Alpine Tips
Quad anchor with two 120 cm slings
The quad anchor is a popular choice, but usually requires a 180 cm doubled sling or bulky cordelette. What if you don't have that gear with you? Here's an alternative: Simply use a pair of 120 cm slings.
The quad anchor is an increasingly popular choice for many climbers. (See a detailed article about the quad here.)
The standard way of tying it, with a doubled 180 cm or 240 cm sling, works great, provided you have that gear with you. However, those slings are unusual sizes, and can be hard to find.
What if you want to make a quad anchor and all you have is a pair of 120 cm slings? No problem. Put them together, tie two bight knots, and you’re good to go. Tip: Try to tie the bar tack sewing in one of the two loops (above, it's in the left.)
In the photo, notice we have a figure 8 on a bight rather than an overhand knot. This has a couple of benefits:
It uses up a bit more cord, which makes your master point higher, which is usually more ergonomic
The extra bend in the figure 8 makes it easier to untie after its been loaded
The photo shows a newer Metolius 11 mm Dyneema sling, paired with an Edelrid Aramid cord sling (one of my favorites for anchor building.) Strong anchor, simple (easy to inspect) completely redundant, fast to tie, zero extension if a sling were to fail, and a pair of (pretty darn well) equalized connection points. Bonus: using the blue Aramid cord it makes it much easier to untie as well.
If the bolts are very close together, you might be able to tie a quad anchor with a one 120 cm sling. However, doing this takes a fair bit of fiddling to get the knot and bar tack in exactly the right place, so I much prefer to use a 180 cm sling, or this method.
The many uses of Voile straps
Voile straps are lightweight, tough, inexpensive, and very versatile. They’re an extremely handy bit of gear to have in your pack on most every trip, for all kinds of reasons beyond strapping skis together. Learn some of their many uses.
Duct tape, WD-40, Swiss Army knife, and . . . Voile straps. (It’s pronounced here in ‘Merica as “Vo-LAY”, yes I know that's not proper French, I'm going with how the company pronounces it.)
Their tagline is “Infinitely Useful”, and that's a good description. I've heard them referred to as “Voilà” straps, because using them sometimes feels like a magic trick.
You can find a lot of similar straps made with Velcro. They're not nearly as strong, and the Velcro does not work very well in snow or icy conditions.
These straps, made in Utah USA, are super handy for lots more than attaching your skis together.
Inexpensive, lightweight, and tough
The buckle doesn’t freeze in snow or ice
You can tighten or loosen ‘em with gloves on
Stitch two or more of them together if you need something extra long. Take a few extra wraps if you need to shorten one up.
How long? 25 inches is a good length. If you need something longer, you can attach several of them together.
How wide? They come in various widths: narrow, medium, and stout. I use a shorter narrow one for crampons, and use the medium width 25 inchers for most everything else.
Keep a pair in your pack, you can use them for loads of things!
Strap your skis together (duh)
Attach skis (or pretty much anything else) to your pack
On long sidehilling sections, add a strap to your uphill ski pole for a good grip
Repair a broken ski pole (along with a splint of some kind)
Broken ski binding? Attach your boot to the ski
Forgot your climbing skins? Put a bunch of straps around your ski (photo below)
Lost ski? Strap a shovel blade to your boot to make a mini snowshoe (photo below)
Fix a broken ski boot buckle (photo below)
Attach an ice axe to a ski pole for a DIY Whippet ski pole (only heard of this, never seen it)
Somehow lost a climbing skin? Put 3-4 straps around your ski for “tire chain” traction
Going up a really steep skin track? Put a strap under your foot for extra traction
Convince a wet / uncooperative climbing skin that doesn't want to stick to your ski
Rig a rescue sled (with a tarp, skis and maybe poles)
Repair a broken backpack buckle
DIY Whippet axe/pole combo (photo below)
Strap down (narrow) stuff on your car roof rack
Repair a broken raft or kayak oar/paddle
Cinch down most anything to a bicycle or motorcycle rack
Strap your crampons together and secure them to your backpack
Repair a broken crampon and strap it to your boot (photo below)
Make a hanging stove with your Jetboil (photo below)
Cinch down a coiled rope without any fancy tie off knot; photo below. (Very handy for glacier travel, good way to deal with the extra rescue rope instead of loosely stuffing it into your pack)
Lash together branches to make an emergency shelter
Splint, yikes! (See below . . .)
Tourniquet, double yikes!!
Rig an A frame pyramid tent by connecting 2 poles; no center pole, so more room. (Check out the photo below from Graybird Guiding. See a longer article here for more details on setting up a tent like this.)
image: @graybirdguiding
Is someone seriously hurt on a ski tour? Straps can be the foundation of a rescue sled. (Photo credit: @mountain_madness_inc)
Lost a ski? Broke a ski or a binding? Strap a shovel on the bottom of your boot and you might be able to clomp back to the car. (Photo and tip from Graybird Guiding.)
image: @graybirdguiding
Lost your ski? You might be able to shuffle out by strapping shovels together for an emergency snowshoe. (From cascademountainascents.)
Lost your ski and no shovel? This is gonna be slow, but you can cut some branches, strap them to your boot and hopefully make it back to the trailhead. (From cascademountainascents.)
Forgot your skins? Whoops! Time to break out every strap you have so you can make it up the hill.
image: @benwooster
Busted crampon? No problemo. (Photo credit: Sean Isaac)
From climbing guide Chris Lyle @lile.chris comes this photo. “The binding broke and would not switch from up to down. Ski straps saved the day!”
Hiking uphill, a rock damaged one of the top buckles. Put a strap or two on it, ready to go again. (Technically not a Voile strap, but you get the idea.) Photo credit: @smileysproject
Sure, there are various ways to tie off a butterfly coil, but using a Voile strap is faster and less hassle.
How about a DIY Whippet? Some skiers don't like them because they don't want to descend with an ax in their hand. This way you can strap an axe to your ski pole on the steep/icy up, and take it off for the ski down.
image: Ben Markhart https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cs4mSnhA22q/?hl=en
Here's a pretty clever one I saw on Mountain Project. Put a strap around the top of your Jetboil, add some cord, instant hanging stove.
image: Ian McEleney https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/121448987/hanging-stove-setups#ForumMessage-121534164
Check out this photo: a broken leg from a 2021 glissading accident on Mt. Rainier. The rescue team left the splint on and in place all the way to the hospital. Just a foam pad and two Voile straps, nice work!
Photo below by Nick Davis via Facebook, shared with permission.
And finally, from Instagram a little closing humor:
A quick rope anchor for rock horns or trees
Alpine terrain can offer single point anchors like a rock horn or tree. Provided it’s unquestionably strong, here’s an elegant way to use these single point anchors. Pass the rope around the tree or rock horn, and tie an overhand knot (BHK) in both rope strands. This secures you, and gives a convenient double loop to belay your partner.
Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.
Here’s a quick and effective way to make an anchor with your rope around an extremely sturdy single point anchor. This is typically a substantial tree or unquestionably strong rock horn.
In this case we’re using a rock horn. If you have a tree, you can walk around it, or if that's not possible, put a long sling / cordelette around it and clip the rope to the sling with a locking carabiner.
If you're using a rock horn, it's probably not good for much of an upward pull. So, if that's the case, and this is your only anchor point, it's best used at the top of a climb when the next step is to walk off or rappel.
Note, in the photo above, there is a very short bit of rope between the knot and the belay device. This was done to keep the photo uncluttered; in real life, you’d have some coils of extra rope here.
