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Every full length (longer than 60 seconds) video and accompanying blog post

How-To (06) Jason Kolaczkowski How-To (06) Jason Kolaczkowski

Descending a Taut Climbing Rope: Moving Down on Friction Hitches

If we have a climbing rope loaded below us (maybe a climber is unconscious and weighting the rope), we may not be able to attach our rappel device, or even if our device was attached before the rope got loaded, being on a "fireman's belay" might keep us from moving down. Here is how we can descend a rope when it is pulled tight below us.

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Family Dynamics, How-To (06) Jason Kolaczkowski Family Dynamics, How-To (06) Jason Kolaczkowski

Teaching New Climbers the Climbing Project Mindset

We introduced our kids to "projecting" a climbing route when they first started confronting routes they had considerable difficulty with. While there are many tactics that can help, we began their education by focusing on the climb at three levels of progressive detail and then setting a mindset that helped redefine success criteria based on which level of detail we were focused on for a particular attempt.

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Family Dynamics, How-To (06) Jason Kolaczkowski Family Dynamics, How-To (06) Jason Kolaczkowski

Learning to Lead Belay Takes More Than Learning the Mechanics

There is a lot of time and attention spent on climbing well and the climbing mindset, but what about the belayer? Particularly when on lead, belaying a climber can also be stressful, especially for those just starting out. How do we create a safe place to learn in a situation where mistakes aren’t normally acceptable? Here’s how we approached getting our new climbers (our kids) to lead belay.

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Family Dynamics, How-To (06) Jason Kolaczkowski Family Dynamics, How-To (06) Jason Kolaczkowski

What is Complexity Rationing and How Can It Be Applied in Climbing?

Every May, we make videos on the mental side of climbing and adventure in recognition of National Mental Health Awareness Month. This video is about how the unknowns increase in complex environments thus increasing our risk. Reducing complexity, not of systems but of the number of times we go into truly highly complex environments, may be one way to reduce our overall risk across a lifetime of climbing

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