All blogs
Every full length (longer than 60 seconds) video and accompanying blog post
Sequencing Efficient and Safe Breaks in Harsh Alpine Climbing and Mountaineering Conditions
Alpine climbing and mountaineering often happens in harsh conditions. When dealing with extreme cold, being able to do the right things in the right order when taking a rest can mean the difference between gaining strength and resolve or losing them. Last week, we did a video on packing our packs and stuffing our pockets with an eye towards efficient rest stops. In this video, we go through a typical sequence of steps when at the rest stop, itself.
Packing Your Winter Alpine Climbing Pack and Pockets: the First Step to Efficient and Safe Rests
When alpine climbing on a cold and slippery winter summit, being safe with your body temperature and with your gear when taking a rest stop comes down to quality management of all of those things. But quality management of those things begins with having the right stuff accessible in your pack and in your pockets. This video goes over how to pack for efficient rest stops. Our next video will go into the sequence we often use during those rest stops to ensure we stay warm, safe, and don't lose any gear.
Review of the Flip Fuel Transfer Device for Alpine Climbing, Backpacking, and Camping Fuel Canisters
Transferring canister fuel from one canister to another may save you money, weight, or both as you prepare for your next climbing, backpacking, or camping trip. But, it's not without its risks. In the video, we review the FlipFuel transfer device and demonstrate how to use it.
How to Build Snow Walls to Protect Your Basecamp or Alpine Climbing Camp in Winter
When we go climbing in the winter, take on alpine climbs in the shoulder seasons, or go to high altitude, we are likely to face camping in the snow. If we are going to keep a camp at a single location for a longer period of time, or if we are facing whipping winds, we may want to build snow walls to better shelter our tent. Here's how to build them.
Winter Camping is a Mountaineering Skill. My Kids Wanted to Try a Deeply Cold 48 Hours Out.
Climbing big mountains in anything more than a day, may demand that you cold-weather camp as well as you climb. It's the key to your recovery at the end of each day. My twin eight-year-old wanted to try winter camping in truly cold weather. It got down to -6 F (-21C). Here's what I was thinking about and focused on teaching them during these 48 hours out.
The Pros and Cons of the Girth Hitch (or Larksfoot) Master Point Climbing Anchor
The girth hitch, or larksfoot, master point climbing anchor has come into vogue, with climbers extolling the virtues of their ease to tie and untie along with the minimal gear needed to make them. But, like all things in climbing, there are pros and cons to these climbing anchors, and we need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of some of our options when we construct them.
Comparing A-Threads and V-Threads for Ice Climbing Anchor Strength
Are a-threads or v-threads stronger? What makes a "threaded" ice climbing anchor strong in the first place? In this video, we go a little deeper into the characteristics of stronger and weaker threaded anchors and go through a tutorial of how to build a good one.
Two Methods of Dividing the Rope for Glacier Travel
When we form a rope team for glacier travel on a mountaineering route, we need to get the tie in points placed efficiently. While we may make different decisions on how far apart to place climbers based upon the crevasse sizes, the mix of terrain, and communication difficulties, we will always end up at the need to divide the rope and tie the knots where we want them. Here are two methods for doing so.
Climbing Slings, Climbing Knots, and Climbing Anchors: Are Knots in Slings a Good Practice?
Knots weaken soft climbing materials like slings, but we tie knots in slings all the time. Particularly the high forces that anchors can face during multi-pitch climbing will make us want to be sure our anchors are reliable. So, why do so many people tie knots in anchor slings? And isn't this worse with dyneema? Let's go deep into this topic.
Are Battery-Heated Gloves Worth It for Backcountry Hiking, Camping, or Climbing?
When we go climbing, camping, or hiking in the backcountry during the winter, we tend to stay out longer and experience more extreme conditions. As advances in technology have improved battery-heated gloves, are they now able to perform well enough and long enough to make them worth having in your gear closet?
