All blogs
Every full length (longer than 60 seconds) video and accompanying blog post
How Climbing Demands Audacity, or Boldness in the Face of the Unknown
Every May, we make videos on the mental side of climbing and adventure in recognition of National Mental Health Awareness Month. In this video, we discuss the role audacity, or self-belief in the face of the unknown, plays in encouraging our climbing experiences and expeditions.
The Long Term Benefits of Being Empowered During a Climbing Accident or Emergency
Every May, we make videos on the mental side of climbing and adventure in recognition of National Mental Health Awareness Month. In this video, we get into some of the psychological underpinnings that suggest we should look to empower the victims and participants of any climbing accident and rescue to help in the situation at hand but also better reduce residual PTSD.
Self-Forgiveness as a Key to Continuous Learning in Climbing and in Life
Every May, we make videos on the mental side of climbing and adventure in recognition of National Mental Health Awareness Month. Today's video is about self-forgiveness is a key first step to opening ourselves up to learning and improvement.
Safely Camping on a Glacier: Glacier Mountaineering Fundamentals
When our mountaineering objective demands that we camp on a glacier, we need to consider objective hazards like seracs, rock fall, and crevasses. This video gets into those considerations as they relate to identifying a potential camp location and the methods we may use to ensure the location is safe.
Crossing Crevasses Safely: Three Techniques
When a crevasse is unavoidable and must be crossed on your glaciated mountain climb, the technique you and your team employ will often be dictated by circumstances. This video gets into three different procedures to be chosen and applied based on terrain slopes and crevasse sizes.
Using a "Running Belay" to Simul-Climb on a Glacier has Pros and Cons
A “running belay,” a form of simul-climbing that is frequently used on snow climbs and climbs up glaciated peaks, helps mitigate certain risks, but it also adds new risks into the equation. Let’s talk about how a running belay is performed and what pros and cons result from employing this climbing tactic so that we can best decide when it may make sense to use.
Fundamentals of Moving Roped Together on Glacier as Part of a Climbing Team
As we continue our glacier travel series and before we get into more advanced movement techniques we first need to understand the fundamentals of moving as part of a group who are, literally, tied together.
Avoiding Crevasse Falls with the Basics of Glacier Navigation on Your Next Climb
As a climbing team on a glacier, we need to be prepared for a crevasse fall, but we also want to have the route planning and navigation skills to reduce the likelihood of having a crevasse fall. This video provides ideas on how to plan route paths that help avoid crevasses.
Spacing, Coils, and Brake Knots to Determine Glacier Travel Climbing Rope Length
Deciding how much climbing rope you need for glacier travel is a product of many factors. The number of teammates, the snow conditions, crevasse sizes, and preferred rescue systems are all inputs into how much space to have between climbers, how much length to keep in spare coils, and whether to have brake knots in the rope. All of that will calculate out to your total rope length. Let’s explore some of these considerations.
Choosing from Rope Tie-In Options for Your Glaciated Mountain Climb
In this next episode of our glacier travel series, we are presenting several options for climbers to tie into the rope and how we may choose to match our tie-in setups to our circumstances, gear, and position on the rope.
Building a 6:1 Drop Loop Crevasse Rescue Haul System and Modifying It for Climbing Scenarios
Continuing our glacier travel series, we are showing the 6:1 drop loop crevasse rescue haul system and discussing how to modify it to meet some of the gear we may have, the rope we have available, and the status of the fallen climber.
Matching Climbing Systems to Glacier Travel Specifics to Reduce Risk
As we get deeper into a glacier travel series, we want to note that there are many effective ways to develop our climbing systems for safe passage on glaciated mountains. Maybe the single biggest thing we can do wrong, however, is get dogmatic about those systems and assume that, while risks change from glacier to glacier, our systems don't have to change as well.
Choosing the Best Carabiner for Connecting to a Rope on a Glacier Climb
We will frequently choose to connect ourselves to the climbing rope with a carabiner, rather than a knot, when on a glacier in order to facilitate things like crevasse rescue systems. We need to be considerate of the strengths and weaknesses of carabiner types in order to select the best carabiner for our climb of a glaciated peak. Here's some of the criteria I use to help me choose.
How to Pass the Knot While on Rappel (Abseil)
We isolate damaged sections of a climbing rope by tying a knot with the damaged section in the knot bight. That keeps any load - you - off of the damaged section. But if we need to rappel past a damaged section, we need to be able to get our rappel setup from above that knot to below it while staying firmly and safely connected to the rope. Here is a procedure to do that.
Three Rappel (Abseil) Extensions for Different Climbing Situations
Extending your rappel (abseil) device away from your harness after a climb comes with a number of benefits. But how we choose to make our rappel extension can make navigating certain kinds of anchors or rappels easier or harder. Here's three different extension configurations and some of the reasons why one might be a better choice for a given circumstance compared to others.
Three Rappel (Abseil) Setups for when You've Lost Your Rappel Device
You need to rappel (abseil), but you've dropped your rappel device down a climbing route. Here are three different rappel setups you can use in an emergency that don't require a device. There are pros and cons to each and so choosing the right one for the right circumstance may help reduce risk.
Making a Retrievable Snow Anchor for Rappelling (Abseiling)
If you are facing many rappels (abseils) and only have a limited number of snow pickets, you can construct a retrievable anchor so that you can reuse your pickets again and again. Here is one method for building that anchor.
Rappel Anchors on Snow Without Snow Pickets: the Snow Bollard and T-Slot Options
Snow is a highly variable climbing medium, which can make building climbing anchors a challenge. Most often, we use snow pickets. But, what if we don't have pickets with us? Here are a few options if we need to make due for a rappel but which would never be my first choice if pickets are available.
How to Build Basic Snow Climbing Anchors Using Snow Pickets
Snow can be soft, dusty, wet, or rock hard. Because of the variability of snow conditions, building climbing anchors into the snow can be challenging. Here is how to choose between and then build a few anchor types using snow pickets, the most common tool we see on show climbs outside of our ice axes and crampons.
Climbing Over Ice Bulges: How to Make These Risky Ice Climbing Moves Safely
Climbing over ice bulges can be the most risky part of an ice climb. More suspect ice and more challenging physics with our ice tools and crampons make these transitions from vertical to low-angle ice moments where we need increased understanding and concentration. Here's why these moves are risky and how we can mitigate those risks.