Hot answers tagged rock-climbing
20
No you should not use a bicycle helmet for climbing. They are designed for different types of impacts and will not provide you with proper protection outside of their designed activity.
Bicycle helmets are designed for a SINGLE ground impact. Like modern cars they are designed to crumple and absorb the energy from an impact. They probably provide the ...
15
When using lead climbing techniques the lead climber is belayed by his partner and as he climbs he places protection (e.g. camming devices). Once at the top of the pitch, the lead climber then belays his partner on the pitch. The second climber retrieves the protection as he climbs.
11
Your equipment list will depend on whether you are:
Free soloing (climbing without protective equipment; not good for a beginner!)
Top roping
Lead climbing
Assuming that you aren't Free soling, because there you don't need anything, you'll need at least the following in order:
A friend that can belay you
You're definitely not going to go solo when ...
11
I would say you need things in this order. Only #1 is required:
A harness. You can't climb with a rope unless you have one.
Shoes. You can get by with runners, but climbing shoes make a world of difference.
Chalk/chalk bag. If you don't sweat much, this is not crucial, but a little chalk is very nice for keeping your fingers from being slippery.
If you ...
11
The following references from a few major rope manufacturers cover rope care thoroughly. Please see the bottom of this answer for a summary.
From Bluewater Ropes:
Avoid stepping on your rope. Beside the potential of cutting, stepping on a rope will grind dirt into the core and increase the possibility of internal abrasion.
Protect your rope from ...
10
A carabiner is designed to be loaded only along the long axis, near the spine (leftmost figure below). It will be weaker in any other direction of stress. Primary long-axis strength should be marked on the carabiner spine with an up-down arrow symbol, and is typically given in kilo-Newtons (one kN equals approximately 225 pounds of force).
Cross-loading ...
10
I'm not sure that this is something that can be properly explained over the internet.
You really need to be instructed and supervised by a real person - preferably indoors first. I have found a pretty good instructional video on YouTube, although it is quite basic - I've reviewed a few others on there, and they are unfortunately questionable in their ...
10
There are two interpretations of 'Mountaineering' depending on the context in which you use the word:
Mountaineering is any activity in a mountainous environment. It includes rock climbing, ice climbing, hiking, orienteering, skiing, and 'mountaineering' in its own right (see below)...
Mountaineering as a specific activity is usually used to include ...
9
In addition to Graham's answer, if you can't reach the top but have to descend again you have two options:
Descend and unclip along the way (this will take time and can be very tiring, and you will always need to be prepared for a fall of twice the distance to the next cam)
Descend all the way then if you can get to the top another way, top rope down to ...
9
Top Roping:
Top roping has an anchor at the top of the climb. The rope goes from the belayer at the bottom, all the way up to the top, through the anchor, and back down to the climber. If the climber falls, he or she only falls they only drop a little bit, provided the belayer has taken up all the slack. Additionally, the belayer pulls the rope up and ...
9
I would inspect your rope long before you get to the crag, rather than just before you're about to use/need it.
Rope inspection is essentially going over the whole length of the rope, looking for grit or evidence of wear in the outer layer. One thing to note, the inside of the rope might have been strained and this isn't easily visible from the outside - ...
9
You have a few options:
Don't worry about the lease and accept the fact that you may lose your security deposit. You can take the board down before you move out, spackle over the holes, and hope the landlord doesn't notice. I live in the US, and that seems to be the preferred option here. Everyone I know who has a hangboard has done this, and they seem ...
9
Disclaimer - I should mention that my answer only applies in the context of the original question. I'm discussing my experience rappeling in a rock climbing context, using a dynamic single or half rope, a "stich-plate" or tubular belay device, and an autoblock backup (not a prussik). I can't speak to rappeling in caving (where the gear would be different) ...
8
It all depends on how you want to mount your rock rings. I mounted mine like this from a door-jam pull-up bar:
Though you could mount them like monkey bars, or any other way:
The idea, from a training perspective, is that if the rock rings are hanging from rope you have to expend more effort with your core to keep your body from swinging. And building ...
7
Most belay devices come with two holes for rope, for various reasons:
Some devices are asymmetric and the two holes provide different friction
Others are shaped with an up and down orientation, so two holes are provided to make it easy for left/right handed people
Some lead climbs are better tackled with two lines of anchors. The two holes make it easy ...
