What's in my pack - alpine climbing by Steve House

Connect with Steve and learn cutting edge alpine training at his website, uphillathlete.com

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Want to know what a world class alpinist takes for an overnight climb? Watch this great YouTube video as Steve House explains his detailed gear choices. You’ll be amazed at all of the gear he manages to fit in a 30 liter pack!

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Some key points:

• Food: pretty much energy bars

• No Camelbacks or water bladders. Steve uses 600 ml soft flask collapsible water bottles. Carry no more than one liter total, because water is heavy. Put the flask in a mitten to insulate it if it's really cold, and try to always start off with hot water. He has a dilute electrolyte mix already in the water

• When you get to your bivy, first thing to eat is some nuts (almonds cashews, raisins). Also, have some sort of recovery drink mix like Roctane. You want carbs, amino acids, and electrolytes in the recovery drink

• Tries to avoid heating too much water, like for soup or tea, because that means you need to bring more fuel

• Dinner: freeze dried food. 1 bag per person, 800 calories. Pour in boiling water, put it inside your jacket to stay warmer

• Breakfast: instant coffee, 10 g protein powder, energy bar. Keep the energy bar in your sleeping bag so it's not frozen in the morning

• Stove MSR Windburner. One small canister can last two people for one day, if you’re careful. Brings an extra foil windscreen for the stove. Generally does not use a hanging stove

• Branched-chain amino acid tablets and electrolyte tablets to eat with dinner, for recovery

• Gloves: up to four pairs of gloves! Take mittens, belay gloves, lightweight action gloves

• Outer shell jacket: Patagonia Houdini if weather is good, Patagonia M10 if it’s going to be colder or windy

• Patagonia hyper puff belay parka

• Navigation: Garmin InReach, Garmin GPS, paper map in plastic bag, altimeter watch

• Sleeping bag: one night trips always bring down bag, more than one night, almost always bring synthetic bag. (Exception, long expedition style climb like Denali when you’ll have the chance to dry out your down bag.)

• Always keep a pair of dry socks stored in the sleeping bag. When you’re ready for bed, take off your damp/wet socks, put them on your chest to dry them, and put on the dry socks to sleep. In the morning, swap them, repeat for many days

• Sleeping bag get stored inside the bivy sack, and not in a compression stuff sack

• Neo air sleeping pad, folded up and put it inside the sleeve inside the pack; this can keep it from getting punctured

• Take a 4‘ x 8‘ very lightweight nylon tarp, to string up over his bivy sack

• Backpack: 30 Liter Patagonia Ascensionist

• Put a trash compactor bag inside your entire backpack, and pack everything inside of that to keep it waterproof

DIY - Homemade chalk ball

Tired of paying $5 plus for a chalk ball, when loose chalk costs about 1/3 of that? Here’s a way to make your own.

1. Take a woman’s nylon stocking/pantyhose. (Guys, how you procure this is up to you!) =^)

2. Cut off most of a leg

3. Put powdered chalk in the toe area. Do this outside, it makes a mess!

4. Tie an overhand knot in the leg. Instant chalk ball!

If the chalk comes out too fast, just invert the toe back into the stocking to make a double or triple layer of fabric.

How to make bomber tent anchors in snow

I was about 30 minutes outside of Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier, turning back after a storm-induced retreat. Just as I caught a view below me of the tent city, a giant gust of wind smashed into the camp, lifted several tents into the air, and cartwheeled them thousands of feet down the glacier and out of sight. Whoops! Fortunately, it wasn't mine, but lesson definitely learned!

If you’re setting up a tent in the snow, you need a good way to anchor it down.  (There’s no such thing as a freestanding tent in a windy place.) Buried trekking poles, sticks (maybe collected on your approach hike), skis and rocks work well, as do some sort of a buried deadman.  A picket is bomber, but you’ll probably need them for your climb.

Here’s a great choice: 1 gallon ziplock freezer bags.  Reinforce the lower sides with duct tape, fill about 2/3 with snow, and seal. Then tie the tent cord around the middle making it into an hourglass-like shape, then bury it.  For knots, use a tautline hitch or a trucker’s hitch to fine tune the tension on the tent cord. (See another tip of the week for how to tie these very useful knots!)

So, how strong are they? Answer, more than you think. A study by the French National Guide School conducted some pull testing on various types of deadman snow anchors, and they found that a buried plastic bag could hold a load of approximately 200 kg!

One more option: If you anticipate high winds but no precipitation, you can remove the some all of the tent poles when you leave camp, lie the tent flat, and put some rocks gently on top of it.

Don’t let this happen to you!

image: https://manonice.com/2014/10/

Tincture of benzoin - what it is, how to carry it

Tincture of Benzoin is a brown liquid that looks like iodine, which toughens skin and makes it very grippy for tape application. 

Putting a dab on your heels be fore taping is a great way to get tape to stick on sweaty feet for blister prevention.