Here's how to do it.
Find a rock horn that is unquestionably strong and doesn't have any sharp edges around the back. (If using a tree, it's good if it’s not a conifer with sap on it; getting sap on your rope is not fun.)
Pull up a couple of meters of slack, and toss a loop of rope over the top of the rock horn.
Step down below the rock horn a bit, so there's no chance that the rope can lift over the top. Tie an overhand on a bight knot using both strands of rope. In some circles this is known as a “BHK”, or “Big Honkin’ Knot”.
The BHK now secures you (in the photo, that's the strand on the right). It also creates a convenient double loop where you can clip your plaquette belay device, insert the rope, and bring up your second. If you need to shorten up the distance between you and the BHK, tie a bight knot to take up some slack.
Done!
Now, in fairness, let's look at some downsides of using your rope to make an anchor like this.
It could get damaged from being loaded around a sharp edge of the boulder / rock horn.
If you put it around a conifer tree, you could get tree sap on your rope, no fun.
It makes escaping the belay if you need to do some kind of self rescue a bit more of a problem.
On a multi pitch route, if you’re seconding, when you break down your rope anchor it introduces more slack that your partner above you now needs to take up.
CalTopo - See crevasses on the new MapBuilder Topo layer
CalTopo, my favorite backcountry mapping software, keeps getting better and better. A recent update: adding a high resolution digital elevation model to their default map layer. Why is this cool? You can see crevasses!
If you’re new to CalTopo and want to learn the basics, get started with this video. (Disclaimer, it's mine.)
Sidenote: CalTopo offers a lot of free mapping resources, but I recommend you support their fine work and get even more goodies with a modest annual subscription.
CalTopo, my favorite backcountry mapping software, recently added a cool new feature to their default MapBuilder Topo map layer that can be helpful for alpine trip planning: LiDAR elevation model data.
(For the folks who appreciate spelled out acronyms, LiDAR stands for “Light Detecting And Ranging”.) High resolution LiDAR imagery can create extremely detailed and accurate elevation models of the earth.
Why is this cool? You can see crevasses! Check out the examples below of Mt. Baker in the Washington Cascades.
The first image is a previous iteration of MapBuilder Topo. Certainly a nice enough map, but no indication of where crevasses might be. (The purple line is the popular Coleman-Deming Glacier climbing route.)
Now, let's have a look at the same area and map layer, but with LIDAR digital elevation data added. WHOA! Check out those crevasses! Can you see why the the Coleman-Deming route goes where it does? It misses most of the big ones.
The crevasses are even more impressive zoom in a bit more. Here's some detail from the upper part of the route.
Now, this added LiDAR imagery comes with a BIG disclaimer. As every alpine climber hopefully knows, crevasses can change on almost a daily basis. The image represented on this map layer is a one time snapshot, and you should be not rely on it for fool-proof crevasse avoidance.
On the other hand, crevasses often tend to form in pretty much the same place year after year, so imagery like this can be helpful for general purpose route planning.
Keep in mind the old cartographers saying, “the map is not the territory”. Meaning, pay attention to what's really on the ground in front of you, not your GPS screen, track, or high-tech imagery like this.
Why is drop tower testing harsher than real world climbing?
Those gear-buster videos are impressive, where a 22 kN sling breaks like a shoelace in a modest fall. But we also know that hardly ever happens in the real world, so what's going on? Petzl tested this, and the results are encouraging: catching a real climber instead of a concrete block lowers impact forces dramatically.
Short version: Petzl testing shows that dropping a real climber rather than a “rigid mass” decreases impact forces on the climber and the top piece of gear by almost 50%.
Many of us have seen those drop tower gear-buster videos, where a heavy weight is released and snaps a Dyneema sling rated to 20+ kilonewtons like it was a shoelace. Impressive, no?
But, we also know that that hardly ever happens in the real world.
Why are real world forces lower than the drop tower, and by how much?
Fortunately the clever engineers at Petzl had the same question, and here are some answers. Disclaimer: there are many variables involved in testing forces like this. This is not a comprehensive study with definitive results, but more of a way to get people thinking about general technique and assumptions.
In the diagram below, there is no belayer. The Grigri is tied off at the bottom, with the rope essentially fixed. (If there was an actual belayer involved, and if they had a tube style device such as a Reverso, that would further lower the forces. But that also introduces an extra variable, so perhaps Petzl decided not to include it.)
Notes . . .
If your French is a bit rusty: climber = “grimpeur”.
The gray dot is called “anchor” in the caption. That’s the top gear placement, not the lower anchor where the Grigri is attached.
That’s impressive! When a real climber is involved in the system instead of a concrete block, there’s a huge reduction in forces. That's good news for your top gear placement, your kidneys, and also why those gearbuster test videos may not apply too well to real life.
The drop tower has only the dynamic rope to absorb energy from the fall. In the real world, we have additional variables such as the squishy and force-absorbing human body, the displacement of the belayer, and rope slipping through the belay device. Even with a pretty harsh fall factor of 0.7, force on the top piece of gear is only about 5 kN with a real climber, compared to 9 kN with a rigid mass.
So, another way to think of it, is that having real bodies involved decreases force in the system by about 50%. That is a very good thing!
Now, to be clear, I'm not saying you should be taking factor 1 falls on a Dyneema tether. In that case, there is only your squishy body, and no belayer displacement or rope slippage through a belay device, so forces are going to be a bit higher. But still less than the infamous concrete block drop test.
Some of you are wondering, what about falls greater than factor 0.7? Petzl did test some factor 1 falls, with a real climber and belayer. See that at the link below. You can't really test much more than factor 1 with real people, because somebody's probably going to get hurt.
Want to learn more? See these articles that cover similar studies by Petzl.
Plush snow camping with a pyramid tent
A floorless, pyramid style tarp tent has some advantages over more traditional mountaineering tents when it comes to camping in snow and multi day ski tours. Let's learn a few clever tips for setting it up for maximum comfort, from the experts at Graybird Guiding.
The expertise and photos here (shared with permission) come from Graybird Guiding, a Seattle based guide company that not only leads some sweet ski trips, but also has an Instagram full of solid advice. Connect with them at their website and on Instagram. (Check out their hashtag #sknowmore for specific backcountry ski tips.)
Pyramid style, floorless tents have some advantages over standard floored tents when it comes to snow camping and multi day ski trips. Let's learn from some expert backcountry ski guides who have hundreds of combined nights sleeping with this set up.
What's great about pyramid tents in snow?
Lighter weight with larger floor area and more interior space.
You can customize it for space and comfort: dig a footwell for legroom, make a snow table in the middle for cooking, or using the slope of the hill as a backrest.
Better climate control: Lift up the bottom a bit if you need some ventilation, or bunker down from a storm by putting snow blocks on the outside.
If you rig it as shown below with ski poles, there's no center pole, which saves some weight and gives you even more space inside.
Because of the extra space and ventilation, it's safer and more convenient to cook inside your tent (even though this is still probably against manufacturer recommendations.) This makes a pyramid tent a popular choice for expedition climbing, like on Denali.
Floorless, so no more sleeping in a puddle of accumulated meltwater.
Speaking of melting water, no need to go outside to get snow; just grab a handful and put it in your stove, all from the comfort of your sleeping bag.
And, last but not least . . . you can pee inside your tent. (Hopefully in the opposite corner from where you collect snow for your meltwater. =^)
As shown in these photos, you're using your skis and poles as part of the tent structure. This works fine if you’re on a tour and moving along every day. If instead you're using the tent as a base camp, use buried “deadmen” anchors like sturdy plastic bags or stuff sacks to anchor the corners.
