Gearspeak: What’s an “HMS” carabiner, and why do you want one?

Note: thanks to Richard Goldstone for some German proofreading in this post.

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A techie climbing term you may come across is an “HMS” carabiner.  What ‘da heck does this mean? (Hint, it’s not “Her Majesty’s Ship.”

If you don’t speak German, it’s a reasonable question.

It’s actually an acronym for “Halbmastwurf sicherung”, which loosely translates as “Munter hitch belay carabiner.” Let’s break it down.

• “Halb” = half

• “mastwurf” = mast hitch, aka clove hitch

• “sicherung” = to protect or secure; in climbing it refers to the belay

So an “HMS” carabiner is, roughly, the “half clove hitch belay” carabiner, a large, locking pear-shaped carabiner, suitable for belaying with a Munter hitch.

(Side note - belaying the second with a Munter hitch directly off the anchor might seem a little old-school, but it’s a very useful technique that every climber should know. Read more about how to do it here.)

In American climber slang, this sometimes gets shortened to a “pearabiner”, which is certainly more descriptive.

Look, they’re almost cousins!

One of the advantages of using a pear-shaped carabiner like this is that the bottom edge is wide and relatively flat. This offers a few benefits.

One, as the name implies, you can easily belay off of this with a Munter hitch, because the wide gap in the bottom allows the knot to flip back and forth as you take in or let out rope.

Two, the wide and flat bottom allows you to clip other carabiners onto it, and add them and remove them fairly easily, even if one carabiner is loaded. If you were to use an asymmetric or “D” shaped carabiner on your master point, the loaded carabiner will often pinch down on the other ones, making removal much more difficult.

This can be especially helpful on big wall climbing, when the first step to build an anchor is usually clipping a large pearabiner into each of the bolts, and locking the gates. Everything else you add to the anchor typically gets clipped into those primary carabiners.

And, there are some old school safety police out there reading this, who are probably having a FREAKOUT right now that I’m advocating clipping one carabiner onto another. Don't worry, they’re lockers, and it's fine to do it at an anchor. But if you don't like it, you don't have to.

Close up of master point with an HMS / pearabiner, showing 2 carabiners clipped to it under load.

Expedition hygiene - 6 items for your kit

If you add these small and lightweight items to your personal kit bag for your next extended trek or expedition climb, you’ll be a most happy camper.

1) Q-tips.  You’ll be amazed what you can (carefully) extract from your ears after a week or so at a dusty base camp. (Of course follow the manufacturer’s and your grandmother's recommendation not to put them in your ear canal, yeah right.)

2) Ear plugs.  Be sure and bring the ones connected with a string, so you can find them when you lose them in the sleeping bag, which you will.  An extra pair is a fine idea too. Available at any hardware store. Vital for a good nights sleep with a snoring tent made or flapping tent.

3) Ayr Nasal saline gel. This is simply saline solution in a slightly watery gel form.  The air at altitude holds less moisture, and it can really dry out your nasal passages.  If you dab a tiny bit of this gel into each nostril (not as gross as it sounds) you’ll have instant relief from irritating dry nose. Get at any well-stocked pharmacy. (Side note - I had a friend who got up to 26,000 feet on Mount Everest, got an incredible gushing nosebleed from the cold dry air, and actually had to come down because of it. He was convinced that if he had some nasal saline gel, he would've made the summit.)

4) Foot powder.  It can help keep your feet drier, smelling much nicer, gives you a nice psychological boost of “Ahhhhh” when you put it on along with a pair of dry socks, and can help avoid blisters. I like Gold Bond brand.

5) Small travel sized bottle alcohol gel sanitizer. Put a dab of this on your feet every night to keep them fresh and kill any bacteria. This can be especially helpful if you are not being so diligent about changing and rotating your socks.

6) Small package unscented baby wipes. A quick wipedown of your more fragrant body parts with a few baby wipes can (almost) make you feel as though you had a real bath. Be sure to get unscented; (you don’t want to smell like a clean baby, do you?) Note, Packets like this may not work if it's seriously cold, like Denali, because they may freeze into a solid block. Instead, looked for individually packaged baby wipes that you can thaw inside your clothing if needed.

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Not shown, but can (literally) save your ass: Calmoseptine ointment. This is a zinc oxide and menthol-based thick cream that does an amazing job healing rashes and irritated skin.

Okay, we're getting into the messy details here: if you have some chafing in the sensitive crotch area, it can be debilitating and there aren’t many ways to fix it. This ointment works overnight and you’ll be good to go the next day. Typically it comes in a large tube, but you can buy individual very lightweight packets like this one online. (If you can't find this exact product, I think most any ointment that has zinc oxide based should work in a similar way.)

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And here's one intriguing option to the baby wipes, as mentioned by an Alpinesavvy reader: Wysi-Wipes. This clever product is a sort of dehydrated and ultra compressed heavy duty paper towel. It sort of looks like a big antacid pill, and weighs basically nothing. When you add about a tablespoon of water, it magically swells up to be a 9” x 12” useful towel. You can even compost them. On trips where weight is more important and you don't want to carry the wet baby wipes, this could be a great option. (When dry, it looks like a big gauze pad; I’m curious about how these might work in a first aid kit?)

