Trad climbing techniques, tricks, & tips

Note: Trad climbing techniques, tricks & tips is a work in progress, and updated with new info as I have time. If you have something related, post below in the comments. Hopefully this can become a useful catalog of trad information.

I wrote about leading in a previous post because it’s an experience that is incomparable to anything else. Traditional, or “trad” climbing is in that same category. Climbing was once the realm of a few very brave, and socially marginalized players. It was a “mountain man’s game”, and certainly not a sport for the masses. Interestingly, trad climbing has been on the decline despite ever increasing numbers of climbers overall. Climbing has seen, over the last decade, an incredible amount of new participants entering into the sport. “An Outdoor Industry Association survey showed the number of climbers grew from 7.5 to 9.2 million people from 2004 to 2005. The percentage of people climbing on an artificial wall rose 30 percent”. Actually, I think those numbers are inflated. How many of them get out 10 times or more per year is probably far less. The OIA guesses about 2 million. I still think that is too high.

An increase in the number of climbers, coupled with the development of sport crags, has led most new climbers from the gym to sport climbing. I won’t speculate on exact numbers (let the OIA do that), but I would guess that the majority of new climbers are gym/sport oriented. The one area of climbing that doesn’t seem to have grown is trad climbing. I have no hard numbers. Instead, I present one of the most credible witnesses I know.

Margie Kelly, has spent the last 20+ years as fire lookout in the Needles watch tower. She bakes great cookies on Sunday too. Stop in and say hi to her, have a cookie and marvel at the view. Imagine 20+ years in that tower. Not only has she seen too many fires to count, she has also watched legions of climbers come and go. I can’t recall the exact date I was last there, but it has been some 4 years. On that trip we made our cookie stop and chatted with Margie. I don’t remember how it came up, but I remember the comment she made that things had gotten quieter over the years. Not only did she see fewer visitors, but she saw fewer climbers.

And if you haven’t been to the Needles -

Trad Heaven, Needles CA

- you might not wonder why. The needles is one of those rare places. Spectacular, intimidating, and classic lines on every formation. By all rights the needles should be pretty crowded. Maybe its the lack of formal camping, or the two mile hike in, but little else explains why a place as spectacular as the Needles grows quiet.

So you get the point. Trad climbing has lost some of its appeal, or is a smaller blip on the radar. I still know plenty of folks that prefer trad, but there was a day when there was only trad. Trad climbing may be analogous to a lost culture. In fact, it is a culture within a culture, and as with the loss of any culture, it’s inevitable that knowledge specific to that culture is also lost. My goal here is to create and catalog the (lost) techniques, tricks, and tips particular to, or useful for trad climbing. We’re talking rope techniques, racking tricks, leading or following, whatever. So throw it down in the comment section below, tips you have,tricks you’ve picked up, and things you’ve been taught. I’ll take’em and add it here with pix where I can recreate your suggestion.

Be safe, Live Long, Climb Hard

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#1 – Tat-in-the-hat

This comes from twitter friend @K2Kyle. He recommends always carrying some spare sling/tape in your helmet “tat in your hat” for emergencies. Saves on leaving expensive stuff behind.
Good idea on long routes to have “leaver” slings to create rap stations on trees bushes, or bolts. While Kyle carries it in his helmet, I tend to carry bigger 11/16 supertape tied as a full length runner, over my shoulder.

Bottom line, tape is cheaper than hardware, and you never know when you might need it.

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#2 – Trad draw

I’m going to offer this second one. It hardly qualifies as a lost idea. I think many climbers use it. Those 6″ sport draws aren’t as functional on long routes. I like to have options when trad climbing. Carrying “trad draws” gives you a few. Use it for extensions, anchors, slinging horns, etc.

Take a 24″ sewn runner with two carabiners clipped to it. Pass one biner through the other, and clip the loose biner to the two strands created. Now you have a triple folded sling, the length of a sport draw. Extend it by unclipping one of the biners from any two strands, and voila’. You have a 24″ runner. Climbing did a nice Tech Tip on this so I won’t post a picture.

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#3 – Nut Racking

Rack nuts on oval keylock carabiners, or anything with a cable. You don’t want to get in a desperate spot and have the cable snag on the nose of the biner, and there goes your all your nuts. Seconds can feel like hours as your arms flame out unhooking a pissy nut. A keylock won’t snag. Cables release from the biner buttery smooth. And don’t rack all your nuts on a single biner. Drop it and you lose half you pro.

