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Chris McNamara
SuperTopo staff member
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 28, 2008 - 01:37pm PT
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NOTE: THIS IS AN OLD VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE - THE NEW UPDATED VERSION IS HERE: http://www.supertopo.com/a/How_to_Big_Wall_Climb_Following_1_Low%20Angle_Terrain/a10537n.html
This is a draft chapter from my upcoming How to Big Wall Climb book. So far i don't have any photos or illustrations so i am inserting little movies to show the techniques. This is my first crack at the movies. Overtime ill improve the video, sound, and clarity... or abandon movies and move to photos and illustration
The movies were shot by my dad at the chossy little cliff i learned to climb on when i was 14 near San Francisco
The only movie i did not shoot is where I link to Erik Sloan's great movie on lowering out on a traverse. http://vimeo.com/4388859
Here is a directory of all Forum posts related to How To Big Walls book:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=692927
Notes:
when I write “TK” it means a photo will eventually be inserted there
when you click on the quicktime movies, a quicktime logo will show up on your screen and then you have to wait a while. Another option is right click on the link and download the file to your desktop
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Following – The Basics
The difference between efficient and inefficient ascender technique is subtle but crucial. The wrong technique will burn up your arms and cause bad cramps. On my first one day ascent of The Nose I used such bad technique that my arms started locking up around the Great Roof with terrible crams. I wasn’t sure I would even be able to finish the route.
Gear
2 ascenders, 2 daisy chains, 2 aiders, 2 Locking biners (lightweight if possible), helmet, gloves
Good places to start
I learned to jumar on a free hanging rope hung from a tree. However, I think a 30 to 50-foot, 80-degree smooth wall is best because that is the most common big wall angle. If the 80-degree wall at your climbing gym has too many giant holds, a vertical wall may be more appropriate.
Basic Ascender Set up (TK one photo of person with arrows going to each part)
1. Attach the daisy chains.
2. Connect aiders to locking biners.
3. Attach ascenders to rope. If you are right handed, the right ascender goes on top.
4. Clip a locking biner to the top ascender.
5. Clip a daisy chain to the bottom ascender.
6. Clip a daisy chain to the top ascender.
7. Figure out the right length of daisy chain for the top ascender.
Key point – get the top daisy length right: If the daisy connected to the top ascender is too long, you will put too much weight on your arms. If too short, you will make ascending motions that are too short and inefficient. The way to know that you have the right length is when you hang with all your weight on the daisy chain, your arm comfortably holds the ascender with a small bend. (TK Show three photos: good, daisy too short, daisy too long)
If you just have one daisy chain, use it to attach yourself to the top ascender. Use two intertwined shoulder-length runners to connect to the bottom ascender.
If you don’t have any daisy chains, use one shoulder-length runner to attach yourself to the top ascender. Use two intertwined shoulder-lenth runners to connect to the bottom ascender.
WATCH A SHORT VIDEO ON ASCENDER SET UP
 low quality YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c50LHpi1jlI
higher quality Quicktime - http://chrismcnamara.com/movies/1ascender-set-up.mov
Two ascending techniques – one principle
The two ascending techniques depend on whether a) The wall is vertical or overhanging, or b) The wall is less than vertical. In either case, the most important thing is to keep as much weigh on your legs and as little weight on your arms.
A. Vertical or overhanging wall
(TK Photo of hanging in ascender)
There are lots of different techniques for jumaring a free hanging rope or a really steep wall. I’ve tried a bunch of them and they are all equally exhausting so I just go with the simplest setup:
1. Remove the top aider. Put your foot in the third step of an aid ladder or the second step of a standard aider.
2. In one motion, push with the foot in the bottom aider and slide the top ascender up.
3. Rest on the top ascender (make sure the daisy is not too long. You want a bend in the elbow).
4. Push up the bottom ascender.
5. Repeat.
The most important thing is to make sure you are completely resting on the top daisy and not on your top arm at all. It helps to have the lightest weight locking biner possible on the top ascender. If you want, you can ask a friend to show you the Frog Technique or the Texas Kick but I have found these to be more exhausting than useful.
B. Less than vertical wall (slabby wall)
(TK Photo of standing in two aiders)
1. With your feet out of the aiders, pull the slack out of the rope by alternately sliding the ascenders up the rope
2. If you are right-handed (right ascender on top) you put your left foot in the third step of an aid ladder or the second step of a standard aider. Push the right ascender as high as you can, then put your right foot in the fourth step of an aid ladder or the third step of a standard aider. Note: If you are left-handed, reverse this.
