How to roll a cam strap

Not an alpine climbing tip, but I bet you sometimes strap things on the top of your car or in a truck bed using cam straps. Here’s a slick way to keep ‘em tidy and tangled free.

• If you think this is too much fiddling around, doing a daisy chain for extra long straps is another good option.

• Pro tip, if you use a lot of cam straps (like I do when I’m whitewater rafting) get different colored straps for the standard lengths, typically 4’, 6’, and 8’.

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Here's a nice video showing the method.

Rappel tips for tricky terrain

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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 an experienced climber, 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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The standard rappel practice of “toss-rope-with-a-knot-on-each-end-and-hope-for-the-best” usually works fine in friendly conditions.

But, if you have any one or combination of these potential rappel problems:

• high winds

• traversing and/or overhanging rappel

• low angle

• vegetation, deep cracks, or other rope eating features

then the typical rope toss might cause some issues.

Here are some alternative rappel methods for these difficult conditions. (Listed in my rough personal order of preference. )

1. Rope bomb

2. Lower your partner

3. Rope bag

4. Saddlebag

5. Tie both ends to your harness

6. Lower down both rope ends with a weight 

Let's take a closer look at each one.

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1 - The “rope bomb”

I wrote a detailed article about the benefits of “casting” your rope, like casting a fishing lure; a sort of weight on the end that spools off the rest of the line.

That's the idea here. Flake each half of the rope into two piles, then make a small butterfly coil with roughly 1/3 of the rope. This is the “weight”. Now, you can toss this with some force down the route, and with any luck this will carry down the remaining rope.

In my opinion, this is preferable almost all of the time! Instead of chucking off half of your rope in one big coil and hoping it's going to feed out smoothly, which it hardly ever does.

Image credit: Andy Kirkpatrick, from his great book “Down”, shared with permission

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2 - Lower your partner

Everyone is fine with being lowered by their partner when top roping from the ground or in the gym. But for some reason, the technique is rarely used by recreational climbers when it comes to being lowered from above. (It's more common in a guided situation, especially with a partner who may not be comfortable rappelling on their own.)

However, with a little practice, it's perfectly safe to do, and can easily get the first person down along with both ends of the rope, no problem.

Attach the ends of both ropes to your belay loop, with either a tie in knot or locking carabiner, your choice. Your partner lowers you on one strand directly from the anchor.

To lower your partner, you can use one of several different methods: a redirected tube style belay device, a Grigri, or a Munter hitch. 

Pros - pretty much guaranteed to get the rope down smoothly. 

Cons - Potential communication issues if you can't see or hear each other. (Radios could be helpful.) Lowering someone past the anchor could cause some problems. Lowering from above is an unfamiliar technique for most folks and requires practice to do safely.

Here is a more detailed article I have on lowering your partner.

Here is one of several ways you can be lowered; with a Grigri. Note the redirected brake strand, this is important.

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3 - Rope bag

Yes, my partner laughed at me, but I did bring a plastic grocery shopping bag on one climb where I knew we're gonna have some low angle rappels and it was pretty awesome. Trader Joe's shopping bags cost one dollar, are surprisingly sturdy, rolls up about the size of a burrito, weighs about 40 grams, and easily holds a 60 meter rope.

I never noticed it in my pack, but it made life a lot easier when we had to do multiple low angle raps. We flaked the rope into the bag (which took about two minutes) and then I hung it from my harness with a sling. The rope fed out beautifully.

Just because people don't do it very often doesn't mean it's a bad technique! (Personally, I found it easier than saddlebagging, which we’ll discuss next.)

Below, Trader Joe's ”improv rope bag”, easily holding a 60 meter rope.

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Since I've been yapping about the book “Down” throughout this article, I thought I'd give it a more formal plug here. Andy Kirkpatrick's book is an outstanding deep dive into the topic that I think is helpful for most everybody who plays in the mountains.

Support your local independent bookstore and buy it there. Here's a photo of my well thumbed and bookmarked copy.

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• How can you rig a snag-free saddlebag?

• Have you tried the technique of tying both ends to your harness?

• What conditions might be helpful to lower down both ends of the rope tied to something heavy?

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Use a slipknot to sling rock horns

A horn or spike of rock (aka “chicken head”), can sometimes be used as protection. The problem: if you just loop the sling over the top, it's probably gonna lift off as you continue climbing.

Solution: make a slipknot and snug it down on the spike.

• Tighten it well.

• Practice tying slip knots one handed.

• Consider a 120 cm sling.

• If you think the sling may lift off, maybe clip some heavy gear to it.

• A clove or girth hitch can work too. Try a few knot flavors and see what work for you.

