Pendulums and Tension Traverses What are Pendulums and Tension Traverses? Pendulums and tension traverses are great techniques for moving sideways across a section which is too difficult to climb. A pendulum involves swinging across the…
Climbing on Loose Rock and Runout Routes Climbing on Choss Accidents involving loose rock fall into three main categories:1) Belayers being hit by rocks from the leader2) Leaders falling because they held/ stood on loose…
Abseiling: Pendulums What is a Pendulum Abseil? Multi-pitch descents are not always straightforward. The next abseil station may be far to the side of the previous one (they often are when descending loose ground). Or…
Abseiling: How to Increase Friction Whether you’re abseiling down a skinny rope at the sport crag, or retreating down a multipitch with rain-slicked ropes and a heavy pack, the following techniques will help you increase…
Abseiling: How to Deal with Stuck Ropes You try to retrieve your ropes after abseiling and they get stuck. What do you do? Preventing Stuck Ropes If you are about to abseil down complex terrain,…
The Carabiner Brake – How to Abseil Without a Device Dropping your belay device at the top of a ten-pitch abseil descent isn’t recommended. But if you do, knowing how to use the carabiner brake…
Abseiling Past a Knot Times when you might need to abseil past a knot:– When descending a single strand ‘fixed’ rope, where a knot has been tied to isolate a damaged section– Passing a knot…
How to Abseil with a Damaged Rope If you climb long enough, you will inevitably end up having to abseil with a damaged rope at some point. Unfortunately, getting a core-shot (when the white core…
The Munter Hitch: How to Belay without a Belay Device Uses:– Belaying without a belay device– Abseiling without a belay device– Creating a releasable knot when escaping the belay The munter (Italian) hitch tends to…
Self Rescue: Prusiking Up a Rope Knowing how to prusik up a rope transforms a potential epic into a mere inconvenience. This article explains how to ascend a rope using prusiks, assuming that you already…
Self Rescue: Rope Soloing Rope soloing is a technique where you belay yourself instead of being belayed by your partner. You can use this technique to lead or top rope belay. More complicated techniques are…
Self Rescue: Tandem Abseiling Tandem abseiling means two people descending with the same device. It is most useful when descending with an injured climber. A simple tandem abseil setup:– ‘Lead’ abseiler is attached to the…
Self Rescue: Mid-Pitch Retreat Sometimes, a climb may prove to be too difficult, forcing you into a mid-pitch retreat. This is fairly straightforward if you:– Can downclimb– Are less than half a rope length up…
Self Rescue: Hauling your Partner How to Haul your Partner This section describes methods of hauling your partner up part of a climb. Times when you may need to set up a hauling system include:–…
Self Rescue: Escaping the Belay The belay escape is a technique whereby the belayer frees themselves from the responsibilities of belaying. This fundamental skill is necessary for many rescue situations. Situations when you may need…
Trad Climbing: Accident Prevention The vast majority of climbing accidents are preventable. They typically happen due to a series of bad choices. A single bad decision is often not a problem – if you realize…
