Gear Articles tagged ‘climbing’
By: Adam Riser | February 23rd, 2011
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Drying gear and working hard (or at least appearing to) after a morning of face shots.
I have an office job. I sit in a cubicle and spend most of my day typing on a computer and looking at spreadsheets. It wasn’t always like this; I used to be a river guide. I worked rivers all over Washington and Oregon while living in my truck. I climbed 200 days during my first year as a river guide. Then I became a climbing guide on Mt. Rainier. What could be better? I got paid to climb and climbed all day. Well, in theory anyway. Really, I got paid to carry a big pack and walk slowly in dangerous places while tied to clients who were seemingly trying to kill themselves (and, by extension, me). When I did finally have a day off, climbing was the last thing I wanted to do. Eventually, and entirely by accident, I landed a “real” job. I hear a lot of people blaming their office jobs for their failure to get out and get after it. However, I find that my desk job hasn’t killed my climbing; it’s actually given me the freedom (and rest) to do more.
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Tags: backcountry skiing, climbing, dawn patrol, jobs, rock climbing, skiing
Posted in How To, Newsletter, Outdoor Articles, Skiing |
By: Andy Chapman | December 14th, 2010
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Photo by: Tommy Chandler
More than a decade after receiving my Black Prophets, I continued the trend of gifting dangerous items for Christmas. My girlfriend received her first pair of ice tools—the finest the modern world has to offer: Black Diamond Cobras. The shiny new tools brimmed with optimism and when placed next to my battle-weary pair, looked more like a work of art and less like a piece of gear. Read More …
Tags: climbing, climbing gear, ice climbing, mixed climbing, outdoor history
Posted in Featured |
By: Andy Chapman | December 13th, 2010
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Quito Skyline. Oil on Canvas by Andy Chapman
I’ll never forget that Christmas. I had been in Ecuador six months and walked multiple times up every volcano in the country that wasn’t erupting. My glacier slogging game was perfected: self-arrest, rest step, French technique, setting up Z-pulleys and hip belays were all on speed dial. Unfortunately, I had become genuinely tired of being a mountaineer and just walking in crampons. I wanted to be an alpinist. I coveted the few “steep” lines those volcanoes offered. There was only one problem: I had but a lowly mountaineering axe. Read More …
Tags: climbing, climbing gear, ice climbing, mixed climbing
Posted in Featured |
By: Adam Riser | November 15th, 2010
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Backcountry.com buyer Ashley Tucker toproping in City of Rocks, Idaho.
Now, before this starts, don’t think for one second that I have anything against top roping. Whether you’re just learning to climb or sussing out the moves before trying to lead some runout horror show, it’s a good way to keep yourself safe while getting better. However, lots of climbers abuse the top rope in ways that damage anchors, trash the rock, or generally piss off a lot of other people at the crag. While climbing may be a game without rules, there are some basics that should be followed but are too often ignored.
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Tags: climbing, sport climbing, toproping
Posted in Outdoor Articles |
By: Adam Riser | November 1st, 2010
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Drilled angle. A common site on desert towers. This one is about as bomber as they get.
Utah’s desert climbing season is in full swing right now, and a couple of recent trips have me thinking once again about whether or not to trust old fixed gear. Every trad climbing location on earth has its share of mank gear, but the desert seems to be sketchier than most. It’s pretty common to clip a decades-old star drive in soft sandstone and then run it out 20 feet on hard climbing above.
No laxative in the world loosens your bowels faster than fixed desert gear. The question is, are you scared shitless for a good reason, or are you just overreacting? You’ll climb a lot more smoothly if you know that a fall won’t lead to a “ping!” sound and an even bigger fall. Then again, it’s good to know if whipping off is off limits.
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Tags: climbing, climbing protection, sport climbing, trad climbing
Posted in Outdoor Articles |
By: Adam Riser | October 26th, 2010
4 Comments »
Andy trusts his life to his belay loop in Zion National Park
The belay loop is the strongest part of the climbing harness, so why do so many climbers not trust it? It’s very common to see climbers backing up their belay loop with a separate piece of webbing or clipping their belay carabiner through the waist and leg tie-in points to avoid the belay loop. I’ve even seen some climbers cut the belay loops off their harnesses because they’re “old school” and never had a belay loop when they first started climbing. Although this has always been the case, fear over belay loops jumped off the radar when Todd Skinner tragically fell to his death after his belay loop failed. This had such an impact that backup loops are often referred to as Skinner loops. Unfortunately, most of the things that climbers do to skip the belay loop for extra safety actually makes the system more dangerous.
Tags: climbing, safety
Posted in Gear Guide |
By: Adam Riser | October 18th, 2010
3 Comments »
Andy Anderson trusting his gear while taking a big ride on Isotoner Moaner (5.12 a/b)
Aluminum does not have a lifespan, so aluminum gear can, in theory, last forever. The reality is that gear takes a beating and will need to be replaced from time to time. How often it needs to be replaced depends on how you use your gear. A fixed quickdraw may find the rope-end carabiner worn to the point of being dangerous within a single summer, but the carabiner that you use to rack your stoppers will probably last forever.
In case you missed it, check out Part I:
When To Retire Climbing Gear Part 1: Ropes, Harnesses, Slings, Helmets
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Tags: climbing, climbing gear, gear maintenance, rock climbing, safety, sport climbing, trad climbing
Posted in Gear Guide |
By: Adam Riser | October 15th, 2010
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Dude, they were totally going to throw this out. Free gear, bra!
Skiers often buy a whole new kit every season. Mountain bikers get new frames with surprising regularity. Rock climbers, on the other hand, often use the same cams, carabiners, harnesses, and even ropes year after year after year. This is pretty ironic, considering the fact that of all these groups, the climber are the ones whose lives literally depend on their gear. Nearly every climber out there has at least one piece of gear that would fail an inspection by an industrial rope access technician (the closest thing to climbing that actually has guidelines on retiring gear).
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Tags: climbing, climbing gear, gear maintenance, rock climbing, safety, sport climbing, trad climbing
Posted in Gear Guide |
By: Adam Riser | October 12th, 2010
2 Comments »
Jesse Mattner 1,000 feet up Mt. Moran with 3,500 feet left to go ... a terrible place to drop a belay device
At the top of pitch seven, you build an anchor and clip in. You call, “Off belay,” pull up the rest of the rope, unclip your belay device from the back of your harness, and fumble it. That very important piece of aluminum falls cleanly to the ground without touching a thing along the way, but you’re still seven pitches up with several more to go. You can continue to the top or rap to the ground, but you just dropped the one piece of gear that allows you to do either. You’re not completely SOL though. With a few old-school tricks you can carry on like nothing ever happened. Read More …
Tags: belaying, climbing
Posted in How To |
By: Andy Chapman | September 14th, 2010
1 Comment »
You and Your Partner
Having someone to climb with does not mean you are out of the woods. Relationship drama is far from over once you leave the dating scene and move to more committed relationships. The problems become much more subtle beyond your first climb.
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Tags: climbing, cragging, trad climbing
Posted in Featured, How To |
By: Andy Chapman | September 13th, 2010
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Find a new mate
You’ve been up for an hour when the phone rings. “Dude. Gotta bail blah blah blah.” Shit. The weather is perfect and it’s your only day off this week. Time to look through your list of contacts and start making some last minute calls. Climbing is a relationship sport and unless you plan a career exclusively as a soloist or an anti-social boulderer, you need a partner every time you go out. Herein lies the rub. This two-part guide will help you navigate the quagmire of relationship pitfalls to keep you, and your partner happy and sending. Read More …
Tags: climbing, cragging
Posted in Featured, How To |
