TRAD KNOWLEDGE BASE
Traditionally rock climbing knowledge has been passed from one person to another. Today, climbing has become main stream in terms of accessibility and popularity. Climbing knowledge and experience is being lost with the current generation due to the lack of mentorship and community. Rock climbing gyms are a great example of this, when you see new climbers (or experienced climbers) making common mistakes due to lack of training, equipment fundamentals, what is considered safe, and standard practices to maintain some threshold of safety and risk management. Finding someone to teach you in person is the best way to learn and grow as a climber.
Taking classes can be beneficial, but as soon as you step outside you are performing on your own, no one is there to say whether or not you did it correctly. Watching a few YouTube videos and getting certified to belay from a rock climbing gym does not qualify you for going outside. The gym is a controlled and managed environment, unlike outside which can be unpredictable and put you in situations that will put your climbing knowledge to the test, so that you and your partner can make it home safely.
In an effort to utilize modern technology, create community, and transfer knowledge of all things trad climbing, to my fellow climbers and friends. The following is a compilation of things you should learn.
Be passionate about your sport and always be learning. Outdoor climbing can be unforgiving.
Taking classes can be beneficial, but as soon as you step outside you are performing on your own, no one is there to say whether or not you did it correctly. Watching a few YouTube videos and getting certified to belay from a rock climbing gym does not qualify you for going outside. The gym is a controlled and managed environment, unlike outside which can be unpredictable and put you in situations that will put your climbing knowledge to the test, so that you and your partner can make it home safely.
In an effort to utilize modern technology, create community, and transfer knowledge of all things trad climbing, to my fellow climbers and friends. The following is a compilation of things you should learn.
Be passionate about your sport and always be learning. Outdoor climbing can be unforgiving.
climbEr/belayer standards
- Belayer stands off to the side, so in the event of a fall the climber does not hit the rope on the way down.
- Climber is responsible for preventing loose rocks from hitting the belayer, which ultimately keeps the climber safe.
- Upon exiting a belay station, climber needs to place a piece of gear as soon as possible to redirect load off the primary anchor in the event of a fall. This is very important to remove the risk of shock loading the static anchor lines or taking out your belayer.
- Belayer should be below the master point of the anchor with their Personal Anchor System (PAS) tight to the master point. This prevents shock load of anchor if belayer falls, and reduces risk of pulling the climber off the wall if the belayer losses balance.
- Belayer should not take the climber off belay without asking: "Are you safe?", "yes", "taking you off", "ok". After the verbal confirmation, I double check with a visual to assess if they are safely on the ledge and are comfortable or safely tied into the anchor for situational awareness.
- When passing gear, hold onto gear in a manner that can be transfered to another hand the same way. Do not pass a handful of gear that is not neatly stacked or laid together. Best practice is to clip gear to a PAS and let the other person grab it from there.
- Do not set any gear down on the ground. Everything must be clipped to something that is anchored to the wall.
- Before starting the climb, go over non-verbal rope commands and personal belaying preferences.
- It is the belayers job to manage the rope between pitches or delegate it to followers. Neatly pile or coil rope over your PAS to keep belay ledge clean and all of the rope accessible. Do not let the rope be flaked off of the belay position to prevent it from getting caught or stuck (happens frequently).
top anchors
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Safely securing yourself after climbing to an anchor can be the hardest gear placements and highest risk situation during the entire climb. As both climbers approach the belay station, your risk of complete protection failure increases. Test your anchors but never completely rely on them if a ledge or foot hold allows you to stand freely. Hanging belays add even more variables to the situation, avoid them if possible.
While you are climbing, keep in mind that you do not know what kind of gear placements will be at the next belay. Be aware of the length of rope you have left, if verbal commands are appropriate, the belayer should be giving you estimates at half, quarter, and every 10 ft for the remainder of the rope. Since you want to place a minimum of three pieces, begin looking for a belay ledge when you are down to about 5-7 pieces. This will increase the odds that you will have gear that fits in the wall. Sometimes it is better and faster to just setup a belay short of the route beta, instead of struggling to create a top anchor on limited gear, or running out of gear. Sometimes you need to get creative with your anchors, look for natural robust rock features that can be slung or encircled for protection to save the use of a cam. Carrying a 30 ft loop of 7mm or thicker cordelette should be good enough for most situations where thin pro is encountered. In combination with slings, cordelette can also be used for bail gear. |
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Top Anchor Notes:
- Minimum three pieces of protection. Marginal pieces count as half.