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The nice diagram below is from Jürgen Reinmüller. Jurgen is a guide in Austria, and he’s publishing a book (both German and English versions) in autumn 2025 of alpine climbing tips with lots of additional cool illustrations like the one below. To see more of his nice drawings, and get on the waiting list for his book, give him a follow on Instagram - @alpinstil.at

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Image credit: Jürgen Reinmüller, @alpinstil.at

Climbing Tips: Do This, Not That (Part 3)

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In this article:

1. Cast, don’t throw, your rappel rope

2. Block leading - don’t “trap” the leader

3. Caution with girth hitched rappel rings

4. Flat overhand bend - tail about 30 cm

5. Cordelette on a tree: the “shelf” is different

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1 - Cast, don’t throw, your rappel rope

Try to avoid tossing one big coil of a rappel rope and hoping it's going to pay out smoothly down the cliff face. Most of the time it won't.

Think of casting a fishing line. There's a weight (lure) on the end. The line is carefully spooled on the reel. The weight is cast over the water, and the line smoothly follows it from the reel. No snags, no snarls. 

“Casting” rappel ropes uses the same concept. Create a weight with one end of the rope, and flake the rest of the rope carefully. Toss only the weighted end, which should carry down the rest of the rope. Only toss one strand of rope at a time.

Doing this might take a little more time initially, but it is usually a good investment because it saves you from declustering the ropes later on.

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2 - Block leading - don’t “trap” the leader

Block leading refers to the practice of one leader leading several pitches in a row. If you do, this, be sure that the leader attaches to the anchor in a way that allows them to easily get out of it.

In the left photo, the leader clove hitched themselves to the master point carabiner, and then added the Grigri between the clove and the gate. This “traps” the clove hitch, making it pretty much impossible for them to get out of the anchor to lead the next pitch!

A better choice is shown on the right. Here the leader is connected to the master point carabiner with a carabiner and a clove hitch. Now the leader can easily unclip and continue with the next pitch.

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3 - Caution with girth hitched rappel rings

If you come across a girth hitched rappel ring, be very careful how you clip it.

• If you clip it on the BOTTOM of the ring, it's safe.

• If you clip on the TOP of the ring, when you weight the ring it's gonna completely detach from the cord/sling and Yer Gonna Die (YGD)!!!

There was a recent serious accident in the North Cascades related to this exact issue. (Link in my article) \

Please do not set up anchors like this. If you find one in the wild, be careful.

I recommend avoiding any sort of girth hitching a ring around a sling like this. The more standard methods shown in the photo below are more secure and easier to check.

When rigged like this, you can clip a tether to any point on the metal connection and you're gonna be safe.

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• Why is about 30 cm the ideal length of tail for a flat overhand bend?

• When you put a cordelette around a tree and you want to use the shelf, how is that different than a two point anchor?

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DIY - Ice tool tethers

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Ice tool tethers are pretty standard on longer alpine routes for good reason - a dropped tool from on a long, high route can be a serious problem.

Most major gear companies offer some version of a tool tether. They cost around $50. Here’s a DIY alternative; make your own for about 30 minutes of time and $10 in materials.

One simple way to make tethers is simply with 5 or 6 mm cord. The problem with that is that the cord wants to droop down below your waist, which is a potential tripping hazard. With the bungee cord, when there's slack on the tether, it shortens up.

I'll show you how to do it (as long as you don't make fun of my vintage Petzl Aztars, okay?)

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Tools and materials to make an ice tool tether:

• 12 feet / 4 meters of 1/2 inch tubular webbing

• 12 feet / 4 meters of 1/8 inch elastic cord

• Coat hanger

• Athletic tape

• Two small carabiners (be sure they fit into the holes at the bottom of your ice tools)

• Patience!

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1. Straighten out a wire coat hanger. Tape the elastic cord thoroughly to one end of the coat hanger. Use the coat hanger to wriggle the bungee cord all the way through the webbing. Be patient, this can take some fiddling.

2. Tie an overhand on a bight in one end with a small loop, and clip it to a carabiner. Don't worry about an exact fit; you can trim off a bit of the extra when you're done if needed.

3. Adjust the length one “arm” by sliding the webbing along the bungee, scrunching it up as you go. My arms are about 24 inches, with no stretch.

4. Create a harness attachment loop by tying a loose overhand on a bight in the webbing. This loop can be fairly small because it only needs to fit a carabiner. Do not snug this knot very tight, you're probably gonna need to adjust it later.

5. From the attachment loop, repeat step three, scrunching up webbing along the second arm until it’s the same length as the first. Tie another overhand on a bight in the second arm.

