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 Tech Tip - Sport - Redpoint Resting
By Brittany Griffith - “Just dirt me!” I squawked. Hopelessly hanging 10 feet from the anchor for the umpteenth time, I was nearing tears. A local, who had the route ruthlessly wired, coolly suggested that I “work the rest” more.  Tech Tip - Training - Amino-Acid Trip
By Kyle Vassilopoulos - It’s probably happened at one time or another: menacing thoughts about energy deficits hurting your climbing performance, keeping you up at night. Unfortunately, climbers don’t always have the best methods for maintaining. We often go on harmful, unhealthy diets. And the dirtbagging approach to eating often proves detrimental, too.  Tech Tip - Sport - Flash Pump Begone!
By Matt Samet - Now you’ve done it — you wanted to wow the entourage, so you warmed up on a route two number grades harder than usual, hoping you would style. You were pumped at bolt two, but hung on anyway, scrapping and flailing skyward out of sheer stubbornness.  Tech Tip - Sport - Developing über strength
By Eric J. Hörst - Want to increase your maximum strength and power? Would you like to feel stronger on small handholds and increase your prowess on dynamic moves? Are you stuck in a performance plateau and need a boost to surmount it?  Tech Tip - Alpine - The soft-knot method
By Dave Nettle - I actually began to focus on the glacier travel and realized that there’s a more versatile and functional way to rope up, especially for climbers who travel in a party of two and want to keep their equipment to a minimum.  Tech Tip - Big Wall - Portaledge cooking
By Mark Synnott - For alpine big-wall climbing, a stove is mandatory for melting snow. A butane-canister hanging stove is the way to go for almost all domestic wall-climbing trips as it is easier to maintain and operate, and less prone to accidents (read: fireballs) than a liquid-fuel stove.  Tech Tip - Ice - Assessing mixed-route placements
By Ryan Nelson - Eye your holds. As with rock climbing, studying the route’s features from the ground allows you to build a mental roadmap of the best sequence without getting pumped.  Tech Tip - bouldering - Avoiding the beached whale
By Chris Van Leuven - You’ve just hiked the crux of your latest proj. Just a few easy moves and a nasty topout separate you from victory. You stick the final grips with ease, and pull up to the lip. Then it hits you: Your feet are way off the deck, and you’re not sure what to do next.  Tech Tip - Trad - Sidewinder
By Craig Luebben - On the first ascent of the striking parallel-sided squeeze chimney Sidewinder, in Long Canyon, near Moab, I reached a spot where the crack was just wider than the length of my foot. I was struggling for every inch of progress with my body in a vertical orientation.  Tech Tip - Trad - Fancy feet
By Jared Ogden - Ever feel puzzled by how to best utilize your feet on crack climbs? Splitters can feel desperate if you don’t have solid footwork. Whether you’re heading out to send your granite nemesis, or to the cracks of Indian Creek, these techniques will have you better prepared for tight fingers to loose hands.  Tech Tip - Sport - A faster belay
Mechanical-assist belay devices — the Petzl Grigri and Trango Cinch — are popular both at the cliff and in the gym. Many people favor these units for single-pitch climbing and hangdog sessions, but using them properly is key to using them safely.  Tech Tip - Alpine - The ultimate alpine kitchen
Cooking is the art of necessity in the alpine world. Given the choice, I’d rather have linguine with sun-dried tomatoes, clams, and parmesan cheese than ramen noodles any day, especially when I’m fueling up for a big climb.  Tech Tip - Big Wall - Copperheading
Copperheads are a quintessential foundation of granite aid climbing, and my favorite modern-aid-climbing tool. Every aid climber should know how to engineer a copperhead placement, even if it’s just to replace the odd one that rips out on a Yosemite trade route.  Tech Tip - Big Wall - Hang Your Stove
While there are excellent commercial hanging stoves available, they have two disadvantages. First, they are costly, and second, they only run on canister fuel, which has its problems in cold weather.  Tech Tip - Trad - A safe retreat
Climb enough trad routes and you’re bound to find yourself high on a wall, forced to bail. Good planning and an efficient process can help you escape quickly and safely. |
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