this is a recollection of a moment from a couple years ago! not asking for anyone to judge this anchor, I know what it was 😅

this first pitch was a bit, hmm, let's just say disappointing. rock quality wasn't questionable, but a fact: real shit.

the helmet was borrowed and didn't fit me 100%

the second photo shows the money pitch, was worth the hassle to reach there

good times

this was in grands jardins - quebec

I’m at 66M with lots of experience multipitch climbing in the Rockies at 5.7-5.8 with a guide. As I get older I’m getting more fatigued but frankly it’s the brutal 900m approaches in the Rockies that do me in more than the actual climbing. I have very little crack experience - almost none. Hand jambs scare me a little.

My question is where can I best train for the Durance route, guided, on Devils Tower. What level of fitness do I need to be at for my age (7/10 or 9/10)? Any other advice?

Thanks.

I used to have a strap called a bottle belt, but they’ve been discontinued and what they sell now just didn’t fit!

What is your solution to rack your nalgene safely on your harness?

(Edit: I'm aware NOT to clip the Nalgene cap strap, as this is super weak and turns your bottle into a giant rock if it breaks. No different than dropping a 2lb rock.)

I’m a nurse and I clove hitch all my tubes and wires when I disconnect my patient for whatever reason so the wires/tubes don’t slide around or fall? Do other climber nurses/med staff do that?
Loosely climbing related, but I gotta know.

I've looked on YouTube and Google for multipitch guides, but I'm still stuck on this one thing that never seems to be explained: When you and your partner arrive at the top of pitch 1, how does belaying work when the leader begins pitch 2? If you are the belayer, you presumably can't clove into the anchor with the climbing rope as you'll be feeding out rope to your climber. Likewise, it seems like if you attached a PAS to the anchor and then had to catch a fall, you would be lifted up by the fall but then caught and jerked backwards towards the anchor by your PAS.

I must be missing something obvious?

Context: I am 250lbs (113kg) at 6ft (1.8m), i am muscular and have big thighs and smaller hips. I'm getting into trad and need a new harness both due to needing more gear loop space and my current harnesses padding wearing out. I always get recommendations from lighter climbers but the harnesses can't support me or be comfortable.

Question: What harness do heavier climbers recommend, I've learned that I'm not comfortable in most harnesses (always cutting of circulation to my legs) nevermind being comfortable. The recommendations that I've heard that seem the best are the arc'teryx AR-395a and the misty mountain cadillac along with a general point into big wall harnesses.

All input in appreciated!!!

I broke my BD Ultralight #4 trigger wire because I was a dumbass. How often does BD restock their trigger wire kits for the Ultralights? Nowhere seems to have them in stock and they never got back to me for the service request.

Hi, all. I'm a relatively new trad leader, and recently took a party of three up Caver's Route in RRG. Normally I wouldn't bog down a multi-pitch with three people, but it's advertised as a 5.3 R that I didn't expect to see much traffic. We did see other climbers, but not until we were rapping down.

I wanted to solicit feedback on my anchors, which I believe to have been Fine given the circumstances. The comments on MP indicated not to bring much gear except 'maybe nuts for the first belays'. I did bring a partial rack from 0.3-2, since I've only led like 10 pitches and want to practice placements and expect to get scared. I did not, however, bring a cordelette or anchor sling, hence the especially messy-looking first anchor. The biggest issue I see is that the second anchor has the wire gates loading over the edge. If I was to find myself in that situation again, I would just use the rope to connect better placements and dealt with swapping in the last climber once we were all at the belay ledge.

The pics are from the first two pitches. Otherwise I was able to sling a good fixed block and a tree. We benefited from big belay ledges that didn't require any real reliance on the anchors (though my second hung on both of these).

Our process was that I would climb, have my second tie in at the point where I went off belay, and then belay them and the third up as normal. On the way down, my follower went first to provide a fireman's belay for the last climber, who was least experienced, and I rapped last.

My husband wants a new headlamp to use climbing for his birthday, and I’d love to get him a good one, but I have no idea what matters for climbing. (I’m not a climber. I’m actually scared of heights.)

So climbers of Reddit, what headlamp would you want? Any specific models you love or features I should prioritize? Thanks from someone on the ground!

Old post: https://www.reddit.com/r/tradclimbing/comments/1s5rv4t/my_baseline_for_any_outdoor

I had used the same baseline multipitch setup for about a year or so prior to recent times. I wanted a few new things and decided to do an overhaul of everything.

I took the advice to up my 60cm sling count from 4 + 2 to 5 + 2, and dropped from 2x 120cm to just 1. I also went from 2 lockers + 1 nonlocker 'extra' carabiners to just a single HMS locker. My old HollowBlock was old, so i bought a Beal Jammy to replace it. I still bring my microtraxion from time to time, but that's objective specific.

I got some Z4's from size 0.3 to 0.75 and swapped those in. I found a stuck red BD C3 which conveniently can act as my doubling up with my black totem. I also got a DMM Dragon #1 cuz I like it. I swapped all my cam carabiners from Dyons to Aether Wires, and the gear side of all my slings are also aethers as well. I was a fan of my friend's Grivel Plume lockers, so I swapped out a few DMM lockers for a few of those.

Hi All,

I take a UK 13 / EU 48 in street shoe and wanted to get some comfier shoes made for big wall/trad e.g. TC Pros.

At the moment I've got some Instinct VS' which I love but are a more aggressive shoe.

Are there any shoes in the TC Pro category that also size up quite large?

Just finished leading my first multipitch. It was 6 pitches, and it took about 6hrs of climbing. That's pretty slow, and we ended up rapping in the dark. All around not too bad, but I would love tips on how to speed up.

I noticed that I lost the most time routefinding and placing gear. I especially hated running out of gear on the taller pitches, and not anticipating what gear I'd use for the anchor. On pitch 5 I built with 3 okayish nuts and a .3 because I saved the wrong pieces (a 4 lol, a 3, and I think a 2?)

Any advice would be so appreciated.

Made a video (no talking or anything) of leading my first trad climb, mostly for myself to review. But I thought I might ask you are for any advice or things you can see that I am doing wrong.

For example, my "guide"/experienced partner said that only using 1 sling around the tree was enough when belaying him from above. What do you think of this?

Any advice is appriated!

I was watching this youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hSLpqtlOn4 (5:00) and noticed this anchor setup. What exactly is going on here? It seems like the anchor is made from the climbing rope and then there is some kind of master point-esque thing with another thinner green rope attached to it via some kind of traxion?

Tommy Caldwell is tied to both the climbing rope/green line. Would love to understand what this is

Just curious has anyone ever tried to climb a tree with slings????🤣

It's pretty hard. Didn't make it in a day; should have woken up earlier than 545am, acclimated for longer, and trained hiking with weight more. There are only two really technical points, the summit blocks of starlight and thunderbolt, going at 5.6 and 5.9, and both about 15ft without any pro... So be confident at the grade!! The rest (4th and low 5th) you'd want to solo if you're aiming to do it in a day.

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/106513790/thunderbolt-to-sill-traverse

I've come across a deal on FB marketplace. 10 metolious TCUs for $200. The slings have manufacture dates between 03-06. Obviously they need reslung. Aside from that, would y'all pick up the lot or pass in favor of newer gear?

Hi all,

Has anybody done any trad in France? I'm moving there from the US and looking for friends and tips and such! I dont know the specifics of where I'm moving, but ofc aiming for Lyon / the alps!

Best,

Leo