I always have it in my first aid kit. Put a few drops of benzoin on a fingertip, rub it over the area to be taped, and wait about 2 minutes for it to dry. Rip off some tape, and smooth it over the benzoined area. The benzoin will make the tape grip on your sweaty feet, and the surface of the tape provides a low friction surface to stop blisters from developing. 

However, benzoin generally comes in a heavy glass bottle that holds much more than you’d need on a weekend trip. 

It also comes prepackaged in some commercial first aid kits, in small glass vials or pre-applied on a Q-tip sort of thing. Both of these are Less Than Ideal, because the glass can break, and the single use Q-tip thing can dry out before you use it.

Here’s a great way to carry benzoin, with just the amount you need in a tiny container that will never leak.

1. Buy the tiniest (and cheapest!) bottle of eyedrops you can find – probably 1/8 of an ounce.

2. With a safety pin, slightly enlarge the dropper hole.

3. Squeeze out and discard the eyedrop solution.

4. Pour a bit of benzoin from the large drugstore bottle into a bottle cap or other small disposable container.

5. Squeeze the empty eyedropper bottle to make a vacuum, then place the tip into the bottle cap of benzoin.

6. Release, and the eyedropper bottle will partially fill with benzoin. Repeat until full.

7. Label the bottle. Cloth first aid tape and Sharpie pen works well.

8. Refill after a trip as needed. This weighs next to nothing, is leakproof, holds enough for many applications and it’s easily refillable. The original glass bottle is huge and holds more than you'll ever use, so feel free to share it with a friend.

Tiny eyedropper bottle about 1/2 full of benzoin, penny for scale.

Everyone carries a nut tool

You may think a nut tool is only for the second, but it's a good idea if the leader carries one as well. Why?

• If the leader yanks hard on a nut to set it, and then decides whoops, they want to take it out and use it somewhere else, they need a way to do that.

• Sometimes the leader can use a cleaning tool to, ahem, “clean” placements that have dirt or tiny rocks.

• If the second drops their cleaning tool, the leader has one as a backup.

• Sometimes to try to extract a deeply buried cam, you may need two nut tools to pull on both sides of the trigger.

It's one of the least expensive and longest lasting pieces of gear you're ever going to buy, so pretty much every climber should carry one.

If you choose a bare-bones nut tool that does not come with its own racking carabiner, be sure and get a full strength mini carabiner for it, like the nice ones from Metolius. Don't use a cheap keychain carabiner for this, because someday you'll find yourself scavenging this carabiner for a real climbing purpose, and when that day comes you want to full strength one.

The Metolius Torque is a good choice. It has a carabiner built into clip to your harness, a smooth end to not hurt your palm so much when you smack it, and the clever design of several sizes of wrenches to tighten loose hanger bolts.

Tricams - part of the trad climber’s toolbox

Tricams are often an underappreciated bit of gear; if you haven’t used them, you might be missing out.  Less expensive, lighter, and sometimes more versatile than active cams, they may well have a place on your rack. (This is especially true of the fabled pink tricam, which has a legendary following among a subspecies of trad climbers.) Once you get into harder grades you'll probably be reaching for spring loaded cams more often, but when you're learning and for easier terrain, tricams can be pretty sweet.

A few tricam tips . . .

• Get the smaller sizes. A good starter set is the first four smallest units, least expensive when purchased as a set. You won’t have much use for the huge “cowbell” tricams, which are typically seen only on the harnesses of graybeard mountain goats, who have been climbing since Mt. St. Helens was a real mountain, and are still using harnesses braided from blackberry vines and mud.

• Because they can be placed in so many positions, tricams can be great for building anchors. Consider using your active cams when leading, and keep tricams in reserve for anchor building.

• In a horizontal crack, place the "stinger", or point, facing down. This usually gives a more secure placement. Tricams can be especially effective in horizontal cracks, because their flexible runner easily handles being loaded over the edge of the crack.

• On lead, always try to extend the placement with a runner to minimize the rope wiggling the tricam out of position.

• One of the main gripes against tricams is that they can be hard to clean, especially if the person that placing then gives a stout tug. This can be true! Don’t use them when you’re aid climbing and expect to ever get them back again, ask me how I know this.

• Give a gentle tug to set them, but expect your second to curse a bit when they arrive and maybe even ask you for a take while they try to clean it. Be sure your second has a cleaning tool.

They now come in a few different flavors and different styles of webbing, but they all pretty much work the same way. And, as mentioned, consider the pink one at the very least!

https://www.backcountrygear.com/camp-dyneema-tricam-set.html

image: backcountry.com

Uses of the butterfly knot

The butterfly is generally not one of the standard climbing knots beginners learn, but it’s well worth learning once you have mastered the basics.

It's often referred to as an “alpine” butterfly, but I have no idea why. Let’s drop the “alpine” and just call it a “butterfly” knot, okay?

Photo: butterfly knot used to isolate a damaged part of the rope.