A bag of 100 cost about $12. Here’s a purchase link. (As always at Alpinesavvy, there’s no affiliate marketing, I add just the link so it's more convenient for you to check out this product.)

Use the rope to make an anchor - 2 knots

Climbing multi pitch routes with bolted, side-by-side anchors? You might want to leave the cordelette and anchor slings at home. All you really need is the rope you’re attached to and two carabiners.

Many experienced climbers (like Peter Croft and Steph Davis) prefer this approach, because it's simple, clean, and requires less gear.

This can also be a good approach if the climbing is tough and run out right off of the anchor, and thus a greater chance for a leader fall to put a large amount of force onto the anchor and belay. Having the entire anchor made out of dynamic rope gives more stretch to the system and will lower the force on all the other components.

Because the leader is directly tied to the anchor, this generally works best of each partner is swinging leads every pitch. If you are not changing leads every pitch, it's usually easier to use a more standard sling or cordelette style anchor, because you have a single master point.

If you are going to use a rope anchor as described here, and are not changing leads, typically climbers will swap the ends of the rope at every belay. The easiest way to do this is to connect your harness to the rope ends with a figure 8 on a bight knot and two stout locking carabiners, rather than the standard rewoven figure 8 knot.)

Rescue geeks, I can hear you now: “But how are you going to escape the belay if you need to rescue your partner?” The answer is, yes, it’ll be a little more difficult, but you can do it. But, here’s a question to ponder - have you, or anyone you personally know, ever had to actually do this in real life? Climbers who use this method generally feel the simplicity, weight savings and lower cluster factor of tying in directly with the rope outweigh highly unlikely rescue scenarios.

There are many other options for using the rope to tie in directly. We cover one in another article, using just clove hitches, read about it here.

Here are two different knots you can use to tie directly to a two piece anchor.

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1 - Bowline on a bight

This is my preferred technique. This is essentially a bowline knot with two loops rather than one. The knot is easy to learn, fast to tie, and easy to visually inspect to see if you did it right. You can adjust the size of each ear to equalize the anchor.

Typically, bowlines are not popular with many rope professionals for securing the end of a rope, because the knot can loosen up unexpectedly. However, in this application the bowline works fine, because the end is secured to your harness and can’t possibly pull through the knot.

John Long tried to popularize this in one of his rock anchor books about 15 years ago, but it never really seem to catch on. Too bad, it's a great knot. Maybe it was the cheesy name I think he gave it, the “atomic clip”. Just call it a bowline on a bight; that’s the common name and describes it perfectly.

Here’s a video showing how to tie a bowline on a bight.

Here's what it looks like, from the leader’s point of view.

You can clip your belay carabiner to the shelf (both of the loops to go to the bolts) to bring up your partner.

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2 - “Bunny ears” Figure 8

This is a variation on the figure 8, familiar to every climber. This might take a little practice to tie neatly with no twists, and to get the length of the loops correct. This knot is popular with professional ropeworkers, who use it to secure one end of a fixed rope. (Tip: start with a larger bight than you think you need to, at least 2 feet.)

This knot has a cool feature of being able to slide the “ears” to two different lengths, to accommodate one bolt that may be a little higher than the other. This is actually sort of magical, you just need to play with it to see how it works. You need to do this when the knot is relatively loose. After you snug it down, the “slide” feature does not work.

One more thing: some people think that the bunny ears figure 8 is not redundant, meaning that if one strand were to be cut, it could conceivably pull through and the knot would fail. This has been tested many times and does not happen, so yes, the knot is redundant.

Here's a short article that covers it nicely, from Australian rigging expert Rich Delaney and Ropelab.

Here’s a video showing how to tie a bunny ears figure 8, by expert climber Beth Rodden. (She calls at the “super 8”, same thing.(

Here's what it looks like, from the leader’s point of view.

Same as with the bowline on a bight, you can clip your belay carabiner to the shelf to bring up your partner.

"Triple locking" carabiners

A triple locking carabiner (also known as a “3 way”, “twist lock”, or “triple action” or a “tri-act”) can be a good choice for certain climbing uses. (And, not such a good choice for others . . .)

The idea: there are three separate actions that are required for the gate to be opened. Typically, that’s 1) sliding a metal sleeve, 2) twisting the metal sleeve, and then 3) opening the gate.

These carabiners are common in rock gyms, climbing schools, industrial rigging, high rise window washers, mountain rescue, arborist work, and with Professionals Who Do Dangerous Things Far Off the Ground, so that ought to tell you something about how safe they are.

But, safety does not always mean ease of use. Let's read on.

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The Petzl William is a triple locking belay style pear-shaped carabiner.

image - moosejaw.com

The Petzl Am’D is a more all round “D” shaped carabiner.

image - moosejaw.com

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Twist lock carabiners have some nice features . . .

