I’ve taught a lot of skills this summer that you can broadly define as “self-rescue”. During a recent day teaching these skills I took a quick picture of the things that I really like to have on my harness a lot of the time. With these few tools I can generally extricate myself or others from most simple climbing messes. I think it goes without saying that I don’t keep all of this gear on me during hard redpoints and that much of this gear can be substituted for other things (like the climbing rope). However, the tools in the image below are really useful for both guides and recreational climbers.

It has become apparent to me that there are a lot of climbers at the cliffs today that don’t think about what they would need to do if their partner became stuck or injured, either as a follower or leader. From the simple and benign (follower has fallen off below a roof and can’t get back to the cliff) to the complex and dreadfully awful (an unresponsive or severely injured leader midway up a pitch) there are too many specific scenarios to name.

As a climber, who climbs with a partner that you presumably care about, you owe it to yourself and those around you to be prepared. Can you look at each situation objectively and say “I know what to do in an emergency and can escape from this situation to get help or help my partner”? If not you may want to consider gaining the requisite self-rescue skills. Start by learning to improvise rope ascension tools, escape the belay and raise a fallen climber. Build your skills from there.  Buy a self-rescue book and practice, hire a guide, or ask a friend who knows more than you do.

Here’s my explanation for the gear listed in the picture above:

1. Black Diamond ATC Guide and an HMS style carabiner: This is a must have and these two things are an item despite the fact that they’re sold separately. You can obviously belay and rappel using this device. You can also use it as a ratchet in a pulley system and as an ascender on your waist while ascending fixed lines. It also happens to be the smoothest lowering method when used directly off the anchor with a redirected brake end. Do yourself a favor and be sure you know how to safely lower your second if you’re going to belay directly off the anchor. It’s worth noting that if you need to release one of these devices the ATC Guide is going to keep the rope more in line than the Petzl Reverso, thus making it easier to avoid rope kinking.
2. Nut Tool and Bail Carabiner: Clean gear, tighten bolts, use it as an emergency hook or pound it into a crack in the alpine if you really need to, and with BD’s you can open your beer afterwards too. The bail carabiner is for leaving behind if I have to retreat.
3. “Utility” Carabiner”: I keep two short pieces of 5mm or 6mm cord and a knife on me nearly all the time.  The carabiner is another bail carabiner, the two pieces of cord are long enough to tie friction hitches for load transfers, tractors and ratchets for pulleys, and for rappel and lowering backups. The knife is a Petzl Spatha on a short piece of cord. These knives are difficult to open until they’re clipped into and pinned against carabiner stock. This also leaves more space on the carabiner.
4. Cordalette with 2 HMS Carabiners: I like 6mm cord for my cordalettes. The 7mm is definitely stronger but seems less supple and much bulkier. My cordalettes generally tend to be 8′-10′ loops with the ends joined using a flemish bend. The flemish bend is easy to untie if you need the full length of cord for short rappels or lowers, or for complex load transfers. Avoid using the flat overhand (euro death knot) on your cordalettes as it loosens easily and rolls at relatively low loads. With a cordalette you can really do it all – build anchors (to retreat if need be), tie friction hitches, create a simple block and tackle and ascend ropes. HMS (a German abbreviation meaning “half hitch belay”) carabiners accommodate clove and munter hitches easily making them useful for lowering, belaying and rappelling.
5. 48″ Runner and Lightweight Locker: Nylon seems preferable to dyneema or spectra here. Use this for building anchors and personal tethers for rappelling and anchoring. It can also be used as a component during rope ascension.
6. 24″ Runner and Carabiners: A shoulder length runner is nice to have for tying friction hitches, attaching yourself to anchors or extending a rappel device. Little wiregate carabiners work very well for garda hitches during rope ascension and as a ratchet in pulley systems.

If you like what you see and want to learn more consider hiring a professionally trained guide. They’ll help you with the skills components necessary for self-rescue.

This year I’ve taught quite a few SPI Courses, as well as crevasse rescue (sans crevasse) and rock rescue clinics. All of these programs have allowed me to think a great deal about skills that climbers of all disciplines should know before they decide they are self-sufficient.