3. Once you have pushed the top ascender as high as it will go, shift your weight onto the aider connect to the top ascender. Ease your weight off the aider connected to the bottom ascender and slide up the ascender.
4. Repeat. At first it’s tricky to coordinate the weight shifting. But in a short time it will start to flow.
Key tips:
The most important point: unlike overhanging jumaring where you have to use both your arms and legs, on less-than-vertical jumaring you should have all your weight on your legs. Your arms are only there to move the ascenders up – never to rest on. The best way to do this is lean into the rock as much as possible. On just under vertical terrain, you will need to nearly touch your nose to the rope in order to keep your weight totally on your feet and not on your arms.
When leaving the ground or a belay, if there is not much rope below you, the bottom ascender will not slide up on its own. You have to manually open the cam a little with your hand.
at first your feet will come out of the aiders. This is normal. Over time you will get better at maintaining just the right pressure between you feet and the aiders so that stay in. I never use elastic or anything else to keep my feet in the aiders because it ends up taking more time than it saves. And often you want to be able to get your feet out of the aiders fast.
WATCH A SHORT VIDEO ON JUMARING TECHNIQUE
low quality YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8KRKWEMwyA
higher quality Quicktime - http://chrismcnamara.com/movies/2basic-ascending.mov
How many times should you practice this routine? When do you know if you are climbing efficiently?
Same answer as the basics for leading. Time yourself for a 30-foot climb, or however long your rope is. Every time you do a lap, keep track of the time. At first you should see big improvements in how fast you are moving. Over time the increments will get smaller and smaller. Once you are no longer getting any faster, you are probably going as fast as you can. If your little practice climb is 30 feet tall, I would try to do at least 100 laps.
STOP: if you are just beginning, dial in this in before practicing cleaning gear.
Following—Cleaning Gear
Gear: daisy chains, aiders, helmet, gloves (optional), locking biners (lightweight if possible), two shoulder length slings (not a gear sling!)
How to Rack Gear:
Start by putting a shoulder length sling over each shoulder. As you clean, you will put gear (cams, stoppers, etc ) on the right sling and biners and quick draws on the left sling. This way when you finish cleaning the pitch you can quickly take off the slings and hand them to the leader of the next pitch for quick re-racking.
Its debatable how organized you should be when racking the gear while cleaning. There are three options:
1) little organization. just clip all the gear to the right side and all the biners to the left side.
2) lots of organization. After cleaning a piece, clip it to the gear sling like you would when racking to lead. This means stoppers up front, followed by cams, smallest to largest and grouping free biners in groups of 5 or 7 and quickdraws in groups of two.
3) in between 1 and 2 and what I recommend. Make a little effort to put cams in order of size and do some basic organization. Maybe stop every 5 pieces and make sure things are not getting too clustered. You are organization enough to avoid a big cluster but also making sure to keep a good rhythm going which sometimes means just clipping on a piece out of order.
WATCH A SHORT VIDEO ON RACKING GEAR
low quality YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmqE9yn6KKE
higher quality Quicktime - http://chrismcnamara.com/movies/4racking-gear.mov
Cleaning Gear
There are two main ways to clean gear: removing the top ascender and keeping the top ascender on.
1) Removing the top ascender means sliding the top ascender up to one inch below the biner (attached to the piece you are cleaning) and sliding the bottom ascender one inch below the bottom ascender. You then take the top ascender off, pass it over the biner, re-attach it to the rope and then slide it up as high as you can. If the terrain is overhanging, you then rest on the daisy chain. If the terrain is less-than-vertical, you don’t hang on the daisy chain and just keep you weight on your feet in the aiders.
2) Keeping the top ascender on means sliding the top ascender up to one inch below the biner (attached to the piece you are cleaning) and sliding the bottom ascender one inch below the bottom ascender. You then clean the piece.
In less-than-vertical terrain its faster to not remove the ascender. However, if it’s a tricky piece to clean, its best to pass the top ascender because you will then be in a better position to clean the piece. On vertical or overhanging terrain, it is almost always best to pass the top ascender.
TIP: On a really stopper intensive route (like Zion’s Desert Shield), it’s a good idea to have a mini hammer (not a full sized wall hammer) and a long, thin lost arrow or nut tool. Gently tap the bottom of the stopper with the lost arrow. This will prevent the stopper cables from getting too damaged.