1 - When the gate is closed, you know that the carabiner is locked, and that’s it’s very likely going to stay that way. With a normal screw gate locker, there is always that little nagging background voice that asks “Well, the gate is closed, but is actually locked? And, if the gate rubs against the rock or some other weirdness, is there a chance it could unlock itself accidentally?” If you use a twist lock carabiner, those two concerns are much gone. This makes them a good choice for beginner climbers, because you can be pretty much sure it's going to work as intended, without reminding the beginner all day long to be sure and lock the carabiner. That's one of the reasons guides like to use them for clients.

2 - It’s easy to open the gate even after the carabiner has been severely loaded. If you put a big load on a standard screw lock carabiner, tighten the gate, and then unload the carabiner, sometimes the screw sleeve locks in place and it can be tricky to open. No such issue with a twist lock.

They also have some not-so-nice features . . .

1 - They are not well-suited for snow/ice climbing, because A) they can be difficult to open if you're wearing gloves, and B) bits of snow and ice can get stuck in them, causing them to fail in various ways. (Yes, people have been known to pee on their carabiners to get them open, but I don't have a video tutorial on that one yet. =^) The same concern applies to dirt and mud, so probably not so great for caving and canyoneering, but I don't have any direct experience with this.

2 - They can be tricky to open with one hand. Often it's helpful, especially at a more complicated belay, to be able to operate a carabiner easily with one hand. There is a bit of a trick to doing so: Hook your ring finger in the bottom of the carabiner to apply a little downward pressure, and then use your thumb and index finger to slide twist and open the gate. Like most things in life, pretty easy once you know how.

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Here's a quick video I made showing the technique.

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3 - They are a bit heavier and more expensive than a standard screw gate. Below: Petzl Am’D 79 grams, Black Diamond screw gate, 55 grams, difference of 24 grams. Probably not a dealbreaker for most people, but if you're a lightweight nerd, it might be a consideration.

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So, what's the best use for twist lock carabiners?

Should you use them for every part of climbing that requires a locker? No.

Like almost all aspects of climbing, it comes down to personal preference, so here's mine: When you absolutely positively want it 150% bomber.

1. Setting up top ropes or fixed lines in an instructional setting where you’re not around to keep an eye on them.

2. Various things on big walls, where large loads hanging at strange angles and super-secure connections become more common and important (such as fixing the rope for the second to ascend, connecting a tag line onto the haul rope, or connecting haul bags to each other and the haul rope.)

3. Making a carabiner block, so you can rappel on a single strand. (This is an advanced technique for canyoneering and crafty climbers that I'm not going to cover right now, but you can Google it.)

Here's the easy solution: buy one and see how it works for you.

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One other option - try the more modern flavors of auto locking carabiners. I'm not going to try to summarize them here, but many of these have some innovative designs to try to address some of the problems with twist locks mentioned above, such as not working well in the snow, or being able to open them with one hand easily. I have both of the carabiners below and they work great.

If you want to read more about this, here’s a good summary of the different flavors of auto locking carabiners.

Black Diamond Magnetron. Clever design uses magnets to keep the gate closed. Easy one hand opening, works with snow and ice.

Edelrid Slider HMS carabiner. A nice belay carabiner, easy one handed opening, works well in snow and ice.

Locking carabiners for sport anchor quickdraws

A standard anchor is for the leader to simply clip two standard quick draws to the bolts (opposite and opposed at the master point) and lower off.

Two quickdraw sport climbing anchor with non-locking carabiners.

Gates on the quick draws are facing away from each other, or outward. This makes the bottom gates opposite and opposed and also mostly keeps the bottom gates from potentially messing with each other.

Nothing wrong with this setup.

This is certainly safe enough. The fact that it is been done literally millions of times without incident should probably tell you that it's an acceptable practice.

Having said that, many people prefer at least one designated “locker draw” as part of the anchor.

If you’re in an instructional setting, with many people top roping off the same unattended anchor all day, without a more experienced person going up regularly to check things, locking carabiners can add great peace of mind.

Because it's a top rope, you’re not right there next to the anchor to see if any carabiners are getting cross loaded, gates getting unscrewed, or other strangeness that could lead to an anchor being compromised.

(Sidenote: there are lots of other handy uses for having a locker draw, you can learn them here.)

Personally, I pretty much always use one locker draw on top rope anchors.

This is an easy and inexpensive set up. You probably already have a few extra locking carabiners around, and the long “dogbone” draws are only $5-$6 apiece.

If you’re inclined to be a little more cautious, using lockers on your sport anchors can be a little extra insurance, with low cost and high confidence factor. Look at it this way: Other climbers might call you a little paranoid, but there's really not much downside to doing this.

“I don't want to climb with that guy, he's too safety conscious.” That's the kind of criticism many people don't mind hearing. =^)

As I like to say here at Alpinesavvy, it's YOU who’s accountable for your level of comfort and acceptable risk. It doesn't get to be dictated by anyone else, regardless of their experience or credentials.

Now, we have a locker draw in place of one of the regular quickdraws. Definitely a bit more security here. (The angle of the rope running through the carabiners will going to add a bit of friction, but it's still acceptable.)

