Skillzboard

Honored to share the stage with a group of psyched gear innovators at the panel discussion.
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Solid finish to a Ouray visit supporting the badass and the unmatched on the comp tower at the putting the finishing touches on the Continental Open routes.

Isn’t it a little odd that we refer to the same things as both double ropes and as half ropes?

These pictures demonstrate a third benefit of climbing with doubles/halves (in addition to redundancy against abrasion failure and the potential to do fewer rappels). Can you guess what it is? Swipe to #3 and #4 for big hints.

Also, these pictures were taken on back-to-back days from two different classic routes on the same chunk of rock. For a bonus point, can you name it?

Made a little detour on the road to support the in their Climb Malawi program. After hearing about the use that our instruction board received at their Kenya program from , we were happy to donate the instruction boards that will help the Malawi climbing community develop expertise and create sustainable growth locally.

Had such a good time working with and to provide a camping and climbing weekend at Devils Lake to a group of youth (and little kiddo) participants from the Chicagoland area! And it was cool to have join us on Sunday, and give one of their climbers a first-time outdoor experience!

An unexpected double bonus came from being able to supervise Patrick carrying out an instructor-belayed rappel in preparation for an upcoming SPI (climbing instructor) assessment and giving Mike his first rappelling opportunity!

Free anchor practice ground school for , facilitated by and thanks to the generous hospitality of

Pictures from a mini-clinic on belaying techniques, lowering systems and transitioning back and forth between the two, with a plaquette-style device. What’s the best way to make sure newly acquired technical knowledge does not evaporate when it’s time to actually use it? Go home and practice! Reviewing the techniques - by actually doing vs just reading or watching videos - three or four times within a week or two of when you learn the material is a great way to actually make the time, effort and money you put into take the clinic worthwhile.

Critique this anchor!

This is for a base-managed (ie: belaying from below) top rope climbing session at an ice park with pre-rigged tree anchors. In this case, a sling above a high branch was tied off and three non-lockers were used for the masterpoint. A sling from the pre-existing tree anchor was extended and clipped to a strand of the climbing rope with a locking carabiner.

What are some strengths and weaknesses of this system? Would you climb on this anchor?

Get yourself a Skillzboard, and you too can build a really good Anker!

So psyched to be supporting ambassador Sonya Wilson in her efforts to bring climbing education and opportunity to the deaf and hard of hearing communities!

To learn about Sonya’s story, check out the short film “Elevated” (free on YouTube, 15 minutes) that was just recently selected for the tour.

BRAIN TEASER ALERT!

I heard this brain teaser yesterday, and immediately came up with what would be a desperate, non-ideal solution in the real world. But it’s a totally legitimate solution in brain-teaser-world, where you have extremely idealized and highly unlikely scenarios. I haven’t really been able to improve upon the solution since then. Neither have I heard back from the person who posed the teaser to me.

So here goes …

You are on top of a sheer and unfeatured 80 m tower, with a sharp knife and new 60 m rope. You’ve also got a double-length sling and 4 lockers on your harness. That’s all you have! The tower has a set of rappel anchors at the top, and another one exactly halfway down.

How do you get off the tower safely?

(I’ll post my solution here tomorrow, but I’d love to see other answers)