6. Give it a test drive. Adjust the length of the arms and the position of the attachment loop as needed until it feels comfortable. You don't want to have your tether impede your normal swing. It might appear to be short, but because it's clipped to your belay loop and attached to your tools with carabiners, you get a bit more length.

7. When it all feels happy, snug down the knots and trim off any extra webbing and elastic cord.

8. Give yourself a high five for saving $40. =^)

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• Do I need a swivel?

• What about girth hitching directly to your belay loop?

• Can I rest on this tether with my full body weight?

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What are the forces on the anchor when rappelling?

I recently came across a nice video from the meticulous gear testers at Edelrid. (Have a look at their “Edelrid Knowledge Base” on YouTube, they have lots of goodies there.)

Check out the screen grab below from one of their videos.

Short version:

• If you bounce around on the rope like some special forces cowboy, you can generate between 2 and 3 kN as a temporary peak load.

• When you rappel smoothly, the load to the anchor is pretty much your body weight.

Takeaway: rappel smoothly without bouncing to minimize force on the anchor.

Need a stronger anchor? Try a basket hitch

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A basket hitch (and no, I don't know why it's called that) is pretty simple. It’s a loop of loop of webbing, cord, or rope, doubled into a “U” shape.

Takeaway: a basket hitch more or less doubles the breaking strength of whatever material you’re using, because the load is shared over four strands instead of two.

For most climbing situations, this doesn't really apply much, because the maximum possible forces in any recreational climbing situation are never going to be more than about 9 kN. If you're using a sewn sling that has a Minimum Breaking Strength (MBS) of 22 kN, no worries.

And, even clipped in the regular end to end method shown below, the 28 kN where it broke is probably stronger than your carabiner!

But in a few cases that I can think of, knowing a trick to increase the strength of your rigging might be helpful:

• You need to use some skinny 5 mm cord for some kind of anchor building or application that it's not really designed for, and you want to squeeze some extra strength from your material.

• If you want to do something involving possible LARGE forces, such as pulling your car out of the ditch, dropping a big tree limb, or detaching a wrapped whitewater raft off a rock.

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My friend Ryan Jenks, the mad scientist gear-breaking genius behind the great YouTube channel HowNOT2, did some break testing on this.

Here are Youtube screenshots of the results of three different break tests. He’s using a standard sewn 8 mm Dyneema sling, rated with an MBS of 22 kN.

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Photo 1: The sling gets a “normal” end-to-end pull. It broke well above the 22kN MBS, which is a good thing.

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Photo 2: The same 22 kN sling, this time doubled with a basket hitch. With this rigging, it more than doubled the MBS.

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Cold hands? Do the “Penguin”

Yes, this looks weird! But it really works to get warmer “core” blood flowing down to your hands.

Rotate your shoulders to face your palms forward, and then start shrugging your shoulders up and down quickly between 20 and 30 times.

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Check out the video below for a quick demo.

Climbing Tips: Do This, Not That (Part 2)

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In this article:

1. Quad anchor - keep the knots low

2. Pre-thread the haul pulley

3. The (mostly) twist-free Munter hitch rappel

4. Cut webbing at a 45 degree angle

5. Don't put rubber bands or tape on an “open" sling

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1 - Quad anchor - keep the knots low

With a quad anchor, if you’re using a cordelette or longer sewn sling like a 180 cm or 240 cm, it's good practice to tie the knots low down as shown. This will give perfect equalization, but minimizes extension if one arm of the anchor fails.

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2 -The (mostly) twist-free Munter hitch rappel

Rappelling on a Munter hitch usually makes evil pigtails/twists in your rope. This can be a serious problem when you pull your rope, because the twists can get caught at the anchor.

However, if you flip your rope back over the carabiner like the photo below, this greatly reduces the rope twists.

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3-Don't put rubber bands or tape on an “open" sling

Almost all quickdraws have some sort of a little rubber band thing on the bottom carabiner. This makes it easier to clip.

Some people think that doing the same thing on a “open” sling or alpine quickdraw might also be a good idea. Don’t do this!

If you clip that bottom carabiner back onto the sling, it can configure itself so the entire load is resting only on the rubber band and not on the sling! Yes, there have been two accidents that I know about caused by this.

It's a little hard to describe, but if you play around with it, you can figure it out.

The same applies to a personal tether. Do not put tape or a rubber band on a sling that you use for your tether. If you want to make it a bit easier to clip, use a girth hitch, or maybe better a clove hitch, to hold the carabiner in place.

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• How can you set up your haul system faster, and never drop the rope or your progress capture pulley?

• Why can it be helpful to cut tubular webbing at a 45° angle instead of a 90° angle?

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What are the “Screaming Barfies”?

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This recently landed in the Alpinesavvy Inbox . . .