7
Plainly speaking, it makes sense to keep your rope away from any chemicals at all - battery acid, grease, oil, bleach, etc. Same goes for any objects that might harm it, chemically (car batteries) or physically (anything sharp or jagged that may dig in.) Take care of it, keep it dry, well coiled and well away from anything that might harm it.
Yes, it may be ...
7
It represents a two major things. I'm not going to illustrate, but the core of it is:
Don't load carabiners across the gate or spine side of the carbiner (i.e. the side opposite the gate). This is pretty obvious, but happens sometimes when you make an anchor or whip out a quick draw and then load it without getting all the carabiners in-line with the ...
7
I wish I was still in Yosemite for this one. I used to climb with some fairly well known climbers back in the day, "Big Wall Pete" Takeda, the Parker Brothers, even happened on Peter Croft after he taught a class and we climbed for about 45 minutes. Big Wall used to work for "Climbing" and did a number of photo shoots, I know how they get the pictures from ...
6
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland has a definition of Mountaineering right here: http://www.mcofs.org.uk/mountaineering.asp
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC, link: http://www.thebmc.co.uk/) has a great wealth of articles about the topic, which I can only recommend.
Typically "Mountaineering" involves the use of technical equipment in order to ...
6
Failure by cutting is a primary concern.
In terms of safety (rather than e.g. rope life) laboratory (UIAA) fall testing may not be the most important concern. Even a new, thick rope can be cut in a single fall across a sharp edge. This also applies to so-called "edge resistant" (defunct UIAA 108 standard) ropes. See this Yellow Spur fatality report.
...
6
before reading any of this please remember safety first. If you are not comfortable with placement for any reason then you probably shouldn't be placing it there. NEVER sacrifice safety for convince. All suggestions here are for placement concerning removal NOT safety ,direction of pull or anything else. Also, there is no substitute for experience or an ...
6
Personally, I like the hilted CRKT Special Forces M16-13SFG - it has Veff serrations that cut better than normal serrations & has an extremely tight clip that is made to attach to all kinds of things, from webbing to pockets to even climbing harnesses.
From the description:
All knives in this series are equipped with clip options that allow ...
6
Safe? Yes. As in your life usually doesn't depend on them. Safe, as in a safe buy? Also yes.
When looking at used climbing shoes it really helps if you take someone along who knows what to look for and/or knows the shoes themselves. If you know what they look like new then you know what they should look like.
Specifically, check the seams and make sure ...
6
I don't know this particular brand, but there are two basic things I'd want to check:
Has the product been certified by the UIAA? You can look here to see. It looks like several Skylotec products have a UIAA certification.
For a harness, will the gear shop let you try a harness on, and hang in it (in the store) before you buy it? I'd want to know how ...
6
The best ways I found to improve foot work are the following:
Climb routes which are less than vertical (slabs are great)
I know this sounds obvious, but seriously, just climb slabs and low angle for a few weeks (or months). Focus on your feet, don't use your hands if possible.
Practice stepping up only, don't pull on holds
Play a game with your ...
6
I am only familiar with a couple but I wouldn't be surprised if there are many more for certain injuries or specific applications (e.g. ankle taping for off-widths).
Crack climbing
For crack climbing "tape gloves" are very helpful in keeping the thin skin on the backs of your hands and knuckles from getting torn up. There are several slightly different ...
6
First of all, DO NOT buy a rope or ANYTHING for that matter that you will trust your life to, purely based on what a single salesperson says, or what I say. Find a few experienced climbers (at least 5+ years of experience each), preferably certified guides and ask them their opinions. Now on to your question:
There is ambiguity in this because apparently ...
6
First, prevention is going to give you the best bang for your buck. Make sure your shoes dry properly between uses by hanging them out, and not keeping them in a bag/trunk/confined space. During your climbing session, it's a good idea to take your shoes off between climbs, or at least once in a while to let them dry out some.
For odor control, I find that ...
5
The Camillus Rescue Heat is nice, if you can find one.
The link above is to a video review on YouTube. It covers things pretty well, but my own summary:
Non-stabbing thick blunt tip is useful for prying and more safe
The fully serrated blade works much better than the serrated part of a combo edge
A recurve helps you cut rope at arms length (though not ...
5
Aggressive Climbing shoes are often also referred to as Cambered. The Arch of the foot and/or the toe point downward. Non-aggressive shoes have a flat bottom. Images compliments of rei.com.
Some people will use the term aggressive to mean tighter as well, but I have seen that to be less common. You want your shoes to be crazy tight, regardless of their ...
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