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    Rucksack Guide - Rock Climbing
    Rucksack Guide - Rock Climbing
    Rucksack Guide - Rock Climbing
    Ebook311 pages1 hour

    Rucksack Guide - Rock Climbing

    By Alun Richardson

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Rucksack Guide - Rock Climbing is your essential handbook when climbing.

    It offers concise guidance and support for any situation you might find yourself in, including:
    - Technical skills: tips and reminders on the key climbing techniques
    - Rope work: what knots to use in certain situations and how to tie them
    - Types: aid climbing, free climbing, big walling and ice climbing
    - Safety: essential procedures to ensure the safety of yourself, your party and others on the rock face
    - Emergencies: guidance on what to do in extreme situations

    The book is colour-coded for easy reference and all information is presented in lists and tables, making it simple to understand in testing conditions.

    The Rucksack Guide series is taken from Mountaineering: The essential skills for mountain walkers and climbers, the definitive handbook for hill walkers, climbers and mountaineers.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateMar 2, 2015
    ISBN9781408125984
    Rucksack Guide - Rock Climbing
    Author

    Alun Richardson

    Alun Richardson is an International Mountain Guide, the highest qualification for worldwide climbing, mountaineering and exploration. He is an experienced guide and tutor and regularly teaches at the National Mountaineering Centres, and internationally. He is also secretary of the British Mountain Guides Association.

    Read more from Alun Richardson

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      Book preview

      Rucksack Guide - Rock Climbing - Alun Richardson

      CONTENTS

      Introduction

      Falling

      Forces

      Impact Force (IF)

      Fall factor (FF)

      Vector forces

      Knots and hitches

      Common knots and hitches

      Communication

      Climbing calls

      Leading single-pitch rock climbs

      Learning to lead

      Organising climbing gear

      Tying into a harness

      Belaying

      Belaying a lead climber

      A good belayer...

      Belaying a second

      Using other belaying devices

      Belaying two seconds

      Lowering

      Protection

      Tips for placing protection

      Choosing sound rock

      Natural protection

      Spikes and boulders

      Threads

      Chockstones

      Trees

      Man-made protection

      Nuts and wedges

      Hexentrics

      Placing SLCDs

      Tri-cams

      Spring-loaded wedges

      Multidirectional protection

      Removing protection

      Fixed protection – pegs

      Placing pegs

      Testing pegs

      Removing pegs

      Fixed protection – bolts

      The climbing rope

      Attaching the rope to protection

      Keeping the rope in a straight line

      Clipping the rope into a quick draw

      Placing protection for two seconds

      Double rope technique (using two half ropes)

      Creating a belay

      Attaching the rope to anchors

      Equalising anchors

      Abseiling

      Rigging an abseil

      Joining the ropes

      Throwing the rope down

      Sliding down the rope

      Protecting an abseil

      Stopping mid-abseil

      Retrieving an abseil rope

      Multi-pitch climbing

      Belaying on multi-pitch routes

      Single point anchor

      Swapping ropes when the belay has been set up using rope

      Hanging stance

      Storing the ropes

      Multi-pitch abseiling

      Multi-pitch abseiling procedure

      Emergency devices for abseiling

      Abseiling with different diameter ropes

      Abseiling on a damaged rope

      Abseiling past a knot

      Sport climbing

      The art of falling

      Getting back to the rock

      Lowering off

      Considerations for bottom roping

      Miscellaneous techniques

      Improvised chest harnesses

      Coiling ropes

      Rescues

      Accident avoidance

      At the belay

      In an accident

      Rescue tools

      Descending and ascending the rope

      Abseiling and re-ascending

      Without leaving the belay

      On a traverse

      Escape from the belay

      When belay anchors are within reach

      When belay anchors are out of reach

      After escape from the belay

      1 Lower the injured climber

      2 Lower/counter-balance abseil

      3 Rescuing an injured climber on a traverse

      Hoisting

      Rescuing an injured lead climber

      Solo climbing

      Aid climbing

      Placing aiding gear

      Aiding equipment

      Placing pegs

      Using sky hooks

      Leading an aid pitch

      High stepping

      Resting

      Testing dubious placements

      Creating a belay stance

      Tension traverses and pendulums

      Ascending/cleaning an aid pitch

      Cleaning an aid pitch (method one)