- Never set an anchor that you wouldn't fall on, or would comment on. It's your partners life that is more at risk with a bad anchor.
- Check rock quality for hollow noises, movement, brittleness and debre.
- Do not exceed 60 degree angles from the direction of pull for any given piece. The load applied to the pieces is increased the wider the angle. Extend or move the pieces to decrease angles. See this interesting video (Click Here)
- If the carabiners are touching rock, use locking carabiners. Use a minimum of one locking carabiner to attach master point to protection.
- Belayer should not be part of the anchor system, belay should be directly off the master point. In the event of a climber rescue, being free for the belay increases the options you have.
- Check bolted anchors for material quality, surrounding rock quality, and wear on anchors. If possible, set a backup piece for bolted anchors or just use your gear. Avoid old anchors without a screwed on nut or hex head, these are called button heads, and are probably older than you are.
Trad three+ point Anchor Methods-Magic X (No Videos Available)
-Overhand on bite (Click here) -Figure eight on a bite (Click Here) -Rope anchor (Click Here) -Equalizing figure eight (Click Here) |
Fixed two bolt anchor methods-Opposing quickdraw (No Videos Available)
-Magic X (Click Here) -Magic X w/ limiting knots (Click Here) -Overhand on a bite (Click Here) -Swamp (Click Here) -Equalett (Click Here) |
Multi-Pitch
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Multi pitch climbing is, in my opinion, the ultimate goal of outdoor rock climbing. The ability to tackle huge faces, long traversing climbs, and summiting mountain peaks.
In order to do that you will want to develop your multi-pitch skills. Some of the videos shown in this section are a good starting point (more videos linked to the red button), to understand the fundamentals of how you get multiple people up a wall without returning to the start. Basics: -Minimum of two people (leader and follower) -Recommend limiting parties to 4 climbers, if possible split groups into teams or 2 or 3. -Each party will require their own rack of gear. -# of ropes required per party = (# of people) minus 1. -Belay devices require guide loop (Click here for examples) -Leader starts climbing, creates an anchor and top belays each follower to that anchor point. Each follower will be climbing on the prior climbers trail rope, and will be trailing a second rope for additional followers. -The last follower cleans the previous anchor and starts climbing. Once each follower is to the anchor the leader starts climbing again and repeats the process. -Two methods for descending the route, walking off the top if the terrain permits it, or rappelling off at rap stations or bolted anchors. |
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Reppel (absail)
It's the end of the climb, the day, you're physically exhausted after sending your 5.6 project. It's time to get back down. If a walk off is not an option, repelling is required to get off the rock. In regards to mistakes that climbers can make, this is when it's most likely going to happen with the most possibilities of catastrophic failure.
Learning proper techniques for tying two ropes together for a repel is very important. Click Here for a good explanation.
Learning proper techniques for tying two ropes together for a repel is very important. Click Here for a good explanation.
Protection
Unless you are bouldering or soloing a route, you will need bring protection with you to ensure you don't kill yourself. There has been a lot of major break throughs in the design of protection, but in general it comes down to passive or active placements. Below I walk through the different major types.
Piece of advice: Just because you don't own it doesn't mean you don't need to know how to place it. I use my friends racks all the time and inevitably have to be comfortable placing their preferred types of protection.
Passive Placement:
Definition: Wedge style protection that relies on the a constriction to prevent pull out. no moving parts, and usually consists of a metal tapered shape and a metal wire with a loop at the end to clip to. Typical names include, chock stones, stoppers, or nuts.