Key points:
the reason you always stop an inch below the biner (attached to the piece you are cleaning) is that you don’t want to jam the ascender up against the biner to the point you can’t remove it. By giving yourself an inch, you insure you can quickly pass the piece.
remember to stay on your feet as much as possible. The one exception to this is when sometimes it is easier to rest on your daisy when cleaning gear. But usually it is easier and better to stay on your feet.
Backup knots
When you remove an ascender to clean a piece, at that moment you are only attached to the rope by one point (the bottom jumar). If that piece failed you would fall all the way to the end of the rope (it’s happened and killed people). You prevent this by tieing a figure eight every 15-25 feet and clip it to a locking carabiner attached to your harness belay loop. That way, if you become disconnected from the ascenders, you only fall the distance to you your last back up knot. Another benefit to tieing back up knots is that you avoid the risk of getting the rope stuck way below you and then having to rap down and free it.
On my first ascent of The Nose I decided to save time and not tie a back up loop. I had almost reached the belay after cleaning a steep 200-foot pitch in the Stovelegs when I stopped moving. The rope had snagged 100 feet below me. The only way to clear the snag was to rappel 100 feet then jumar back up. My attempted shortcut had put me at risk of a 200-foot fall and I ended up burning a lot of time. This was a one day ascent and later in the climb I got massive cramps around Camp V no doubt encouraged by the “300-foot pitch” I had jumared earlier in the day.
Using a GriGri: it is possible to use a GriGri or similar auto-lock belay device instead of back up knots but I don’t recommend it because:
except on really steep terrain, the rope won’t automatically feed through the belay device. You will have to manually feed the rope through which takes more time and effort than tying back up knots
with the GriGri, you still have the problem of the rope getting stuck far below you. With back up knots the rope can only get stuck 15-25 feet below you.
WATCH A SHORT VIDEO ON BACK UP KNOTS
low quality YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRGp_g5AXG4
higher quality Quicktime - http://chrismcnamara.com/movies/3backup-knots.mov
Cleaning Traverses
There are two techniques used for two types of traverses: diagonal traverses and horizontal traverses. IMPORTANT: Both techniques share one thing in common, its important to back yourself up with back-up knots or a GriGri. Almost all cases of people coming detached from their jumars happen on traverses because the rope can run through the ascender at a weird angle that causes it to twist out.
Cleaning Diagonal Traverses: [need some images here but not sure how many] When the rope is running to the side at an angle of 30-70 degrees, it is tricky to clean pieces because after passing the ascender over the piece and weighting it, you are pulled to the side. Sometimes you can just paste your feet against the wall, lean over for a moment and quickly remove the piece (sticky rubber approach shoes help a lot). However, if the terrain is too steep, sometimes you need to pass both jumars over the piece, go up another foot or two, then reach down andor swing back over.
Cleaning Horizontal Traverses: When you are cleaning a roof or horizontal crack, its best to re-aid the pitch for two reasons:
safety – if you are cleaning a horizontal pitch on your ascenders and a piece blows, you will take a hard swinging fall onto your ascenders. ascenders are not designed for this and can shred or even break the rope.
- speed – cleaning horizontally on ascenders is very awkward and can get you in some clusters that take a while to get out of
When re-aiding, I use a GriGri to self belay. You can also tie back up knots but you will want to tie them very often to feel safe. Even then, a GriGri will still feel better because you can easily keep yourself on a tight belay.
The basic re-aiding technique goes like this
1) jumar up to the last piece before the traverse
2) put on the GriGri or tie a back up knot
3) standing only on the bottom jumar, unclip the aider and daisy from the top ascender and clip in directly to the piece.
4) remove the top ascender and clip it to the side of your harness or let it hang
5) stand in the aider attached to the piece
6) unclip the piece from the rope and clean it
7) remove the bottom ascender from the rope and clip the aider and daisy to the next piece.
8) you are now re-aiding until you reach the end of the traverse and can start jumaring again
Pendulums
There are two types of techniques for following pendulums:
1) For big pendulums (30+ feet long) like the King Swing on The Nose, you can either bring a second rope to rappel (a 100-foot piece of 7-8 mm cord usually works) or you can use the end of your rope if there is enough left over.
2) For short pendulums (30 feet or less) you use the technique described below. This is one of the more complicated rope techniques in wall climbing and is best shown in real life by an expert, but I will try to explain below:
1) jumar up to the pendulum point and stop about 6 inches short.
2) put on the GriGri or tie a back up knot then release all other back up knots
3) from your tie in point, take a bit of rope about 6 feet long.
