General Mountaineering

“What's the best way to connect a tether to my harness?” Turns out there’s not one best answer. While some people feel strongly you should always use your tie in points, the truth is that the “best” method depends on a few different factors. Let's take a closer look.

British climber Andy Kirkpatrick wrote a great article for his website about climbing photography. I'm sharing it here, lightly edited, with permission.

Yikes, your rope got damaged near the middle from rockfall, and for whatever reason you have to keep climbing up instead of rapping down. The highly advanced technique of lead rope soloing is one way to solve this unfortunate and unlikely situation.

The alpine bivy - like camping, only different! If you're spending the night on a small-ish ledge, here's a great way to secure both yourself and your gear.

Here's a simple way to quickly flake your rope. Simply pull it over your back and shoulder and down into your pack, tarp, rope bag, or whatever.

The theoretical definition of fall factor doesn’t account for rope drag, which can reduce the effective length of rope that’s actually absorbing the force of the fall. So, in the real world, even if you have a lot of rope between you and your partner, you still might need to be concerned with a high factor fall.

A good approach when learning climbing: have a small selection of standard techniques that you know 110%, that you use pretty much all the time. However, when your experience and skill increase, it can be good to have more tools in the toolbox in the rare event you might need them. Here's a great quote from Andy Kirkpatrick on this.

“Hey, it looks like these next two pitches are pretty short. How about we link them together? After all, we have a 70 meter rope!” It might appear that climbing one L O N G pitch is faster / more efficient than two short ones. However, there some downsides to linking pitches; learn ‘em here.

Did you intend to go trad climbing but changed your mind to clip bolts? Here's a way to change those floppy alpine draws into easy-to-clip “hybrid” quickdraws”.

Do you need to do some improvised rope ascending? You don't need a designated waist and foot prusik cord. Instead, be resourceful with the gear you probably already have. All you need is a friction hitch, long sling, and a modern belay device like a Grigri or “guide-mode” style belay device.

Are you on a longer multi pitch route and have a backpack for your extra stuff? The second doesn’t always need to carry it; it might be more efficient to haul with a second skinny rope (like the Petzl PURline) instead.

The Petzl Traxion is a handy device for many different climbing situations, including ascending a rope. Here are a few different ways to set it up.

Big news for emergency backcountry communication: As of Nov 2022, iPhone 14 users in North America can send an SOS text via satellite, no cell coverage or extra hardware required. Expect expansion to other countries, other phones and expanded services soon, this is huge.

Do you have a long approach hike and don't want to take a backpack? Here's a simple tip to make that long walk more comfortable while wearing your harness.

American big wall expert and product designer John Middendorf wrote an outstanding series of articles on climbing history in Europe and North America. The historical photos/diagrams are amazing and his writing is solid, definitely worth a look. See them all at his website, bigwallgear.com

Try an augmented reality app like PeakFinder to learn the names of visible mountains.

The kiwi coil is a good technique to temporarily keep rope available yet out-of-the-way when you’re in between pitches where you need it. The standard method works fine, but it can take a few minutes and is a little bit involved. Here's an alternative when you don't have far to walk and want to quickly store your rope - the “Lazy Kiwi” coil.

Lose that leg prusik! Did you learn in Climbing 101 to always carry a leg and a waist prusik loop so you can ascend a rope in a self rescue situation? Truth is, these are rarely needed, especially in rock climbing. A better approach is to be more creative with multi-use gear you're already carrying.

AMGA Guide Derek DeBruin recently posted a great collection of tips in the journal of the Wilderness Medical Society for staying warm in the winter. Even if you're a veteran backcountry traveller, I bet you'll learn a few tips from his article.

When pulling up slack rope, it's often faster and a little easier on your back to redirect the rope through a high point on the anchor before you start to pull. This also works great for piling the rope into a backpack or rope bag. (Thanks to IFMGA Guide Karsten Delap for the video.)

Those gear-buster videos are impressive, where a 22 kN sling breaks like a shoelace in a modest fall. But we also know that hardly ever happens in the real world, so what's going on? Petzl tested this, and the results are encouraging: catching a real climber instead of a concrete block lowers impact forces dramatically.

Expert alpinist Steve House has a great YouTube video series called “Alpine Principles”. One of them covers the important if underappreciated topic of how to bail, aka “failing well”. The main concept: Define success as going up, making good decisions, and coming down, not getting to the top at all costs.

Knowing the slope angle you're standing on can be helpful for assessing avalanche risk. The old school method of a clinometer on your compass can be a hassle. Instead, try a measure/level app on your phone.