Here’s an (overly cautious?) alternative. Similar setup, this time with two locker draws. Long dogbones, round stock carabiners at the bottom for a smooth lower, and super secure.

There's no way to objectively prove this but personally I don't think that extra locker draw offers much tangible improvement and safety. But hey if it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling and you want to do it, go right ahead.

Are you more likely to get lost going up or going down?

Quick question: Are you more likely to get lost going up a mountain, or on your way down?

Answer is: going down. This is true for several reasons.

1. Terrain features like ridges and gullies diverge you go downhill away from a summit, magnifying the mistake of choosing the wrong feature.

2. On the way down, you’re physically and mentally more tired, so you're more prone to navigation errors.

3. Returning to your last known point (usually the best way of getting unlost) usually involves going back uphill, which sucks. It's easier to keep going down, which can turn slightly lost into completely lost.
   

Learn to belay with a Munter hitch

Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.

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At Smith Rock in Central Oregon many years ago, I came across a group of Eastern European climbers working on a hard sport route. They looked a little scruffy from weeks of sleeping out of their car, and their off-brand gear gear was well worn, but the thing that really caught my eye was no belay devices. They were working a 5.13, with the leader taking more than a few falls and takes, with the belayer only using a Munter hitch.

Now, belaying a leader with a Munter hitch is something that hasn’t quite caught on (yet) in the United States. But belaying a second with a Munter is a simple and useful skill that should be in everybody's toolbox.

Why might you want to learn this technique?  The most common reason is to belay your second directly off the anchor.  Belaying directly off the anchor is usually a preferred technique if your anchor is super strong, as in two bolts, but people typically do it with fancy belay devices like the ATC Guide or Petzl Reverso.

These devices generally work great. But if you ever need to lower someone while the rope is under load, they have the downside of requiring a rather complex, potentially dangerous, and easy to forget sequence of steps, known by some as “defeating the plaquette”. (If you want to learn how to do this, have a look in our video section.)

And, if you do this wrong, you can have a serious accident in a split second.

image: Multi-Pitch Belaying- Potentially Fatal Errors to Avoid - www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9np7B1Zao4

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With a Munter hitch, there is no such futzing around. Your second calls for a take and needs to be lowered a few meters? They lose their mojo and need to be lowered all the way to the ground?  No problem. Just release a little tension on your brake hand, the hitch will “roll” over to the other side of the carabiner, and you can lower away.

Want to make lowering with a Munter hitch even more secure for your second? Just add a friction hitch (prusik or Klemheist) to the brake strand of the rope, and clip it to your belay loop.  Now, of course you should still never take your brake hand off of the rope, but this friction knot does give you a little back up.

And of course, another benefit to learning this is if you ever drop your belay device, you can still easily continue the climb.

Many people think that using a Munter hitch in any form is going to twist your rope into some evil tangle. Not if you you use two hands. Your ”feed” hand pulls in slack rope up, and the the “brake” hand simultaneously pulls it down. If you only pull on the brake side of the rope, you’re going to get a lot more friction, do more work than you need to, and potentially get some twists into the rope.  

Lowering with a Munter: You can minimize rope twist by keeping the brake strand parallel with the load strand, as seen on the left. Holding the brake strand out to the side, as on the right, can increase pigtails in your rope, as well as reducing braking friction.

As always when using a Munter hitch, it’s best to use a large pear-shaped “HMS” belay carabiner with round metal, which helps minimize friction. 

There’s a crafty trick that makes your Munter hitch auto lock when belaying your second. Learn how to do it at this article.

Using a thinner rope or a new one with a sheath that’s a bit slippery works best. I’ve tried it with my ancient 10 mm workhorse rope with a fuzzed up sheath, and it’s quite a bit of work to feed that rope through the hitch.

If you’re climbing with snowy or icy ropes, the munter hitch is sometimes the only belay method that can work.

Note: When belaying with a munter hitch, you get maximum braking friction when both strands of rope are parallel to each other. This is exactly opposite to the normal braking action when using a belay device, so this may require you to un-learn what might be engrained in your head. Give this some practice in a controlled environment (a staircase is a fine choice) before you use it in the vertical. (This is covered briefly in the video below, starting about 2:00.)

As with most climbing things, it's a better show than a tell. Watch this short video to learn how to belay the second with a Munter hitch.

DIY - Fix that rip with seam grip

Repairing small tears in your outdoor gear is a fact of life.  Some folks like the old standby, duct tape, but the results are usually Less Than Ideal - an unsightly blob of grey tape on your gaiter, pack or jacket, peeling adhesive, and usually a short life span.

A better alternative is to use Seam Grip, an adhesive available in most any outdoor store. Or, most general purpose household clear adhesives like Shoe Goo work as well. Plus, Shoe Goo dries a bit faster and comes in small sized tubes you can treat as single use, see below.

To fix a tear, put some tape (most any kind will do) on the outside of the gear you’re fixing - in this example, a gaiter.  Next, turn the gaiter so the inside is facing toward you, and reposition the flapping piece by pressing it down on the tape so it’s temporarily held in place. Now, put a good layer of adhesive on the tear, spit on your finger and rub it in, let it cure overnight, and then remove the tape.  You’ll have a fix that’s durable and almost invisible.