With your ski poles making an A-frame as shown here, you of course need to remove them the next day when you go skiing. Simply flatten the tent and put a few snow blocks in the middle to keep it from blowing away when you're gone.
Timewise, this typically takes two people about an hour, and a bit faster after you've done it a few times.
A few FAQs about pyramid tents in the snow . . .
How do they handle high winds and storms? Better than you might think. Using tents like this for the kitchen or “living room” is standard practice on Denali which of course gets some pretty crazy weather, so that gives you an idea. The snow blocks around the edge are crucial. Do a Google image search for “Denali cook tent” to see many photos of pyramid tents on expeditions.
How about sewing a “skirt” on the bottom to better seal out the weather? That is a common modification that many people do on pyramid tents. Adding a skirt gives more interior space, because you fully stretched out the walls and still have fabric to pile on snow blocks to seal the tent. Check out the photo at the bottom of the page. The tent from Black Diamond has a “skirt”.
What are some other options for anchoring the corners instead of your skis? Any sort of a deadman anchor that you can bury works. Maybe sticks that you pick up on the approach hike, or my favorite, a reinforced 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bag filled about 2/3 of the way with snow. Using a deadman of course makes your skis available to go on a tour and come back to a tent that is fully functional.
Can I use a center pole instead of the A-frame with the poles as shown below? Absolutely. When you’re staying in the tent, using your ski poles as support with no center pole is really nice. When you head out for the day and take your poles, install the center pole to keep your tent upright.
How does this work in faceted or unconsolidated snow? Not so well. It's harder to dig out of the blocks that you need to hold down the perimeter as well as forming the back rest and foot well inside of the tent. If you expect those kind of conditions, this may not be the best choice.
Here's how to set up a pyramid tent for snow camping
Here's a photo sequence and pro tips from Graybird Guiding showing how to prepare your campsite and set up your tent.
1) First, choose a gentle slope. This gives a backrest and added height so you can stand up inside. Next, use your ski as a guide / straight edge to start digging.
2) Remove snow in blocks, which you’ll use later. (Bonus: good practice for avalanche rescue digging.)
3) Stomp out pad with your skis. Without skins, point your skis downhill. If your platform is level, you won't slide.
4) Optional: Dig a footwell for even more interior space. Makes putting on your boots a bit easier. You can make a foot well because we’re using an A-frame support, not a center pole, see below.
5) Use your skis (or buried bags) to anchor the four corners.
6) Once the tent is anchored, bury the edges with the snow blocks you made earlier.
5) Rig an A-frame with four ski poles and Voile straps for better stability and more room. Not having a center pole in the way is really nice! Plus, check out the backrest which comes from digging into a slope, clever!
All done!
Check out this short (2:40) video that shows how all this comes together.
Sounds good, where do I get one?
Here are two of many options.
While different versions of this tent have probably been around for thousands of years, Black Diamond was one of the first (early 1990s?) to make a commercial model, which I think was the Megamid. Here's one of the newer models, the Mega Snow 4P, specifically designed for snow camping. Sleeps four people, weighs 1650 g (3 lb 10 oz). Note the “skirt” around the bottom edge; you can stack snow blocks on this to seal up the tent.
image: blackdiamondequipment.com
Here's a fancier model from Hyperlight Mountain Gear that's made from Dyneema composite fabric. Sleeps two, weighs a hair over 1 pound. Pricey but maybe worth it if you use it a lot.
image: hyperlitemountaingear.com
The Grivel Vlad carabiner
The Grivel Vlad carabiner is a combination double gate carabiner and rigging plate in one. If you need to clip multiple carabiners to a single master point (big wall, SAR teams, cavers), and you want to eliminate any concerns about three-way loading of the master carabiner, this might be a useful bit of gear.
Full disclosure: Grivel sent me this carabiner for free. That in no way biases my review; it's a cool product and I want to tell you about it. There are no ads, affiliate marketing links, or paid product promotions on Alpinesavvy. In the rare cases when I get a free product like this, I’ll always let you know.
The Grivel Vlad carabiner, introduced around spring 2019, is an intriguing piece of gear. It’s a combination double gate carabiner and rigging plate in one. It’s exceptionally strong: 30 kN carabiner major axis, and 27 kN on each “ring”. Primary use: master point carabiner that gets various other Important Things clipped into it. With the Vlad, there’s no concern with three-way loading, or loaded carabiners grinding and sliding around on each other at the bottom of the master carabiner.
It has the Grivel twin gate carabiner system (which can be a little fussy at first, but it’s very secure and easy to open once you get the hang of it). Because there is no screw mechanism, it's unaffected by dirt, sand, mud, and ice.
The Vlad is substantially lighter (90 grams) and less expensive than a 4 hole rigging plate and two locking carabiners.
When you clip it to a bolt hanger, the Vlad lies flat against the wall. This keeps the downward pulling force along the axis of the carabiner. Any carabiners clipped to the Vlad are now perpendicular to the wall, which is how you want it.
Here's a nice review of the Vlad, with some break testing data.
I can hear it now; the first reaction of, “That's too specialized, it’s a one trick pony, I would never carry a thing like that.”
Or, you could think of it this way: It's only about 30 grams heavier than a standard large locking carabiner, and you can still use it as a full strength carabiner in pretty much any scenario. If you sometimes find yourself in one or more of the following situations, it might be a good addition to your kit.
Where might the Vlad be helpful?
Big wall climbing, where you always need multiple secure places to clip stuff
Small rescue teams in remote settings, who may not have the luxury of taking extra rigging plates and carabiners
Canyoneering / caving in muddy environments, because dirt and mud won’t affect the gate
Maybe climbing/guiding in a team of three (or more) less experienced folks, where you want easy, foolproof connection points
A rigging plate typically requires using two carabiners, in order for the plate to lay flat against the wall. As you can see below, the Vlad on the left can be clipped directly to the bolt hanger.
image: https://grivel.com/products/vlad
Here's an image from @smilemountainguides, showing a fairly typical guiding situation: Master point carabiner with 3 carabiners (guide and two clients attached). This setup is fine, provided the loads stay reasonably low. However, using the Vlad might make things a bit tidier and add some peace of mind in a scenario where higher loads or change of loading direction in might happen.
image: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNm5e4Sj9Es/ @smilemountainguides, used with permission
With the Vlad, that same anchor scenario might look something like this:
The Grivel Vlad is a specialized carabiner that will probably be useful to only a handful of people. But if you're one of them, it's a pretty cool piece of gear.
The Stone hitch
The Stone hitch (aka Stone or Stein knot) is a clever way to isolate each strand of a rappel rope. This knot is very secure when tied correctly, fast to tie, easy to check, and easy to untie after loading. Learn some applications for the Stone hitch and see a short video to learn how to tie it.
Note - This post discusses techniques and methods used in vertical rope work. If you do them wrong, you could die. Always practice vertical rope techniques under the supervision of a qualified instructor, and ideally in a progression: from flat ground, to staircase, to vertical close to the ground before you ever try them in a real climbing situation.
The Stone hitch (aka stone knot, Stein knot or Stein hitch) is a clever way to secure a rappel rope that makes two separate fixed strands. It's typically used in canyoneering, where it's common for all but the last person to rappel on a single strand.
Generally, it's good practice to keep things as simple as possible in rope systems, and not introduce too many whistles and bells. However, the Stone hitch is useful in some specific situations, so it can be a worthwhile tool for the intermediate / advanced climber.
