Rehearse the climb. If youâ??re trying do a winter ascent of a line that climbs a summer route then climb the route in summer at least once. Getting off route in winter will waste time and saps your momentum. Iâ??ve failed more than once after a slowing of upward movement turned into full blown retreat.

The post How to Succeed on Winter Alpine Routes first appeared on All Climbing.

In what is truly a great example of using new media tools for expedition reporting, Andy Kirkpatrick is blogging and posting updates to Twitter on his solo ascent of the North Face of the Eiger.

Unfortunately, as of yesterday, it looks like he is retreating:

Starting this morning I put my solo belay device upside down. I didnâ??t even have the energy to sort my rack and in my mind the eiger stretched on to heaven.
Trying to solo the eiger has required all the skills and tricks i have. But finally it comes down to knowing when youâ??re beat. Its time to bail.

Regardless, thanks Andy for sharing your adventure with us. I hope we can look forward to more climbers using innovative ways of keeping us posted and engaged from a distance.

(via @tysontitensor)

The post Andy Kirkpatrick Blogs and Twitters His Eiger Climb first appeared on All Climbing.