Between Pitching and Free Solo Climbing "Easier" Terrain, Part III: Simul-Climbing

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First “awareness.” Then “consideration.” And finally a “decision.” This is known as “the buyer’s journey,” and I’m taking some of you on it.

But I’m not asking you to spend money on anything. What I’m really doing is hoping to foster enough curiosity in some of you about this content - in the case of this series, ways to add some security to technical scrambling over moderate terrain - that you want to learn more. What I hope is the “decision” that some of you come to at the end of this “buyer’s journey” is that you seek out more information or formal instruction or practice or whatever it is you want to do to bring some of these techniques into your climbing.

Of course, some of you know all about this stuff, already. But not everyone does, and I recently posited a reason why I think that might be: maybe the easy access to full, 5th class climbing in gyms and such has eliminated the need for these systems of climbing safety that were born out of mountaineering at a time when really hard free climbing wasn’t something the quality of gear (think hemp ropes) or levels of human fitness (think 1890’s “gentlemen”) really allowed.

In some ways, these techniques that are appropriate for moderate terrain are easier than the techniques we employ in fully-pitched climbing, as the margins for error are higher since the fall forces are so much lower. But in other ways, I think these techniques are more difficult to deploy appropriately because so much is dependent upon your surrounding features (horns, trees, etc.) and you personal experience and the commensurate proficiency you may have in selecting the right system at the right time and circumstance. In some ways, we moved from engineering (know the fall forces, know the anchor strengths and weaknesses, etc.) to art (here are three different ways I could protect this stretch of ground).

That might be what I like about it. I find the choices I make on roped scrambling to be much more an expression of myself. What do I chose to protect versus not protect says a lot about my risk tolerance. What system I use says a lot about how I work with my partner and how I engage with the nature around me.

Because so much personal preference and judgement comes into play with these scrambling techniques, it is pretty dang hard to create a series of videos that are comprehensive and directive (“do this in this circumstance, do that in that circumstance,” etc.). That is why I’m hoping, for those of you who are newer to this stuff, that you take my videos as a starting point:

• You are now aware of these techniques

• You are considering the promise they may hold for some types of your climbing

• You are deciding to go learn more and practice

That outcome might be the best - with my limited powers - that I can provide.