Many climbers avoid using a Grigri (or similar device) when trad climbing, because they think the sudden braking action is going to dramatically increase the force on the top piece of gear. Is this something to worry about? Petzl did some testing on this, and the results are (mostly) reassuring.

Many climbers love their Grigri for sport climbing, but think that it's 1) too heavy and 2) single purpose to bring for a long alpine route. Is this really true? Let's take a closer look at why bringing a Grigri might be a smart move for alpine climbers.

Rigging two standard carabiners opposite and opposed can replace one locker. There’s one correct way to set it up and several wrong ways, as well as a method to substitute three standard carabiners for two locking carabiners. Let's take a closer look at this old-school technique that newer climbers may not yet know.

Having a rubber band or something similar to prevent the bottom carabiner on a sport climbing quickdraw from rotating is fine. But you never want to do this on an “open” sling, as the rope can easily become completely unclipped from the carabiner without you noticing.

Most climbing gear is tested in the harsh environment of a drop tower, but that doesn't tell the whole story when it comes to real world forces. Check out this article and video series from Petzl, where they try to answer what are realistic forces throughout the system when tested on real live people.

There are some well-meaning but perhaps misinformed ideas about acceptable anchor building practices. Let's have a close look at an anchor, made by an IFMGA Guide, that might cause you to question some of your assumptions.

Just because you learned to do it a certain way doesn't necessarily mean that's the right approach or current best practice. Let's have a look at some common climbing techniques and explore some alternatives.

A normal response of your body to adrenaline is to narrow your visual focus. Generally, this is NOT helpful when you’re climbing. Read a short cautionary tale, and some simple things you can do to mitigate this.

Despite access to solid weather forecasts, deciding to continue on a climb or bail is often a challenging and subjective decision. The climbing rangers at Mt. Rainier National Park made a clever decision matrix to help remove some emotion from this important choice.

There are more ways to rack slings than you might think. The traditional “put everything over one shoulder” looks pretty cool for photo ops, but it's probably going to make a royal mess when you want to try to take one off over your neck. Instead, try this - a designated racking sling.

Svelte Dyneema sewn runners may have replaced humble nylon tubular webbing for most of your rack, but a tied nylon runner or two can be great on an alpine route. Here are a few reasons why they’re handy.

From cleaning up messy rappel anchors to cutting away your partner a la Joe Simpson, carrying a knife for emergency or rescue purposes can be a fine idea. Here are a few options.

There are lots of different options when it comes to headgear. One can even keep you from a coughing attack.

A fairly recent term (okay, recent for me) is to describe a rope system is either “open” or “closed”. If you’ve heard these terms and they left you scratching your noggin, have a look at this post to learn what it means. Hint - closed is good.

If you have a team of three on a moderate climb that still requires a rope, end roping can be a good strategy that balances speed and relative safety.

Beginning climbers often hear a confusing mish-mash of different advice and rules. Read this Tip to discern what's a definitive rule, and what’s more personal preference.

When learning any climbing skill where a mistake has potentially lethal consequences, it's good to take a very conservative approach. Here's one step-by-step method.

Airflare is a sophisticated yet easy to use phone app that can potentially help a Search and Rescue team find you much faster. Learn more about it here.

Here's how to protect the last person downclimbing a route from taking a big fall.

When your rope team is transitioning between glacier travel, pitched climbing and easy terrain, you probably don’t want the rope at full length, especially for the easy parts. Solution: the Kiwi coil.

When buying runners, try keep all your single runners one color, and all your double runners another color. This lets you grab the right one with just a quick glance at your harness.

Here are a few food and drink suggestions for the early morning drive to the trailhead.

Short on locking carabiners? Just tape the gate closed to make a “cheapskate locker”.

Are you roped up and ascending an easy but loose, chossy gully? Put in a few cams and clip the rope to lift it away from the loose rocks.

A basic climbing skill is knowing how to rack your cordage In a tidy and fast manner. One great method: Do the Twist. Learn how in this short video.

Here are two simple and quick ways to be sure your team always stays together at night or in low visibility.

Want to get a good night’s sleep on your next alpine climb? Bring some earplugs.

Yeah yeah, everyone knows climbers need to hydrate properly to perform well. But do you know the interesting physiology behind actually why this true?

There are lots of options for backcountry coffee, depending on your level of coffee snobbery.

Plan ahead a bit, and enjoy a little luxury when you get back to the car after your epic.

Here’s a few simple ways to shave hours of of your climbing time. Individually, not so much, but taken together, it can save you major time.

There are several ways to descend. Generally, choose the fastest, and pick the right one for the skill of your team members.