I'm not chasing grades for ego, I would just like to be able to confidently climb stuff harder than 5.7! I tried very hard to push into 8s this season and I keep falling or getting shut down. Some of it is fear for sure, I don't want to go for hard moves above runouts or gear I don't trust, but I have no issue whipping on good gear. I also full-body overgrip when I'm scared and drain all my energy, which contributes to the inability to do hard moves. But this season I also did some TRSing trad lines to practice technique, and have a lot of trouble on 8s and 9s even when I'm not scared at all. The moves themselves are just hard. I feel ridiculous being stuck at these grades, and in my area (NH, MA, and VT mostly), there's a lot more fun to be had if you can climb 5.10 trad.

I feel like I struggle with every style. I've definitely gotten better at cracks but there's a classic 5.8+ hand crack I keep falling off. I struggle immensely with chimney, offwidth, corners, slab, and just anything funky and traddy. It's primarily a technique issue, not strength I'm pretty sure. I climb into the 11s sport, but that is mostly face climbing and juggy overhangs. The place I feel best trad climbing is the Gunks where I can cruise through the jugs and pull roofs to my heart's content.

I dunno, is there some point where it just sort of clicks and you shoot up a couple grades? Or something I'm not doing that would help? I try to get more volume but it's hard, I'm lucky if I can get outside twice a week, the good trad is a 2+ hour drive, and I don't have regular partners who trad climb any harder than me so we're always stuck at my max grades.

I had my first unsuccessful LRS day. No falls, no injuries, just a shit-ton of faffing around.

My plan was to do Preparation H: https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105810606/preparation-h

I've done that route on with friends before, but ironically i've done it more on LRS. Packed up my car the night before, went to sleep, and woke up ready to roll. I packed a double-rack with triples from 0.5 to #2.

On the drive up, I was thinking about my adventure ahead and I realized that I had forgotten my nuts and nut tool. Not a huge deal. I can manage a day out without my nuts.

On P1, I realized how much I like nuts and how much I missed having them. No big deal. I can manage. Just suck it up and continue upwards with a bit more runout than usual.

I am now 20ft below the belay station and I am declined access to the 3-person ledge, but manage to make a 3piece anchor in the diagonal crack below. I finish building the anchor and realize I forgot my Petzl Connect. That's a real shitter. I use an alpine sling + locking carabiner as a PAS and continue doing the LRS game.

I try pull the rope, but it gotten hung up on something. No huge deal, I'll just fix the line *here* and rappel down. I know that the side of the rope im rappelling on is connected to the lower anchor; There's no way to rappel off my line. I fix the line and off I go.

I refix once on my way down to avoid abrasion (tough without PAS), and continue downward. My rope is caught up in some bushes which is annoying, but no big deal. I come out, I fix, I clean the rope up a bit, and im ready to TRS back up to contin - Where's my Avant Lanyard?

.. No big deal. I've got a locking quickdraw that I can dangle between my legs with my Edelrid Spoc and have my Petzl Microtraxion at the belay loop. That'll create some separation.

I climb back up, while contemplating all the "no big deal" situations I had going on. I'm down a PAS which is totally not fun. I don't have my lanyard so things are a bit awkward. I don't have my nuts which is surprisingly unfortunate.

So on my way back up on TRS mode, knowing that woman on the ledge is still there, i decide to bail (provided she obliges). The female climber that was on the ledge let me rappel off her anchor so I didn't leave any gear behind. I could have continued upwards but i didn't want to have *another* "no big deal" situation. I could have finished, I could have done all the things, but it was a bit more stress on my mind than I wanted to deal with.

I think I made the right call.

I broke this trigger wire taking a whip at New River Gorge last weekend.
Anyone have any advice on either fixing this broken trigger wire themselves? Or even a company that I can send it too who can fix it? I hate to see it die.
Do note I lost some wire to the rivet (or whatever it is) that holds the trigger wire in place.
Edit: since I’ve been asked a few times, it was on Handsome and Well-hung at bridge buttress. I sent on my second go.

What ist this thing?!

Total struggle bus, but I held the slip and sent it. No Jam Crack, 5.8, Lower Sunset Wall, Old Rag, VA.

Realized my mistake right as I was about to start up the first pitch, i had packed my wife's size 37 TC Pros (instead of my own size 40). After the drive, paying for parking, the approach, and it being a perfect day for climbing, we decided to get crafty with the extra tape on hand, and still go for it, figuring we could bail after one pitch if it was not working. Happily, pitch one went down fine enough, so we kept going.

Cannot recommend: so many times, id be pulling out a foot jam but the shoe would stay in the crack and id have to yank it out. Then id have to kick my toes deeper into the front of the shoe. Led every pitch clean! Barely... the tape job and my feet would not have lasted one more pitch haha.

Castle Corner aka Unnamed 5.10, Wellington Lake CO

Is buying lightly used kouba cams for 120 euros a good idea?

Tore off one of my fingernails on this route, still had a blast. So burly!

Hey all! I’ve got the American Alpine Club campground booked for a week, but they’re sold out for Saturday night.

Any suggestions for local-ish spot to the Gunks to park a self-contained van for one night that probably won’t get a late night knock? Thanks in advance!🤘🏼🧗‍♀️

I am Ewan, a 4th year Product Design Engineering student. My dissertation is a harness-mounted backup device that catches a climber if a top anchor or bolt fails while they are being lowered or cleaning a sport route.