Basic self-rescue skills involve the following components – belay escapes, load transfers, rappelling/lowering, raising and simple rope ascension. If you understand these skills you can extricate yourself from most (even complex) climbing rescue situations. Assuming that the participants have a basic understanding of knots, anchoring, and belaying I begin most clinics with how to tie off the standard plate belay device (like an ATC) and how to tie a few basic friction hitches. From there we rappel safely and then practice rope ascension. Once those basic skills are mastered you can add load transfers, raises/hauls, and work towards seamless transitions between any skills you might need to employ in a situation. A one-day clinic typically finishes with top belays and raising a stuck climber. A two-day clinic would spend day two solidifying skills and employing them in several possible scenarios.

The participants from last Sunday’s clinic asked me to post pictures from the day. I’ve resized all of the images. While they’re not the best images they’ll help you get an idea about some of the skills, and some safety considerations when initiating any sort of climber assistance.

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If you like what you see here consider hiring a professionally trained AMGA certified guide (like me;). They’ll help you iron out any skills that need polishing and can help you build confidence in your climbing systems and knowledge. See you all out there and be safe!

No, I’m not talking about Atlantis.

A couple of years ago I got into a heated debate with a housemate of mine about whether Lost City should be a “locals only” area. Earlier that day he had seen a guide friend of mine there with a client. It frustrated him that guides would decide to take clients climbing at Lost City. He felt it was a “locals only” spot and that it was taboo to take outsiders there. However, when I asked him how he’d learned about the climbs there he replied that a “local” friend had shown him. And when I asked him how long he had lived in the area the response was a meager three years. I told him that my guide friend’s client has owned a house in the area nearly twice that long, and that she was climbing in the Gunks back when my housemate was still in his early teens wondering when he’d get to shave for the first time and what to do once he got it up. So who’s a local now? To me the answer seems muddy at best.

In fact I could care less.  I’ll gladly take the time to show any one of my out of town friends around Lost City. Hell, it might be the first place I take them. The climbing is fabulous – gymnastic, crimpy and sustained. There’s no road beneath you, and you get to hop from rock to rock so that you don’t harm the most amazingly large, green beds of moss.

If you want sustained climbs you definitely won’t find them in the Trapps. With the exception of the Workout Wall in the Nears, sustained climbing can’t be found there either. Go to Millbrook looking for sustained climbs and you’ll need to change your underwear afterward. Lost City, however, has sustained climbs galore, many of which you can toprope or lead(woohoo!).

Some of the locals have tried to keep Lost City to themselves. It is, however, decidedly not a local’s only crag. On crowded weekends it’s busy with “nonlocals” too (damn, how did they ever find the place?). Not as busy as the Trapps, but as busy as the fragile ecosystem above and below the cliff can probably handle. It’s no secret either; you can see it from the road, and the High Peterskill trail parallels the cliff from below. Jeez, there’s a parking lot with a flat trail that goes straight there in under 15 minutes (and a ranger who’ll give you directions).

A long time ago the Mohonk Preserve decided that they didn’t want a guidebook published to Lost City. For better or worse the local climbing community has acquiesced to the preserve’s request. That’s not to say no one’s written a guidebook to the area. This just isn’t true. There’s more than one local who could probably furnish a publisher with pretty detailed guidebook to Lost City tomorrow if they felt it was a good idea.

Myself, I’ll live without a guidebook to the area. Some of my best experiences in the Gunks have involved being shown new climbs by other people who are more familiar with the cliff. More than one of those people have become my best friends. As I started to think about writing a post about Lost City I did a little internet research. You know what I found? Not much. Mostly I found forum bitch sessions on sites like rockclimbing.com about how unfriendly the locals are about their precious cliff. Now I can’t get it out of my head, and it’s under my skin. I’ve never been a smug unfriendly local to visiting climbers, and most of the people I know aren’t that way either.