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How is the butterfly knot useful for climbers?

1. The butterfly is generally easier to untie after it’s been weighted.  Use it anytime you're significantly weighting a rope (like fixing ropes for a big wall, or tying off one end of rope for snow anchor testing or crevasse rescue practice.)  Grab each of the "wings" of the knot and flex them back and forth to untie. Once you gain some experience with the butterfly knot, you may find that you use it to replace the figure eight on a bight in just about every situation.

2. It’s symmetrical and can be loaded on either strand. This makes it a good choice for the middle member(s) on a rope team. While a figure eight or overhand on a bight is acceptable for the middle person, it’s designed to be weighted in only one direction. As the middle person on a rope team, you don't know which strand will hold you in a crevasse fall.

3. It’s adjustable. If, after you make the initial loop, you decide it needs to be a little longer or a little shorter, you can feed the slack through the knot to adjust the size of the loop. (You can do this with a figure 8 on a bight, but it's quite a bit more awkward.)

4. It can be tied as a “brake knot” between rope team members for glacier travel, to help minimize the length of a crevasse fall. Any kind of crevasse rescue situation is more difficult with just one person doing the pulling, but if you tie a few knots in the rope between you and your partner, these can hopefully catch on the lip of a crevasse in the event of a fall, and minimize the length of the fall. (Yes, they can complicate the rescue, but that’s another topic.) Under the right conditions, this has been tested and proven effective. There is also another knot that has a slightly larger diameter called the brake knot, which may be preferable for two person crevasse travel, but the butterfly is acceptable.

5. It can isolate a damaged part of the rope. Through stepping on the rope with a crampon, an ice tool puncture, being loaded over a sharp edge or maybe rock fall, a rope might get some minor damage so you’re not comfortable using it anymore. With the butterfly, you can isolate the damaged part of the rope inside a loop of the knot and you’re good to go, with a near full strength and full length rope. (Now you need to figure out how to pass the knot while you are on rappel or belaying . . . but that’s a different topic!)

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How about a directional / in-line figure 8?

This might be a useful knot in some sorts of rigging situations, but for recreational climbing I personally don't see a need for it. Anything the directional figure 8 can do, the butterfly can also do, so why bother?

That's not just my opinion, Australian rigging expert Richard Delaney feels the same way, check out the short video below.

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And, because it's pretty much impossible to explain how to tie a knot in words, here is a short and sweet video from REI that does the job.

(It's not my preferred method, because this darn knot has probably more ways to tie it than just about any other, but it works fine. My advice: just learn one good way to tie this knot and don't confuse yourself with several.)

Posting photos online? “Redline” your route

As we like to say here at AlpineSavvy: “A map or photo of the route is great, but a map or photo with your route drawn on it is better.”

You’ve just finished a climbing route that’s been on your tick list for a long time, you took a bunch of great photos, and you’re ready to post to social media.

If you have some good photos of the mountain and route, do everyone a big favor before you post: take a minute or so, use a simple photo editing tool, and “redline” your photo(s) showing exactly where you went. This turns your photo from a pretty picture into a useful tool for anyone who sees it. (And it sure doesn't have to be red, use any color you like.)

Drawing a simple line on a photograph can be done with lots of free or browser-based photo editing software. If you want to get fancy, you can add an arrow or some text annotation as well. (I’m a fan of PhotoScape X. It’s free, works on Mac and Windows, lots of features but still easy to use for simple things like text and arrows.)

Note that you don't even have to use your own photo for this. You can take a Google Earth screengrab, save it as a jpeg, and then draw over that. Examples are below.

It’s helpful to make a copy of the original photo before you start so you don’t mess with it.

Example: Here’s a photo of North Sister from the SW Ridge approach. Ho hum, pretty boring. But, add a simple line, and suddenly it's a LOT more useful. And, maybe add an arrow and annotation, which only takes another minute or so, to improve it even more.

Photo taken on route: North Sister OR, SW ridge. Yawn, not much help to anybody.

North Sister, SW ridge approach. Route redlined.  Now we have something that’s actually helpful for someone else to routefind.

North Sister, SW ridge approach. Route redlined and key route beta added with arrow and text. (Gee, thanks for ruining my onsight!)

You can also do the same thing with Google Earth screengrabs. Here's an example of the Leuthold Couloir route on Mt. Hood.

Google Earth pro tip: You can easily save an image of your Google Earth screen from the menu. Try File > Save > Save Image. It even lets you add a title and description to your saved image, as you can see below.

Mt Hood, Leuthold Couloir route, Google Earth screen grab.

Mt Hood, Leuthold Couloir route, Google Earth screen grab, with route redlined.

Mt Hood, Leuthold Couloir route, Google Earth screen grab. Route redlined, and adjacent "off route" areas shown. 

