In the US, lightning kills about 300 each year. The good news is that if you or someone in your group gets struck, you’ve got a 66% chance of living.
Obviously, you want to check the weather forecast before you hike. Make sure you understand the general weather patters of the areas you’re going to be in. For example, alpine areas often have afternoon thunderstorms. Desert areas don’t get much rain (duh).
Be aware of what the weather is doing. Check the horizon often. Is there a storm or clouds coming? Remember that storms move at about 20 miles an hour, so you can’t outrun one. Measure the time between lightning strikes and thunder claps and divide the number of seconds by 5. So 5 seconds equal 1 mile. That’s roughly the number of miles away the storm is from you.
Here are some tips for hiking and climbing in lightning storms:
This is a red hot, brand new video about the world’s most prominent free soloist. Except that he’s deep water soloing in this one. Water is slightly more forgiving than the ground, and Alex does indeed take some falls. Very cool stuff!
Is this gear still good? Find out! (Photo by Geir Hundal)
I recently ran across a pretty cool page online that is dedicated to debunking some common climbing myths. It was created by Geir Hundal, and experienced climbing and guide in Arizona. For years now I’ve read online about dreaded microfractures that can develop in dropped gear. The idea is that there can be small fractures and cracks in dropped gear that can’t be seen by the naked eye. Scary! And is the EDK (the European Death Knot) really unsafe? Find out more about these and other climbing myths here at Geir’s website.
I went climbing this afternoon/evening and it was fantastic. As the sun was going down and I was looking out over the valley, I started to reflect on how awesome it is to be a climber. We’ve got a pretty great hobby, don’t we?
So I would like to say thank you to climbing. Thank you, climbing, for giving me…
1. Strength — I’m not the pale, sickly little creature I probably would be otherwise.
2. Confidence — Pfff. If I can scale mountains with only my fingertips, I can go to work today.
3. Great friends — I’ve made great friends through climbing. I’ve also taken my generally non-climbing friends climbing and always enjoy the camaraderie that comes from sharing a rope with someone.
4. A distraction from everyday life — Once I start climbing, I forget about everything else that’s crappy or lame in the world. For me, it’s the ultimate stress reliever.
5. Something constant yet so varied — There’s rock climbing all over the world. There are climbers all over the world and we all have a lot of things in common. The rocks and mountains are always there. But think also about how diverse climbing can be! Rock, ice, mountain… Bouldering, sport, trad… Redpoint, onsight… Granite, limestone, sandstone, quartzite… The list goes on.
6. Something to always think about or do — If I’m bored and don’t have much time, I can look at climbing pics or read climbing forums. If I have more time, I climb. As I said before, climbing is always there!
7. A glimpse of amazing natural wonders — Climbing takes you to some of the most beautiful places in the world that otherwise you probably would never see.
8. It’s physical AND mental — I love how climbing isn’t just a brute sport. You’ve got to have your head in the game. Figuring out the sequence on a route is like putting together a puzzle. Climbing high above your last pieces of gear while keeping cool requires a strong mind.
I’m sure there are more, but I think I’m done writing about them. That’s another great thing about climbing; there’s always more to learn, do, and discover. Thank you, climbing, for making me the person I am today. I hope we have many more adventures together.
Insert extremely uninspiring and lame toproping picture here.
I went climbing with a couple friends today, and neither of them are super experienced climbers. They’ve both led before, but they’re still in that stage where they toprope a lot. As I watched them toprope some climbs, several tips came to mind. Below are the tips that I would give to aspiring or beginning leaders that will help them get a more realistic idea of what to expect when leading.
1. Pay attention to where the bolts are — When you’re leading, you climb where the bolts are. It’s easy when toproping to deviate from “the line” of the route into easier or harder terrain. Try to always stay within arm’s reach of the bolts.
2. Remember the consequences of falling — Falling on toprope is not a big deal. At all. The rope stretches a bit and that’s pretty much it. When lead climbing, there are times when you just do not fall. Maybe you’re above crappy gear, or maybe there’s a ledge below you that you’ll break your ankles on if you fall. When toproping, be sure that you’re away of what’s around you. Think to yourself, “Ok, if I were leading this, I really, really wouldn’t want to fall here.”
3. Practice clipping or placing gear — Letting go with one hand to clip a bolt or place a cam definitely makes leading harder. It’s an important element that is missing when toproping. If you’re TRing a sport route, imagine yourself letting go to clip a bolt. One common practice is just to touch the bolt hanger for a second. No, it’s not the same as reaching down, unclipping a draw from your harness, bringing it up, clipping it into the bolt, reaching down for the rope, bringing it up, and clipping it into the draw (phew!), but at least it’s something. You can also have the leader leave the draws clipped into the bolts so that you (TRing the route) have to unclip them.