For a more substantial tear in a thin fabric that's going to have some tension on it, such as a tent fly, try this:

• Tape the edges together with duct tape on the outside of the tent.

• On the inside of the tent, put down a layer of seam grip, then smoosh in a section of cut mosquito netting, and then put some more seam grip on top of that. Read more on this technique at this tip.

DIY - Candle lantern with sand in a bag

A slick way to make a candle lantern requires a plastic bag, some sand or gravel, a candle (ideally a tall taper) and a couple of sticks.  Pour a few inches of sand into the bag. Stick the candle into the sand. Poke the sticks into the sand, and use them to keep the sides of the plastic bag from getting too close to the candle flame.  This works well in the woods, as the sand forms onto the (often irregular) surface of whatever you put the bag on. This can be a very nice alternative to the hissing harshness of a propane lantern. This is more for car camping than backcountry use.

Thanks to the creative river guides on the Sun Kosi river in Nepal for teaching me this tip.

DIY - Glove Retainers

Here’s a simple way to make some glove retainers, crucial if you are to whip your gloves and mitts on and off when climbing. All you need is two lengths of 4mm or 5mm shock cord and two cord grips. Tie one end of the cord through the cord grip with a figure eight or fisherman’s knot, then pass the cord back through the cord grip forming a loop. The other end can then be tied via a strong point or through a hole melted in the hem of the glove.

By pulling on the cord you cinch down the size of the loop, which is best on the forearm so the gloves stay out of the way and the loop is opened by pulling on the cordlock with your teeth. If you’re removing your mitts to carry out a delicate task and don’t want them flapping around in your face, then loosen the loop and slide them up to your shoulders out of the way.

from: https://andy-kirkpatrick.com/articles/view/one_mitt_sytem

This tip and image is from "1001 Climbing Tips" by Andy Kirkpatrick.

“Wrap 3, Pull 2” - about the strongest anchor possible

The "wrap 3, pull 2" has long a preferred anchor method with rescue teams and others who need a super strong anchor, but this Crafty Rope Trick (CRT) can also be useful for recreational climbers.

As it takes a few minutes to tie, it’s not really feasible to use it regularly as part of snow or rock pro.  However, it can be useful when setting up top ropes in an instructional setting, making a rappel anchor, or pulling your car out of a ditch.  All you need is a long (9+ feet) length of webbing.

Note that you cannot make this anchor with a sling that's sewn into a loop. You have to have a single long piece of webbing.

To make this anchor, make three wraps with the webbing around a large solid object. In many cases this will be a tree.  Tie the free ends in a water knot with at least 2 inches of tail on each side of the knot. Now, pull the two strands of the webbing that do not have the knot in them, leaving the actual knot against the tree. The knot, normally the weakest part, is isolated by the friction against the tree and has minimal load on it. Four strands of webbing share the remaining load. This makes it super strong.

Diagram: Freedom of the Hills, 7th edition, The Mountaineers Press

Glove storage for your first aid kit

While gloves aren’t mandatory for a minimalist first aid kit, many climbers choose to carry them. (If you don't carry gloves and are treating someone else, do your best to wash your hands before and after you touch your patient.)

But, it’s a hassle to neatly store them.  Gloves easily tangle with other gear and can get punctured. Many people put them in a small sandwich bag, which works okay but can still allow damage.

One solution:  put the gloves in a 35mm film can. Two rolled gloves fit perfectly.  A clear film can lets you see what’s there. A label makes it easy for others to find if needed.

Yes, film cans can be hard to find these days. You can find ‘em on Amazon.

Or, another option, if you live in one of the progressive and liberated states in the US, your friendly neighborhood cannabis store sells fine herbal products in the perfect container. Dispose of the original contents in whatever way you like, and reuse the nice plastic bottle. =^)

Another option is a 50 ml Nalgene snap top bottle. You can get these at the excellent Wild Med Center website, a great place to stock up on hard to find wilderness first aid kit supplies.

Tick removal made easy

Have a tick buried in someone’s skin (hopefully not yours)

Make a "lasso" slipknot out of dental floss, tighten it around the tick’s head, and slowly pull the little bugger out.

Ice axe + trekking pole for moderate snow ascents

Many climbers use trekking poles, but restrict their use to the approach trail or low angle snow.  When the terrain gets steeper, most people put both poles in the pack and use only their ice axe. On moderate snow ascents, try using one pole in combination with your ice axe.  Keep your axe in your uphill hand, and the extended pole on the downhill side. This is especially nice on traverses.

This technique has two benefits:  One, you create a lot of additional stability with the downhill pole, adding greatly to balance and confidence.  Second, once you get into the rhythm, you can lean a bit on the downhill pole and use some arm muscle to push uphill, taking some weight off your legs.  Take some load off your legs, feel a lot more in balance, and climb faster - what’s not to like?

