Short clips

Trailers to full length videos and stand-alone quick tips; everything we make that is under 60 seconds

Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: Can You Make the Perfect Crevasse Rescue Anchor?

The short answer is, "no, you cannot make the perfect crevasse rescue anchor." The inherent tradeoffs between speed and anchor strength and adaptability mean that we have a series of risk-mitigating decisions we need to make before we ever start hauling our climbing partner out of the crevasse. The full video gets into those tradeoffs so that we can make the best choices we can should we ever really need to make them.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: Using Close Call Assessments to Make Climbing SAFER

Every May, we make videos on the mental side of climbing and adventure in recognition of National Mental Health Awareness Month. The full video talks about close call assessments, discussing what they are, who uses them, how they can make our climbing safer, and walks through a low-effort way we can apply them to our own climbing.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: Understanding The Difference Between RISKS and DANGERS in Climbing and Life

Every May, we make videos on the mental side of climbing and adventure in recognition of National Mental Health Awareness Month. This week, we are getting into a question I was asked about how I view risks verses dangers in climbing. Drawing heavily from my upbringing, the video gets into the importance of differentiating between risks, dangers, probabilities, and consequences and then applies those concepts to help us better mitigate risks.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: the Right Cook Pot Can Save You HOURS Across a Climbing Expedition

In the older days of gas stoves, conventional wisdom was that a larger pot would make turning snow into boiling water more efficient when on a climbing expedition. But new equipment may have changed the calculus. The full video gets into an experiment I ran to see if smaller or larger pots would be more efficient given different stove types.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: Mastering The Figure Eight Retrace Knot, Perfect EVERY Time

New climbers, and even some experienced climbers, can improve both efficiency and safety by learning how to tie a high-quality figure eight retrace knot regardless of changing rope diameters. The full video provides a step-by-step process to get a knot that meets all the best-practice criteria, a breakdown of those criteria so we understand why they are important, and a walkthrough of a final knot check we should perform every time we tie in.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: When Might a Rappel Be a BAD Idea?

When I am out climbing, there are times when I might choose to lower a first climber down a pitch rather than have the climber rappel. The full video gets into five circumstances that I have faced, personally, and discusses the tradeoffs of choosing to lower in those circumstances.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: Are These Two Words Holding BACK Your Climbing?

Context is key. The systems we choose to employ on our climbs will be more or less effective depending upon the specific circumstances we face. So, I am hesitant to use the words "always" and "never" when it comes to climbing techniques. The full video, as an example, gives four exceptions to the notion that we always belay a leader from the harness and a follower from the anchor.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: 6 Tips to Stay WARM in a Cold, Snowy Camp

Our boys, Connor and Kade, have been gathering up a pretty good amount of cold, winter, snowy camp experience. So, they wanted to each share three tips - so six tips total - that they find to be the biggest difference makers when it comes to staying warm in camp. The full video goes into all six.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: Using a Remote Canister Stove in the WORST conditions with a DIY Hanging Kit

Remote canister stoves often improve stove performance in cold weather when compared to standard canister stoves. But remote canister stoves can be hard to use in the harshest environments when there is no means to safely hang the stove. Well, the full video provides a step-by-step tutorial to build a DIY(ish) solution for that problem.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: This DIY Hack Improves Your Canister Fuel Performance In COLD Weather

There are lots of ways to maintain a warmer temperature for your canister fuel, thus improving the performance of your camp stove when out climbing, backpacking, or camping in the snow. One way is using a bath for the canister, into which you can pour warm water. The full video shows how I made one and some options on how to use one.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: Is the La Sportiva G-Summit the Most VERSATILE Climbing Boot?

The La Sportiva G Summit Boots are designed to be worn as either a single boot or a double boot with a removable liner. So, is it one boot that can serve all your needs? Warm enough for cold, high-altitude climbing? Light and maneuverable enough for technical climbing? How's the durability? What about the fit? The video goes into these questions and more.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: Keep Your Drinking Water from FREEZING! Practices from High Altitude Climbing

Depending upon your part of the world, winter climbing can bring extreme cold that can make the seemingly simplest things complicated. I got asked a question about how we stop our drinking water from freezing when temperatures dip into the extreme. The full video borrows lessons from many high altitude climbers who regularly face those types of extreme temperatures.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: Three Uses of the Bowline on a Bight Knot for Climbing in the COLD

When winter sets in, the cold, the gloves, and the snow and ice all make tying and - particularly - untying weighted climbing knots more difficult. So, easier-to-knots to untie can make transitions in and out of systems faster. The full video details three ways that I start using a bowline on a bight when wet, winter weather shows up in the mountains.

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Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski Short Clips Jason Kolaczkowski

Preview to: Have We Been Rappelling WRONG!? A No Tether Multi-Pitch Rappel

While the "backside clove hitch" method of connecting to the anchor is getting more and more popular for ascending routes, we can extend that same thinking to a multi-pitch rappel. The method was developed to address the problem with managing knots in the ends of our rope, as we need to remove them to pull the rope but need to add back for the next rappel, which creates opportunities for mistakes. The full video goes step-by-step and gets into pros and cons.

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