Thinking of going to the mountains this summer? This article from Tom Livingstone is packed with knowledge and ideas for your first summer alpine climbing trip. Being in the mountains is great fun - just look at those views! - and very rewarding. There's extra skills and knowledge involved, but all of these hurdles are achievable to everyone. This article uses European alpine destinations and examples, but it can easily be transferred to the rest of the world.
The range of belay devices has grown exponentially in the last few years, which means there’s plenty to choose from. Many devices have become quite use-specific, but they all follow the basic principle: the device will help you to control the flow of the rope, and therefore, help you to stop a falling climber.
A modern belay device (or ‘belay plate’) can be simple: the width of a credit card, with no moving parts and light weight. They can also be more high-tech: the size of a fist, with multiple parts, buttons and dials.
User Rating: 5 / 5
This guest article comes from Clipping Chains, a website predominately for US climbers. Chalkbloc were asked if we wanted to explore the topic of financial security in climbing, and we thought this perspective might be of interest to some. Read on to find out more.
Sam Farnsworth and Will Nicholls (of Gaia Adventures) shares their thoughts about avalanches - in particular, how to interpret and understand avalanche forecasts.
 |
 |