Here’s a photo of a climber traversing a moderate snow of about 35 degrees on the lower approach to the Cathedral Ridge route on the northwest side of Mt. Hood.  Note the pole in the downhill hand, axe on lanyard in her uphill hand. She walks quickly, in balance, and the pole is there to keep her that way.

If you need any more evidence, here’s a photo of Ed Viesturs on the summit of Nanga Parbat, showing him with an axe in one hand and . . . you guessed it, a trekking pole in the other.

Use rope bags - decluster your big wall anchor

Big wall anchors can turn into an incredible cluster if you don't stay on top of things and keep it tidy. An excellent way to do this is to keep the lead and haul ropes contained and feeding smoothly by using rope bags. It may seem like one extra bit of a necessary gear, but it can keep your big wall belays WAY more manageable and less tangled.

You have several options.

Low budget: Doubled grocery bags. Put one inside the other, Gorilla tape the handles together, and tape the two top edges together.

(This “double bag” trick is from the excellent big wall climbing book, “Hooking Up”, by Pete Zabrok and Fabio Elli, highly recommended for a big wall climbers.)

Metolius Big Wall stuff sack, size large.

image: https://www.metoliusclimbing.com/

Fish Gear makes some great rope bags. fishproducts.com > Product catalog > Big Wall

double and single Fish rope bags:

fishproducts.com

fishproducts.com

Aid climbing - bring a “beak” piton

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My partner and I were on the classic big wall route The Prow, on Yosemite‘s Washington Column. He was leading around the fifth pitch, which the route topo said had a few fixed heads. He was making pretty good progress, when the rope came to a halt and I heard a few mumbled curse words floating down. 

“This friggin head has the cable broken off”, he yelled down. “Send up the pecker!”

I clipped it to the haul line, he pulled it up, and in a minute the rope started to thankfully move again.

When I was cleaning the pitch, I saw the spot that had stopped him cold. There was about a 8 foot section of blankness, with only a very thin crack and a copperhead with the cable broken off. The pecker saved the day - my partner had carefully looped it over the copperhead and stepped on through.

image: from the great aid climbing book “HOOking UP”, by Fabio Elli and Pete Zabrok

Even if you’re climbing an aid route cleanly, meaning without a hammer, having a “beak” style piton can come in very handy.

A beak piton (a shortening of the broader term bird beak) is a very thin piton with a V-shaped downward hook at the end. It looks a lot like a bird head, hence some of the clever names: Toucan, Tomahawk, Pecker etc.

Black Diamond Pecker piton blackdiamond.com

They’re designed to be hammered into extremely thin cracks, and have been a key piece of gear that have opened up many of the most cutting edge difficult aid climbs.

But, if hardcore A4 isn't your thing, having a beak piton with you even on a hammerless “clean” rated route (like C1, C2, etc) can be helpful.

Rather than hammering it into a very thin crack in traditional piton style, a beak can sometimes be gently hand placed in a very thin crack without a hammer.

In our case, hooking a beak over the top of the smashed in copperhead saved the day. If you come across this scenario even once on a route, it can stop you cold unless you have a way to get past it. 

You can even place them in a shallow horizontal crack and use the tie off point near the head to minimize leverage. Granted, this is a creative and fairly uncommon placement, but it just might get you past that tricky part.

The Black Diamond Pecker is the one I have and it's great. It comes in three sizes, 1, 2, and 3. I suggest number 2. If you're going to be hammering them on a real aid route, be sure and tie a sturdy bit of cleaning webbing in the top hole. (Also, the steel cable that comes with the Black Diamond beaks is not very robust, so you might want to back that up with some webbing as well.)

The “Tomahawk” beaks made by Moses are another well regarded design. As you can see, these have a slightly different profile and a stout clipping loop.

image: http://mosesclimbing.us/home/tomahawks/

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Finally, here's a great instructional video with some action photos and really nice animation showing how to use them in detail.

Lowering Out - Consider using a designated cord

This tip is from big wall expert Mark Hudon. See some more tips and El Cap Route photos at his website.

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Monkey Face, Smith Rock Oregon, image credit: Wayne Wallace

Many aid routes have long bolt ladders, such as the first couple of pitches of Leaning Tower in Yosemite and Monkey Face (shown above) at Smith Rock Oregon.

If the bolts go pretty much straight up, cleaning them is easy. But if the bolts traverse, and/or the rock becomes overhanging, and/or (especially) if the leader decides to backclean, cleaning becomes more difficult. When you reach the offending bolt/protection you’ll know it, because of the sharp angle of the rope as it shoots off to one side.

As the second, you may curse your backcleaning leader with enthusiasm: You’ll be stuck at the bolt, unable to clean the quickdraw because of the rope tension pulling off to one side.

In this situation, the standard technique is to remove the top ascender/aider, reclip it above the piece, and weight that aider. In theory, this removes the tension from the rope below, letting you clean the gear. (It can be a LOT easier to do this if you have a Grigri, recommended gear for cleaning traverses.)

