Covering significant amounts of terrain on long routes in Yosemite and Patagonia demands progressive tactics. The best way for a team to advance quickly and stay warm on big routes is to have both ...

“BELAY,” shouts one rock climber. “Belay on!” replies the other. The pair, both equipped with harnesses and red helmets and small bags of chalk attached to their hips, call out their safety cues ...

What goes up must come down. You may be aware that down climbing is much more difficult and time consuming than climbing upwards, as well as sounding a little contradictory. This is because it's much ...

Which belay devices are best? When partaking in a sport like climbing that’s equally exhilarating and dangerous, safety precautions take priority. Armed with a good braking hand, harness and rope, the ...

Climbing techniques, single pitch lower-off analysis. What to do when you reach the abseil chain. 1. Reach the chain and make safe by clipping a quickdraw from the harness belay loop to the ring, ...

Today’s “I can’t believe it, but it actually happened,” tale from a reader. I went climbing with a new partner. He was a 5.13+ leader, so I didn’t put too much thought into his belay technique until I ...