Moroccan climbing

Back in the spring of 2010 Jonathan Mathiesen, Jens Arne and I wen't to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco for some african skialpinism.
I've since had 900+ photos that I want'ed to get sorted and perhaps share a few of.
Anyways now it's autumn '13 and the Danish Climbing Federation are organizing a climbing trip to Tafroute in Morocco, so what better reason to put of some pictures.
This first post from our trip three years ago, is primarily climbing orientated. Later post can cover skiing and culture.

Trekking in from Imlil. 1600 vertical meters + food and gear for two weeks = mule - good idea.

Take care when clipping high.

Take care when clipping high. Especially at the beginning of the route or close to ledges etc.
Illustration from the Petzl techtips section.

Local Ice - Video

The video from last weekends ice climbing at the local crags.

Skånsk Is from Christoffer Larsen on Vimeo.
iPhone/iPad friendly version:

Kullen / Hovs Hallar Januar 2013

Like said, like done.
Departure from Cph friday afternoon at 15.00. Arriving at the Kullaberg parking lot just as darkness had fallen.
Having brought along some powerfull headlamps, the plan was to scout the north coast for ice possibilities.
We started out near Visitgrottan. The pillar left of the cave was really thin, but further up the ravine to the left, the ramp that leaves to the forrest directly above the cave, had formed enough to mandate a try.

Short sections of thin ice 

Komplet standplads glemt på Kullen/i hytten.

Komplet standplads. Måske glemt ude på klipperne og efterfølgende blevet taget den med til hytten. Måske glemt i hytten. Jeg har nu taget den med til kbh, hvor den kan afhentes.

Extending wires - how to.

At some point, we have probably all been in a situation where we had to extend the wire of a nut to prevent the carabiner being loaded over an edge. This is not recommended by the manufacturer of the nuts, but in real life you have to improvise from time to time. I have always extended wires by larks footing another wire. But is this assumption correct?

My traditional way of extending wires.
Based on the assumption that threading nylon or dyneema through the wire would be a bad idea.

Thinking this would be a bad idea? (photo: DMM)
DMM did some testing on the subject. The conclusion is a bit surprising to me. A basket hitched 8mm Dyneema being stronger than the larks footed wire on wire.

Check the video for details. DMM test video and conclusions.

Ötztal 2012

En lille film fra da vi genbesøgte Ötztal i uge 5. Vi forsøgte den samme rute i februar 2011.
A small film from our revisit in the Ötztal valley, Tirol, Austria. We tried the route in February 2011.

If you're having trouble viewing YouTube version, watch it on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/bygballe2/skimountaineering

Redningsøverlse

Lowering vs rapelling in sport climbing?

A subject that is often gets the debate heated, when it is discussed how to retreat from the middle of a sports route.
Some claim that rapping puts less force on the anchor and is therefore preferred, others claim that the risk involved in untying and rapping is greater that the (perhaps) increased load in lowering vs rapping.
Who is right? I think it depends on the situation. Stuff like the surface the rope runs over would also be a consideration for me.
Anyways, Petzl did some testing on the subject and published the results in the 2011 catalog.
Petzl concludes that the difference in force is negligible and Petzl therefore recommends lowering.
Climb safe and make your own decisions each time based on all the relevant factors.

Illustratiuon: From the Petzl 2011 catalog.

Singing Rock preventitive recall notice.

Another product recall.
It seems to be the season for those right now.
Check your harness and take care.
More info on the Singing Rock page.

Godt vejr på Kullen.

De sidste to weekender har jeg været på Kullen med Kasper Stoholm.
Vejret har været rigtig godt, og vi har fået klatret nogle fine ruter. Det er både blevet til klassikere og udforskning af for os nye områder.
Vi var både forbi Japanervægen, Sexvægen, Bjørnen og Carstens.

Bivouac des périades: The coolest hut in the world.

It's not the largest hut in the world, it's definitely not the most luxurious is the world, it's not even the highest hut in the alps, even though is located at a pretty good altitude.
The coolest hut in the world might be a big statement, but nonetheless I think it the coolest - at the very least in the Chamonix area.

In the weekend before Easter I enjoyed a super short trip to Chamonix to visit my old fried Kim, who had spent the season in Cham. We had three days to get a ski tour in before Kim was heading back to Denmark.

Because of the crappy snow (or lack thereof) this season, we had to go somewhere high, we'd like to visit new huts and ski new glaciers. A quick plan was made: Ski down the good part of Vallée Blanche break left up the Leschaux glacier, climb to the winter room of the Leschaux hut and spend the first night there. Next day climb back down to the glacier and skin up to the foot of the Mont Mallet glacier, skin the height of the glacier to the couloir giving access to the final rock scramble to the Bivouac des Périades. 

Klippeklatrekursus Kullen 2-3 april

Jeg havde fornøjelsen af at være kursusleder på Dansk Klatreforbunds Klippeklatrekursus i weekenden, årets første kursus.
Tak til alle deltagene for et godt kursus.
Vejret var jo som lovet, der var både perioder med 15 grader, sol og let vind.

Et par billeder af et par dygtige kursister der fører deres første rute:

Adam i den skarpe ende.

Martin finder glæden ved en velplaceret 10'er kile.

How to modify Petzl Aztar for leashless climbing.

Great tools for moderate ice/mix and alpine stuff.
Only weaknees is the lack of leashless abillity. But that's an easy fix.

What you need:
Grivel slider - the yellow size.
Petzl griprest for Quark.
File, hacksaw, sharp knife, 30 mins.

Mounting the slider:

You need to remove some of the rubber from the upper grip, in order to make the slider slide. You also need to file a bit of the shaft right above the grip. But be carefull, you don't wan't to weaken the shaft. Just remove the paint.

Tie a loop of 3mm elastic cord to the small hole in the head, to keep the slider in place, when plunging the shaft in snow.


Done with the slider.

Next up is the griprest for the hammer.

First remove quite a bit of rubber from the bottom of the grip.
Remove until it looks something like this:


The small grove between the spike and the rubber "horn" should just be big enough to seat the bolt from the griprest.


File/cut down the inner of the griprest to obtain your favorite position of the griprest. Play around a little.



Fix some cord through the hole in the griprest and through the cliphole in the spike.


Or cut away a part of the griprest, to make the cliphole usefull. I prefer this, it's way easier to clip, and also leaves more of the spike usefull.


And now you're the lucky owner of a set of leashless Aztars.
Go climb.