I came across this little video snippet explaning how strong a rock climbing rope actually is. Funny how the cousins across the pond still insist on working in pounds! There’s a nice little bit of physics tucked in here as well, which explains what those little KN labels across all your load bearing gear mean. 1033941494 In plain English, what that means is that 1KN is the force of (i.e. the weight of) 100kg of stuff. Now I only weigh around 72 Kg in my shreddies, so my weight is well less than a1 KN. A lot of load bearing climbing gear is rated at upwards of 22 KN. For instance my nice shiny new climbing rope is a beal cobra 1/03/2011

Rope Management on Flying Buttress Rope Management on Flying Buttress There are lots of discussions and debates climbing on forums and blogs about the different types of dynamic climbing ropes and best practise. The main types of dynamic rope used in rock climbing, ice climbing and mountaineering are broadly divided into single, double and twin climbing ropes, with hillwalking safety ropes as a smaller by product of the industry. These days it is a simple article of good practise to check that the rock climbing rope you are buying carries the appropriate UIAA rope marking label, heat shrunk onto the end of the rope. It really couldn’t be easier to make sure you get the right rope for the job. rope end indicator Rope End Indicator Labels Explained Most frequently seen of modern rock climbing ropes, is a single rope of between 8.9 mm up to 11 mm in diameter, designed to be used on...

I came across this video that shows a Petzl team carrying out some pretty thorough tests on screw and Abalokov ice anchors. It’s instructive. Which do you believe to be stronger; Abalakov thread anchors or a “good old” modern ice screw? The biggest problem these guys had was in finding a patch of consistent quality ice to enable a reasonable degree of “fair testing” to give their results some meaning. 20/01/2011

I’ve been ploughing through a lot of books and videos recently looking for decent content for this rock climbing rope themed blog. While this video isn’t directly about your ropes and ropework, it’s a cracking little tale of a couple of american lads who took on one of the more exciting routes on the Diamond on Long’s Peak Colorado. During a spell of absolutely crappy weather they took a chance and managed to sneak in a route on one of the more iconic rock faces in the USA. What I like is the slightly downbeat and understated commentary and the nifty artwork at start and finish. Take a look and enjoy!Rock Climbing Rope Team Beats the Thunderstorms 19/10/2010

Frequently when we are out rock climbing, canoeing, mountaineering, sailing or any of the other wonderful adventures that we all enjoy; We experience an accident. It could be minor: cuts and scrapes for instance. Occasionally, the incident can be very grave indeed. At times like this basic first aid knowledge and training can help, but so far from home and out of reach of road access or cell phone signal, we need to step our care into a higher gear. This is where we move into the domain of wilderness medicine. As a concept, wilderness medicine goes a little beyond emergency first aid and it’s a skill that any of us who like the big trips and expeditions would do well to gain some understanding of. If you live any where near Boise Idaho, you’ve got a golden opportunity: Wilderness Medicine Basics Wednesday, October 20, 2010 7pm at Boise REI 8300 West Emerald 208-322-1141...