How to Climb a Big Wall: Bolting Bolting Ethics Belays Some first-ascensionists choose to create bomber bolted belays (making a quick and relieving end to the pitch for future ascensionists), while others prefer natural belays…
How to Climb a Big Wall: Short-Fixing To speed up the ascent, some climbers prefer to lead in blocks (the same person leads several consecutive pitches), with the leader short-fixing (self-belaying the first section of…
How to Climb a Big Wall: Teams of Three Climbing as a three can be more social (with someone to chat to at the belays), faster (with someone always leading) and easier (with an extra…
How to Climb a Big Wall: Fixing Pitches When to Fix Pitches It is common to fix ropes on a big wall. Often this is because you’ve climbed the first few pitches and want to…
Aid Climbing Gear: Rivets What are Rivets? A rivet is basically a smaller, weaker version of a bolt. It’s common for first ascentionists to place rivets to bypass blank sections when establishing a new route….
Aid Climbing Gear: Copperheads What are Copperheads? Heads are single-use malleable lumps of copper (copperheads) or aluminum (alumi-heads) that can be shaped with a hammer and chisel for a custom fit into a weird slot…
Aid Climbing Gear: Beaks Beaks are an ingenious type of piton which offer protection in super thin cracks, where even micro nuts are too big to fit. They are available in three common sizes. How…
Aid Climbing Gear: Pitons The dark art of smashing pitons into rock with a hammer has been frowned upon by climbers since the 1970’s when less destructive protection (cams and nuts) was developed. Advancements in…
Aid Climbing Gear: Cam Hooks What are Cam Hooks? Available in four common sizes, cam hooks greatly reduce the need to hammer a piton. They fit into small cracks from the size of a thin…
Aid Climbing Gear: Skyhooks Skyhooks come in many different sizes, with each brand being shaped slightly differently. However, for most aid routes, you’ll only need the three common types:– Bat/talon (small)– Cliffhanger (medium)– Grappling (large)…
How to Climb a Big Wall: Living on the Wall Portaledge Setups You should position your portaledge in such a way that it is easy to access things from inside your haulbags. The main challenge…
How to Climb a Big Wall: Descending The same principles are used when descending from a big wall as when descending from a multi-pitch trad route. The only real difference is the added weight you…
How to Climb a Big Wall: Hauling (Part 2) Docking the Haulbag Once the haulbag is at the belay, you’ll need to ‘dock’ it. This means attaching the haulbag to the belay in such a…
How to Climb a Big Wall: Hauling (Part 1) Big Wall Hauling Fundamentals There are different hauling systems you can use to get your equipment up the wall. 1:1 hauling is the simplest and most…
How to Climb a Big Wall: Packing the Haulbag A poorly packed haulbag is a nightmare on the wall. Small essential items will sneak their way to the very bottom, or you’ll be unable to…
How to Climb a Big Wall: Following Cleaning an aid pitch is different than cleaning a trad pitch. Instead of climbing the rock, you will use jumars to ascend the rope. There are two reasons…
How to Climb a Big Wall: The Belay Setting up a big wall belay is more complicated than a standard trad belay but follows some of the same principles. Belays are bolted on most popular…
How to Climb a Big Wall: Leading The Lead Climbing Setup Step 1 – On Belay Before you leave the belay (or ground), you’ll need to get set up for the lead. Both climbers tie…
Big wall gear: In addition to regular trad gear, you’ll need some specialist stuff to aid climb. Here is a full description of everything you need.
Aid Climbing Ratings The Aid Climbing Grading System Every climb receives a grade which determines the length of time and commitment required to climb it, with big wall routes covering grades V to VII. With…
An Introduction to Big Wall and Aid Climbing What is Big Wall Climbing? Big wall climbing is a guaranteed adventure. A big wall is essentially a vertical expanse of rock which is too big to…
Fall Factors and kN Ratings: What They Actually Mean kN ratings are shown on all your climbing gear: nuts, cams, slings and carabiners. kN stands for kilo Newtons. 1kN is about 100kg (220lbs for the Americans)….
How to Abseil on Two Ropes with a GriGri Sometimes you may want both hands free while abseiling to do things like clean a route, free a stuck rope or swing under an overhang. Using a…
This article explains different ways to tie an alpine butterfly knot and how to use the alpine butterfly in different rock climbing situations.
Why I Climb Big Rocks > Part 1 – Virginity Northern England has some of the world’s best rock climbing. But I always wondered what it would be like to climb in other places. My…
Big Wall Climbing in Baffin Island More info about the route here.
