Traditional Climbing

Traditional climbing requires more knowledge and practice than other forms of rock climbing, because you have to place and remove all of your own protection. Our in-depth articles will help you learn the ropes quicker and be a safer, more successful climber.

  • Climb Fast and Efficient with Tips by Alex Honnold

    Pick up a copy of Climbing's May issue for an article on Alex Honnold's best tips and tricks for how to pack more pitches into the day. Here, additional techniques. Approach: While hiking to the crag, you might have to shed a layer or two. Most people stop, take off their layers, pack them away, then continue. I prefer not to stop, so I pop one arm out of the pack’s shoulder strap, slide the layer off this arm, then repeat on the other side. Then I wrap the layer around one shoulder strap of my pack, effectively hanging it near my waist. Voilà, no extra stops on the hike.

  • Chimney-Rest-Stem

    Rest for Success

    The best way to maximize your staying power for enduro-packed routes is by resting more often and more efficiently during the climb. You may do endless training laps for stamina, but learning to cop strategic rests mid-route is more likely to win you the onsight on any terrain.

  • Lowering-on-Multi-Pitches

    Lower Away!

    Outside of single-pitch sport climbing, lowering isn’t a common practice, and most climbers will choose to rappel anything longer than one pitch. However, descending at maximum efficiency on long routes should include lowering techniques as well as rappelling. Lowering the first climber with the second rappelling can speed up descents on multi-pitch routes—and alleviate common rope problems.

  • How-to-Fall-Safely

    How to Fall

    Falling is essential for advancing as a rock climber. The saying goes, “If you aren’t falling, you aren’t trying hard enough.” To progress, you need to try moves that are at the edge of your ability—or beyond—and when you try that hard, you will fall. Toprope falls are the safest, but falling also can be quite safe on well-protected lead climbs, as long as you have good technique and a solid belayer.

  • How-to-Poop-in-the-Woods

    Guide to Going Number Two

    Shit happens. The average person generates just more than one pound of poop every day, according to the World Health Organization. As the number of people visiting crags grows, so do the pounds of poo left behind. This requires some strategic practices. Few things are as foul as seeing a pile of feces topped with toilet paper hiding behind a rock—plus, poor crag etiquette can endanger access and pose public health concerns.

  • How-to-Cut-a-Climbing-Rope

    Cutting a Rope

    The first 15 feet on either end of your rope gets by far the most use, wear, and friction. You’re constantly tying into that section, and, more important, the rope absorbs the impact of most falls there, so that part gets a lot of abrasion from carabiners. These parts will get fat, frayed, fuzzy, and after time will generally look different from the rest of the cord. Even after one season with a rope, you can end up with bad ends and a near-new-looking middle portion.

  • Efficient-Racking-Harness-Featured

    Efficient Racking

    Successful and swift traditional climbing is all about efficiency. You can’t squander minutes searching for the perfect piece, drain strength by over-gripping while you untangle runners from your cams, or waste energy by lugging up unnecessary weight. Mayan Smith-Gobat knows a thing or two about smart racking, with multiple speed records broken on the Nose of El Cap this year.

  • Extension Basics

    Extending gear means clipping a long sling to a piece of climbing protection (bolts or traditional pro), and it is a vital part of learning to lead, especially on long, blocky, or wandering routes. The top two reasons for extending a placement are minimizing rope drag and keeping the rope from levering out pieces (especially nuts) or causing cams to "walk."

  • Rappel-to-Ascend-Fig-3-660

    Rappel to Ascend

    The shadows are growing long across the desert as you rappel off the neo-classic Birdland (5.7+) in Red Rock, Nevada, after a successful ascent. In your haste to beat darkness (and avoid the resulting expensive ticket at the park gate), you forgot to grab the rack off the ledge before you started the rappel. Midway down the rappel, you realize your blunder. What to do? Time to go back up—and fast!

  • Save-Yourself-660

    Save Yourself! A Guide to Self-Rescue

    Climbing is dangerous. And that's part of the fun, isn't it? We learn many standard steps to manage risk and prevent bad things from happening: Double-check knots! Pack a headlamp! Back everything up! But someday the shit may hit the fan, and you’ll be faced with a scary and dangerous situation. Do you have the skills to get yourself and your partner back alive?

  • Wet-Rope Myths Debunked

    By the very nature of our sport, there will come a time when you’re faced with using a wet rope. Can you safely rappel on it? Can you lead on it? Will water permanently damage the rope? Instead of making an “educated guess” in the alpine, learn the basics here to guide your decisions in the field. We polled five leading rope companies to see what they had to say about the strength of a rope before, during, and after being exposed to water.

  • Long-Rappel-Short-Rope-158

    Long Rappel, Short Rope

    Do you always know the exact length of every rappel? At some point in your climbing career, you will probably encounter a rappel that is unknown but looks too long for your measly single line. Instead of tossing the rope, crossing your fingers, and getting to the ends of your rope only to discover that, yes, your rope is too short, there is a simple technique to deal with such a situation.