When might the Stone hitch be useful?
Speeding up a group rappel. You can have one person descending on one strand of rope, and at the same time have another person rigging to rappel and getting a safety check. The moment the first person touches down, the second person can begin. This greatly increases efficiency with a larger group, especially beginners who may need more time to get set up.
Belay a rappel. Someone can rappel on one strand of rope, and be belayed on the other strand.
A climbing team has one Grigri and one ATC / tube belay device. When it's time to rappel, you tie a Stone hitch. The first person goes down one strand on a Grigri. The second person removes the Stone hitch and does a standard rappel on two strands with their ATC.
Good for overhanging and or traversing rappels, where the first person down may need to swing around and place gear. The first person can rappel on a single strand with a Grigri and go hands-free when needed, and be belayed at the same time on the other strand. (Advanced technique! See the link above for more details.)
Less risky simul rappelling. If for some reason you ever want to simul rappel, (for lots of reasons why you should not, read this article), and you have an unquestionably strong anchor, and you have more than two people, using a Stone hitch for everyone but the last person can give all the speed benefits of a simul rap with pretty much none of the risks, because the rope can’t pull through.
Rappelling in terrain with high rope-severing potential. If there's a chance for the rope to slide when loaded across a sharp edge, or if you have loads of rocks that could be dislodged onto the rope (here's an example) this can be a good way to safeguard everyone except the last person down. (Hopefully you don't find yourself doing this very often . . .)
Unfamiliar descent, or maybe at night. If you're not sure where the next anchors are, securing the strands for the first person down lets them re-ascend the rope with less risk. This gives the option to use one-strand tools like a Tibloc, Ropeman, or Grigri to ascend the rope.
Top rope solo rigging (mentioned in an Instagram comment). This gives you two two strands to climb on close routes, you have ascenders on one strand and use the other strand as a backup if you like, and you’re already rigged for rappel when you’re done for the day.
Notes . . .
It is CRUCIAL to clip the locking carabiner to both the loop of the slipknot and one of the two strands of rope between the hitch and the anchor! If you don't do this, the carabiner could pull through the slipknot and the hitch will fail.
The Stone hitch is simple to tie, easy to check, very secure when tied correctly, and easy to untie after it's been loaded. There are a few different variations, including one with a figure 8 rather than an slipknot.
Of course there are lots of other ways you can fix one or both strands of a rappel rope, such as a knot block, clove hitching each strand with two additional carabiners into the anchor, etc. The Stone hitch is fast, elegant, and easy to untie, so it gets my vote.
Does this cross load the carabiner? It doesn’t. The carabiner is functioning the same way as when it's “blocking” a guide mode belay device (and you're comfortable with that, right?) Put the bottom curve of the carabiner into the hitch, not the gate. After you cinch the rope down, it holds the carabiner in the proper position.
Does this make the so-called “American death triangle”? Sort of, but it's not a concern here. The angle above the hitch is so small, that it only slightly increases the load on the anchor. It's only for a rappel, so the load to each half of the anchor will still be less than 1 kN, no worries. Learn a lot more about the “American death triangle” here.
You can use any flavor of locking carabiner for this, but a large mouth, HMS style belay carabiner makes it easier to clip the necessary strands.
Hopefully this is blindingly obvious, but the last person rappelling needs to remove the hitch and rappel normally on two strands of rope. Better remember to do this, or your rope will be stuck.
I will confess, I thought this looked extremely sketchy when I was introduced to it by my canyoneering friend. Rappel off a slipknot, are you insane!? But I have slowly become more comfortable with it, and it's pretty handy in some situations. One more tool in the toolbox for more advanced climbers, which is a good thing.
The Stone hitch can also be used with a two rope rappel. Tie it below the joining knot. Doing this fixes each strand of rope, allowing one person to rappel while the other person is rigging, This can be VERY handy with a large group to speed things along. Last person removes the carabiner, releases the hitch, and does a normal double strand rappel.
The Stone hitch gives a secure loop between the hitch and anchor point, which makes a convenient place to clip a tether when you're getting set up to rappel. In the photos and video below, the loop is very short. However, you could make it as long as you want. For example, if the anchor point was several meters away from the edge of the cliff, you could tie the hitch so it was right at the cliff edge. This makes a closed loop for your tether, so you easily rig a rappel even from an exposed position.
Check out this short video to learn more, including how to tie it.
Multi directional placement with two opposing stoppers
Rigging two opposed stoppers is a good trick to make a single multi directional placement. This is typically rigged with a clove hitch, which to be honest usually doesn't work too well. Here's an improvement: wrap the sling TWICE around the top carabiner, and then tension it. The double wrap holds the tension, letting you more easily tie it off.
Rigging two opposed stoppers/nuts in a vertical crack it's kind of an old-school trick, which dates back to the Paleolithic era before cams were invented. But even today, it can be a good tool for those times when you need a multi directional placement and are low on cams, or want to preserve them for further up the pitch.
Basically, it can make one good placement out of two lousy ones!
When might rigging opposed stoppers be helpful?
The first piece when leading a trad pitch, to prevent an upward pull from zippering out your gear.
Setting up a belay anchor that needs to take a potential upward pull, such as a fixed point lead belay
Top rope soloing, where you need to set an anchor to take an upward pull
Clipping a Micro Traxion or Tibloc for simulclimbing
This “opposing two stoppers” trick is typically done with a clove hitch. However, many people find the clove to be tricky to tie and snug down, and that the clove doesn’t maintain tension very well between the placements.
Here's an alternative. The #CraftyRopeTrick here is to pass the sling TWICE around the top carabiner, with the second pass going BETWEEN the strands of the first pass. Then pull down to tension the sling. This double wrap maintains sling tension, making it much easier to tie a final half hitch to secure the whole thing.
Caveats . . .
You need a good stance and probably both hands to do this.
Although you’re using two pieces, because there's only one downward piece, this essentially counts as one placement. (In other words, this is NOT a two piece anchor.)
As shown here, this technique uses two stoppers, three carabiners, and a sling. (You can save one carabiner by girth hitching the bottom stopper, yes it's strong enough.) Often simple placing a solid cam can serve as a multi directional placement, plus it's faster and uses less gear. This is simply one more trick in the toolbox for more advanced climbers.
Questions, concerns, grumbles . . .
“Does this create a 2:1 ‘pulley affect’, doubling the load on the top piece of gear?” No. Because of the half hitch at the end, it doesn't. It’s a bit hard to describe, but give it a try and see for yourself.
“Does this create a vector/outward load on the gear which greatly increases the force on the placements?” It doesn't. The only force on the gear is going upwards or downwards.
“What if you did this in a horizontal crack?” Then you would have some odd vector angles on this anchor and it would probably not be so strong. But, if that's your only placement option, then you might have to do it.
“Good luck doing this on lead.” Yes, this does take a good stance and probably two hands to rig, so you're probably not gonna do it in the middle of some hard pitch. But as part of the anchor when you're hopefully on a ledge, usually not a problem.
Like most climbing techniques, it’s a better show than a tell. Check the video below to see how it works.
How to pack a cooler - pro tips
Nope, this is not a tip for alpine climbing, but it might come in handy next time you do a road trip. Here are some desert tested tIps for keeping your cooler organized, clean, and preserving your ice on longer trips where ice resupply is not an option. (Ever heard of “cooler soup”? It's something you don't want to try.)
Okay, let me say this up front: this is not a tip for alpine climbing, more for car camping and river trips. But everyone uses a cooler, and when you do, these tips may help a bunch!