Hi John, 

I’m enjoying your regular climbing tips, as always. I have a topic suggestion for your first aid section: the dreaded screaming barfies. 

Experienced climbers might get through the throbbing pain and frequent nausea with a mixture of cursing and laughter, but for beginners or anyone who hasn’t experienced this before, it can be a pretty scary experience. 

When you consider the chance of this unexpected pain, nausea, and fear leading to a mid-climb mistake or lapse in judgment, the stakes get a little higher. For beginners in steep terrain, who might already be at the edge of their comfort zone, pain, fear, and nausea can spiral downhill pretty quickly. 

I haven’t seen this topic mentioned very often in wilderness medicine and climbing education contexts, so I think it’s worth raising some more awareness. Being able to anticipate this can help climbers recognize the need for earlier rewarming, and also be ready to provide the support and psychological first aid their partners or students might need.

David P.

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David, excellent suggestion! Let's have a look.

If you like cold weather sports, you’re probably familiar with a not very fun (unless it's happening to your partner and not you) medical condition with a spectacular name, aptly called the “screaming barfies.”

“Screaming”, because that may be your reaction to the few minutes of pain, and “barfies”, because sometimes you throw up!

What causes the screaming barfies?

• The condition happens when blood flow to the extremities is restricted due to cold temperatures and physical exertion, such as gripping ice tools tightly or holding hands above the heart for extended periods.

• When your circulation improves and warm blood returns, the nerves react sharply, causing a tingling or burning sensation that can be so overwhelming it triggers nausea or even vomiting in some cases. The nausea is believed to be caused by the nervous system's response to extreme pain, which stimulates the brain's emetic center responsible for inducing vomiting.

• The good news is the pain doesn't last long (1-5 minutes) and goes away on its own.

How to prevent the screaming barfies?

• Do what you can to maintain blood flow and warmth in the hands.

• Use a multi-glove system, keeping thicker gloves for belaying and thinner ones for climbing to avoid over-gripping. Regularly shaking out hands below the heart, loosening grip on tools, staying hydrated, and keeping the body core warm can help.

• Check out my recent series of posts from Canadian ice climbing expert Wild Gadd on how to keep your hands and feet warm, lots of good general tips in there.

• Bad news: it sucks for a few minutes, and it can be distracting to your focus and performance.

• Good news: it doesn’t put you in long-term danger, and may provide a few minutes of amusement and possibly entertaining video footage for your climbing partner. =^)

• Hopefully, you can laugh about it later. Remember, it doesn't have to be fun, to be fun.

“Schadenfreude” (German) - feeling pleasure in response to another's misfortune. “Schaden” (damage) and “Freude” (joy).

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Want to see more references about the screaming barfies?

How about a “schadenfreude” video of some poor sucker who has it?

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Close-to-the-ground rope ascending practice

Are you training to climb a big wall? Your ascending gear, fitness and technique needs to be perfect.

Tip: You don’t need a huge cliff or a 60 meter fixed rope!

Here's how to practice it on a short wall (or even a tree).

Run the rope to a top rope anchor, and then down to your partner, who has you on belay. As you start climbing up the rope, your partner slowly feeds rope through their belay device.

You may be only a few meters off the ground, but with this method, you can practice ascending the entire length of the rope. Have a stopper knot in the end so you can’t be dropped.

For handled ascender practice, you need a bit of rope weight under you, so your ascenders can slide up the rope. This means you probably need to be about 5-6 meters up the rope before your ascenders will slide easily.

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Here’s a great illustration of this from the superbly talented Mike Clelland, from his book “The Illustrated Guide to Glacier Travel, and Crevasse Rescue”, highly recommended.

image credit: Mike Clelland

Happy camp feet with double boots

This tip is from Denali climbing veterans Steve House and Mark Postle, who have more than 30 Denali summits between them. I have an article in the “What's in my Pack” category with a detailed video from Mark and Steve about Denali gear, check it out here.

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Are you on a cold weather climb (Denali) that requires double boots? At camp, remove your liner boots, put on your down booties, and then step back in your outer boot to wear around camp.

If the liners are damp, dry them inside your sleeping bag so you can wear ‘em the next day.

Ice climbing - environmental “red flags”

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This post (shared with permission) is an Instagram post from Kel Rossiter, an IFMGA guide and owner of Adventure Spirit Guides. Connect with Kel on his website and Instagram, @adventurespiritguides

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Photo: Capt. John Crowley/Duchesne County Sheriff's office

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Kel Rossiter writes:

“We're moving into transition season here for ice climbing. Recently, I was asked to name the environmental factors to get my attention relating to hazards. These are the five I came up with.