      Cleaning an aid pitch (method two)

      Cleaning an aid pitch (method three)

      General advice for ascending

      Fixed ropes

      Becoming a better rock climber

      Learning to move

      Where to learn

      The benefits of learning

      Pre- and post-climbing

      Spotting

      It’s all in the hips!

      General exercises

      Efficient feet

      Edging and smearing

      Use feet imaginatively

      Rockovers

      Hand and finger holds

      The four main holds

      Using opposing pressure

      Move your hips

      Layback/lieback

      Bridging

      Chimneying

      Mantleshelf

      Side pulls and underclings

      Gaston or comici

      Climbing steeper rock

      The left/right rule

      Twist locks

      Flagging, back stepping and knee dropping

      Resting

      Resting the arms

      Breathing/shaking out

      Dynamic movements

      Climbing cracks

      Hand sequence

      Finger jamming

      Hand jamming

      Using your feet in cracks

      Off-widths

      Training the mind

      The mental game

      Using imagery

      Relaxation

      Focusing

      Talking positively

      Staying calm before the climb

      Staying calm during the climb

      Rucksack Guides

      Acknowledgements

      eCopyright

      INTRODUCTION

      ‘Rather than being a risk-taker, I consider myself, and my climbing peers to be risk-controllers, keeping risk at a reasonable level.’

      – Alex Lowe, one of the world’s best climbers

      Rock Climbing is the second book in the Rucksack Guide series and covers the skills and techniques required to become a competent rock climber. This handy book can be kept in your rucksack and will help you to gain the experience to climb safely anywhere in the world. The Rucksack Guide series tells you what to do in a situation, but it does not always explain why. If you want more information behind the decisions in these books, go to Mountaineering: The Essential Skills for Mountaineers and Climbers by Alun Richardson (A&C Black, 2008).

      Rock climbing is hazardous, and there are always factors beyond your control. Safe climbing is having an awareness of the hazards and matching your skills and experience to the dangers to decrease the risks. Unfortunately, good judgement only comes with experience and, as Oscar Wilde said, ‘Experience is simply the name we give to our mistakes’, so always tread carefully!

      For more about the author, his photographs and the mountaineering courses he runs go to:

      www.alunrichardson.co.uk

      FALLING

      FORCES

      Understanding how forces are generated, how to lessen them and how to use climbing equipment will make you a safer climber.

      IMPACT FORCE (IF)

      ● Impact force = the amount of energy a falling lead climber generates, reaching a maximum when the rope has fully stretched.

      ● IF is partly dissipated by dynamic elements in the system, e.g. stretched rope fibres, friction over karabiners, the movement of the belayer, knots tightening etc.

      ● The remaining energy is transmitted to the climber, the belayer/anchors and protection.

      ● The force transmitted to the protection is nearly doubled.

      ROPES DON’T BREAK, THEY ARE CUT

      ‘A rope used for normal climbing cannot break in a fall; however, its ability to hold a fall over an edge is dramatically reduced with time.’

      (German Alpine Club (DAV))

      If you don’t trust it, get rid of it or downgrade a leading rope to top roping.

      Fig. 1 Forces on a climber, belayer and equipment

      FALL FACTOR (FF)

      The severity of a fall can be approximated by the fall factor: the distance fallen divided by the amount of rope paid out, which ranges from zero to two. Zero equals no force on the rope and you have probably hit the ground! If a runner is placed at 2m the fall factor is halved.

      Fig. 2 Fall factor two. In this example, the climber is 4m above the belay. He falls, travelling 8m,

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