One other good way to use Google Earth screen grabs is to have your route drawn in with a KML file, and then zoom in close to the ground and take screen grabs looking up the route. This gives you sort of a virtual “climber’s eye” view that can be really helpful for route funding in the field.

If you want to learn how to use KML files in Google Earth, check out this video.

Here’s an example of the Fisher Chimneys route on Mt. Shuksan in Washington, on a section with notorious route finding difficulties. Zoomed close to the ground like this can give you a good reference for making better real world route choices.

Bring some earplugs

Getting a good (well, at least passable) night’s sleep can be a big factor in your climbing success. A tent flapping in the wind or a snoring tentmate can be easily thwarted with the humble earplug.

Tip – buy a pair that’s connected with a foot or so of string.  When one falls out (and it will) it can be easily retrieved and won’t be lost in the folds of your sleeping bag.

Carry them in small plastic bag so the string doesn’t get too tangled up.  Get the plugs at a good hardware store or online . They do get lost, even with the string, so get a few pairs when you’re shopping.

DIY - heavy tinfoil - ultralight, foldable pot lid

Use a square of heavy weight aluminum foil for a pot lid.  Packs well, and it’s super light. Put a pebble on the top to keep it in place.

Or, try a circle cut from a disposable pie tin.  Crimp the edges down around the top of your pot.

Lose the Nalgene bottle

Wide mouth Nalgene bottles are pretty much the standard for many outdoor travelers. I get it, I have several.

Why are they popular?

• Good places to put on some favorite stickers

• Fairly indestructible

• Good for car camping, trips close to the car where weight is not an issue

• Pouring in hot water to warm up your sleeping bag on a cold night

• They can go with you on every trip, and over time, can even become your inseparable little adventure buddy.

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But, they have a few downsides, mainly cost and weight. An empty Nalgene bottle is 185 grams, and a new one will set you back about $10.

(Yes, Nalgene does make a so-called ultralight version, which reportedly weighs 106 grams for a 32 ounce bottle. That’s a big improvement, but those lightweight ones are hard to find; just about everyone seems to have the standard weight model.)

A better alternative? There are lots of options, but my favorite is the 20 ounce Gatorade bottle.

• Essentially free; it's re-purposed from yourself or someone else.

• Way more sturdy than most plastic bottles

• Can hold hot water, which is helpful for drying out socks/gloves, and making a hot water bottle to put in your sleeping bag

• Lightweight (only 36 grams)

• Recycle it without a second thought if the microbes in your bottle get especially scary

• Bottles like this are used by pretty much every every weight conscious long distance hiker

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But wait, you say, I love my CamelBak!  I must drink from a hose, so I can finish my hike FASTER!

• Think about it. Do you really need to “hike faster?”

• Read this Tip to see 10 reasons why water bladders “suck”.

Yes eagle-eye, I’m comparing a 20 ounce Gatorade bottle to a 32 ounce Nalgene. That's because the 20 ounce is my preferred smallish size. But the comparison math is easy. the Gatorade bottle is effectively 2/3 lighter.

• Nalgene: 180 grams weight / 32 ounce capacity = 5.6 grams of bottle to carry 1 ounce water.

• Gatorade: 35 grams weight / 20 ounce capacity = 1.8 grams of bottle to carry 1 ounce water.

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I like to keep it in a lightweight mesh pocket on my shoulder strap; I got it from this store on Etsy. Search Etsy for “backpack and water bottle holder”. They come in several different sizes.

image: https://www.etsy.com/listing/944154329/

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Need a big container for a really hot day or basecamp water storage? Check out the modern generation of water reservoirs. Here’s my favorite, the Hydrapak.

The equivalent three 1 quart Nalgene bottles are more than five times heavier than one Hydrapak! Cost is about the same as well. Downside, nowhere to put cool stickers. =^(

Note that this reservoir is only for water storage. It does not have a tube or a mouthpiece. There's probably some cool way to connect this to a lightweight water filter to make a gravity feed into another bottle. But that’s not my thing so I’ll let you figure out how to do that. :-)

Here's the Hydrapak in use.

• It has a sturdy screwtop that’s connected to the bottle so you can't lose it

• Two different handles, one on the top and one on the side

• Convenient places to clip a carabiner so you can open the top and let it dry upside down

Using gear tethers for items outside your haul bag

image: from the outstanding book “higher education” by Andy Kirkpatrick, used with permission

Not everything is going to fit in your haul bag. And, there are some things you don't want to put in there! Typically, these items might be your portaledge, poop tube, gear bag, garbage sack, empty water bottles, day bag and maybe a gear bucket.

The Old School technique for dealing with extra items like this was to clip them underneath your haul bag. Even if you've never climbed a big wall, you can probably imagine what type of problems this creates.  Every time you’d need to access your extra items, you'd have to finagle yourself underneath your haul bag, a major and unnecessary hassle.

Fortunately, there’s a Superior System - gear tethers. Rather than clipping your gear under the bag, you tie it with the tether attached to the top. This allows you to grab the gear tether, and simply pull up whatever you need.