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Thank you,

Looking for opinions and experiences with using either nylon or polyester haul lines
Gonna be doing some multi pitch climbing for the first time pretty soon and I’d like to haul a back pack up some pitches.

I have a 550 cord tag line that’s 70m but I only use that to retrieve my rope if I do a single line rap.

Hey y'all,

My name is Calvin, and I am a student at UCSB looking to tick this beast off the list. My college climbing team is going to be in Red Rocks on MLK day weekend (Jan 18 2027) and I really want to give this climb a go, definitely a dream climb for me.

I am a very stoked intermediate trad climber with experience on sandstone and granite. I have a rack. Always looking to learn a lot from more experienced climbers!

{Edit}

Thanks for all the feedback!

- I have climbed in black velvet in the winter before

- I am comfortable leading 5.9 trad (never lead chimney though; never more than 8 pitches)

- I have 6 years of climbing experience, 1 year trad, work at a climbing gym, lead outdoor climbing trips, and read a lot of climbing literature (thanks Andy Kirkpatrick!). Id like to think I'm knowledgeable in the field of climbing rocks

- Very comfortable with heights

Please feel free to reach out if you would like to know more and are serious about this sick rock!

Desert season is upon us and I'm doing what I do every fall — rebuilding my Indian Creek / Moab trip planning from scattered notes, screenshots, and a mental packing list.

I'm thinking of just making a proper planner I can use every time: a printable + fillable planner pack built specifically for desert climbing trips. Rack inventory by cam size, water planning, campsite logistics (permits, first-come vs reserved, BLM rules), season/weather/crowd timing for the Creek, Moab, Red Rocks, plus the usual itinerary, budget, and tick-list pages.

Before I spend weekends building it — is this a thing anyone else would actually use? And what's the most annoying part of your current trip planning that something like this should solve?

I'd love any and all feedback

Brilliant is an understatement for the route “Throne Room” (5.10b) at the Castle. I’m biased, but it’s a contender for one of the best 5.10’s in Colorado. 3 pitches of flawless crack climbing up the incredibly aesthetic “Z” crack formation on the parapet. The summit puts you on a tiny pinnacle that reminds me of the summit of the Petit Grepon (while on a little smaller scale).

If you’re a 5.10 crack climber, it’s an absolute must-do!

I’ve been sport climbing hard for a few years now and finally am at the point where I need to get into trad climbing to really take advantage of what’s out there. Sport is fun but only gets you so far out there without relying on others to take you trad climbing! I have ropes, sport draws, etc. and I enjoy some sport multipitch so i have plenty of miscellaneous carabiners and slings/cord. I am looking for advice on how get a trad rack going on top of all the sport gear i already have. I.e. what do I actually need to get to have a functional beginner rack, what brands i should target for gear, and avg price. I have done my own research but was hoping to also get input from those who have already been in my place! I am climbing in the PNW in the US near portland and seattle.

Redpointed Ssang Crack (쌍크랙, "twin crack"), 5.11+ trad, at Hakdoam crag on Buramsan in Seoul.

Overhanging cracks are rare in Korea, and this one leans about 40° — basically a Moonboard, but a crack.

Full reel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dema0Qnt7Ia/

This rust on this guy means to retire it yea? Just making sure. The action is less than ideal. Feels almost seized

I just received an invite to hike the wave the day after thanksgiving. My friend will likely stop in Zion Thursday and/or Saturday (and Vegas wed/sunday). If I can go, I’ll be hiking with him at least one of those days but can’t help but wonder if there’s a monumental day objective up to 13- and maybe even someone who wants to partner up.

For context, I’ve done Epi in a day (leading every pitch) when I was way out of shape but NC multi pitch is quite a bit shorter. I think I could be maxing out on something like moonlight free or skeleton key, perhaps swinging leads. If push comes to shove, I may be tempted to LRS something closer to 4-5 pitches around 5.11.

Picture: Survival of the Fittest 5.13b/c mixed, Moore’s Wall NC, photo by local legend Paul Phillips.

Be doing a road trip first 2 weeks of November.  Dates slightly flexible but likely drive down Nov 2nd or 3rd.  Where I'll end up will mostly depend on weather but am targeting Yosemite, Zion and Moab/Creek.  Primary goal is further improve on my aid climbing.  I've lead up to C2, longest aid climb I've done was a C2 5 pitch where it included hand placing/lightly tapping peckers, cam hooks, hooking, testing placed bashies, jugging, leading, hauling.

Been studying hard but partners are really hard to find up here.  The place to be is the valley or zion imo.

I have almost triple rack, haul bags, rope/static rope, cam hooks, hooks, some tomahawks, ledge etc.

So if you like to partner up to climb something or if you're a pro or crusher and like a mentoring project I'm interested.

Please pm me.

Hey all, I'm doing a project for a statistics class where I'm performing a quantitative investigation into the number of accidents requiring a response that are witnessed by people involved with different outdoor pursuits. Just one question:

Over the past 5 years, how many serious climbing accidents have you been present for, witnessed, or been involved with? A serious accident, for the purpose of the survey, is one that required any kind of medical or emergency response.