Everything climbing and the outdoors.
Chris Weidner describes in detail how to make a tape glove for crack climbing. Whether learning how to jam cracks or cruising 5.13 testpieces, tape gloves will prevent the back of your hands from turning into hamburger. Not only will this help you avoid needless suffering, it will allow you to climb exponentially more than […]
Silent feet was one the best exercises I learned for better technique when I started climbing. This Tech Tip from Climbing goes into details on how to have better footwork while climbing. As your main points of weighted contact, your feet matter. Placing them silently forces you to be deliberate and aware with your choice, […]
Rick from Cremnomaniac has complied a nice list of trad climbing techniques, tricks, and tips. Trad climbing has lost some of its appeal, or is a smaller blip on the radar. I still know plenty of folks that prefer trad, but there was a day when there was only trad. Trad climbing may be analogous […]
Climbing Magazine has a detailed bouldering tech tip on how to top out on a boulder problem (obviously for those slopey, nasty ones).
The American Alpine Institute points out a series of videos by Canadian climbing guide Mike Barter on the pre-equalization on anchors: There is a little bit of controversy over pre-equalized anchors. Some feel that one leg of the anchor will get more force than another, which means that such an anchor could never be fully […]
The prusik hitch may be pretty basic for many readers, but there are certain essential knots that every climber should know. The American Alpine Institute has posted a great video illustrating the prusik knot. Alpinists keep a variety of technical tools in their back-pockets. One of the most important tools is the prusik hitch. The […]
You can never have too much insight from great climbers on their technique. Steph Davis has an article on her blog, High Places, discussing her techniques for climbing cracks (via splitterchoss.com). The key to pure crack climbing, as with every type of climbing, is the feet. I like to start from the basics, which with […]
Climbing Magazine has all their tech tips nicely listed on their site now.
Chockstone has a pictorial article on the carabiner brake rappel. The also include an alternative method.
Dave Root has a comprehensive listing of the most useful rope knots for the average person to know on his web site. Especially interesting is an included chart comparing knot strength ratings.