A tether is simply a length of cord about 5 meters long. Typically the cord is 8 mm. (If you're attaching something heavy, 10 mm is a little easier on your tired wall hands.)

Tie a figure 8 on a bight in the middle and clip it with a locking carabiner to your main hauling carabiner. This gives you two tethers about 2.5 meters long each.

Get another 5 meters section of cord of a different color, and do the same thing. The color coding helps you remember which rope to pull.

And, as long as you’re buying 8 mm cord, you might as well get yourself another 15 feet to use as a docking tether for the actual haul bag, which we cover in this Tip. (Ideally the docking cord is a different color from the cords you use for gear tethers, to be sure you don’t accidently release the wrong one.)

Be sure the cords are long enough so whatever is attached to them hangs below your haul bag, otherwise it gets pinched between the bag and the rock.

Important: everything on a gear tether has to be on a locking carabiner. (Use a ”cheapskate locker” if you need to, a regular carabiner taped shut.)

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Here's a fancy way to set it up, from big wall expert Skot’s Wall Gear.

Here, Skot is using a pair of rappel rings (gold) along with a combination swivel and locking carabiner (appears to be the Director Swivel Boss from DMM). This makes a more compact set up, with zero chance cross loading the rings.

Note that each bag has one docking cord, and at least two gear tethers.

photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2nmw-By0-3/?igsh=MWtlY2x1djJ2MXZ5OA%3D%3D&img_index=2

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An excellent use of gear tethers. Image: Mark Hudon

image: https://hudonpanos.com/Wall-Tips/All-Things-Haul-Bag.pdf

Double portaledge, or two singles?

A portaledge is probably the single most expensive item of gear or you'll ever buy for climbing. So, you want to be sure you get the right one for you. Double or single? There are arguments for both approaches, but consider:

Double portaledge benefits

• a double weighs a lot less then two singles - maybe not a big deal when you are hauling, but you'll definitely notice it on the hike out. (Metolius Bomb Shelter example: about 11 lbs. for a single compared to about 13 lbs. for a double)

• a double is less $$$ than two singles

• a double usually is faster to set up then two singles

• a double can be easier to set up at a cramped bivy; while two singles often requires some crafty placement, with one of them sometimes in a Less Than Ideal (LTI) position or off of a marginal anchor, or both

Even for the solo climber, a double offers you more room inside to put your gear, lounge on, and hunker down in in the event of a storm.

(Downside in a storm: the doubles can become a larger sail, potentially tossing you around.)

Why might you choose a single portaledge?

• If you are fairly small, a single is easier to set up, or you're fairly tall, giving you room to sleep diagonally.

• Singles typically get more “square footage of bed space” per person

• If you know you have stinky feet or snore a lot or have some, show we say, intestinal issues, having a little distance and privacy and your partner might be a good thing. Ergo, single.

Recommended double portaledge: Metolius Bomb Shelter or John Middendorf's D4 ledge, available at bigwallgear.com

image: www.metoliusclimbing.com

image: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1188459201/the-d4-portaledge

The Flemish bend for connecting two rope ends

The flat overhand bend (known for a long time with the now out-of-favor, tongue-in-cheek name of the "EDK", or "European Death Knot"), is a solid choice for tying together two rappel ropes.

Why is the flat overhand bend popular?

• Quick and easy to tie

• Easy to check if you tied it correctly

• Strong enough, to do the job

• As an “offset” knot, it tends to rotate and ride up over potential obstacles, like rock ledges, where many other knots might get hung up

But, let’s face it. Some people think it just looks sketchy. (How do you think it got that great nickname?)  Doubters don’t care that 789,000+ happy rappels have been done on this knot with no issues; to them, it just doesn't look that stout. This can be especially true if you are tying it in Less Than Ideal (LTI) circumstances such as:

• With two ropes of very different diameters, such as a 10 mm lead rope and a 6 mm tag line that you're using only to make double rope raps

• With extra heavy loads, such as in a rescue situation, tandem rappel, or with a haulbag / heavy pack

• Maybe when it's wet, dark, cold, or all of the above, and you just need a little extra mental boost to be SURE your rap knot is bomber

Or, maybe you have a scenario with a single strand, such as:

• Big wall climbing, where it's common to have multiple single strands together so you can go up to a previous high point, or descend back to your bivy

• Canyoning, where it’s common to rappel on a single strand

• Rescue/retreat situation, when you tie two ropes together to descend a long way as quickly as possible, leaving the ropes in place to hopefully get later or be tossed by another team

• Rappel situation down terrain where at least one person on the team can safely downclimb. Tie ropes together for all other team members to rappel, last person tosses the rope and climbs down unprotected

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A knot that takes just a few extra seconds to tie, that uses a foundation figure 8 knot that every climber already knows, unties easily after loading, and can be a lot more confidence inspiring is called the Flemish bend, or a rewoven figure 8 bend.