This works fine on moderate traverses, but not so well if it's more extreme. When the next clipped piece is 4+ feet to the right, because you’ll be left hanging in space, unable to reach the piece you were trying to get out. More importantly, your lower aider will likely have been sucked into the quickdraw in such a way that you will be unable to get it out without cutting the quickdraw . . . Plus, unclipping your ascenders and re-clipping them to tensioned rope heading off sideways can be a little tricky and introduces the possibility you didn’t re-clip them correctly, which could be a Big Problem.

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For a shorter lower outs, or for cleaning a roof or a traverse, consider this: use a designated short lower out cord.

Note that on a lower out, you leave the gear behind. So, it works best through a fixed point. If you're going to lower it through your own gear, better not go too far or you won't be able to swing back to clean it! (Just about every big wall climber makes this mistake at least once . . .)

Using a designated lower out cord like this can be especially helpful when climbing with folks relatively new to aid climbing, who may not have the more advanced following / cleaning skills.

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The cord I like is a simply 5 or 6 mm cord, about 15 feet / 5 meters. This works perfectly for cleaning the bolts on Monkey Face as shown in the top photo, as well as roofs and traverses.

(Mark suggests using a longer length, about 40 feet / 13 meters for lower outs on big walls that are under about 20 feet. Much longer than this, you're probably better off using the climbing rope in the traditional manner. Check the topo, and bring a cord of the appropriate length for the lower outs that you anticipate.)

Keep the cord bundled up out of the way on your harness until you need it. If the second knows that the pitch they’ll be cleaning requires a lower out, they can tie a figure 8 on a bight with the cord through their belay loop before they leave the belay. You should be looking at the route topo and knowing that a move like this is coming up, right? If you see the leader doing a pendulum, or maybe even a couple of horizontal hook moves, you should anticipate having to do a lower out.

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Here’s a much better way to clean a traversing bolt ladder.

Once at the lower point (which is some sort of permanently fixed gear, like cord/webbing, bolt with hanger, piton, stopper. etc), here’s what you do:

• Tie your lower out cord to your belay loop.

• Clip a spare carabiner to your belay loop.

• Attach a fifi hook to your harness. Yes, usually you only use a fifi for leading, but in some cases like this, it's pretty handy for cleaning as well. Just keep it on your harness all the time. (I prefer girth hitching it through the top tie in point.)

Note: in the photos, tethers, aid ladders and the often-handy Grigri are omitted for clarity.

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1. If there’s a mess of old tattered webbing at the lower point, cut away the junk with your knife and leave only one good piece. If you don't, there's a chance your lower out cord is going to get stuck in the tat when you try to pull it. This is more likely to happen when you use the standard method with the rope, which involves passing ad pulling a bight through the lower out point, but still, do people behind you a favor and cut away the junk. If you want to be even more courteous for the next team, add a quick link or your least favorite carabiner.

2. Pass the free end of your lowering cord through the lower out point.

3. Tie a munter hitch on the lowering cord, and clip it to the free carabiner on your belay loop.

4. Hoist on the free end to pull yourself close in to the lower out point, holding your weight on the munter hitch.

5. This takes the tension off the rope you’re ascending, which lets you unclip the lead rope and clean the carabiner the leader probably left there.

6. Slowly lower yourself out with the munter hitch. You will hopefully now be hanging directly below the piece of gear the leader placed after they did the pendulum. Hopefully it was not more than about 7 feet away, because you can only lower yourself half the distance of the length of your cord. If you're not quite in the fall line, be prepared for a little swing. (Yes, this will be exciting!) Let go of the munter hitch, and pull your lower out cord through the lower out point and back to your harness.

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Here's the basic set up, using an untied / open cordelette that's about 5 meters long. (It can be much longer, this short length was easier for the photo.) Tie the rope to your belay loop.

For clarity, the following photos don’t have the normal gear you’d need cleaning on a big wall, such as the lead rope, ascenders, aiders, daisy chains, etc.

Avoid trailhead theft with a “Climber’s Wallet”

Sadly, trailhead car break-ins happen from time to time.  As you make plans to travel to remote areas, use some common sense when it comes to protecting your keys and cash.  While leaving your wallet stashed in your car is not very smart, neither is lugging your entire keychain and wallet to high camp. Here’s a tip - minimize what you take on the climbing trip before you ever leave home.

Leave town with just a driver’s license, a credit card and maybe $40 in a ziplock bag. For keys, keep a house key and a car key on an additional key ring clipped to your larger key ring, so you can remove them easily for a climbing trip. Leave the other keys at home with the rest of your wallet.

(Tip: the amount of broken window glass on the ground at a trailhead is a good general indication of the safety of parking there.)

And, here's another preventative measure that some hikers have been known to use. Print out the following on a sheet or paper in large letters, and keep it on your dashboard when parked:

"Vehicle under video surveillance. Smile, so are you."

This will hopefully give anybody scoping your car a good reason to not mess with it. There are so many tiny and inexpensive video surveillance cameras out there these days, how do they know if you have one or not?

This is about all you need to carry when you leave the house for a hike or climb.

DIY - Make a “cheater” quickdraw for reachy clips

Are you feeling “height challenged” on some sport climbing routes, stretching on your tiptoes to clip that just-out-of-reach bolt?

