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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Rappelling (abseiling) from the top of an ice climb on a multi-pitch route has a few additional considerations when compared to doing the same on rock. This video goes through the process of transitioning from one rappel to the next to ensure we manage ice fall, the rope, and climber safety.

To manage ice climbing more safely, we need to be able to place ice protection, usually an ice screw, efficiently and securely. Both our ability to assess ice quality and use solid technique are key to placing strong ice screws. Here's how I approach placing solid ice screws.

An obscure material was developed by 3M, with an unusually high friction coefficient when two strips of it come into contact. It is purported to perform well when both wet and cold. It is available with an adhesive backing and also on a glove. So, could wearing the glove and wrapping an ice tool with the adhesive prove to provide superior grip when ice climbing? Today we talk about the material I am going to try out for this ice climbing season.

When it comes to camping in the deep cold, staying warm is the ultimate goal. But did you know that organizing your gear in your tent can make a huge difference? Here are some tips on gear organization to maximize heat retention.

Just like understanding the tradeoffs between single- and double-walled tents, it is equally important to understand the basic differences in single- and double-boots when we head up for an alpine climb or mountaineering attempt. While the differences between specific boots will be varied, there are some general differences between boots with and without removable liners that I keep in mind when selecting a boot for a climbing adventure. Here is what I consider when deciding what to put on my feet.

For over a decade, I've been using the same split finger gloves (or split finger mittens) as a compromise between the warmth of a mitten and the dexterity of a glove. They aren't right for every trip but I can use them in a surprising amount of situations. Here's a video on some of the pros and cons and how I choose when to use them.