Nuts:
Definition: Metal shape at the end of a wire. Size and shape varies based on the manufacturer. Generally grouped into micro nuts (sub-finger sizes) and normal nuts (finger and larger). Different metals are utilized, generally aluminum for normal size nuts, and brass or copper for very tiny nuts to improve surface contact. Tip 1: play with placing nuts in different orientations, some manufacturers have sized each face of the nut to be a half size bigger or smaller. Tip 2: If you have to bail off of a route, its less painful leaving a nut than other types of protection, just make sure its bomber.
Hexes:
Definition: Specific shape/style of stopper with option for active cam action. Hexes come in the same size and much larger sizes than normal nuts and are intended to take place of cams when you get into the larger sizes. Due to the shape, hexes can be placed passively or with an active cam action due to the offset parallel faces and offset anchor point. Tip: Works best in semi constricting/parallel wide cracks.
Cams: (!!check manufacture ratings!!)
Definition: a normal cam placed without the lobes activated. Usually applicable to inward flaring cracks with narrow entrance. Slide your cam into the crack and let it open up all the way. Make sure if you are going to place cams in this manner that you know your gear can take it. Black diamond for example, only double axle cams are rated for passive placements (0.3 and larger) as single axle cam lobes can invert themselves.
Active Placement:
Cams:
Definition: Spring loaded camming devices (SLCDs) generates force perpendicular to the direction of loading through a mechanical action. Generally speaking an optimized design has a contact angle of 13.75 degrees as discovered by Ray Jardine in 1978. Utilizing a logarithmic spiral shape you can attain the desired angle at any point of contact along the lobe (interesting facts). Allows you to protect varying sizes of parallel/non parallel cracks.
Hybrid Placement:
Ball nuts (spring loaded wedge):
Definition: Spring loaded double wedge, allowing you to change the width of the nut. Same as cams, the spring loaded wedge increases the operating range of a single piece of gear and allows you to place passive protection with the added bonus of spring loaded wedge applying outward pressure. Really good protection for very small cracks that might not have a definite constriction. Effectively "cams" for really small cracks 3.7mm-17.5mm. Almost effortless to remove unlike micro nuts.
Tube chocks (Trango Big Bro):
Definition: Cylindrical tube that (preferably) expands to the desired width, creates camming action from the combination of a passive placement and an offset anchor point. Sizes vary from 3" to 12" from just 4 different sizes pieces (#1-#4 Trango Big Bro). These are the ideal protection for very wide cracks. Trango (Big Bro) is currently the only manufacturer of expandable tube style chocks. Tip: unless you are doing crazy off width crack climbing you won't need these.
Tri-cams:
Definition: Three pointed nut with a sling that runs around a curved side to create a rotation. Generally best used in horizontal cracks or cracks that are just off parallel to protect with a nut. These can be very tricky to place and takes a lot of practice to ensure that the piece will be solid. My two cents is that i do not like tri-cams but I'll let you be the judge.
Piece of advice: Just because you don't own it doesn't mean you don't need to know how to place it. I use my friends racks all the time and inevitably have to be comfortable placing their preferred types of protection.
Passive Placement:
Definition: Wedge style protection that relies on the a constriction to prevent pull out. no moving parts, and usually consists of a metal tapered shape and a metal wire with a loop at the end to clip to. Typical names include, chock stones, stoppers, or nuts.
Nuts:
Definition: Metal shape at the end of a wire. Size and shape varies based on the manufacturer. Generally grouped into micro nuts (sub-finger sizes) and normal nuts (finger and larger). Different metals are utilized, generally aluminum for normal size nuts, and brass or copper for very tiny nuts to improve surface contact. Tip 1: play with placing nuts in different orientations, some manufacturers have sized each face of the nut to be a half size bigger or smaller. Tip 2: If you have to bail off of a route, its less painful leaving a nut than other types of protection, just make sure its bomber.
Hexes:
Definition: Specific shape/style of stopper with option for active cam action. Hexes come in the same size and much larger sizes than normal nuts and are intended to take place of cams when you get into the larger sizes. Due to the shape, hexes can be placed passively or with an active cam action due to the offset parallel faces and offset anchor point. Tip: Works best in semi constricting/parallel wide cracks.