The field of avalanche science has a lot to teach the climbing community in terms of risk analysis. One tool they use are the “red flags” - things like wind, heavy snowfall, etc. that should serve to get skiers attention when deciding when and where to go.

There are similar red flags in ice climbing. I came up with five, there are likely more.

1. Nighttime temperature above freezing

2. Daytime temperatures above about 40F/4C

3. Rain

4. See Premium Member article

5. See Premium Member article

The first three red flags have to do with warming, obviously not good for ice, which substantially increase overhead hazards.

Red flag number four . . .

Red flag number five . . .

None of these red flags are showstoppers for me. But if several of these are stacking up, it's a sign to me that I might need to change venues to shady places, a place with less overhead hazards, etc. And although I did throw out the number of 40°F/4 C, this is of course not an exact science.

There are other hazards in ice climbing, such as avalanches, cold temperatures leading to frostbite and hypothermia, and high consequence of falling. These are different than an environmental red flag, meaning hazards that have a direct effect on the ice I intend to climb.”

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Alpine retreat anchors - Part 2

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This article was written with assistance from Max Lurie, an AMGA Certified Rock and Alpine Guide. Connect with Max at his website and Instagram.

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See “Alpine retreat anchors - Part 1” here.

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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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The techniques shown below are NOT standard anchor building practice. For normal anchors, clip a carabiner to your gear placements before you clip the sling/cord. These examples are retreat anchors for bodyweight rappelling only, when you want to conserve your gear.

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Be it challenging weather, poor conditions, route finding errors, or general loss of mojo (a.k.a. “ambition exceeding ability”), there can be lots of valid reasons to turn around on an alpine route. It may not be something you actively planned for, but it needs to be handled with the same level of focus and detail as any other part of your climb.

When you retreat / bail (and yes, it’s “when, and not “if”), be it a one pitch sport climb or a major alpine adventure, the objectives should be similar:

• Get to the ground in one piece

• Have each rappel anchor simple to build and easily strong enough to rappel on

• Leave a minimum of gear behind

Let's be clear on one thing: this is no time to be a cheapskate. Yes, we hate to leave gear behind, but if you HAVE to leave your beloved #3 Camalot for a rappel anchor, then do it without hesitation. The simple question is, what's your life worth? At the same time, you don't want to over build your anchors, and leave behind gear that you might need lower down if multiple rappels are required.

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What are the forces on the anchor when rappelling?

I recently came across a nice video from the meticulous gear testers at Edelrid. (Have a look at their “Edelrid Knowledge Base” on YouTube, they have lots of goodies there.)

Check out the screen grab below from one of their videos.

Short version:

• If you bounce around on the rope like some special forces cowboy, you can generate between 2 and 3 kN as a temporary peak load.

• When you rappel smoothly, the load to the anchor is pretty much your body weight.

Takeaway: rappel smoothly without bouncing to minimize force on the anchor.

Image: screen grab from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7rKGDxrdTA

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There are lots of ways you can rig a retreat anchor. Here's a good one.

• Simple (easy to check)

• Fast to rig

• Plenty strong enough for rappelling

• Requires minimal gear

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Place two pieces of solid gear fairly close to each other (here a stopper and a piton). Starting with about 2-3 meters of cord (here, 6 mm), pass the cord through both anchor points as shown.

Tie a flat overhand bend to make a loop.

Tighten the knot, leaving tails of at least 3 inches / 8 cm.

Pull down the cord, making a “U” shape.

Girth hitch masterpoint on a taped gate carabiner. (Lots of other options here. If you have enough cord, you can tie an overhand knot. If you want to use a quicklink or rappel ring, that works. I'm showing my favorite method to keep things consistent.)

This approach is fast, requires minimal fiddling with knots, and uses a small amount of cord. Efficient use of materials is the main benefit to the girth hitch master point.

Potential downside, you need to leave behind some hardware to make the girth hitch. (If you had another foot or so of cord, you could tie an overhand on a bight and rappel from that rather than the girth hitch.)

If you're new to the girth hitch master point, yes, it's legit and yes, it’s redundant. Read a more on the girth hitch anchor here.

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• What if the anchors are farther apart?

• What if you want to use a sling instead of cord?

• Tying a cord directly to a stopper wire? How strong is that?!

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Tying off a piton

Sometimes a piton may stick out too far from the rock. If you clip the eye, you might leverage the piton and weaken the placement.

Or maybe the eye is rusted or broken and can't be used.

Solution:

1. Girth hitch a sling around the piton closer to the rock, which reduces leverage. This works better with some piton shapes than others.