If you're out for a night or two, then cooler packing is not a very big deal. However, on a longer, more remote road trip when you can't restock ice, or especially on multi-day whitewater river trips (a passion of mine) it's a lot more important. Rafters can be FANATIC about cooler packing and ice preservation - on a three week Grand Canyon trip, having ice left on the last day is the sign of a true pro. (I won't cover those very advanced tips here, because they don't apply to many folks.)
The following tips I’ve learned from a few expert river rats over the years, as well as some of my own trial and error. (And no, you don't need a $400 high end cooler!)
Give some or all of these tips a try on your next multi-day outing.
Freeze your own ice in plastic bottles
Freeze some plastic bottles for your ice supply, so you never have nasty melt water sloshing around the bottom of your cooler. One gallon Crystal Geyser bottles can be bought almost anywhere, are reasonably sturdy, and best of all are square-ish to fit nicely in a larger cooler. Mix and match water bottle sizes to fit the cooler you have. Empty two liter pop bottles are another good choice, and a bit more sturdy because they're built to handle carbonation.
Plus, when the ice melts, you have a big jug of cold water for drinking or cooking.
If you're don't have access to a freezer, block ice always lasts longer than ice cubes. However, most commercially available block ice you buy at stores is actually made from squished together ice cubes, and so it melts much faster than ice you freeze yourself.
Get resourceful on refreezing your bottles. If you're camping somewhere that's near a freezer, ask nicely, and you very well might be able to pop a few bottles in a restaurant freezer overnight to give you ice for the next few days.
(Side note on cooler sizes: bigger is always better for ice preservation. It's physics: the more mass of cold you have, the longer it's going to last.)
Use heavy duty shopping bags (or plastic containers) to keep food away from the ice
The last thing you want is your precious food taking a bath in yucky melted ice water, having delicate items getting crushed, or burrowing around to pull out the one thing you need that's worked its way to the bottom. Put all food into large container(s) or plastic reusable shopping bags.
Keeps food totally separate from any ice melt in your cooler.
Lets you quickly grab what you need minimizing the time the cooler lid is open, which helps a lot with ice preservation.
The downside is you lose a tiny bit of storage, but to me the trade-off is worth it.
Start with a couple of good quality reusable plastic shopping bags, like from Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. Note, these may not be completely waterproof, so you might want to test them first. If you follow the previous suggestion of keeping your ice in plastic bottles, the shopping bag(s) will pretty much keep your food perfectly dry. Try to be gentle with delicate produce in these bags; easier said than done.
For plastic tubs, go to a restaurant supply or “Cash and Carry” type store. Google “restaurant supply”. The containers are typically round or square, and come in lots of different sizes. The square shaped ones obviously fit better in a rectangular cooler. Bring your cooler with you to be sure the containers fit.
For my cooler, a 12 quart container fits nicely. Cost, about $12. My main cooler can fit two 12 quart containers side-by-side, with loose ice in the bottom and narrow frozen water bottles in between. If you’re taking a large amount of food, use two containers side-by-side. Try dinner stuff in one and lunch stuff in another, so you can just reach in and grab it and pull out the container you need. Doing this minimizes the time the cooler is open on a hot day, which helps a lot with ice preservation. Put fragile food, like fruit, inside the plastic tub, it can protect it a bit.
If the container stands just a little bit tall for your cooler, don't be shy about cutting off the top to make it fit. A power jigsaw is perfect for this.
Getting ready to pack: Put the bottles in flat on the bottom and the food on top, fill the space between with loose ice cubes and cold cans. Fruit and veggies in the plastic bin (so they don't get squished), everything else in the shopping bag.
Transfer anything liquid from a “snaptop” into sturdy “screw top” containers
Salsa? Hummus? Forget those plastic tubs that they come in. When (not if!) the top comes off inside the cooler you’re going to have a TOTAL mess! (This is also known as ”cooler soup” =^) And yes, I've made that mistake; definitely not recommended.
Repackage into repurposed sturdy plastic screw top containers. Save the empty ones throughout the year, and by summertime you'll have a nice collection. Smaller rectangular containers stack really well and are space efficient. Sauerkraut containers (see the salsa photo below) are especially stout. Talenti ice cream comes in nice reusable screw top jars. Costco has a lot of items in large squarer screw top containers, such as mixed nuts.
Putting a paper container (milk, creamer, orange juice, etc.) straight into your cooler is also asking for trouble. It gets wet, the paper gets weak, and a puncture is highly likely. Instead, transfer liquids into sturdy empty plastic bottles. Tall skinny ones like this are good; they save on space and are easy to grab from above. (And yes, you can freeze milk and half-and-half.)
Eggs? I crack them into a sturdy plastic bottle, pour some half-and-half and give them a shake. They can be frozen, and give perfect scrambled eggs with zero mess once they are thawed.
Cover your cooler with wet fabric, and/or try to keep it in the shade
Take an old, light colored towel, get it wet, and drape over your cooler if it's in the sun, like on a raft or the bed of truck. This gives some evaporative cooling and helps with ice preservation.
If you want to really get fancy you can make a “cozy” for your entire cooler out of mylar coated bubble wrap, called Reflectix. This also keeps direct sun off of your cooler and on a multi day trip can really help with preserving ice.
The main concept is to try to avoid opening your cooler in the heat of the day. When it's cool in the morning, pull out everything you need for lunch from the main cooler and maybe transfer it to something smaller.
Pre-chill or freeze as much food as you can
Coolers are good at keeping food cold, but not so good at making food cold. Avoid putting any warm or room temperature food, especially drinks, into your cooler. Buy your canned beverages already cold, or pre-chill them the night before in another smaller cooler or main fridge and then add to your main cooler the day of your trip. Try to freeze all meat before you put it in the cooler. (If you can prep slice the meat and even put a marinade on it before you put it in the cooler, bonus points for you. The vacuum sealer can be your friend here.) What else can be frozen, like pasta sauce, milk or scrambled eggs? Freeze everything you can.
On a related note, you can pre-chill your entire cooler. Take a few sacrificial bags of ice, put them in the cooler the night before your trip, and then load your pre-chilled food in the day you leave. (If you have access to a walk-in freezer or refrigerator, that makes it a lot easier.) This also works with a smaller flexible fabric type cooler, simply put the whole thing in your fridge or freezer the night before.
Bring an extra cooler just for ice
If you're on a long trip and you have the extra space, consider bringing an additional large cooler just for ice. As the ice melts off in the main food cooler, you can replace it, plus always have clean ice available for beverages.
For the “ice-only” cooler, duct tape the top closed to help eliminate any air drafts, and also reduce any temptation to open it before you really need to.
Bring an extra cooler just for drinks
If you’re planning a trip with lots of, ahem, beverage consumption, a good approach is to have one cooler for food that gets opened only at mealtimes, and an entire separate cooler for beverages, that has mostly loose ice. This keeps thirsty people from constantly opening and closing the main food cooler.
Empty space means warm air, which means your ice is going to melt faster. Ice is cheap. Buy an extra bag or two and fill up the whole cooler completely. If possible, pre-chill all beverages before you put them in the cooler
Add a cover inside your cooler
Cut a piece of closed cell foam pad to fit snugly inside of your cooler, to add a extra insulation. A folded wet towel put inside the lid does much the same thing, preventing your ice from getting blasted by hot air. This can also keep your food away from condensation or any meltwater.
Go a creek nearby? Put your cooler in it!