(Knot geek terminology detour: a "bend" is the term for a knot that attaches the ends of two ropes together.) 

This knot is fast to tie, works bomber with ropes of two different diameters, is easy to check if you’ve done it correctly because all climbers are familiar with a rewoven figure 8, can inspire confidence when doing a sketchy rappel, and super strong, even on one strand. And who doesn’t want a little more that sometimes?

Considering using the Flemish bend if you have a very clean pull for your rappel, without many obstacles. If your rappel is blocky and has potential places where the rope could get hung up, it's probably better to go with a flat overhand bend (or maybe a “stacked overhand”, which is simple 2 overhand bends tied next to each other) to minimize the chances of the rope getting caught.

Another perfectly fine option is the classic double fisherman's knot. I prefer the Flemish bend because it's faster and simpler to tie, easier to inspect, and easier to untie after loading.

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Important note: The Flemish bend is completely different than the flat figure 8 bend, which looks similar but has both ends of the tail coming out the SAME SIDE of the knot.

The Flemish Bend has the rope tails coming out of OPPOSITE SIDES of the knot.

In most parts of the world, it's considered best practice to not use the figure 8 bend. The knot can roll when loaded, has caused fatal accidents.

Apparently it is quite popular in the French alps, for reasons the rest of the world does not understand yet.

Here’s a study, from Tom Moyer, that shows the relatively low loads in which the figure 8 bend can fail.

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So, let's learn how to tie it correctly.

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Here's a nice video showing how. (The overhand backup knots are optional, I didn’t use them below.)

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Step by step instructions:

1 - Tie a figure 8 knot near the end of one of your ropes, with about a 1 foot of tail - no longer.

2 - With the end of your other rope, start retracing the figure 8 knot.

3 - Continue retracing . . .

4 - Complete the retrace, and check for about a 1 foot of tail. If you're a little short, you can push through a bit of rope to adjust the length.

Important: the ends of the ropes should be pointing in OPPOSITE directions when you're done if you've tied it correctly.

5 - “Dress it and stress it”. Remove any twists and pull the slack out of all four strands, just like you would for a rewoven figure 8 tie-in knot. There we go, all snugged down and ready to rappel.

Can you have "too much" mechanical advantage?

A good general principle in setting up mechanical advantage (MA) systems: use as little as you need to get the job done. Are you able to move your load with a 3:1? Great, use that, and don't make it a 6:1!

Or, to put it another way, just because you CAN add more MA doesn't mean you SHOULD add more MA.

Every time you increase mechanical advantage:

• You add extra gear, changes of direction, introduce more friction, and create more chances for ropes to twist, rub, cross etc. that reduces the overall efficiency

• You increase the force on the anchor

A fundamental principle of economics (and many other aspects of life, including climbing) is the law of diminishing returns. In econ-speak, means that adding additional factors of production eventually results in smaller increases in output. Say that it takes one builder one year to build a house. So, if you have 365 builders, can you build a house in one day? Of course not, because after a certain point, the extra production (builders) result in lower output (less work getting done because they are tripping over each other).

MA systems work in somewhat the same way. Past a certain point, it doesn’t make sense to keep adding components to the system, because you're actually decreasing efficiency.

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Here's an example, with a common self rescue techniques taught in many books and classes.

You’re belaying your second with a Grigri off the anchor. They get to the hard part, and need a short lift / assistance to get past a hard move or two.

No prob! You set up a theoretical 3:1 as shown on the left. Simply add a rope grab on the loaded rope going down to them, clip a carabiner onto the rope grab, and pull up. Voilà, a nifty 3:1! Start pulling and up they go, right?

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Well, not quite! Let's have a closer look at the top photo.

Because you’re using a fairly inefficient carabiner (about 45% efficient) and a really inefficient Grigri (about 28% efficient) as your progress capture, at every change of direction where the rope goes through these devices, they are going to rob you of some of your pulling force. This means your real world efficiency is somewhere around 1.6 to 1, not 3 to 1.

Depending on your strength and the rope running over any edges or gear and adding additional friction, etc. might mean it's still impossible to move your partner!

No problem, let's make it a 5:1!

“Wait”, you say, “I know what to do! I have another rope grab. I’ll put that on the backside of the rope coming from the Grigri, and clip my pull strand to that. Now I have a 5:1 pulley system! With that I should surely be able to lift my lard-ass partner. Besides, now I get to lift DOWN with my body weight instead of UP with my arms. That must be easier, right?”

Well . . . Let's have a look at the photo on the right.

Turns out, rigging a theoretical 5:1 like this gives you something pretty much close to a 1:1 in real life! That red carabiner on the rope grab introduces so much additional friction at the start of the system, that the rest can't really overcome it. You probably be better off staying with that 3:1.

You have also created what's called a “complex” pulley system. In a complex system, you have two pulleys moving toward each other when you pull. This can be a bother when you’re at a small stance, and requires that you reset the system more often.

