Clean Aid Climbing
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Clean Aid Climbing
Aid climbing is a form of rock climbing that uses mechanical devices and equipment, such as aiders (or ladders), for upward momentum. Aid climbing is contrasted with free climbing (in both its traditional or sport free climbing formats), which only uses mechanical equipment for protection, but not to assist in upward momentum. Aid climbing can involve hammering in permanent pitons and bolts, into which the aiders are clipped, but there is also 'clean aid climbing' which avoids any hammering, and only uses removable placements. While aid climbing traces its origins to the start of all climbing when ladders and pitons were common, its use in single-pitch climbing waned in the early 20th century with the rise of free climbing. At the same time, the Dolomites became the birthplace of modern " big wall aid climbing", where pioneers like Emilio Comici developed the early tools and techniques. Aid climbing's "golden age" was in the 1960s and 1970s on Yosemite's granite big walls l ...
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Warren Harding (climber)
Warren Harding (June 18, 1924 – February 27, 2002) was one of the most accomplished and influential American big wall climbers and aid climbers of the 1950s to 1970s. He was the leader of the first team to climb El Capitan, Yosemite Valley, in 1958. The route they climbed, known as '' The Nose'', ascends up the central buttress of what is one of the largest granite monoliths in the world. Harding made many first ascents in Yosemite, some 28 in all, including ''The Wall of Early Morning Light'' (later ''The Dawn Wall''). He was nicknamed "Batso", a reference to his penchant for spending days living on vertical cliffs and his exuberant and iconoclastic character. Harding developed specialized equipment for climbing big walls, such as the "bat tent" for sleeping, and "bat hooks" used to hook precariously on small cut-out bits of granite—examples of his B.A.T. or 'Basically Absurd Technology' products. Harding authored the book ''Downward Bound: A Mad! Guide to Rock Climbin ...
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Fixed Rope
In climbing and mountaineering, a fixed-rope (or fixed-line) is the practice of installing networks of in-situ anchored Climbing rope#Static rope, static climbing ropes on climbing routes to assist any following climbers (and Porter (carrier), porters) to ascend more rapidly—and with less effort—by using mechanical aid devices called Ascender (climbing), ascenders. Fixed ropes also allow climbers (and porters) to descend rapidly using mechanical devices called Descender (climbing), descenders. Fixed ropes also help to identify the line of the climbing route in periods of low visibility (e.g. a storm or white-out). The act of ascending a fixed rope is also called jumaring, which is the name of a type of ascender device, or also called jugging in the US. Fixed ropes are put in place by the lead climbing, lead climbers, and the ropes may or may not be removed as the climbers descend after completing the route. For popular Himalayan climbing routes, extensive networks of fixed ...
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Belayer
In climbing and mountaineering, belaying comprises techniques used to create friction within a climbing protection system, particularly on a climbing rope, so that a falling climber does not fall very far. A climbing partner typically applies tension at the other end of the rope whenever the climber is not moving, and removes the tension from the rope whenever the climber needs more rope to continue climbing. The belay is the place where the belayer is anchored, which is typically on the ground, or on ledge (where it is also called a belay station) but may also be a hanging belay where the belayer themself is suspended from an anchor in the rock on a multi-pitch climbing, multi-pitch climb. Description Belaying is a critical part of climbing safety. Correct belaying methods allow a belayer to hold the entire weight of the climber with relatively little force and easily arrest falls. In its simplest form, a belay consists of a rope that runs from a climber to another person ...
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Lead Climber
Lead climbing (or leading) is a technique in rock climbing where the 'lead climber' clips their rope to the climbing protection as they ascend a pitch of the climbing route, while their 'second' (or 'belayer') remains at the base of the route belaying the rope to protect the 'lead climber' in the event that they fall. The term is used to distinguish between the two roles, and the greater effort and increased risk, of the role of the 'lead climber'. Leading a climb is in contrast with top roping a climb, where even though there is still a 'second' belaying the rope, the 'lead climber' faces little or no risk in the event of a fall and does not need to clip into any protection as the rope is already anchored to the top of the route (i.e. if they fall off, they just hang from the rope). Leading a climbing route is a core activity in rock climbing, and most first ascents and first free ascents are from leading. Lead climbing can be performed as free climbing, in either a tradit ...