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#4 – Munter Hitch

Learn how to use a Munter hitch, and a Munter-Mule knot. This will save your bacon when you drop that precious ATC from the top of Blackwall on Donner summit . Rappel or belay, its a useful hitch to know. Also, the Mule knot is the beginning of self-rescue techniques and belay escapes. Practicing self-rescue ought to be a tip by itself. No one does it but everyone should, particularly if you climb trad. Psychovertical has a nice bit on the Munter-Mule, no pic necessary here.

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#5 – Bowline-on-a bight

Making anchors doesn’t need to be gear intensive. In fact, the more frugile you are, the more gear there will be available for the next pitch. It also means you’ll need to carry less up a long route. If you are on a route that is equipped with bolts stations then all you need are two carabiners to create a bomber anchor. This may also be used if you have two very bomber gear placements, but I wouldn’t recommend making 2-piece anchors a habit. Three is my minimum. Here’s how to do it with two good bolts.

Use a Bowline-on-a bight. Simply creates two loops that can be equalized, quick to tie, and easy to untie if it gets weighted. It is also connects the climber directly to the anchor via the rope.

What’s the complaint, No “power point” to clip your follower in to? Then tie the munter mule we showed you until they’re ready to lead the next pitch. Untie it and your back to belaying in seconds. Actually, you can clip either of the loops at the knot. It’s a full strength rope!

Note: When tying to any anchor, it should be done with the rope. Daisies & slings increase the potential for shock loading your anchor, your harness, and your body. Something will break!

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#6 – Double Figure-of-eight on the bight

This may also be used as an anchor system like the Bowline above. When Tied it is similar to a regular Eight-on-a-bight. More difficult to explain than see one being tied. Here is a nice animated demonstration of the double Eight.

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#7 – Nut stacks

This isn’t one I recommend using a lot. Trad climbing is about being resourceful. Nut stacking gives you an option when all others have been exhausted. I have used nut stacks on rare occasions, like twice, but it saved my bacon. Its about knowing all your options. Don’t like it? Then you should have saved that number one cam or brought some hexes.

I clipped one cable and loop the second around the first. It isn’t to keep from losing the second nut, its to keep the two aligned together in case of rotation. It also helps placing them together. It is not a as stable as a single nut, so get as much contact with the rock and between nuts as possible. Using the larger as the wedge nut provides stability to the protection nut. Also set it with several good hard jerks. I tested this placement by jumping on my aiders attached to it. Bomber. Set better pro at you earliest convenience.

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#8 – Placing gear

Placing good gear on any pitch can be the crux. Why make it harder than it needs to be? Whenever you can, make gear placements in front of you, at chest/head height.

1. You can see the placement better,
2. It easier to do than stretching for the placement,
   
3. If you place it higher its probably the next good hold,
4. Its easier to clip,
5. Reduces the amount of rope out if you fall when clipping
   

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#9 – Damaged Rope

Ouch! Your rope just gave a large chunk of rock a soft place to land. The problem is you see rope core. You know, that white slippery stuff in the middle of your rope. It looks a bit like goose down when its frayed. Not good if you still have a few pitches to go. A descent might be the better option. But what about that core shot?

The first thing you should do is determine how close to an end the rope is damaged. If its toward one end or the other, can the follower tie-in short? Is there enough undamaged rope to allow safe climbing or rappel? If yes, then let the damaged end hang loose, or coil a bit up so its out of the way.

If not, then you need the section of rope that’s damaged. You need to protect that section, and keep weight off it. The best thing to do is tie an alpine butterfly with the damaged section. Watch the vid, it has cool dramatic accompaniment. A little over produced for a knot, but you get the idea. The damage should be right in the middle of the loop.

One more note here. Just because the core is showing doesn’t mean the rope is about to break. If the core still has integrity then it might be usable. IF the outer sheath has suffered damage and the core is intact, try taping the sheath good and tight with some finger tape or duct tape to keep the core from being exposed. You can probably rap safely on it, but I wouldn’t climb on it. Just be careful going across the tape that it doesn’t get rolled up in your belay device.

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#10 – Clove Hitches, the climbers best friend. Thanx to rockgrrl for the reminder. Be sure to see her most excellent blog .

First, let’s consider uses for a clove hitch.

• Self-belay – Many a big-waller has used the clove for self belay because it allows rope to be fed relatively easily without removing or untying the knot.
• Equalizing an anchor – If you haven’t the gear to make a proper equalization system, cloves can be used to interconnect placements in a way that will be marginally equalized. It also allows as many pieces as you have to be laced together.
• Adjusting a belay stance – If you haven’t been in the wrong spot on a belay, then you can’t appreciate the ability (or inability) to adjust your belay position. It may be necessary for comfort, communication, or safety.
• Securing yourself – What’s an easy way to secure yourself or the follower at the anchor? You guessed it. Its easy because if your partner is on top of you, she can take a little slack without too much problem. Remember she doesn’t need to untie, and you don’t need to rebelay.
• Water bottles – Let’s face it, this may be the single greatest use for a clove hitch. It’s an easy way to create clip loops for your gear. Actually I have a special knot for bottles that I will share.