There are some good ways to set up a 5:1 or a 6:1 at a small stance that require minimal gear and offer reasonable efficiency. Unfortunately this is not one of them.

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So, if you build a lame hauling system like this and it's not working . . . you need to yell down to your partner to get out a couple of their own friction hitches and start prusiking up. =^)

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Takeaways:

• There can be a giant difference between theoretical MA and a real world MA.

• Adding more MA is not always better.

• Use pulleys when possible to increase your efficiency.

• If you have a limited pulleys, use them closest to your hand that’s doing the pulling.

Mini carabiners for your big wall bivy

To make an organized camp on a big wall, you’ll need probably at least a dozen spare carabiners to clip things securely onto your ledge.

Try to avoid scavenging carabiners from your lead rack to clip stuff to your bivy. (Ask me how I know this.) This will definitely slow you down in the morning when you break down your camp and then restore the carabiners to the proper spot.

So plan head, don't be a cheapskate, and bring the extra “camping-only” carabiners that you need to make a proper camp. (Considering you're wall rack is probably more than $3,000, dropping another $50 to get some low cost carabiners is not that big a deal.)

It's important that these carabiners be properly rated for actual climbing, and not the El Cheapo little “keychain” carabiners that you might get at the hardware store check out. You might remember that the little pink carabiner is not load rated, but what if your partner doesn't know that? What if it's dark and you accidentally grabbed the wrong one?

Get all of them the same unique color. That way you know they’re for camping-only, and you don't get them mixed up with your lead rack.

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Lots of manufacturers make tiny wiregate carabiners. A good choice is the CAMP Nano.

• Lots of cool colors

• Fully load rated at 21 kN

• low cost, about $7

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Hopefully everything you bring on a big wall has its own stuff sack or clip in point. If you need to add clip points onto pretty much anything, some wonderful cord to use is bank line. It's inexpensive, super strong, and holds knots very well.

If you’re not big wall climbing, mini carabiners also work great for hanging a lantern or headlamp from your tent, attaching light items to the outside of your backpack or hanging your food to keep it away from critters.

Big wall haul rope options: length, diameter, static or dynamic?

This tip is from big wall expert Mark Hudon. See more great tips and El Cap route photos at his website, hudonpanos.com

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There are lots of different flavors of rope to choose from, but here’s one that should suit just about everybody:

• 10 mm

• 60-70 meters

• static rope

10 mm minimum because you want burley; haul ropes take a LOT of abuse!

60-70 meters long, because you can use the tail of the rope as a lower out line, and 70 meters is long enough for any pitch. A 60 meter rope should work fine for most routes as well.

Static, because hauling on a dynamic rope is not so fun; you have to pull all of the stretch out of the road before you even start to move your haul bag. However, some big wallers like using a dynamic rope for hauling, reasoning that if the lead rope were to be damaged, you could continue on with the haul rope. Like with most things in climbing, this can come down to subjective preferences, so give each one a try on a practice wall and see which method you like.

Petzl "club" 70 m static rope. image from gotyourgear.

Portaledge set up - Top Tips

Some of these tips are from big wall expert Mark Hudon. See more tips and El Cap route photos at his website and Instagram.

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See related post - Assorted "vertical camping" tips

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Here's another excellent page with some diagrams for setting up your ledge. One of several examples is below.

image, used with permission : https://www.vdiffclimbing.com/big-wall-camping/

Give yourself enough room to set up your ledge, but stay secure. You need to move around a lot when you're setting up your ledge. To give yourself enough slack to do this, take a large bight of lead rope, tie it to the same anchor bolt as your ledge, and attach yourself to this rope with a GriGri.
Between using aid ladders and this extra rope, you should have enough room to swing around and set up your ledge. Because you are clipped into a closed loop, there's no way you can slide off the end.

It's pretty much a one person job. Setting up the ledge is generally best done by one person. While you're setting up the ledge, your partner can be unpacking the haul bags, sorting the rack for the next day, and stacking the ropes in rope bags.

Keep suspension straps long. The suspension straps are not really for setting the height of your ledge. They’re more for fine-tuning and balancing.  For the most part, they should be kept long and extended. If you shorten them up, they merely reduce the living space in your ledge.

Pay attention to the door on your rain fly, and make sure it faces your haul bags. For example, if your rain fly door opens to the left, you want to hang your ledge on the right side of the anchor, and have your haul bags docked on the left side of the anchor. This offers easier access to the bags once you're zipped inside your rain fly.