Not having a published guidebook to the Lost City is a blessing. It forces us as climbers to do a few very important things: to be friendly and open-minded and to explore. Climbing is about making friends. And, the things that most likely attracted us to climbing were the sense of independence that it gave us, the wonder of exploration and the discovery of new places and things.

Climbing is like an art or a trade. There’s some information in books and on the internet, but most things you learn get passed on to you by someone who’s generally wiser and more experienced at climbing than you are . It’s a word-of-mouth skill that you acquire over years, not overnight and definitely not over the internet. I definitely don’t sit at home polishing my climbing skills and knowledge in front of my laptop, that’s for sure. I don’t think there’s a climber out there who’s learned everything they know about the sport from books and other media sources. The beauty is in the process and the interaction. You make friends, find new climbs, appreciate the outdoors and realize that you have it really good. And good it is. Lost City is a very fine crag. Oh the Gunks! How I love thee.

I recently returned home from a two week trip to Red Rocks, just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Red Rocks is home to some very classic long climbs, many of which are moderate. The approaches are fairly long and the descents are complex. This area has become the venue for the AMGA Rock Guide Exam because of the long climbs with challenging approaches and descents.

Like many other things in life (relationships come to mind) it’s easy to get complacent as a climbing guide. Professional development is important for staying current on your skills and knowledge. AMGA courses are one great way that guides can receive extra training and work towards greater certification. Most guides that work exclusively on the east coast don’t need the full highest level of certification. The terrain is mostly rock, and much of the climbing is on smaller, single or multi-pitch cliffs. However, if you want to guide in places like Red Rocks, Yosemite, the Sierras, the Wind River Range or many other national and international locations extra training is pretty helpful (I think it’s necessary).

The American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) is a relatively young organization that helps U.S. guides train to become internationally certified. There are several other professional development organizations in the U.S., but only the AMGA has the full support of the IFMGA (International Federation of Mountain Guides). Passing your AMGA Rock, Alpine and Ski exams leads to full international certification and the ability to legally guide in many countries worldwide.

It’s fairly common for exam participants to show up in Red Rocks ahead of time to train for the exams. Additionally, spring exams are tough because most people are in ski or ice climbing mode up until early April. Prior to my exam I agreed to rent a condo in west Las Vegas with three of the other exam participants. This may have created the best possible scenario for training and preparation for what many guides consider a stressful 6-day period. It’s hard to have someone watch you do everything throughout the day. If you’re not absolutely confident in your skills it can make you second guess your decisions, even if you have very solid judgment.

So, the condo seemed like a great idea to me, and apparently it seemed like a very good idea for a few other guys too. Rentals in Vegas are relatively cheap and very abundant, especially with the soft housing market there right now. Jeff Witt of Exum Mountain Guides sent out an email expressing interest in a rental and Bill Dyer, Tico Gangulee and I had a place booked in about and hour or so. Upon arrival we met up with one of the other participants, Matt Pickren. He stuck around and slept at the place for the duration of the exam too. It ended up being a great way to relax, shower, hang out and make some new friends.

AMGA exams (I took a Rock Instructor Exam in 2006) are a great learning experience. They’re not a time for gaining new skills so much as refining your current skills so that you can become better at the subtleties of guiding. This exam helped me build confidence in my shortroping and shortpitching abilities. For those unfamiliar with the terms “shortrope” and “shortpitch” they refer to times when you and your climbing partners use the rope for security but stay close together. Security is a relative term and is frequently dictated by the type of terrain one travels over. If the terrain is easy (and frequently loose), yet not easy enough to remove your rope, you can move safely and faster with half the rope or less between the climber(s) and the belayer.

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The exam went really well for me. I passed comfortably which was reassuring, as I’ve been honing my skills and teaching the AMGA Single Pitch Instructor Course for almost three years now.  I’m thrilled to be done with the rock discipline and very excited to begin working towards my alpine and ski certifications. I didn’t have the chance to take too many photos during the exam but managed to snap a few of my new friends on our training days in the week leading up to the exam. For now I’m happy to be back on the east coast enjoying our fine spring weather.