Climbing in Winter: What to Expect Mountaineering on 13ers and 14ers (Roughly 4000 Meters)
Winter peak climbing has its own unique challenges. Borrowing from my winter mountaineering experiences on Colorado 14ers, Colorado 13ers, and my climbs around the world, here is what new winter climbers can expect so that they may better prepare themselves for the challenges of summiting in the coldest months.
How to Switch Hands On Your Ice Climbing Tools
Ice climbing, and particularly mixed climbing, sometimes demands that the climber switch which tool is in which hand. There are lots of ways to switch hands on your ice tools, and all of them have pros and cons. This video breaks down three different techniques and then lets you know which one I typically use and why.
Keep Kids Hands Warm for Winter Climbing, Hiking, & Camping: Glove Systems Learned from Ice Climbing
Ice climbing usually demands a lot of different gloves. Different portions of ice climbing need more dexterity and therefore less insulation. Some portions are the opposite. Some portions expose your hands to a lot of water. Here's how the approach ice climbers use to pick gloves to bring can help us think through how different gloves, in combination, can help us ensure our kids have warm hands on their climbing, hiking, and camping adventures in winter.
How I Made Kids' Crampons that Fit Small Feet and are Truly Climbing-Worth
Ice climbing. Snow couloir climbing. Even mixed climbing. My kids want to do it all, but off-the-shelf crampons can't fit on their small feet. Here's how I took advantage of the new trend in modular crampon manufacturing to make some crampons that I'd be willing to wear but fit on my kids and work with their limited boot options.
I Had Climber's Elbow. I Don't Have Pain Anymore; and Two Years Later, It Hasn't Come Back
I've had elbow pain: climber's elbow and golfer's elbow. After clinicians helped me get an exercise routine in place, I wanted to share how I got through the pain and how I've stopped the pain from coming back.
5 Knots for Climbing Up and Rappelling Down
Before I took my kids rock climbing on their first multi-pitch route, I wanted to make sure they had the skills for getting up the route but also the skills for rappelling (abseiling) down if weather or other circumstances forced a retreat. Part of that education was learning to tie a figure eight retrace (follow through), clove hitch, girth hitch (larksfoot), figure eight on a bight, and an autoblock hitch, which are key to their climbing and rappelling systems. Here's how we tie and most frequently use these five knots.
Kids on 3000' of Rock Climbing: Some Less-Discussed Things I Shared with New Multi-Pitch Climbers
There are lots of important safety practices that go into multi-pitch climbing: building good anchors, swapping or blocking leads, efficient rope management, safety practices like first and second pieces of protection off the anchor, etc. This stuff is well covered, nuanced, and - yes - important. They have to be understood and practiced. But after doing two 1500 foot climbs with two 7 year old kids, I noticed a few other things that these two new multi-pitch climbers also needed to spend some attention on. Maybe it will help those who are new to multi-pitch climbing.
Single Strand Method to Transition from Climbing to Lowering at an Anchor With Narrow Hardware
Any time you change systems in a vertical environment, you are inviting risk and therefore potential consequences. Switching from climbing up a rock climb to lowering down is one of those circumstances. And then there is the added complexity of different anchor setups requiring different steps in that transition process. This video goes through the process of both cleaning an anchor and direct lowering when coming to a two-bolt anchor with narrow fixed hardware such as tightly linked chains.
Bight of Rope Method to Transition from Climbing to Lowering at a Links or Rappel Rings Anchor
Often the riskiest part of sport climbing is the transition at the top of the climb from leading to lowering. Different anchors require different steps in that transition in order to stay safe and backed-up in case something goes wrong. This video goes through the process of both cleaning an anchor and direct lowering when coming to a two-bolt anchor with rappel rings or links.
Cleaning an Anchor and Transitioning from Climbing to Lowering Off with Mussy Hooks
Potentially, the transition from climbing to lowering can be the most dangerous part of sport climbing. Setting up a system without any additional eyes to check your work increases the danger, and facing different permanent hardware setups means we need to know how to manage those scenarios. This video walks through how to safely transition from at the top of a climb when facing two mussy hooks, both when cleaning an anchor or when lowering directly.