Three fatalities on this one route alone underscore the seriousness of jugging fixed ropes. Though seemingly simple and safe, this task, like rappelling, is one of climbing’s most insidious killers. The good news is that, as with rappelling, a few simple precautions can minimize the risk....

Having to re-climb doubled rappel ropes is one of climbing’s most taxing situations. In my 30-something years of climbing, I’ve only had to do this twice, and both times were epic. ...

“There is no avalanche danger unless a human is there,” said Dick Jackson of Aspen Expeditions at the start of a Level 1 avalanche course....

Everything you need to know about falling, but were afraid to ask. Falling is the opposite of climbing, which can explain why we apply every membrane between our ears toward getting up the rock, but dedicate precious little to hurtling down it....

No commitment—not even the one to your SO—is as binding as that of the belay. When you hold the rope, your partner’s life is in your hands. Screw up this marriage and you give new meaning to the vow “till death do us part.”...

In 1980 my college roommate, Mark Herndon, fell 100 feet on a two-pitch route. I was belaying from a stance at the end of the first pitch, cooling my feet, shoes off. Mark had just cruised the second-pitch crux, a near-holdless paddle up granite glass, and was nearing the end of a 50-foot runout above the route’s only lead bolt when he slipped. ...

Jason Kehl is high. Twenty-five feet up the Grandpa Peabody boulder, the 60-foot monster testpiece in the Buttermilks near Bishop, he has just pimped a sustained, overhanging V10 section, but isn’t out of the woods yet. The seven-move sloper crux is still ahead....

By 2 p.m. on the second day, the rain was falling like steel chisels. Slumped atop Boot Flake, halfway up the Nose of El Capitan, I watched in a detached stupor as one of my partners, Chris Rowins, labored on the rain-slick King Swing pendulum....

Rappelling past a knot that links two ropes end-to-end, however, need not puzzle you, nor must you learn this seemingly complicated yet vital bit of ropework the hard way. The following five-step method for passing a knot is easy to master, safe and efficient.
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Britney or Christina, Frappuccino or half-caf vanilla latte, Maxim or FHM, trad or sport—our world is full of crucial, life-defining choices. Your sling choice, however, truly is life affecting. Read on to find out why.
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Climb long enough and you’ll have a close encounter ... or several. Mine was in 1986 at Arches National Monument, five minutes up the black- top north of Moab....

CRACK! The jolt back onto the bolt, into which you are still quickdraw-tethered, stuns you. You only fell two feet, but your neck is stiff and your innards feel like they’ve been kicked by a mule....

Toproping is so safe it’s virtually foolproof, right? Think again. Just a brief belay lapse can produce high loads, testing the holding power of your gear. Rock and Ice field-tests real-world climbing scenarios....

Why one little-used technique can make or break your fall. I’ve always viewed trad- or ice-climbing falls as more serious than sport whippers. ...