4) thread it through the fixed sling at the pendulum point and bring it back to your harness where you clip it with a locking biner.
5) there are now for strands of rope: two going to the fixed sling and two coming back from the sling and clipped to your harness. Grab the strand that goes to the extra slack and winch yourself tight.
6) all your weight should now be on the pendulum point
7) unclip the biner that was pendulumed from
8) lower out
9) when at the end of the lower out, unclip the locking biner at your harness and let all the rope back out
WATCH A VIDEO ON LOWERING OUT
Erik Sloan made a great movie on lowering out. The technique in his movie is a little different than what I describe above, but it equally effective if not better.
Watch the YouTube movie - http://vimeo.com/4388859
WATCH A PHOTO DIAGRAM ON LOWERING OUT FROM THE KING SWING ON THE NOSE
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=714500
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Lambone
Ice climber
Ashland, Or
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Oct 28, 2008 - 02:36pm PT
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Chris,
One thing I'd mention in setting up for cleaning is that if the pitch traverses left, put the left jug on top and vise-versa.
In Sloan's lowering out video I usually elimninate the extra step of clipping one aider and fifi-ing directly into the piece before putting the bight through. Seems like an extra step, unless you cant cram the bight through the tie-off.
I find the "Texas" style method to be the easiest when jugging overhanging fixed lines....
Perhaps mention carrying the rope bucket on your harness to stack the rope into as you ascend. I do this if it's windy enough.
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Andrew Barnes
Ice climber
Albany, NY
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Chris,
This is great stuff, very lucid and clear.
There is one suggestion I would make regarding cleaning an
overhanging or traversing pitch (which is not dead horizontal).
It is very annoying to get a jumar stuck in the piece to be
cleaned. Imagine that I pass the upper jumar over the piece
and then the lower jumar gets sucked into the piece as soon as
I weight the upper jumar. My strategy for dealing with this is
to keep the lower jumar low (at least a couple of feet below
the piece), but step up very high in my aider (clipped to the
lower jumar) and then clip the upper jumar over the piece (as
high as possible).
This usually gives me enough slack to unclip the rope from
the piece and clean it (unless my partner has really hosed me
with aggressive backcleaning and super long reaches on the
traverse or overhang). Sometimes it is necessary to do a short
lower out, if there is a fixed piece to lower from.
I didn't learn this simple point about not getting the jumar
stuck in the piece, until a partner explained it to me while
I was cleaning pitch 5 of Tangerine Trip. On that wall, I had
to use the overhanging cleaning technique for every pitch,
except the last one.
Andrew Barnes.
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john hansen
climber
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Jan 27, 2009 - 07:55pm PT
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Great stuff Chris, watched five or six of your vidio's.
Very informative.
Just a couple years ago I saw those 'ladder' aiders in the climbing store in Yosomite. How long are those things anyway?
I think the one I saw had 6 steps,,
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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Jan 27, 2009 - 07:56pm PT
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5 or 6 is perfect
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dougs510
Social climber
down south
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Jan 27, 2009 - 08:54pm PT
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bump
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hossjulia
Trad climber
Eastside
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Jan 28, 2009 - 03:11pm PT
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Chris this is great stuff, thanks!
I have the stuff to practice with, including some nice south facing large boulders around my place. And big trees. :)
The video how-to's are cool.
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dougs510
Social climber
down south
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Jan 28, 2009 - 04:14pm PT
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Watched the video Chris. Good stuff for sure. Much more informative than pictures. I like the idea of having video. Is this going to be an online type book? I remember back in the day, I used to download the topos and print them out. Those were good times!
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Jan 29, 2009 - 08:00pm PT
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Chris,
I finally found the time to read this and watch all the videos. Fantastic effort, keep it coming. Looking forward to buying your book when it comes out. This is a great thread.
Cheers
john
PS: I'm seriously considering buying a set of Yates ladders and giving them another go. (Going from two pair of traditional aiders to 2 ladders)
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Thorgon
Big Wall climber
Sedro Woolley, WA
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Jun 13, 2009 - 10:29am PT
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Ammon made this short video clip of "cleaning with a Grigri" that I can not find, anyone have the link, it was extremely concise and to the point!
At least I think it was Ammon?
Lost in cyberspace.
Thor
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GDavis
Trad climber
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Jun 13, 2009 - 11:27am PT
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It would be cool to include a video with the DVD and in sections in the book have "Refer to the Cleaning chapter." Kind of like a create your own adventure/read along thing. A-hyuck. Still, good idea...
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