Cams: (!!check manufacture ratings!!)
Definition: a normal cam placed without the lobes activated. Usually applicable to inward flaring cracks with narrow entrance. Slide your cam into the crack and let it open up all the way. Make sure if you are going to place cams in this manner that you know your gear can take it. Black diamond for example, only double axle cams are rated for passive placements (0.3 and larger) as single axle cam lobes can invert themselves.
Active Placement:
Cams:
Definition: Spring loaded camming devices (SLCDs) generates force perpendicular to the direction of loading through a mechanical action. Generally speaking an optimized design has a contact angle of 13.75 degrees as discovered by Ray Jardine in 1978. Utilizing a logarithmic spiral shape you can attain the desired angle at any point of contact along the lobe (interesting facts). Allows you to protect varying sizes of parallel/non parallel cracks.
Hybrid Placement:
Ball nuts (spring loaded wedge):
Definition: Spring loaded double wedge, allowing you to change the width of the nut. Same as cams, the spring loaded wedge increases the operating range of a single piece of gear and allows you to place passive protection with the added bonus of spring loaded wedge applying outward pressure. Really good protection for very small cracks that might not have a definite constriction. Effectively "cams" for really small cracks 3.7mm-17.5mm. Almost effortless to remove unlike micro nuts.
Tube chocks (Trango Big Bro):
Definition: Cylindrical tube that (preferably) expands to the desired width, creates camming action from the combination of a passive placement and an offset anchor point. Sizes vary from 3" to 12" from just 4 different sizes pieces (#1-#4 Trango Big Bro). These are the ideal protection for very wide cracks. Trango (Big Bro) is currently the only manufacturer of expandable tube style chocks. Tip: unless you are doing crazy off width crack climbing you won't need these.
Tri-cams:
Definition: Three pointed nut with a sling that runs around a curved side to create a rotation. Generally best used in horizontal cracks or cracks that are just off parallel to protect with a nut. These can be very tricky to place and takes a lot of practice to ensure that the piece will be solid. My two cents is that i do not like tri-cams but I'll let you be the judge.
climbing terminology
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Half the time it sounds like we are speaking gibberish or trying to confuse people with what everyone says is great beta but is just a string of words that makes no sense. I am still learning all of the lingo, but here is a start of what things mean.
Below is the most used terms to get you started, for a more extensive list check out this website (Click here) |
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Beta Sprayers: (Term - Definition)
Take - "Take" the rope tight, I am tired or about to fall (depending on how scared they sound).
Slack - Give me more rope, I need more "slack". Not to be confused with Black.
Foot Chip - Small holds generally too small for hand hold.
Foot, Hand, Finger Jam - sticking body parts into a crack and creating a wedge/cam effect.
Send - Finishing a route without falling.
Red Point - Finishing a lead route without falling or taking after previous attempts.
Flash - Finishing a lead route without falling or taking on the first attempt after receiving beta.
On-site - Finishing a lead route without falling or taking on the first attempt without beta.
Wall Features: (Term - Definition)
Arette - Narrow ridge of rock or outward facing corner.
Dihedral - Two faces coming together resembling an open book.
Ledge - Flat horizontal ledge on a rock face.
Face - Continuous rock wall (not cracks).
Crack - Break in the face where there is a gap between each side.
Crimp - Face feature just big enough to grab with the finger tips.
Foot Chip - Face feature too small for fingers but good enough for feet.
Pocket - Face feature where the rock is eroded away in just one spot forming a hole. Mono pocket for single finger size.
Jug - Face feature big enough for your entire hand to grab.
Pinch - Face feature where you grab opposite sides in a pinching manner.
Sloper - Face feature of inclined rock where you place your hand flat on the wall to generate fricton
Flake - Crack feature where the rock has a thinner leaf like section over the main face.
Chock Stone - Crack feature where a loose rock has become wedged in a crack.
Death Block - Wall feature where a medium to large size rock is sitting unattached to anything.
Volume - Gym wall feature where other holds can be attached to it.