If you have a cold stream / lake nearby, keep your cooler in it. Of course be sure it doesn’t float away or tip over, that would be a problem. 😉
Did someone give you block ice? Put it in a dry bag
If you're on a river trip and someone donates a block of ice to you, you can put it inside a dry bag, and then put the dry bag in the cooler. This keeps all the meltwater contained.
Try dry ice
Consider using dry ice underneath your frozen water jugs. That can get you an extra day or two of cold. Note that some food does not do well stored with lots of dry ice, like many vegetables. This is more of an issue if you use all dry ice in your cooler. If you have mostly frozen water jugs and a little dry ice, it's gonna be fine.
Divide your food for sections of a longer trip
You're lucky enough to be on a LONG river trip, an extended desert adventure, or anywhere where are you can’t restock ice. Here's one approach:
You need two coolers. Ideally, one is large and well insulated.
Separate your food carefully (I mean carefully!) into the first half of your trip and the latter half of your trip. (Let's say we have a 10 day trip, so call days 1-5 “cooler 1” and days 5-10 “cooler 2”.)
Pack your food (using the tips mentioned above) in each cooler. Make cooler 2 the larger and more insulated one, so you can hopefully pack in a bit more ice.
On cooler 2, duct tape the top closed and write on the tape: “DO NOT OPEN until day 5!” Maybe even make a reflectix cover for it as mentioned above, keep it in the shade as much as possible, and whatever you do, don’t open it until all the food in the first cooler is used up. Simply not ever opening cooler #2 until day 5 is the biggest thing you can do to preserve the ice. The duct tape reminds people not to even think about opening it, as well as sealing up any micro air leaks.
Rappelling overhangs and traverses
Rappelling when you have an overhang and/or a traverse can be especially challenging. Main concept: keep yourself close to the wall by placing gear. Here are some more detailed tips about how to handle it.
Another masterpiece from the Alpinesavvy graphic design department . . . We’re hiring, hint hint. =^)
Rappelling overhanging and/or traversing terrain can be tricky! What if a rappel traverses off to one side to the next anchor (above), but gravity wants to take you straight down? Or how about, you go over the lip, and find yourself hanging in space, unable to reach the rock? How do you handle one or both of these?
(Note: You will hopefully climb for your whole life and never have to do this, because thoughtfully placed rappel routes should avoid such obstacles. But if you're adventure climbing, get off route, have an accident and need-to-get-the-hell-down right now, or have some other weirdness, this tip might save your bacon, so keep it in the tool kit.)
Solution: stay close to the rock, and your required direction, by clipping protection while rappelling.
Consider using some or all of these techniques to reduce your risk and stay close to the wall. Some terms below describe gear you might have on a big wall climb, but the same general ideas work for all rappels.
Especially if the route is overhanging, and if it’s a full rope length, talking/shouting commands (like “Off rappel!”) may be difficult to hear. Have a solid communication plan of silent rope pulls, FRS radios, or something similar so you can clearly communicate.
First person down takes the rack. If you have any sort of a stick clip or a cheater stick (which you might have on an aid climb) bring that as well. First person down keeps aiders and ascenders (if you have them) on their harness in case they need to ascend the rope.
Rig the ropes for a standard rappel, but then fix both strands to the anchor.
Here’s one of several ways to fix the rope. Note the Flemish bend that's joining the two ropes together. While the flat overhand bend would probably be fine here, the Flemish bend is definitely stronger and perhaps a better choice because you're putting all your weight just on one strand of rope.
Consider having the first person down rappel on a single strand with a Grigri. Doing this lets them pendulum as needed, go hands-free (with a backup knot) to place gear and sort out rope tangles, and ascend the rope if needed. Ascending might be required if they rappel past the anchor or find themselves hanging in space. Ascending the rope is much easier on a single strand.
If you don't have a Grigri, be sure and use a third hand autoblock backup.
First person down clips the other (here, white) strand of rope through a quick draw on their harness. This keeps the rope within reach.
First person down places gear (or clips bolts) as they go, to stay close to the wall and in the desired direction. Both rope strands are clipped to the gear.
Note: The first person should not extend these directionals with a long runner. You want to keep the rope as close to the wall as possible. Unlike lead climbing, when doing this can cause rope drag, there’s no rope drag when you’re rappelling. The second person down will be very happy you did not put long slings on your gear placements!
When the first person arrives at the lower anchor, they fix both strands of rope to the anchor with a few extra meters of slack. The slack allows the second person some extra rope to pull themselves closer to the rock to clean gear as needed, and possibly do a lower out. (The second person can also use an untied cordelette as a mini lower out cord, a crafty rope trick discussed in this article.)
SUPER IMPORTANT: The second person removes the knot that’s fixing both strands to the upper anchor.
The second person brings down any heavier backpacks and/or haul bags. Don’t put a heavy backpack on your back. Hang a medium weight pack from your belay loop, or for heavy loads, use the technique of “riding the pig”, as discussed here.
The second person rappels on a standard tube device with an auto block back up. They clean the gear as they rappel. When they get close to the lower anchor, the first person down can pull them in with the slack in the rope.
It is CRUCIAL to maintain control of the ropes at the lower anchor after the second person arrives. This is especially true for rappels that overhang, traverse, and/or in high winds. If you carelessly let go of both rope strands, they could easily swing or blow out of reach, potentially stranding you. Consequences could range from slightly embarrassing to completely lethal! You can minimize the chances of this happening by using the “J loop” technique, where the first person down ties both strands of the rope to the lower anchor. Learn more about the J loop here.
YIKES, don't let this happen to you! Image credit: Andy Kirkpatrick, from his book “Down”, shared with permission. Check out his website, andy-kirkpatrick.com
Image credit: Andy Kirkpatrick
Here's another tip for a traversing rappel: pull the rope strand on the side you’re traversing towards. In the diagram below, the rappel traverses to climber’s right. So, putting the knot on the right side of the anchor will likely result in less friction and easier pull. This applies to single and double rope rappels.
(This is why a knot block was not used in the photo above with the Grigri; it would put the pulling rope on the wrong side of the anchor.) Image credit: Andy Kirkpatrick, from his book, “Down”, shared with permission. Check out his website, andy-kirkpatrick.com
Image credit: Andy Kirkpatrick
Here’s a last ditch crafty rope trick if you ever find yourself free-hanging in space away from the rock. (Disclaimer, I have never tried this, but it sounds like it MIGHT work.)
You need to plan ahead a bit for this with a backpack, a heavy rack, etc.
Lower the backpack below you on an extra length of rope, cordelette, etc. Be sure it is securely tied to your harness so you can’t drop it. Start the backpack swinging back and forth, perpendicular to the rock. In theory, this pendulum motion will also start your body swinging as well, which may bring you in close enough to grab the rock or place some gear.
Have I done this? No!
Does it sound scary? Yes!
Do you want to be on a belay from the second rope or at least have a Grigri so you can go hands-free? Yes!
Is it better to avoid a shenanigan like this whenever possible by placing gear and staying close to the rock? Yes!
Backcountry GPS - map reading still required
A GPS device is an amazing backcountry navigation tool. But it still only gives you straight line bearing and distance to an objective, which is often not an option in the mountains. Augment your GPS with some basic contour reading skills to help you choose the best route.
map made from caltopo
We can get complacent when using GPS for city navigation, because the turn by turn directions are usually close to perfect. But in the backcountry, when your GPS only tells you distance and straight line bearing from one point to another, you often need to add some common sense and basic map reading. Let's look at an example.
You're camped at Lower Hopkins Lake and want to go to the unnamed lake. Using the Gaia GPS app on your phone (my favorite choice), you add a waypoint at the unnamed lake, and then use the “Guide Me” function to get distance and bearing from your current position.