How about aid climbing on a bolt or rivet ladder, where you’re sure the first ascensionist must’ve been Wilt Chamberlain’s big brother, because the dang bolts seem like they're 6 feet apart?

Here's your answer - the DIY “cheater” quickdraw.

It’s long enough to significantly extend your reach, and it has a magic carabiner at the top that clips a bolt hanger without you ever touching it. Here’s how to make it.

There’s two key items of gear you need to make the cheater quickdraw.

1. 25 cm Petzl Express sling

2. Mad Rock Trigger Wire carabiner

The Petzl Express sling is wide, stiff, and sort of an old school looking “dogbone”.  You want to use it here because it’s extra stiff from the sturdy webbing and wide bar tacks.

The Mad Rock Trigger Wire is a specialized carabiner that has a cleverly designed metal “trigger” that swings down and holds the gate open. Tap the little trigger into a bolt hanger and the gate immediately snaps shut. (Every time I use this carabiner I think of a mousetrap. =^)

Mad Rock Trigger Wire

Need to make one at the crag on the spot, without these two items?  You can try taping two sticks to the webbing, and then prop the carabiner gate open with a twig. It might work, but then again, it might not. This is a fairly inexpensive project; the sling is about $8 and the carabiner is about $7, so it’s probably within budget.

(Kong makes a similar device, with the great name of “Panic”, but it’s about $40. I prefer $15, thank you very much.)

Note #1: Now, you can make this without using the Petzl Express sling. But most slings are not stiff enough to stand up on their own.  If you use a different dogbone sling, you're probably going have to add some extra stiffener and some tape to the side of the draw to make it stand up properly. Try some plastic cut from a bottle. But hey, don't be a cheapskate, just get a Petzl Express draw and you'll be happy.

Note #2: Petzl draws come with a little u shaped rubber band thing (Petzl call it a “String”) that's designed to hold the bottom, or rope clipping carabiner, in place so it does not rotate. In this case, you need to use the “String” on the trigger wire carabiner, which is going to be on the top. This is not the ideal way to use the String, because it's possible that the gate can become unclipped or the carabiner can become loaded in a dangerous way, if the draw rotates as you climb above it. So, you should ideally swap out the stiffy draw with a regular one once you get up a little bit higher on your route.

Petzl string. image: http://www.gearexpress.com/petzl-string-10-packs.html

Note #3: If you can procure another “String” rubber band thingy, or even a stout DIY “rubber band” cut from a bicycle inner tube, add one of these to the bottom carabiner. This may give you enough extra stiffness so you don't even have to hold the draw, you can hold the bottom of the lower carabiner and give yourself about an extra 3 inches of reach.

Get this gear in Portland Oregon at Next Adventure.  Support your local climb shop!

Mad Rock Trigger Wire carabiner

Petzl Express sling, 25 cm

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About to clip.  Note the L O N G extra reach.

The trigger wire about to contact the bolt hanger . . .

and CLICK, you're safely clipped.

What's “shaded relief” on a contour map?

Shaded relief, also known as terrain shading, is a very clever way to make contour maps appear more three dimensional. With shaded relief, terrain features such as ridges and gullies appear much more prominent and recognizable. The shading works some magic between your eye and your brain to make what you're looking at appear 3D. It's really quite amazing!

Below is an example of the Eagle Creek Trail in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. (The red line is the wilderness boundary.) This first map is from the standard USGS 7 1/2 minute topographic map, with no shaded relief. At first glance, most people will see this as pretty much a spaghetti pile, with no obvious ridges or gullies visually jumping out. (Yes, if you know a bit about reading contours you can probably make out some of the terrain features, but that’s a different topic.)

Now, here’s a screen grab of the exact same area, with about 20% shading added to the map.

Magic! Notice how the ridgelines and the stream drainages are much more obvious? Most people find this map MUCH easier to read. 

Before modern mapping software, cartographers tried to achieve this by using hand drawn shading. This was incredibly labor-intensive, but achieved some beautiful examples of cartographic art. Here's an example of some amazing Swiss hand drawn relief shading, near Mount Everest.

Fortunately, mapping software today makes it easy to add with just a few clicks. Many commercially produced maps have some sort of terrain shading added, but it’s also easy to make your own maps for free that have this helpful feature.

Probably the easiest way is to use the terrific mapping software Caltopo. In Caltopo, a fast way to get terrain shading is to choose the map base layer called MapBuilder Topo, from the top right menu. This map layer is a great choice for any sort of outdoor recreation, as it has updated roads and trails, a little bit of vegetation shading, and terrain shading.

Learn to easily make your own maps like this with Caltopo from this YouTube video.

Here's an example of the same Eagle Creek area, made in CalTopo with the MapBuilder Topo layer. Note that the distracting red wilderness area boundary is now easy-on-the eyes green, and the red-dashed line trails are much easier to see.

Finally, let’s look at the old school USGS topo map one more time. Ask yourself - which map would you rather use? The answer should be pretty obvious. 

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Finally, here's a short video I made on how to do this in CalTopo.