Second, let’s just get the tying part out of the way. It is really an easy knot to tie. As climbers we tend to tie the knot in the middle of the rope, so that’s the way we need to learn it. Here’s the easy way presented by ABC-of-Rock.

Practice it on a length of cord until you can do it eyes closed. Simple enough Once you have the mechanics of tying it, you can begin to apply it in your climbing activities. That’s the basics. It may be worth elaborating on each of the applications I mentioned. Unfortunately, each one can be a post by itself. If you have questions post’em in comments and I’ll try to answer. I’ll cover adjusting your belay stance and securing to an anchor below.
Here’s an example of a clove hitch used to tension two opposed nuts. The clove allows this crappy horizontal crack to become a good nut placement.

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#11 – The invincible bottle knot

This may not qualify as a trad tip, but everybody, sooner or later, will want to carry water on a climb. If you’re like me then your recycling bottles. I use Gatorade bottles, or those 1.5 liter water bottles for aid climbing. Whatever you use, you’ll need to tie some cord to the bottle. I came up with this knot because clove hitches sometimes look like they are coming lose. Maybe not, but this knot will never come lose.

Actually it is a constrictor knot, a clove with an extra twist. I thought I had invented it, darn. I have been using it a long while, but only recently found it had a name. I did figure out how to tie it with a loop of cord, which I haven’t seen demonstrated anywhere else. The beauty of it is it’s almost impossible to untie. I need some pics for this demonstration. I’ll get’em up on Friday.

For most bottles I use 3mm cord, 2mm will also work. Get yourself a short length of cord about 8″ – 12″ long. This is going to vary depending on the bottle neck, so play with it to get the length you want. Tie the ends together with a double fisherman’s (don’t make me explain it, you better know it). With the loop of cord, tie it as follows – Invincible Bottle Knot

Once you pull it tight, its not coming lose unless you take it apart with pliers (no joke).

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#12 – Adjusting your stance

This should probably be under basics, rather than trad tips, but I figure its one of those things that gets lost in the translation from gym or sport climbing.

If you are on a trad route, chances are that you will encounter belays with uncomfortable stances, no line of sight to your follower, communication is difficult, or they’re just a plain old pain in the ass to do things efficiently. That’s why you need to be able to adjust your belay stance. WTF? I’m talking about the place and manner of your position at the belay after everything is set up.

Imagine you are on some route and come to a nice ledge at the end of the pitch. Problem is the only good anchor is a crack about 6 feet away, and above you. That’s great, you have a good crack to work with, but are you gonna hang there in agony with this comfy ledge right next to you? Probably. Unless you get with the game.

You set a decent 3-piece anchor using a cordelette. You could tie-in long by making an eight-on-a-bight 6 feet from you. Now you can stand there all comfy. But what if that isn’t good enough? what if you discover another 2 feet would be better? The trick is to tie-in longer than you think you need. Use the eight at the power point, and also add an extra biner to clove hitch from. Use the clove hitch to adjust your position, in or out. Take it in when your partner arrives, or let it out so you can hang over the edge to hear him screaming, “SLACK”! Get it?

Remember the Munter-mule when your partner arrives, swap gear, and they’re off on the next pitch. Now you can readjust your stance while they claw their way up that crack.

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#13 – Removing cams

Later, I’d like to do an entire post on the fine art of cleaning. For now, a tip on pulling those troublesome cam placements. Cams get stuck in a couple of ways. Maybe your partner just shoved the thing too deep to get your fingers on the trigger. Maybe, they placed it in the heat of the moment and didn’t care that it was too big for the placement. Here’s a couple things that might help you get it loose.

1. You should be carrying a nut tool. Nut tools are made to use on cams, as well as nuts. If you can get your fingers on the top of the stem, slide the nut tool in there and use it too hold the trigger. That’s h0ld, not pull. Read #2 to find out why.
2. Most climbers think the cam has a trigger that is pulled like the trigger on a gun. That is not the best way to use it. Instead, place your fingers on the cam like normal, then push the top of the stem while you hold the trigger. Think about how the cam works. The lobes are against the rock. If you pull the trigger you are waisting precious energy trying to make those lobes rotate. Instead, pushing with your thumb collapses the cam just the same, but without the lobes rotating against rock. Go get a cam and play with it. See the difference?
3. Lastly, be gentle as you move the cam around in that too tight crack. If the cam is fully collapsed, yanking it into some little constriction will stick it good. If you already have it fully retracted you have nothing left to work with. I’ll say it again, be gentle, use finesse to find the path of least resistance. Wiggle it around, but don’t get impatient and pull hard thinking it will pop loose. I have lots of nice booty because of that technique, thank you.