Your phone tells you it’s about 2 miles and a bearing of 250 degrees from your camp to the lake.
Would it be a good idea to follow this bearing ? Why or why not?
A GPS bearing shows only the straight line distance and bearing between two points. It doesn't show what's necessarily a good route choice. Following a direct bearing of 260 degrees would get you into some steep terrain, shown by the contour lines on the hillside that are very close together.
A longer, but probably better route is the green line. It's less steep, which is shown on the map by contour lines that are a bit farther apart.
Do you need a printed map, or necessarily a compass, to get to the lake? Probably not. But the basic skills of reading contours can still come in handy, and even if a GPS device is the only navigation tool you carry. Following a direct line, especially in the mountains, is rarely the best choice.
Map by CalTopo, the best backcountry mapping software.
map made from caltopo
Want to learn the basics of how contour lines show real world terrain? Check out the video below.
Try a "D" carabiner with your Grigri
Because the rope never touches your carabiner when you use a Grigri (or any similar assisted braking device), you can pretty much use any kind of carabiner you like. In fact, Petzl suggests that you don’t use an HMS carabiner.
Out of habit, many climbers always reach for a large, pear shaped, “HMS” belay carabiner anytime they are belaying. (In case you’re wondering what “HMS” means, it’s an acronym for the German, “Halbmastwurf sicherung”, which loosely translates as “Munter hitch belay” carabiner.
However, when using a Grigri (or many similar assisted braking devices) the rope never touches the carabiner. This means you can use pretty much any kind of locker you like. In terms of saving weight, having compact gear, and most importantly the carabiner behaving and staying in proper alignment, using a “D” carabiner may actually be a better choice.
In fact, Petzl recommends it. From the always informative Petzl website:
“Beware of pear-shaped carabiners, which in this application have a tendency to rotate and often become poorly positioned.”
Check out the carabiner recommendations below in this graphic from Petzl. Noticeably absent are the two large HMS carabiners from Petzl, the William and the Attache. (Of course, there are loads of other carabiners from other manufacturers that can be used with a Grigri; I'm using this nice diagram as an example.)
Personally, I’m a fan of the Petzl Sm’D (shown in photo at the top of page.)
To be clear, I’m not saying it's dangerous or incorrect to use an HMS carabiner with a Grigri. However, a “D” carabiner might give you slightly better performance, and be more in line with Petzl’s guidelines.
image: https://www.petzl.com/INT/en/Sport/Choice-of-carabiner-for-attaching-a-GRIGRI-to-the-harness
Here are a few more specialized carabiners that can work well with a Grigri.
Steve House on "Failing Well"
Expert alpinist Steve House has a great YouTube video series called “Alpine Principles”. One of them covers the important if underappreciated topic of how to bail, aka “failing well”. The main concept: Define success as going up, making good decisions, and coming down, not getting to the top at all costs.
Alpinist Steve House has a terrific video on “Failing Well”, part of his concise video series called “Alpine Principles”.
It’s a six minute YouTube video, highly recommended. Takeaways:
Bailing is an inherent part of alpine climbing. It’s a skill that improves with practice.
Making a smart choice and turning around is not shameful, but something to be respected.
Having solid bail technique can give you the confidence to try harder routes, knowing that you can retreat from just about anywhere.
Maintain awareness when ascending. The way up might also be the (unplanned) way down. Remember potential anchor points, problem areas and the correct way to go, especially if the route traverses.
Bailing is often done under stress, tiredness, darkness, bad weather, etc. All the more reason to turn up your focus to counter these compounding factors, and to practice in fair weather without these distractions.
Watch the video here.
What's in my pack: rescue gear by Karsten Delap
A search and rescue (SAR) team may head out on a mission without knowing what they might be getting into. Carrying some carefully selected gear can help you be resourceful and adapt to a mission that might be more technical than you initially thought. This article comes from rescue expert and IFMGA Certified Guide Karsten Delap.
Say you’re on a search and rescue team. You probably have a “go pack” already loaded with the essentials of food, clothing, headlamp, first aid etc., but what about technical gear?
If your callout for a mission involves steeper terrain, having a small prepackaged kit of technical equipment can help you deal with unexpected contingencies. If everyone on your team carries something similar, this gives you lots of room to be resourceful and create more advanced lowering and raising systems if necessary.
Here’s what rescue expert Karsten Delap carries for those missions when you don’t quite know what you might be getting into.
Petzl Altitude Harness (The Petzl Tour harness is a bit cheaper and only a little heavier)
Petzl Connect Adjust personal lanyard
Petzl GriGri
Petzl Micro Traxion
Petzl Reverso (plaquette style device) with round stock carabiner
4 locking HMS carabiners
2 non-locking carabiners
two 5 mm prusik loops
120 cm sewn sling
180 cm sewn sling
21 feet 7 mm cord
small stuff sack to hold everything
Want to learn more about why Karsten chooses this specific kit, and what each item can be used for?
A complete guide to CalTopo: training.caltopo.com
CalTopo, the best backcountry mapping software, now has a comprehensive and user-friendly training website that covers every aspect of this mapping tool. After you learn the basics from some YouTube videos or practicing on your own, go here to take a deeper dive.
CalTopo is the best backcountry mapping software currently available. You can probably figure out the basic functions by pecking around and by watching a short tutorial video like this one; (disclaimer, it's great and it's mine. =^)
However, like a lot of software, it has some powerful features that are not so obvious. Well, good news! As of Dec 2020, the CalTopo team launched an entirely new training website that shows you every nook and cranny of this great navigation tool.
I know this software pretty well, and I still learned several great new tips just in the first few minutes of working on this training website, such as better use of folders, creating a custom layer, and using the new feature Map Sheets.
Here's a screen grab from the CalTopo training homepage.
Here’s the scoop, direct from CalTopo:
“We are excited to share the first section of our new training website (training.caltopo.com) dedicated to using CalTopo, on the web, mobile app, and desktop. We began by creating an All Users section that expands significantly upon our existing knowledge base and aims to address the basics of every function in CalTopo.
We will continue to expand this training site to include additional sections aimed at both First Response and Recreational users of the program. Existing sections will remain up to date as we add new features and improvements.
This training site is our primary resource for all CalTopo questions. Whether you are entirely new to CalTopo or just looking for the details of a specific task or tool, you will find answers in the CalTopo training site. We welcome you to take a look at the site and see if you learn something new!”
The offset quad anchor
The quad anchor, typically tied with a 180 cm Dyneema sling, is an increasingly popular choice for bolted anchors or ice climbing. Here's a variation, the offset quad. This gives you two clipping points at two different levels, which can be helpful in certain situations.
The standard quad anchor works great for many anchor setups where you have two reliable bolts or ice screws. (While you can use a longer cordelette, many people find that a 180 cm or maybe 240 cm Dyneema sling, that’s 10 or 11 mm and fairly new, to be a more compact and lightweight option.)
Here's a simple variation: the “offset quad”. Rather than the standard method of tying it with four loops of the same length, you tie it with a long lower loop and a shorter upper loop. This can be helpful in certain climbing situations, such as:
Climbing with more than two people
Low anchors, where you may want to connect to the lower loop and belay your partner off the higher loop, because it's more ergonomic
Big wall climbing, where multiple staggered clip in points can be helpful
Rigging a redirected lower, where you are lowering on a tube belay device and you need to redirect the brake strand through a higher point. Learn more about a redirected lower at this article.