2. Another option: put the wire of a stopper around the piton shaft. #CraftyRopeTrick for sure!

Alpine retreat anchors - Part 1

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This article was written with assistance from Max Lurie, an AMGA Certified Rock and Alpine Guide. Connect with Max at his website and Instagram.

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See “Alpine retreat anchors - Part 2 here.

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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.

---

Be it challenging weather, poor conditions, route finding errors, or general loss of mojo (a.k.a. “ambition exceeding ability”), there can be lots of valid reasons to turn around on an alpine route. It may not be something you actively planned for, but it needs to be handled with the same level of focus and detail as any other part of your climb.

When you retreat / bail (and yes, it’s “when, and not “if”), be it a one pitch sport climb or a major alpine adventure, the objectives should be similar:

• Get to the ground in one piece

• Have each rappel anchor simple to build and easily strong enough to rappel on

• Leave a minimum of gear behind

Let's be clear on one thing: this is no time to be a cheapskate. Yes, we hate to leave gear behind, but if you HAVE to leave your beloved #3 Camalot for a rappel anchor, then do it without hesitation. The simple question is, what's your life worth? At the same time, you don't want to over build your anchors, and leave behind gear that you might need lower down if multiple rappels are required.

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Alpinist Steve House has a terrific video on “Failing Well”. “Success on a climb is going up, making good decisions, and coming back. That's the outcome we should be attached to. To me, that’s what ‘fail well’ means.”

Six minute YouTube video, highly recommended. Takeaways:

• Strategic retreat is an inherent part of alpine climbing. It’s a skill that improves with practice.

• Having solid retreat technique can give you the confidence to try harder routes, knowing that you can retreat from just about anywhere.

• Maintain awareness when ascending. The way up might also be the (unplanned) way down. Remember potential anchor points, problem areas and the right way to go.

• Retreat is often done under stress, tiredness, darkness, bad weather, etc. All the more reason to turn up your focus and awareness to counter these compounding factors.

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Some general guidelines for retreat anchors . . .

• Use two equalized pieces whenever possible. Sure, the classic climbing books are full of epic stories of rapping off of a single stopper or piton. One that’s perfectly placed should be sufficiently strong, but that shouldn’t be your first choice unless things are really desperate.

• Try to avoid using multiple pieces of the same size in a single anchor; you might need that same size lower down.

• Use static equalization. This is probably not the time for a sliding X anchor. Your gear may not be the greatest, and there's only two pieces, so you want to minimize any potential shock loading at one piece fails.

• This anchor is only for rappelling, so the “rules” change a bit. The belay anchor general principle of striving for “three good pieces“ doesn’t necessarily apply to a rappel anchor. If you rappel smoothly on a dynamic rope, the anchor will only see about 1-2 kN, and the direction of force will always be down. So good news, your anchor doesn’t need to be multi-directional or tremendously strong. However, we're still aiming for some other core anchor principles of strong (enough), redundant, load distribution, and no extension.

• The examples below don’t use carabiners on the gear. You’d never make a proper belay anchor like this as regular practice, but it's acceptable for an emergency rappel anchor. It's fine to run cord or webbing through stopper wires for a rappel anchor; it holds 8+ kN. (See previous point, the rules change a bit.)

• Rappel smoothly to minimize forces on your anchor. Don't jump / bounce around like some special forces cowboy.

• Keep your rigging simple. You should really only need one or two variations on the basic theme, so no need to get overly fancy. You're probably going to be doing this under a bit of stress, and bailing on marginal anchors is not something most people practice very often. Keeping your rigging clean and simple makes it easier to check and to remember.

• You're going to need a fair amount cordage (and maybe a few slings) so plan ahead. 6 mm cord (rated to about 7.5 kN) is cheap, light and easy to carry, so consider that if you anticipate making a lot of anchors. Tying those pesky knots always seems to take up more cord than you think! Plan on about 2.5 meters of cord per anchor. You can get away with a bit less if the gear placements are right next to each other, or if you use some clever knots like a girth hitch master point. If you and your partner each carry about 10 meters of cord, that's enough for a LOT of anchors.

• Use your cordelette. Six meters or so of cord (7mm is the standard) makes a cordelette for the way up; you can think of that is equal to about 2-3 potential anchors for the way down. If you and your partner each carry a cordelette, together that should be good for about 5-6 anchors.

• Recycle your old cordelette. If you climb a lot, you probably wanna retire your lead cordelette from regular anchor duty after about a year. Great, you now have some material for emergency anchors. Keep the old one in the bottom of your pack for that purpose.