If you’re on a trad route, you can do the same thing; that is, you can have the leader leave his/her pieces of gear in the crack for you to take out when you climb. Or you can just mentally note where and when you’d place the pieces.
And that’s all I’ve got! Anyone have anything to add?
Obviously, I’m a big fan of rock climbing and technical ascents in the mountains. But there’s just something that really appeals to me about peakbagging. Peakbagging is pretty much just climbing significant mountains, usually by the easiest route possible. I like it because I like to see how fast I can get to the top of a mountain. It’s pretty amazing what you can do in just a few hours.
It’s also amazing what you can do in 50 days! A father-son team (man… what’s the deal with all of these young kids climbing mountains?) is climbing the tallest mountain in each of the 50 states in the USA in 50 days. Sounds like a fun goal, one that I’d love to do if I had sponsors
Click here to check out their blog. As of my writing this, they’ve done 48 of the 50. They’ve done everything from a trailer park on a hill to the tallest peak on the continent. Fun!
What do you say? Does this kind of thing appeal to you? What would you rather do?
Here’s a video I came across by Alistair Humphreys, a British adventurer. It discusses 8 basic photography tips, with samples of Alistair’s expedition photography to illustrate. Below are the 8 tips:
Rule of thirds
Lines
Angles
Fill the frame
Focal point
Active space
Framing
Flash
Though these are billed as expedition photography tips, I think they’re good to keep in mind for any old rock climbing excursion, too.
Michael Reardon was a prolific American free soloist who died in a free soloing accident in Ireland in 2007. He was known for his hard free solos (often onsight) and soloing a lot of routes in a day. I just stumbled upon his website at FreeSoloist.com, which is still up and running. Most of the photos don’t work, but the site is still worth visiting for the article’s he’s written. You’ll have to search around his site for the articles (there’s no “Writing” or “Articles” page that organizes them), but they’re worth searching out.
I think my favorite bit of his writing is about his massive day of climbing at Joshua Tree when he climbed 280 routes!!! All of them were, of course, without a rope.
His Climbing.com blog is also still up if you’d like to take a look at it.
I just ran across the Climbing Photography group on Flickr. There are over 7,000 climbing photos there to get you excited about climbing. No, not all of the pics are magazine quality, but some of them definitely are. The thing I like most is the sheer variety of climbing locations. So check it out and start planning all of those trips to your dream climbing locations. Be sure to comment on the photos you like!
Simul-climbing is a form of roped climbing that is used to cover a lot of ground quickly over moderate terrain. One climber is tied into each end of the rope and the leader starts to climb, being belayed normally by the second climber. When the leader runs out of rope (in other words, when the rope starts to pull on the belayer), the belayer then starts to climb. Both climbers move simultaneously, yet separated by a rope length. The leader still places pro and clips into it as usual and the follower removes it as usual. The leader tries to make sure there is AT LEAST one piece of pro between him and the follower, and usually at least a few pieces. Simul-climbing is safer than free soloing or simul-soloing, but not as safe as normally belaying each pitch.
NOW. Having said that, let’s get to the point of this tip. There was recently a pretty serious simul-climbing fall in Eldorado Canyon in Colorado. Both of the climbers were very good and experienced and the leader fell on 5.6-ish terrain. In this blog post, the other climber (that was following) discusses what went wrong, what went right, how the rescue operation went, and more. In another blog post, the second climber goes back to the location of the fall and finds out that a broken hold was the cause.
This is a reminder that — as it says on every piece of climbing gear and climbing literature ever produced — that climbing is dangerous. Bad things can happen, especially when doing something like simul-climbing. No matter how experienced you are, stuff can still go wrong. Don’t try simul-climbing unless you’re extremely confident that you’re not going to fall. And even then, realize what you’re getting into.
It’s getting hot right about now in most parts of the northern hemisphere. Here are some ways to climb in the heat and still have an enjoyable time!
1. Bring appropriate food — Some food is just incredibly unapetizing when it’s hot outside. I love peanut butter sandwiches, but it’s almost impossible for me to choke them down when it gets really hot.
2. Wear the right clothes — Wear shorts. Wear light-colored clothing. Wear clothing that breathes well. Wear loose-fitting clothing.
3. Bring sun protection — This includes a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen.
4. Wear light-colored shoes — If you’ve got multiple pairs of shoes, consider wearing the pair that isn’t entirely covered in black rubber. The black rubber absorbs the sun’s heat like a champ.