If you think this is a waist of time then you haven’t burned your self to the ground trying to hang on while getting a stuck cam loose. Chances are it wasn’t really stuck until you tried to pull it. Remember, it did go in. One more thing, if this is a common problem, then maybe its time to have a long talk with your partner about placing gear properly.

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#14 – Racking

There are a couple things I want to say about racking, 1) be organized, and 2) don’t overkill.

1) Ever find yourself searching frantically for that piece you “know” will fit the placement? Just hang on long enough and you might have a chance to place it. Seems pretty straight forward, but in the middle on a pitch is no time to realize your rack is in tatters. Take the time at each belay to set things straight. It only takes a second when you and your partner are working together. the cleaner needs a system that allows them to pull gear, and rack it in an orderly fashion. This facilitates the transfer of gear. You say, “Gimme all the small cams”. They say, “Got’em right here”.

Also, be meticulous while passing gear. If its not clipped to something deliberately hold onto it until your partner has a firm grip. So many dropped pieces because gear transfers are not deliberate. That, and it doesn’t help when your not sure what it is your grabbing off the back of your harness.

2) This may be the hardest thing for beginning climbers to overcome. I know it seems better to take all the gear rather than have doubts. The biggest problem with all the gear is the organizational disaster waiting to happen. That directly impacts suggestion one.

Let me ask, “if you are carrying 10 draws, and all your cams have a biner, how many draws do you think you’ll use”? My answer, “one or two if the route traverses”. I like to carry four trad draws (see above) and about four 24 inch slings over my shoulder, and I clip an extra biner to each one (4 biners). That’s eight draws for whatever. Add to that four regular draws for clipping nuts. That’s 12 slings/draws. Seems like a lot, but some is over the shoulder and some is clipped to my harness.

Cams are the biggest headache. How many, which ones? Does the route really need cams? I’m asking this because cams were designed for Parallel sided cracks. You might be able to do the route with just nuts. In any case start practicing paring down your cam selection. Notice which ones you always grab for and the ones you don’t. Also, try racking small cams two-to-a-biner to save some space.

If you carry a lot of gear because you need pro every 10 feet you have some things to address. Its fine if your feeling sketchy, but that adds up to 15 placements a pitch. Your gonna be slow and so is your partner with all that gear to clean. There is no magic solution to overkill. It does take experience and practice.

Just remember, safety is primarily determined by your competence on the rock, not the amount of gear you carry.

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#15 – Hauling a pack – The Garda hitch (or knot)

This is a pretty straight forward idea. You are on a long route and you and your partner have been carrying a small pack. This isn’t too bad when the climbing is moderate (for you). Suppose that the crux pitch isn’t one that either of you wants to be carrying a pack on. Or maybe, its a squeeze Chimney or offwidth where a pack would be impossible to carry or even drag behind you. Time to haul that pack instead of carry it.

Two ways to get it up to the belay. One, you can just hand over hand it. That isn’t a bad idea unless the pitch is really long or the pack heavy. It means you get no rest or any way to hang it easily should you need to stop in the middle of hauling.

The second method is easy to setup and requires no extra gear except two carabiners. It also means you need a second rope to haul with. No big deal if your descent requires two ropes. If not, just carry a small 7mm line, you can haul with it and use it for rapping if needed.

Rig the haul with a Garda knot. Technically it is considered a hitch, like the clove hitch, so I’ll refer to it in its correct vernacular. The Garda hitch is a self-locking setup that allows rope to be pulled through while hauling, but locks to keep the load hanging where you left it.

Here’s how to tie the Garda hitch. The pictures shown are actually upside down if you are rigging for hauling. In fact, I can’t find a single pic of it rigged in the right direction. I’ll post this link for now, and replace it as soon as I have time to do my own pics.

Anyway, once setup, haul away! Now you can haul without worrying about dropping the pack or carrying extra gear. Your partner thanks you too.

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#16 – Rope management at the belay

I was reminded of this one while leading a pitch at Lover’s Leap. I had two followers, with two ropes. This could have meant a cluster of tangled rope. The 1st pitch was led by my friend who was an inexperienced leader. The mistake she made was to stack the ropes with very short loops.

The better way to do it is, as the follower climbs allow the rope to hang in long loops. This reduces the total number of loops, and makes the stack where the rope laps smaller. Watch for flakes or cracks that the rope can catch in and adjust accordingly. The long loops also allow you to feed rope more smoothly because the stack will be less likely to fall or tangle as you feed.

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