News of Technique and Training

Good morning SP, I thought I would start a discussion here after coming across a sketchy piece of "beta" in one of my climbing guides.

If you are in the PAC NW, you are most likely familiar with Fred Beckey and his "Cascade Alpine Guide" series of books. Although there are still some significant errors (even in the 3rd Ed.), these are generally great guides, and they have been one of my driving inspirations in ...

I've been rock climbing about 14 years now, with long periods where I maybe got better at some aspect of the whole game, but not others. In fact, climbing grade was at a standstill for a long time, topping out in the high 5.10s or 6a/b. Now I'm enjoying some real growth and having more fun with it than in a long time. For me, the secret was learning how to get comfortable with lead ...

I've been thinking about getting a heart rate monitor for a while, but can't quite convince myself that it will have significant impact on my training. How much more data does a (non-elite) athlete need than time (stopwatch) and distance (online mapping)? As long as I'm trying to go faster for longer and further do I need to do more to optimize the results I'm getting? Perhaps it's because I haven't taken the time to ...

Has anybody used this system? http://pullharder.org/2012/02/22/the-in ... -sheridan/ It looks like it could be adapted for simul-climbing free pitches and not just aid. BTW, his other stuff is pretty interesting , too. Chief? EB? what do you think?

I thought I would ask because Excitableboy's link to the cordelette vs. sliding x article in a different forum got me to thinking about belay anchors. In the realm of vertical rock I'm still mostly a sport climber transitioning to trad and haven't had to build too many anchors yet. With the 2 bolt anchors present on top of many crags I have been using a sliding x with limiting overhand knots on each side ...

Hotoven wrote an informative article about melting snow for drinking water, a task most us don't think a lot about, but is critically important in the high, frozen alpine.http://www.summitpost.org/view_object.php?object_id=774270&confirm_post=7

I added it to the index of alpine articles here: http://www.summitpost.org/view_object.php?object_id=772147&confirm_post=7

Also, if anyone has an article they would like to add to the index please let me know.

http://www.summitpost.org/view_object.php?object_id=774179&type=vote_comments&discussion_id=443097#443097

I wrote a new article on descending safely here: http://www.summitpost.org/the-necessary-and-sometimes-black-art-of-getting-down/773375. I will try to take some photos tomorrow to illustrate the more esoteric points.

Pretty interesting study:


http://hmga.gr/storehouse/word-acrobat/ ... everly.pdf


Can anyone here explain in plain English what their conclusions were the angle of screw placement? What are they talking about when they say not to place the screw at a negative angle? They say that the optimum angle of placement is between 8 and 16 degrees. Does that mean that you place the screw with the tip higher than the hanger or ...