5. Drink lots of liquid – Bring tons of water, Gatorade, or whatever kind of drink you like. Freeze a couple of the smaller bottles so that you’ve got cold water even later in the day.
6. Have a reward in mind — Promise yourself that you’ll go get a nice refreshing Coke, Slurpee, snowcone, or ice cream as soon as you get off of the mountain! I promise you that nothing will ever have tasted so good!
7. Climb in the shade — Duh. You’ll be able to find a shaded wall in most areas.
8. Climb in the morning or evening, when it’s cooler outside.
9. Climb near water — To some this means deep water soloing. To others this could mean climbing in a narrow gorge with a stream at the bottom.
10. Head for the mountains! — If possible, climb at higher (cooler!) elevations.
I started climbing what seems like a long, long time ago. If only I knew what I was getting myself into… Here are a few things I wish I had known before started climbing (note that these are for me… Your mileage may vary…):
1. It will dominate your life — Forget about any other hobbies, interests, or passions…
2. It will take your money — You will never have any extra cash to spend, but you’ll be very “asset rich.”
3. It will ruin your productivity — All you’ll ever want to do is climb, and when you’re not climbing you’ll only think about climbing.
4. It will relieve stress, tension, and worry like nothing else can.
5. You will receive more joy from climbing than doing just about anything else.
6. You will start a climbing blog that you have to write on every single day…
7. It’s OK to fall. The sooner you fall, the better of a climber you’ll be.
8. It doesn’t matter how hard you climb. You’ll enjoy whatever rock you get on at whatever level.
9. Use partners’ gear before you buy your own. Don’t rely solely on what review websites or magazines say. You need to get out and use the stuff on your own!
10. Start trad climbing as soon as you can, because trad climbing is freaking awesome.
11. Only climb with people you enjoy being with.
12. Climb in as many different areas as possible to stay psyched.
13. If you’re not enjoying climbing, it’s OK to stop! You’ll come back to it eventually.
14. Climbing will take you to the most beautiful places you’ve ever seen.
15. Don’t forget to look down and enjoy the moment.
That’s all from me. What do you wish you had known before you started climbing?
Jerry Moffatt is a hardcore English climber who was at the forefront of the world’s climbing scene in the 80s and 90s. In the video below, he offers some great tips that will help you climb better. Listen to the man! He’s got the résumé to back it up…
SuperTopo has been doing a great job over the past several months reviewing a bunch of different climbing gear. They cover climbing shoes, harnesses, helmets, belay devices. quickdraws, slings, pro, ropes, snow and ice gear, etc. The list goes on. And if you buy something that is reviewed on the site, SuperTopo gets a small commission. Hooray for helping people make a living off of climbing!
Why yes, they are. I climbed a snow gully on a mountain yesterday with my dad. He hasn’t done a snow climb in 40 years, but he did do something interesting that I’d never seen before. Maybe I’m just a spoiled punk kid with my gaiters, but my dad put rubber bands around his somewhat billowy pant legs so that his crampon points wouldn’t snag them. Like this:
Does that make sense? It seemed to work for him… Seems like an easy (and light) way to protect your pants if you don’t have gaiters. Does anyone else out there do this?
I read a forum post over on RockClimbing.com by a guy who was belaying and dropped the climber. According to the belayer’s story, he warned the climber when he was at the halfway point of the rope, but he kept climbing. Anyway, long story short, both guys seem partially to blame. And I started to think about how crazy it is that we often place our lives (literally) in the hands of strangers. Other activities don’t require that level of trust and mutual competency.
So I figure the best thing to do when climbing for the first time with someone is to just assume they don’t know anything! Check and double check everything (harness, tie-in knot; make sure they’ve got all the gear they need). Go over procedures (“OK, so when I get to the top, I’m going to… and then YOU are going to…”) and commands (“When I say “OFF!”…).
In other words, do as much as you can to ensure that everything will go as smoothly as possible! Got any other ideas or examples?
I have several ropes with core shots. That’s where the sheath of the rope is cut through and the white core of the rope is damaged. There’s an easy way to tie off this damaged section so that it can’t get weighted. That way is the amazing butterfly knot!
While I no longer climb on these ropes, they’re great for hanging on a route that you’re going to clean and bolt. That’s what I use them for, anyway. Or you can use them as hand lines over a sketchy approach, or… well, for anything other than climbing, really! Here’s how to do it:
There you go! Any questions or comments? Any other times you can think of when tying off a damaged section of rope would be useful?
This is a blog about climbing, updated every night (only Monday through Friday, though. I need some time to climb...) at midnight (Utah time). It's probable that not every post will be a tip per se, but there will be something about climbing every day.
