Techniques

While it is necessary for the complete mountaineer to be competent in all three phases of the sport—hiking, rock climbing, and snow and ice technique—each is quite different. There are wide variations within those categories, and even the most accomplished mountaineers will have varying degrees of competence in each. Good climbers will strike that balance that is consonant with their own physical and mental capabilities and approach.

Hiking is the essential element of all climbing, for in the end mountains are climbed by placing one foot in front of another over and over again. The most-arduous hours in mountaineering are those spent hiking or climbing slowly, steadily, hour after hour, on the trails of a mountain’s approach or lower slopes.

Rock climbing, like hiking, is a widely practiced sport in its own right. The essentials of rock climbing are often learned on local cliffs, where the teamwork of mountaineering, the use of the rope, and the coordinated prerequisites of control and rhythm are mastered. The rope, the artificial anchor, and carabiner (or snap link, a metal loop or ring that can be snapped into an anchor and through which the rope may be passed) are used primarily as safety factors. An exception occurs in tension climbing, in which the leader is supported by a judiciously placed series of anchors and carabiners through which the rope is passed. He or she is then supported on the rope by fellow climbers while slowly moving upward to place another anchor and repeat the process.

Anchors are used with discretion rather than in abundance. Anchors include the chock, which is a small piece of shaped metal that is attached to rope or wire cable and wedged by hand into a crack in the rock; the piton, which is a metal spike, with an eye or ring in one end, that is hammered into a crack; the bolt, which is a metal rod that is hammered into a hole drilled by the climber and to whose exposed, threaded end a hanger is then attached; and the “friend,” which is a form of chock with a camming device that automatically adjusts to a crack. Anchors are rarely used as handholds or footholds.

For the majority of rock climbers, hands and feet alone are the essential, with the feet doing most of the labour. The layperson’s notion that the climber must be extraordinarily strong in arms and shoulders is true only for such situations as the negotiation of serious overhangs. By and large, hands are used for balance, feet for support. Hands and arms are not used for dragging the climber up the cliff.

Balance is essential, and the body weight is kept as directly over the feet as possible, the climber remaining as upright as the rock will permit. An erect stance enables the climber to use that fifth element of climbing, the eyes. Careful observation as while moving up a cliff will save many vain scrambles for footholds. Three points of contact with the rock are usually kept, either two hands and a foot or two feet and a hand. Jumping for holds is extremely dangerous because it allows no safety factor. Rhythmic climbing may be slow or fast according to the difficulty of the pitch. Rhythm is not easily mastered and, when achieved, becomes the mark of the truly fine climber.

The harder the climb, the more the hands are used for support. They are used differently in different situations. In a chimney, a pipelike, nearly cylindrical vertical shaft, they press on opposite sides in opposition to each other. On slabs, the pressure of the palms of the hand on smooth rock may provide the necessary friction for the hold.

Climbing down steep rock is usually harder than going up, because of the difficulty in seeing holds from above and the normal reluctance of climbers to reach down and work their hands low enough as they descend. The quick way down is via the doubled rope in the technique called rappelling. The rope, one end being firmly held or secured, is wrapped around the climber’s body in such a way that it can be fed out by one hand slowly or quickly as desired to lower the body gradually down the face of the rock.

Rope handling is a fine art that is equally essential on snow, ice, and rock. Sufficient rope for the pitch to be climbed and of sufficient length for rappelling is needed. As a lifeline, the rope receives the greatest care and respect. A good rope handler is a valued person on the climb. The techniques involved are not easily learned and are mastered primarily through experience. Anchors and carabiners must be so placed and the rope strung in such a way as to provide maximum safety and to minimize effort in ascending and descending. That includes keeping the rope away from cracks where it might jam and from places where it might become caught on rock outcrops or vegetation. A rope should not lay over rough or sharp-edged rock, where under tension it may be damaged from friction or cut by falling rock. The use of helmets while climbing, once a somewhat controversial issue (they may be uncomfortable or may limit vision or mobility), has become much more common, especially for technical climbs (e.g., up rock faces).

Constantly changing conditions of snow and ice are important hazards faced by mountaineers. Good mountaineers must have an intimate knowledge of snow conditions. They must be able to detect hidden crevasses, be aware of potential avalanches, and be able to safely traverse other tricky or dangerous concentrations of snow or ice. In snow-and-ice technique, the use of the ice ax is extremely important as an adjunct to high mountaineering. Consisting of a pick and an adze opposed at one end of a shaft and a spike at the other, it is used for cutting steps in ice, probing crevasses, obtaining direct aid on steep slopes, achieving balance as necessary, arresting a slide, and securing the rope (belaying). Crampons (sets of spikes that can be strapped on boot soles) are intended to preclude slipping and are useful on steep slopes of snow and ice and in steps that have been cut. By biting into the surface, they make progress possible where boots alone would not do. On many slopes, crampons also render unnecessary the cutting of steps. On extremely difficult snow and ice, ice pitons and carabiners are used. The pitons, when driven in, are allowed to freeze in place.

In climbing long snow slopes, a tedious task, it is necessary to strike a slow and rhythmic pace that can be sustained for a long time. It is desirable to make a start on the mountain early in the day when the snow is in hard condition. As in all phases of mountaineering, judgment is important when engaging in snow and ice climbing. The length of the climb, the nature of the weather, the effect of the sun’s heat on snow and ice, and the potential avalanche danger must all be considered.

The basic organization of the sport is the mountaineering or rock-climbing club. Every nation with mountaineers has its own clubs, among which the Alpine Club in Great Britain, founded in 1857, is perhaps the most venerable. The largest numbers of clubs are found in the Alpine countries, in the British Isles, and in North America. Major mountaineering clubs frequently participate financially in the sponsorship of major expeditions. Most of the clubs publish annual or periodic reports, journals, or bulletins.