Posts by Wills
Although @ReverendGonzo gave a nice answer I want to start a little debate. There is no explicit answer to this question. Different alpine clubs have different opinions and even different mountain ...
While reading Hermann Buhl's tour book* of the Nanga Parbat expedition in 1953 (yielding to the first ascent on third of July, Buhl did the final ascent solo) I got curious about the height differe...
In my opinion the major risk wearing no snowshoes on deep snow (besides the time aspect) is that you step close in front of a stone or other obstacle. You don't have to run, it is just normal that ...
You will always find climbers saying they want 100% safety for their hobby. That's a bit like the mountaineers trying to go on ski tour or doing alpine tours only if there is literally no avalanche...
If you don't have a compass or other instruments, it is possible to measure the slope with your two (ski) poles solely. Just hold one pole vertically by using gravity and stick it into the snow. H...
I came to win, came as I always do, in order to justify who I am and what I have become; now I don't even know what that is. The rot inside me, the cancer of desire, feels unbearable, now it kno...
This is simply a question of the increased surface area of gloves which will therefore increase temperature (heat flux) exchange. Same reason why foxes have smaller ears as further away they are lo...
The weather is very harsh, and the mountain does not allow much area to take a walk on a day when you are not going up the mountain. This sounds like two points mixed up. Is it the bad weather wha...
If the glacier isn't snowless (aper) you can probe for spaces under the surface which should be noticed by less resistance in the snow/Firn. Still it is preferable to avoid going in regions where o...
The answer of @BenediktBauer covers pretty much everything you have to know as a beginner on glaciers. What you also have to know is the proper knot (and that was the second part of your question)....
When doing a multi-pitch and you reach a belay station (the top of a pitch) you can choose between belaying the lead climber from the body (like you do e.g. indoors where you aren't doing multi-pit...
Searching an ice axe for what I would call classical alpine terrain isn't that tough in my opinion. There might be fancy new features and very durable items (T-classification) but those might not b...
Reading this answer and especially the comments leads me to questions: Should one use Aspirin in high altitudes? Should one use it as a precaution or only when actually getting headache or othe...
Natives from regions which are really hot and have a high sun intensity are wearing sometimes white/bright and sometimes black/dark colors. I mean there has to be a better strategy in terms of ...
In my opinion you should also take the hybrid helmets into account. As far as I know, hardshell helmets are more robust than foam ones but they are heavier. That's also the reason they invented th...
I recently started to write a little tour book. The main reason for this was, I was told some guides want to see this as requirement to take you along. Is this true? If so, for which tours/organ...
Referring to @theJollySin's answer: In Europe the mountains aren't that high but you still have to go over glaciers on most routes to the high summits. So you need to learn some basic safety/rope ...
I recently read an German article about merino wool which is well worth reading. I am just posting it here because I know you are German too @Paul. What you can expect by merino wool (and I think ...
In general you can't do that much in two weeks, regardless being 20 or 80 years old. It depends on your general fitness level and your life habits. If you usually are a healthy living (wo)man, bein...
As I started indoor climbing this year I would like to know what distinguishes it from outdoor sport climbing, especially when you are lead climbing. I know that there are huge differences in safe...
I don't know whether e.g. mountain guides for expeditions are accepted if they have color vision deficiency. But as a participant I don't think this is a no-go criteria. There were guys with asthma...
While reading the answers to this question I had to disagree at some points. For example referring to @DavidR I don't think that Softshells are generally less windproof than Hardshells. Over the la...
Nowadays not only outdoor enthusiasts hear those terms when they are searching a jacket which fits their requirements most. Literally everywhere in cities you can find jackets (often with membranes...
I recently made a sport climbing course mainly to give it a try and also to learn something about belaying in general. It's fun, challenging and I got hooked quite a bit. Overall I was around 10 ti...
Direct Answers: 5.14b is North American scaling, which equals UIAA X+/XI− and French 8c 8b+ is French scaling, which equals UIAA X+ and North American 5.14a 8b - 150m is a 150m long 8b climb Do t...
