For May’s Mental Health Awareness Month we get into some of the mental aspects of climbing and adventure. When we are climbing near our limit, we are likely to experience quite a bit of frustration and failure. Keeping in mind the incremental progress we make on our way to being a better climber and help remind us that we actually do experience many successes.

Every May, we make videos on the mental side of climbing and adventure in recognition of National Mental Health Awareness Month. In the full video, we discuss the role audacity, or self-belief in the face of the unknown, plays in encouraging our climbing experiences and expeditions.

For May’s Mental Health Awareness Month we get into some of the mental aspects of climbing and adventure. I am constantly reminded by my young kids that being curious about the world and less dogmatic about our own "knowledge" can be a gift in many aspects of climbing and life.

Every May, we make videos on the mental side of climbing and adventure in recognition of National Mental Health Awareness Month. In our full 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.

For May’s Mental Health Awareness Month we get into some of the mental aspects of climbing and adventure. One of the habits that is key to staying and enjoying climbing is continuous learning. Because the tools and techniques we use are constantly evolving, we need to make sure that we evolve with them or we risk using old techniques with new tools in a way that could limit our growth or prove unsafe.

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.

We like to recognize Mental Health Awareness Month each May by going into some of the mental aspects of climbing and adventure. We can look at something like, “should I keep my glacier travel rope on my uphill or downhill hip” as a case study on why a curious mindset can sometimes beat an overly assured mindset. There are pros and cons to even something as simple as this decision, and a curious mindset helps us see those tradeoffs.

When our mountaineering objective demands that we camp on a glacier, we need to consider objective hazards like seracs, rock fall, and crevasses. The full 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.

It's definitely a low risk activity compared to other situations on a big, glaciated peak. But it costs us very little in terms of time or energy to probe our camp for potential crevasse danger with a bit more safety in mind. Here's some technique tips.

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. The full video gets into three different procedures to be chosen and applied based on terrain slopes and crevasse sizes.

The plunge step is an age-old technique that still has its place in the mountains and is emblematic of the types of conscious decisions we alpine climbers may need to make even when it seems risks are very low. Here’s what I look for in terms of conditions that may make the plunge step beneficial along with the simple mechanics of the technique.

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. The full video gets into 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.

The rest step is a simple tool in the alpinist’s tool box. Despite its simplicity, it can be the most effective thing we can do to modulate our energy expenditure so that we can save it for when we need it most

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. The full video gets into the specifics.

When we are using our mountaineering ice axe in "cane" position, we want to keep it in our uphill hand. Here is why.

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. The full video provides ideas on how to plan route paths that help avoid crevasses.

The Garda hitch allows us to capture progress of the climbing rope through a haul system with only two, identical, snapgate carabiners. It's a good technique to have in case of emergencies, but it comes with some major downsides that limit the times I might want to use it.

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. The full video explores some of these considerations.

A number of self-rescue techniques, across all types of climbing, require the use of a foot prusik to temporarily unweight the rope (usually when alternating weighting a waist prusik or other rope progress capture). It is very easy for that foot prusik to slide off of our foot, which slows us down and can be hard to get back in place if we are hanging in space. Simply girth hitching it to our foot can solve this problem.

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.