As we continue our glacier travel series and before we get into more advanced movement techniques we first need to understand the fundamentals of moving as part of a group who are, literally, tied together.

As a climbing team on a glacier, we need to be prepared for a crevasse fall, but we also want to have the route planning and navigation skills to reduce the likelihood of having a crevasse fall. This video provides ideas on how to plan route paths that help avoid crevasses.

Deciding how much climbing rope you need for glacier travel is a product of many factors. The number of teammates, the snow conditions, crevasse sizes, and preferred rescue systems are all inputs into how much space to have between climbers, how much length to keep in spare coils, and whether to have brake knots in the rope. All of that will calculate out to your total rope length. Let’s explore some of these considerations.

In this next episode of our glacier travel series, we are presenting several options for climbers to tie into the rope and how we may choose to match our tie-in setups to our circumstances, gear, and position on the rope.

Continuing our glacier travel series, we are showing the 6:1 drop loop crevasse rescue haul system and discussing how to modify it to meet some of the gear we may have, the rope we have available, and the status of the fallen climber.

As we get deeper into a glacier travel series, we want to note that there are many effective ways to develop our climbing systems for safe passage on glaciated mountains. Maybe the single biggest thing we can do wrong, however, is get dogmatic about those systems and assume that, while risks change from glacier to glacier, our systems don't have to change as well.

We will frequently choose to connect ourselves to the climbing rope with a carabiner, rather than a knot, when on a glacier in order to facilitate things like crevasse rescue systems. We need to be considerate of the strengths and weaknesses of carabiner types in order to select the best carabiner for our climb of a glaciated peak. Here's some of the criteria I use to help me choose.

We isolate damaged sections of a climbing rope by tying a knot with the damaged section in the knot bight. That keeps any load - you - off of the damaged section. But if we need to rappel past a damaged section, we need to be able to get our rappel setup from above that knot to below it while staying firmly and safely connected to the rope. Here is a procedure to do that.

Extending your rappel (abseil) device away from your harness after a climb comes with a number of benefits. But how we choose to make our rappel extension can make navigating certain kinds of anchors or rappels easier or harder. Here's three different extension configurations and some of the reasons why one might be a better choice for a given circumstance compared to others.

You need to rappel (abseil), but you've dropped your rappel device down a climbing route. Here are three different rappel setups you can use in an emergency that don't require a device. There are pros and cons to each and so choosing the right one for the right circumstance may help reduce risk.

For over a decade, I've been using the same split finger gloves (or split finger mittens) as a compromise between the warmth of a mitten and the dexterity of a glove. They aren't right for every trip but I can use them in a surprising amount of situations. Here's a video on some of the pros and cons and how I choose when to use them.

Camping comfortably can mean the difference between being restored every night of our camping, backpacking, or alpine climbing adventure, and reaching our goal, or slowly getting drained to the point where we have to quit. One of the first things to consider about our camp strategy is whether to take a single-walled or double-walled tent. Here are some of the pros and cons of each.

Not too long ago, I was asked about how I might be able to add load lifting straps to The Hyperlite Mountain Gear Unbound Ultralight backpack. Here's a walkthrough of how I did that.

Our twin boys run, climb, scramble, hike, backpack, swim... you name it. We try to find items that can be used - and used well - across many different disciplines. We've been using the La Sportiva Ultra Raptor II Jr shoes for life on the trail as well as scrambling on the rocks. How well have they performed as trail runners, hikers, and approach shoes? Take a look at the full review.

I had been on an approach hike into a climb when one of my toes started hurting. I hadn't knocked my toe against anything. I hadn't been heading downhill and impacted my toe against the front of my boot. What could have been causing it? Surprisingly, it was my socks. Here's how, and what I now do to prevent it.

Our boys, now age 8, have been using the Deuter Climber 22 Liter Kid's backpack for over three years. It's been the pack they take on just about every hiking, backpacking, camping, and climbing adventure. So, with that much wear and trust put into the backpack, we thought it would be worth a review. Here's what we dislike, like, and love about this pack.

A semi-rigid, extended quickdraw is sometimes called a "cheater stick" for rock climbing, but it can be a good tool when we find ourselves on a sport route that has critical bolts placed just beyond our reach. It does introduce new risks that need to be managed, however. This video shares what this tool is, how we can use it safely, and how we can either buy or build one of our own.

Whether you are a climber on the approach to the climb or a hiker who is putting in miles on the trail, we want to be conscious about conserving energy and avoiding stumbles and falls. This is where a basic understanding of a few rock climbing footwork fundamentals can help keep us efficient and safe, which will matter a great deal after 10 thousand, 100 thousand, or even 1 million steps.

Early in my climbing career, a mentor told me "...now we need you to start thinking about the 'working end' of your carabiners." He was talking about orienting my carabiners to maximize efficiency and safety. This video takes two case studies, attaching our carabiners to our anchor points and attaching ourselves to the anchor, to go into some of the subtleties of carabiner orientation.

Downclimbing is an important skill for anyone who climbs outdoors. It is downright necessary for those who "scramble" on ridges or other terrain that typically doesn't use ropes. There are times where it feels self-evident to face in towards the rock, and there are times where it feels very comfortable to face away from the rock. But what about those times when it isn't obvious? Here's how I think about deciding to face in or away.