• What about webbing? Tubular webbing can work as a retreat anchor, but it has a few downsides compared to cord. 1) Webbing strength drops off quickly if it gets damaged, unlike cord that has more of a protective sheath. 2) Webbing is more easily degraded by ultraviolet light. 3) Webbing usually requires tying a water knot, which can be a little finicky and a hassle to tie if you have gloves and/or cold fingers. For these reasons, cord is usually a better choice. (See an example below of how to use a sewn sling.)

• Carry a knife, so you can cut up your cordage (or maybe even an end off your climbing rope) to make an anchor. Also, a knife is useful for cleaning up any rat nest of old sun-crusted cord and webbing you often find at alpine anchors. Good rule of thumb, if you add cord to improve an existing anchor, remove the oldest piece(s) and take it with you.

• Don't have a knife? It’s remarkably easy to cut through rope or webbing with a small length of 2 or 3 mm cord. Tie a bight knot in each end, clip the loops to a pair of carabiners for handles, and then rapidly saw back-and-forth through the material that's under some tension. You’ll cut it through in a few seconds.

• Look first for a tree or rock horn. Give it a good kick first to assess its strength. You can drape a sling or tied loop around this and use it for a rappel, with no gear left behind. Note: use caution with putting the rope directly around/over a tree or rock horn; the friction could make pulling the rope difficult or impossible. Using natural protection of course preserves your hardware.

• Consider shorter rappels. Doing two shorter rappels, using natural protection is going to preserve more gear than one long one.

• Look for fixed gear on the way up. Remember where it is; you might need it on the way down.

• Be wary of the “bail trail”. Don't be tempted to depart from your route to go towards a retreat anchor that someone else has left. If your route description says “belay from the ledge”, and you see some sketchy looking stoppers equalized with a shoelace on terrain that looks clearly off route, that probably means it's a bail anchor and not a belay anchor intended for ascending.

• Be on the lookout for down-climbable terrain, and consider the technique of “down leading”. Here, the first person raps single strand, places his gear on the way down, and clips the rope to the gear. The second person ties in to the end, down climbs, cleans the gear as they go, and is belayed by the person below. Here's an article on that technique.

• Leave a cam if you have to. Yes, your life is worth it. If you have a perfect placement for a larger cam, versus fiddling around trying to equalize several different stoppers, go for the one cam and get the hell down, especially if you have multiple pitches to go and it's starting to rain, getting dark, etc.

• Stoppers and a piton or two are good choices for retreat anchors. Stoppers are inexpensive, strong, easy to check if you have a good placement (well, the bigger ones, anyway) , easy to bounce test, and can be set in rock that’s dry, wet, icy, or muddy. If you have a ice tool hammer, feel free to use it to smack on the piton as well as the stopper. To weld in a piton or stopper, you can beat on it Neanderthal-style with a fist size rock (and maybe your nut tool). But a hammer is always going to be better. No one's going to be cleaning it, so don't be shy.

• If you find a fixed piton, see if there’s a nearby stopper placement you can use to equalize the two pieces.

• Are things getting pretty desperate? You can cut your rope and leave it if you need more material for the anchor. You can also fix your rope and do the last rappel on a single strand if you don't need the rope for anything else.

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Pitons!

You don't wanna carry too much metal with you, but a knifeblade and a “Universal” piton can be great to leave behind for anchors.

Knifeblade and CAMP universal piton

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There's a lot more to learn about retreat anchors!

• What’s a “Universal” piton, and why is it cool?

• Are Tricams good for bail anchors?

• What’s a cheapskate locker, and why should I carry one?

• Can I run the rope directly through the cord?

• Why a metal connection for the rope?

• How can I back this up?

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Climbing Tips: Do This, Not That (Part 1)

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In this article:

1. Anchor hooks: gates facing out

2. How to extend a quickdraw

3. Protect a fixed rope with a rebelay

4. “Alpine Equalization" Don't clip the thumb loop

5. Anchor induced rope twisting

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1 - Anchor hooks: gates facing out

In a typical anchor with carabiners, it's usually good practice to place them opposite and opposed. However, with anchor hooks (aka Mussy hooks), it's typically best to have them both facing OUT, away from the rock.

Why is this?

The American Safe Climbing Association has installed thousands of these anchors throughout the US. They recommend gates out. Click the article link above to read the longer reasons; here’s the short version:

“Anchor hooks are placed with gates out for a couple reasons. If opposed the inward facing hook tends to gouge into the rock and scar it up, along with orienting strangely to wear much faster on the nose or even get pushed into the bottom of the wiregate. If they are extended with chains to lay flat and opposed the rope gets pinched behind the hooks and wears unnecessarily/grooves the rock.“

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2 - How to extend a quickdraw

A steep or reachy sport route may require extended quickdraws.

It's good practice to extend them as shown in the photo below. Of these two, the quick link is more secure. Or you could have a locking carabiner in the middle (left photo) to add further security.