When tightening the floor tensioner straps, clip a carabiner to the straps, and pull on the carabiner to tighten up the floor. The carabiner gives you an ergonomic handle to really crank down on the tension straps, which is much easier on your tired wall hands. Tension the outside corners first, then the inside straps.

photo: Mark Hudon

Hang from a fifi hook or adjustable daisy when leveling the ledge. The last step is to adjust the long straps that hang from the anchor point to make the ledge hang level. Fine-tuning this can be tricky to do when you’re actually standing or sitting on the ledge, as your body weight is constantly shifting the natural "angle of the dangle" of your ledge. Try this simple trick: First, loosen all leveling straps to their full length. Then, hang by your fifi hook or adjustable daisy from the anchor point of the ledge, putting no body weight on the ledge itself, while you adjust the length to make it (more or less) level. This lets the ledge hang in its natural position, but with you close enough to the corners so you can reach all the straps.

Yates adjustable daisy

Attach a Yates adjustable daisy to the top clip in point of your portaledge. This gives you an easy way to adjust the exact height. Generally, this ideal position is about 2/3 of the way up the side of your haul bag. (Of course, this varies depending on the belay and bolt configuration.) This allows you to stand up in your ledge and easily rummage around in your bag. Adjustable daisies should be retired from lead climbing once they start to get fuzzy and worn out, and a “retired” daisy works fine for this ledge connection.

This Yates adjustable daisy is not the only connection of the portaledge to the anchor. Do you really want to be sleeping hanging off only some flat webbing in a cam buckle? I didn't think so. Mark’s pro tip: permanently tie 10 feet or so of 8 mm cord to the top of your ledge, and then have that go off to another bolt to back up the adjustable daisy.

Once the ledge is set up, transfer everything you need for the night to stay comfy from the haul bags. Ideally, you do this once, because getting in and out of the bags multiple times is a hassle.
Have your gear in color-coded stuff sacks. Mark likes different color coded bags: kitchen, food, clothing, personal care, and technology. This makes pulling out exactly what you need from the bottom of the haul bag a lot easier. You can get some sweet big wall stuff sacks from High Mountain Gear.

Consider hanging an aid ladder close to your end of the ledge. You can use the steps to clip in most all of your personal gear, and not have it dangle in your face when you're sleeping.

Having some sewn tie in points points added onto your ledge makes it much easier to keep your stuff safe and secure. Learn how to use a Speedy Stitcher awl to make your own, or make friends with your local shoe repair shop, who probably has a sewing machine that's older than you are that's sturdy enough to sew through heavy duty webbing.

Consider getting a dozen or so small “bivy carabiners” that are only used for clipping stuff bags, shoes, water bottle, etc. onto your ledge. It's helpful if these carabiners are all one model and color, so can tell at a glance they’re for camping, not climbing. In case you ever mix them up, be sure and buy proper rated climbing carabiners and not the cheapo keychain carabiners from the hardware store.

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When you have it all dialed, you’ll be a happy vertical camper, like this guy!

image from Morning in the Portaledge - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnxpesLE1Q0

Big wall - what's the leader’s first tasks at the anchor?

This tip is from big wall expert Mark Hudon. See more great tips and El Cap route photos at his website, hudonpanos.com

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Once the leader arrives at the anchor after a big wall lead, they have one main task: Get your second off of the anchor below you as quickly as possible, and THEN get comfortable.

But the second can't do much until the leader does 3 things:

1. Build a simple strong anchor as quickly as possible

2. Fix the lead rope for your second

3. Set up your haul system and pull a few strokes to get the haul bags off the anchor

Do these in order. (If communication is difficult because of wind, a long pitch, or the route going out of sight, when the second sees the haul bags start to move, they automatically know that the lead rope is already fixed for them.)

• Only after all this happens can the second start breaking down THEIR anchor and start cleaning.

• After these 3 tasks are done, only THEN can the leader take a break!

When you're big wall leading, resist the temptation to kick back, take pictures, relax, etc. right when you get to the anchor; you still have work to do.

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Side note: Should the leader pull up slack rope before fixing?

Usually, no.

However, on a shorter pitch, it might help for the leader to pull up the lead rope until it comes tight-ish on the second before fixing. Doing this means the second doesn’t have to carry the entire weight of the rope hanging below them as they’re cleaning, which can save them quite a bit of energy. (Of course, if there are any lower outs or other sneaky maneuvers where the second requires extra rope, be sure to leave them enough slack to make that move.)

The best liner socks to avoid blisters?

For a blister preventative, try this – polyester dress socks as a liner sock. Your climbing pals will envy you as the best dressed hiker at the trailhead, and your feet will be happy as the slick synthetic socks slide right over those problem areas of your heel. Blisters are typically caused by friction, and if you can minimize friction inside your boots, you decrease the chances of a blister forming.

I once had some boots that took a long time to break in, and I had constant blister problems. After trying most other blister preventative tricks out there, I gave this as try – even though it sounded pretty goofy. Not a single blister.

You can buy low-end dress socks for about 3 pairs for $10. Costco usually has multi-packs for a super low price.

It's fine to combine this with preventatively taping your known problem areas, such as the back of your heel. Remember to use tincture of benzoin on your skin before you put on the tape, to make sure the tape doesn't slide off.