Rigging a belayed rappel, where you want to redirect the belay through a higher anchor point. (Thanks to a clever Instagram reader for pointing this one out to me, I didn’t think of it.)
Small cautionary note: Check that the angle on the top two loops is ideally less than 90°, otherwise you can start multiplying the load on your anchor points. If the anchors are far apart and/or your sling is a bit short, perhaps you should consider another rigging method, like a standard quad.
Give the offset quad a try and see if it works for you!
Here’s a video from IFMGA certified Rock and Alpine Guide Karsten Delap showing how it's done:
GPS tracks: even better with waypoints
What's better than having a GPS track to help you stay on route? Having a route with waypoints added. This improves your situational awareness with “heads up” navigation, and minimizes time spent staring at your screen. (Saves phone battery too.)
A GPS track file can be a great help in the backcountry to help you stay on route. What’s even better? A track file with waypoints added. Why?
Because a GPS device (an app on your phone like Gaia GPS or a handheld GPS), can tell you distance and bearing between waypoints. This lets you break your trip down into a series of segments from one waypoint to another.
Use the “Guide Me” (or similar) function on your GPS to see the distance and bearing to the next waypoint. Then, set that bearing on your compass to get you started in the right direction, put your phone in your pocket to help save battery, and shift your attention “heads up” to the landscape around you, and away from your screen.
Compare this with a track without waypoints. Here, you don't have any distance and bearing between points, just a line on your screen. In more complicated terrain, or with low visibility, you may need to check your GPS every few minutes to see that you haven’t wandered too far left or right from the track. This runs down your battery, leads to “heads down” travel, and decreases your situational awareness by shifting your focus on your screen, and not the terrain.
One other benefit to adding waypoints, especially if you’re using our favorite desktop mapping software CalTopo, is with the Pro level subscription and up, you can easily make what CalTopo calls a “Trip Plan”. This is a very helpful table showing all of your waypoints, and the distance, elevation gain, and estimated travel time between each one. We cover this helpful tool and a lot more detail at this article.
Of course, some terrain is more suited to doing this than others. Traveling above timberline in an alpine setting is generally pretty easy, down lower in the trees maybe not.
Here's a screen grab of a CalTopo trip plan for a ski tour around Mt. Hood:
Fixing a rope: Two knots to know
Securing one end of a rope to two anchor points, a.k.a. “fixing” the rope, can be handy in certain climbing situations. With some clever rigging, you can simply use the rope, with no slings or other cordage required. Here are two standard ways to do it: the bunny ears figure 8 and the Y hang.
This tip was written with the help of Bryan Hall, who is certified by the Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT) at their highest level.
Plus, high fives to Mikey Stevenson at The Rope Access and Climbing Podcast for making the nice video below that shows how to tie these two knots.
If you need to tie (aka “fix”) one end of a rope to two solid anchor points, you have many options.
Make a single master point from a sling and two carabiners, tie a bight knot, and clip the rope to it
Clove hitch to one bolt, tie a bight knot to the other bolt
You could use more exotic flavors of the bowline to make it easier to untie.
The example below are common in the rope rigging world, where strength and simplicity are guiding principles. Climbers should find these pretty easy to learn.
While it's not so common in day-to day climbing, there are some situations when you may need to fix a rope:
Big wall climbing, such as leading a pitch or two from the ground or your bivy, leaving the rope there overnight, and then ascending it the next morning to get a head start.
Needing to descend from a climb quickly, for some emergency reason (injury, lightning storm, darkness, etc.). You fix the rope, rappel the single strand, leave the rope there and (hopefully) come back and get it later.
Top rope soloing - get in lots of climbing time without boring your belayer to tears. (Note, rope soloing is an advanced skill. Please get qualified instruction before you do this.)
Some type of instruction scenario, where climbers are coming up one rope, and then rappelling down on another rope, which may be a single fixed line.
Other kinds of specialized rigging, like photography, caving or route setting.
General safety note about rope fixing: Keep the tail of the knot about 1 foot / 30 cm, no longer. The length of your forearm is a quick guideline. That's long enough to make the knot secure, but not so long that someone might make the potentially lethal mistake of rappelling off of the knot’s tail instead of the actual strand of rope. Yes, this sadly has happened. Proper length tails prevent it.
We're going to cover two methods, the bunny ears figure 8 and the Y hang. Here’s a nice video from rigging expert Mikey Stevenson at The Rope Access and Climbing Podcast showing how it's done. (The instruction on the knots starts about 2:50). Check out Mikey's YouTube channel for lots more expert rigging videos like this.
Method 1 - ”Bunny Ears” Figure 8
The bunny ears works well to secure one end of a rope to anchor points that are more or less side-by-side. This is a variation on the figure 8 on a bight, but you end up with two loops Instead of one. This one may take some practice, especially dressing the knot properly so there are minimal twists. Tip: start with making a larger bight than you think you need.
One cool thing about the bunny ears figure 8 is that the ears are adjustable. You can feed a bit of slack from one loop and pull it to the other side. This can help distribute the load more equally between two anchor points. You can do this when the knot is loose; after you snug it down, you can't adjust the ears.
Some people are concerned that the bunny ears figure 8 is not redundant, meaning if one strand were to be cut, it would pull through and the other strand would fail. This has been tested, and it doesn’t happen, so yes, the knot is redundant.
Method 2 - The “Y hang”
The Y hang can be helpful if the anchor points are vertically offset, if the load is coming from one side, or if the anchor points are side-by-side but somewhat far apart.
And, to be accurate, it's not really a single knot; it's a combination of two. That's why it's nice - it uses two knots every climber should be familiar with (as opposed to the seldom-used bunny ears figure 8.)
First, tie a figure 8 on a bight in one end of the rope. Make it tidy, with a small loop not much bigger than your hand, and a tail of about 12 inches / 30 cm. Clip it to the top anchor with a locker.
Next, tie a butterfly knot down the rope a bit. As shown in the video, the size of the loop can be adjusted by feeding rope into or away from the loop as needed. You will probably have to adjust it; tying a butterfly with the correct size loop on the first try is pretty rare.
Clip the butterfly loop to the second anchor point with a locking carabiner. When you weight the main rope, the load should be more or less equally distributed between the two anchors. (In the photo below it looks like there's a bit of slack going to the top anchor, but when the rope is weighted, the load is distributed pretty well.)
“Would a directional figure 8 could work here instead of a butterfly?” The answer is yes, but as far as I know it doesn't really offer any advantages. Australian rigging expert Rich Delaney said something to the effect of “a butterfly knot does everything a directional figure 8 can do”, and I tend to agree with him. IMHO, if you can tie a butterfly, there's not really a need for a directional figure 8 in recreational climbing.
What’s in my pack: backcountry ski kit by Colin Zacharias
Have a look what backcountry ski expert and IFMGA Guide Colin Zacharias carries for a day trip in this excellent YouTube video. (You'll never guess what the wine corks are for . . .)
I love “what’s in my pack” style videos (or second best, reading an article) by real experts.
Here’s an excellent one from Colin Zacharias. Colin is an Association of Canadian Mountain Guides (ACMG) and IFMGA certified guide, who has been ski guiding for decades. His gear is dialed, comprehensive, and fits nicely in a 30 liter pack.
Of course everyone will take away different things from a video like this, but here are a few cool tricks that were new to me.
How to use wine corks (?!) to make a rescue sled
Get a snow saw that can do double duty as a wood saw
Some specialized first aid gear for leg injuries more common with skiers
Check out the video link below to help get your ski gear dialed in.