Gear: (Term - Definition)
ATC - Common friction belay device typically associated with the Black Diamond ATC.
Auto Block - Belay devices or belaying style that arrests the rope without assistance.
Passive Protection - Protection generally without moving parts that act as a wedge.
Active Protection - Protection that generate friction through a mechanical action.
Friends - Original term for cam, now associated with Wild Country Cams called "friends".
TCU - Metolius cams with three lobes and a direct axle style.
C3 - Black Diamond cams
C4 - Black Diamond cams
X4 - Black Diamond cams
Static Rope - Rope without any elongation. Typically used for anchors and canyoneering.
Dynamic Rope - Rope with elongation. Typical used for rock climbing or to catch a dynamic fall.
Take - "Take" the rope tight, I am tired or about to fall (depending on how scared they sound).
Slack - Give me more rope, I need more "slack". Not to be confused with Black.
Foot Chip - Small holds generally too small for hand hold.
Foot, Hand, Finger Jam - sticking body parts into a crack and creating a wedge/cam effect.
Send - Finishing a route without falling.
Red Point - Finishing a lead route without falling or taking after previous attempts.
Flash - Finishing a lead route without falling or taking on the first attempt after receiving beta.
On-site - Finishing a lead route without falling or taking on the first attempt without beta.
Wall Features: (Term - Definition)
Arette - Narrow ridge of rock or outward facing corner.
Dihedral - Two faces coming together resembling an open book.
Ledge - Flat horizontal ledge on a rock face.
Face - Continuous rock wall (not cracks).
Crack - Break in the face where there is a gap between each side.
Crimp - Face feature just big enough to grab with the finger tips.
Foot Chip - Face feature too small for fingers but good enough for feet.
Pocket - Face feature where the rock is eroded away in just one spot forming a hole. Mono pocket for single finger size.
Jug - Face feature big enough for your entire hand to grab.
Pinch - Face feature where you grab opposite sides in a pinching manner.
Sloper - Face feature of inclined rock where you place your hand flat on the wall to generate fricton
Flake - Crack feature where the rock has a thinner leaf like section over the main face.
Chock Stone - Crack feature where a loose rock has become wedged in a crack.
Death Block - Wall feature where a medium to large size rock is sitting unattached to anything.
Volume - Gym wall feature where other holds can be attached to it.
Gear: (Term - Definition)
ATC - Common friction belay device typically associated with the Black Diamond ATC.
Auto Block - Belay devices or belaying style that arrests the rope without assistance.
Passive Protection - Protection generally without moving parts that act as a wedge.
Active Protection - Protection that generate friction through a mechanical action.
Friends - Original term for cam, now associated with Wild Country Cams called "friends".
TCU - Metolius cams with three lobes and a direct axle style.
C3 - Black Diamond cams
C4 - Black Diamond cams
X4 - Black Diamond cams
Static Rope - Rope without any elongation. Typically used for anchors and canyoneering.
Dynamic Rope - Rope with elongation. Typical used for rock climbing or to catch a dynamic fall.
climbing techniques
Outside of being there to show you all of the moves, I think a description of each technique will at least let you recognize what other climbers are doing and help you get a feel for what kind of moves are even an option if you are not very majestic moving up the wall.
Basic
Center of Gravity: keep your belly button between your feet to ensure you will stay balanced.
Feet First: keep your arms straight to conserve energy, use your legs to lift your body (larger muscles = easier).
Breathe: keep the exchange of oxygen going to feed your movements and keep you relaxed, otherwise you will loose strength, or pass out.
Relax/slow down: climbing faster will do nothing but make your hands sweaty and zap your energy. slow down, breath, rest on good holds.
Feet First: keep your arms straight to conserve energy, use your legs to lift your body (larger muscles = easier).
Breathe: keep the exchange of oxygen going to feed your movements and keep you relaxed, otherwise you will loose strength, or pass out.
Relax/slow down: climbing faster will do nothing but make your hands sweaty and zap your energy. slow down, breath, rest on good holds.
