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Climbing Disciplines:
Big Wall and Aid Climbing:
Re: [the_climber] Best Tips, hints, and must read books.:
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holdplease2
Jul 26, 2008, 4:49 PM
Views: 15588
Registered: Dec 18, 2002
Posts: 1733
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The only must-read book I know of: Jared Ogden's Elite Technique. Its from that series of red books which are awesome. I still read this book...it has all kinds of one-off scenarios, great illustrations of stuff like pin/nut stacking, solo techniques, speed techniques. No matter how many walls you've climbed, you'll prolly learn something great from this book...or at least enjoy trying!
Aiders: If you're not making your own (and even if you are) be sure to get some with elastic loops under a couple of the steps. When jugging/cleaning this elastic can be pulled over your toe when your foot is in the step, meaning you don't have to focus on keeping your foot in the step, which can be a pain. Get them long enough that you can drop your center of gravity below the piece you are on when you bounce test your high peice to protect from outward pull if the piece being tested blows. Yates ladders are great. I use one six and one seven step per daisy, or sometimes just two six and a seven step floater.
Daisies: If you get traditional daisies, get the longest ones you can find. I recommend FISH products really long daisies. When they twist around one another (occasionally happens) or you have to reach high with your daisy biner on your nut tool or hammer, you will not be caught short.
Harness: When it is time to haul or belay from a hanging stance, you'll want a posh harness. Two buckles for closure is a good idea, as it will keep your belay loop/tie in centered no matter how much you're wearing or how fat you get.. This is key, as it is weighted much of the time when you are fifi'd in and you want your gear loops in the right place, not shifted 3 inches in what will invariably be the wrong direction. Also have dropable/removable leg loops for multi-day adventures, as sleeping and personal business will be more pleasant. I like my yates shield for all of the above, though I hear BD makes a nice wall harness as well.
Daisy Biners: The biner on the end of your daisy will be clipped and unclipped from thousands of things during the course of a wall, and will frequently be a (redundant) attachment point from you to the anchor. Consider a keylock style biner with a big basket (enough for your piece, your daisy, your aiders, your fif and your hand). A locker is nice if you will be using this as an anchor attachment. The Petzl Williams absolutely rock at this job.
Link Cams: To move when aiding, you need the right size piece of gear. Period. Getting to a #1 camalot spot and not having one can be a real problem. With 1 link cam on the back of your harness, you can virtually eliminate ths "I can't move!" problem from rattly fingers to almost cupped hands. Very very nice. Two link cams and youre flying up finger to hand sized aiding without even having to switch out the pro on your aiders.
Offset Nuts: If you aren't dealing with a lot of piton scars because there isn't a lot of aid climbing at your home crag, then don't worry about them. If you plan on going to Yosemite and climbing walls, where pin scars are the majority of moves you will make on some pitches, DMMs new aluminum offsets and the brass HB-style offsets available at the Yosemite Mountain Shop will be indispensable.
Backup Locker: While its nice to backup your jumars with a grigri or something when cleaning, you may still wish to control your rope. A giant loop in on a big wall can blow behind a flake before you know it. You will probably want one giant locker to do the job, one which can hold 8-9 bights of rope and still open and close with ease. The Omega Pacific Jake is an autolocker (less of a pain to deal with ) with a gate which swings to the side, allowing you to cram way more rope in this biner than most others on the market.
Ascenders: Black Diamond's new ascenders are the shit for more reasons than I can name. There's a review of them somewhere on here. Petzl may be more intuitive, but after getting used to the BD, my three sets of Petzl hang in the garage or get integrated into haul systems.
Hauling Devices: Consider getting a 2-3 inch pully with sealed bearings and having an extra ascender or a Petzl Basic or Croll. The separate systems have more wiggle room and are less likely to bind and are more versatile. Plus, you can use the Basic or the Croll as part of the Frog system for ascending free hanging ropes after fixing.
Rope: Consider the Mammut Supersafe. This rope barely fuzzes, and at 10.2 is probably the optimal diameter for soloing with a grigri. It will self feed when you stand up, but hold its own and not feed slack until you are 70-90 feet up on a straight-up pitch. Plus, you want something bombproof because you will be jugging this rope. Regardless of the rope you choose, it is your key responsibility to protect the edges. The sawing action of jugging a rope over an edge sucks.
Hope this helps,
-Kate.
Edited to add something about Jared Ogdens excellent book.
(This post was edited by holdplease2 on Jul 26, 2008, 4:56 PM)
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Edit Log:
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Post edited by holdplease2
() on Jul 26, 2008, 4:56 PM
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