulty UIAA 5. You encounter a stretch of 100m of UIAA 1 terrain with n...
CampingGaz cartridges are incompatible with threaded cartridges, as the former use a kind of snap-on valve mechanism and don't have threads. Because of this, you can't use CampingGaz cartridges wit...
These are not exactly the seeds, but the hull of the seeds of the horse chestnut. Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aesculus_hippocastanum_fruit.jpg
This question asks whether the bowline knot is better with the tail inside or outside the loop. When climbing and tying in with a bowline on a bight, does it make a difference whether one starts ...
A recent question made me wonder: A while ago, there was a nice route in the local bouldering gym with a rather high crux. The repeated jumping-off lead to minor knee pain for a few days. Now, ther...
Backstory: A few months ago, I experienced the following situation: We (two people) were climbing the last pitch of a multi-pitch route. Near the end, there was a cave-like chimney. Basically a ch...
The German Alpine Club (DAV) tested several permanent marker pen inks (Edding 3000, Retract 11 and Staedtler Lumocolor) and found no reduction in rope strength in static tests. So I would feel pret...
Here are some ideas, with the usefulness depending on the terrain and rock quality and the terrain: Hold it down with an upside-down nut: Place a nut below the spike and clip it to the sling. The...
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...
Strictly speaking, the system you propose (fix each strand of the rope to one anchor, rappel with the same device) is not fully redundant as you still have the device, carabiner and your harness as...
In general: No. While some devices use mechanisms that can be different from the Grigri (in some cases radically different, such as the Wild Country Revo), all current sports climbing devices req...
This kind of device is rarely used in sports as it is only useful when used with fixed ropes. You mentioned crevasses: The rope is not fixed here and you are tied in, so it is hard to image how suc...