The methods shown below are not so great. In the left, the carabiners could be twisted and unclipped in a fall. On the right, the rope can rub over the top of the dog bone, not good.

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3 - Protect a fixed rope with a rebelay

If a fixed rope is running over an edge, it's quite easy to damage the rope, especially with a larger load.

An easy way to fix this: a rebelay. To make a rebelay, make another anchor point (by placing gear or clipping a bolt) below the edge that's being loaded. Pull up a bit of slack, tie a bight knot, and clip that bight to the lower anchor. Now, when the rope is loaded, no force goes to the section of rope over the edge.

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• For “alpine equalization”, where should you clip the cam?

• What anchor rigging can cause rope twisting, and hoe can you fix it?

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Toe warmer heat packs in your gloves

I learned this clever tip from @adventurespiritguides.

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Here's one way to tame cold hands: Use a toe warmer heat pack, and put it inside your glove at the bend in your wrist1.

Toe warmers have a little adhesive part to keep it in place and this helps hold it without it moving around in your glove.

On really cold days, you can add another one inside your shirt over your wrist. I’ve used a thin sweatband to hold it in place over my wrist; that worked well.

Standard hand warmers don't work too well. They can be too bulky in tight fitting gloves, and they can fall out or move around when you take your gloves off.

Buy them in bulk, they’re pretty cheap. (You’ll probably need a new box every season because they have a shelf life.)

How to cut an Aramid core rope

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This tip comes from Australian rigging expert Richard Delaney. Connect with Richard on his excellent website Ropelab, Instagram, or his YouTube channel, where he has loads of concise, informative videos.

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Yo! Disclaimer!

Important: the chemicals in superglue may not play nicely with most ropes. In this case we're using them only at the very END of the rope, which will never see a load. When you're doing this, be careful not to get glue on any other part of your rope.

(Aramid is the general term for a type of fiber. Kevlar and Technora are trade names for basically the same material.)

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Need to cut and seal the ends of standard nylon rope or cord? The hot knife in every climbing shop works great.

But melting and cutting doesn’t work so well on Aramid core rope (such Sterling Powercord), because it’s fireproof!

Here’s a way to cut and seal an Aramid rope. (Works on regular climbing rope and cord too!)

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What you need:

• Tape. I used cloth athletic tape. Masking tape doesn’t hold very well.

• Sharp, thin knife. Don’t use your favorite steel blade for this; it’ll dull fast. I used a tiny but very sharp ceramic knife. Razor blade works too.

• Superglue. Cheap super glue have screw tops that don't work very well and the remaining glue is probably gonna dry out after you use it once. Name brand glue, like Loctite, have a much better quality, screw top, allowing you to reuse the glue. Spend a little more and get the good stuff.

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Tip: Do this over a surface that you don't mind dripping superglue on! Ask me how I know this, and can't use my favorite green cutting board for food anymore . . .

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1) Put a tight wrap of tape around the end of the rope. This helps make a clean cut.

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2) Cut through the rope.

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3) Smooooge some superglue into the fibers at the end.

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There’s one last important step.

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How do you offer safety advice when climbing?

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You're out climbing at the local crag. You see another person (not your partner) doing something that's potentially dangerous.

• Do you speak up?

• If you don't speak up and somebody got hurt or worse, how would you feel?

• If you do speak up, how do you do so in a respectful and constructive way?

• What's your personal responsibility?

• Have you ever been on the receiving end of advice about your technique? (I have!) How did you feel about that?

Have you been on either side of this delicate situation?

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There are many factors and it's a personal judgment. There’s a big difference between someone using a technique that isn’t ideal or to your liking, and someone doing something genuinely unsafe.

I once came across an anchor that another climbing party had set up with a sewn pocket daisy chain. Not a PAS style with sewn loops, rated to 22+ kN, but one made for aid climbing, with sewn pockets that are rated around 2-4 kN. It was a top rope, where the loads were going to be low. 

• Is this standard practice? Absolutely not!

• Were these climbers in imminent danger of the anchor failing under top rope loads? No.

• It was a really goofy way to set up an anchor, but there wasn't anything lethally wrong with it. I chose not to say anything.

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What about actions that may have more serious consequences?

Some examples where I have intervened:

• Someone about to rappel off the end of the rope

• Using a rope too short when top roping, and about to drop the person they were lowering

Here's the general approach that I used in these cases that led to a (mostly) constructive conversation and a good outcome. Your mileage may vary.

My opening line: "Hey there, how's it going? Can I offer a suggestion?"

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• How about what to say if they don’t want to hear it?

• What are some other things to consider in this delicate situation?

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