UKC

Could anybody advise a "teach-yourself" articles, videos about "applied" drytooling and mixed climbing?
By "applied" I mean no overhanings and high grades but not bolted alpine routs where you must not fall.

In reply to ylem:

confused.

you mean you want instructional material about tooling and mixed climbing?

Hmm.. Yes.
I've bought a Will Gadd's book "Ice & mixed climbing..." but there is not a lot about mixed and drytooling technique. For example a have not found how to use tools in wide vertical cracks etc.

In reply to ylem:


ok cool, well why not try this.....

USE YOUR HANDS.

And do what?

Have you ever "do" any "technical" sports?
For exaple I played volleyball for 7 years (2nd place on junior country chempionship) and if nobody taught me at least basic techtique I was not be able even to throw a ball over a net. Should I go on?

In reply to ylem:

Why not just try for yourself?

To quote Bob Dylan: "Don't follow leaders...."

In reply to tom290483:

hes not wrong actually - a dick about it - but not wrong.

nothing in tooling that says 'dont use your hands'. josh wharton (i think) won ouray 2 years back (i think) with a few non-tool moves. with gloves on its not too bad. if you still hold the tool it gives extra jamming width.

otherwise tooling literature is hard to find. i think UKCers firebombed the publishers.

so, just get out there.

wide cracks are often about angles and horizontal torquing. hold the tool high, place it at sternum level and kind of layback. ninja stuff thats exhausting. depending how wide it is it puts amazing stress on tools - where pick ratings matter - and can be dangerous (as in pick to the chest or face).

think tho: theres an ethic here. tooling is about climbing what cant be climbed without tools. a patch between unclimbable is ok, but if the routes doable without tools, regardless of the season, respect drytooling ethics and leave it.
the cross-burners WILL find you.

In reply to ylem:


If you are really such a beginner that you don't have any ideas (and I don't mean that in a mean way) I guess you either need to do something pretty extreme like travel to some part of the world with a long tradition of mixed and dry tooling and hire a guide who can teach you, or otherwise do what most UK climbers do, rock climb in the summer and go to the Highlands in the winter and work it out as you go up the grades.

You can fist and hand jam with gloves on for example. I don't climb particular hard but for example have used fist jams between an ice fall and the cliff to hold myself in balance whilst placing a screw before pulling out to climb the steep ice. But do you know how to hand or fist jam?

In reply to ylem: Get down to the Peak and teach yourself!

In reply to ice.solo:

why am I being a dick about it?

does nobody else think this is a millstone related wind up?