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The Shield P25 Yosemite
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee'' ...
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Trango Towers
__NOTOC__ The Trango Towers () are a family of rock towers situated in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, in the northern part of Pakistan. The Towers have some of the world's largest cliffs and offer some of the most challenging big wall climbing opportunities. Each year, climbers from around the world embark on expeditions to the Karakoram region to climb these granite faces. The Trango Towers are situated to the north of the Baltoro Glacier and are part of the Baltoro Muztagh, which is a sub-range of the Karakoram. The highest point within the group is the summit of ''Great Trango Tower'' at , the east face of which features the world's greatest nearly vertical drop. Structure of the group All of the Trango Towers lie on a ridge, running northwest to southeast, with Trango Glacier to the west and the Dunge Glacier to the east. Great Trango itself is a large massif, with three distinct summits: Main (), East (), and West (). It is a complex combination of steep snow/ice gullies, ...
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Cordillera Paine
The Cordillera Paine is a mountain group in Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. The cordillera is located north of Punta Arenas, and about south of the Chilean capital Santiago. It belongs to the Commune of Torres del Paine in Última Esperanza Province of Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Region. No accurate surveys have been published, and published elevations have been claimed to be seriously inflated, so most of the elevations given on this page are approximate.Biggar, John, 2015. ''The Andes: A Guide for Climbers'' (4th edition, ). Several elevations given by this authority are much lower than those given by other authorities, and the higher elevations are not supported by official Chilean IGM maps. ''Paine'' means "blue" in the native Tehuelche (Aonikenk) language and is pronounced ''PIE-nay''. Peaks The highest summit of the range is Cerro Paine Grande. For a long time its elevation was claimed to be , but in August 2011 it was ascended for the thir ...
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El Capitan
El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit along its tallest face and is a world-famous location for big wall climbing, including the disciplines of aid climbing, free climbing, and more recently for free solo climbing. The top of El Capitan can be reached by hiking out of Yosemite Valley on the trail next to Yosemite Falls, then proceeding west. For climbers, the challenge is to climb up the sheer granite face. There are many named climbing routes, all of them arduous, including ''Iron Hawk'' and ''Sea of Dreams''. Naming The formation was named "El Capitan" by the Mariposa Battalion when they explored the valley in 1851. ''El Capitán'' ("the captain", "the chief") was taken to be a loose Spanish translation of the local Native Americans in the United States, Native American name ...
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The Nose (El Capitan)
''The Nose'' is a big wall climbing route up El Capitan. Once considered impossible to climb, El Capitan is now the standard for big wall climbing. It is recognized in the historic climbing text ''Fifty Classic Climbs of North America'' and considered a classic around the world. El Capitan has two main faces, the Southwest (on the left when looking directly at the wall) and the Southeast. Between the two faces juts a massive wikt:prow, prow. While today there are numerous established routes on both faces, the most popular and historically famous route is ''The Nose'', which follows the massive prow. First ascents Once thought to be unclimbable, the high granite walls of Yosemite Valley began to see their first attempts and first ascents in the 1950s. One of the most coveted routes was the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome, Northwest Face of Half Dome, and among those coveting it was Californian Warren Harding (climber), Warren Harding (Harding made an unsuccessful attempt on H ...
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Alpine Climbing
Alpine climbing () is a type of mountaineering that uses any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes (e.g. multi-pitch or big wall) in an alpine environment. While alpine climbing began in the European Alps, it is used to refer to climbing in any remote mountainous area, including in the Himalayas and Patagonia. The derived term alpine style refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly equipped teams who carry their equipment (e.g. no porters), and do all of the climbing (e.g. no sherpas or reserve teams). Alpinists face a wide range of serious risks in addition to the specific risks of rock, ice, and mixed climbing. This includes the risks of rockfalls (common with rock faces in alpine environments), avalanches (especially in couloirs), seracs and crevasses, violent storms hitting climbers on exposed mountain faces, altitude effects (dehydration, edema, f ...
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