Intermediate
Wedging your elbow and hand between two points.Flagging: balance your body in your current position by sticking your leg out for stability.
Smearing: just because there is no hold doesn't mean you cant press your foot against the wall to help lift yourself.
Drop Knee: instead of looking like a frog, rotate one of your knees to the interior so the outside of the thigh is touching the wall.
Hips to the Wall: closer to the wall = less effort required. whichever arm you are reaching with, put that hip against the wall.
Switch Feet: feet out of order to step up the next hold? switch feet with a little hop and placing the new foot under the other.
Gaston: elbows up, hands opposing each other and pulling against each other. used for lateral transitions to another hold usually.
Beached Whale: pull your chest up onto a ledge, and wiggle that body to get the hips up and then the legs.
Arm Bar: Wedging your elbow and hand between two points.
Knee Bar: Wedging your knee and foot between two points.
Smearing: just because there is no hold doesn't mean you cant press your foot against the wall to help lift yourself.
Drop Knee: instead of looking like a frog, rotate one of your knees to the interior so the outside of the thigh is touching the wall.
Hips to the Wall: closer to the wall = less effort required. whichever arm you are reaching with, put that hip against the wall.
Switch Feet: feet out of order to step up the next hold? switch feet with a little hop and placing the new foot under the other.
Gaston: elbows up, hands opposing each other and pulling against each other. used for lateral transitions to another hold usually.
Beached Whale: pull your chest up onto a ledge, and wiggle that body to get the hips up and then the legs.
Arm Bar: Wedging your elbow and hand between two points.
Knee Bar: Wedging your knee and foot between two points.
Advanced
Dyno: jumping to the next hold, completely committing to the current action.
Campus: hands only monkey bar style up the wall. typically on very positive (overhanging) angle walls.
Foot Compression: toe hook one foot, and press in the opposite direction with another foot to gain friction on a hold.
Heel Hook: use your heel to pull on a hold that you can't get a good angle to step on normally.
Toe Hook: use the top of your toes to hook a hold when pushing is not an option with that foot.
Mantle: use your arms to push your body above a hold, similar to a tricep dip exercise.
Campus: hands only monkey bar style up the wall. typically on very positive (overhanging) angle walls.
Foot Compression: toe hook one foot, and press in the opposite direction with another foot to gain friction on a hold.
Heel Hook: use your heel to pull on a hold that you can't get a good angle to step on normally.
Toe Hook: use the top of your toes to hook a hold when pushing is not an option with that foot.
Mantle: use your arms to push your body above a hold, similar to a tricep dip exercise.
Dihedral/corner climbing
Palm Press: no hold to grab with one of your hands, use your palm to press against the wall and create friction for the next move.
No Hands Rest: splay your feet and create a stable base between two faces, let your hand/arms rest.
High Foot: bring your foot up past your mid thigh, sometimes having to shift your body to the side to get higher.
No Hands Rest: splay your feet and create a stable base between two faces, let your hand/arms rest.
High Foot: bring your foot up past your mid thigh, sometimes having to shift your body to the side to get higher.
crack Climbing
As a trad climber, routes typically follow crack due to the lack of natural protection on smooth faces. Crack climbing techniques are a critical part of pulling hard section on routes as you climb harder routes. A lot of times you will have nothing but crack to hold yourself on the wall.
Different muscle groups are used for these crack techniques and exercising these various methods will help to improve your confidence, strength, and endurance.
Crack climbing can be very uncomfotable, claustrophobic, and painful. The more confidence you have, you will begin to be more delicate in your hand and foot placements, reducing the negative aspects of these types of holds. Eventually you will be hoping for hand jams as they can be better than most face holds.
Click the red box below to see crack climbing technique videos.
Different muscle groups are used for these crack techniques and exercising these various methods will help to improve your confidence, strength, and endurance.
Crack climbing can be very uncomfotable, claustrophobic, and painful. The more confidence you have, you will begin to be more delicate in your hand and foot placements, reducing the negative aspects of these types of holds. Eventually you will be hoping for hand jams as they can be better than most face holds.
Click the red box below to see crack climbing technique videos.