Tag Archives: trad climbing

Officially lost my lust for Bear Grylls

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I didnt lose my lust for the gnarly Bear when he drank his own urine. I instantly lost all respect when I saw this “climbing” video. I don’t think TR or following up is lame… but the way he talks about being “by myself on the wall” & what looks like a trad lead is completely bull.

I want to learn how to lead trad with Bear Grylls. Getting up a steep Moab climb with 3 cams and 10 meters of rope, with no belayer. MAGICAL.

In a few scenes you can see that they attempted to hide the TR black rope with the shadows of the crack. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used a stunt double for some of the actual looking lead scenes. The most disappointing part is that Bear took a helicopter to the top of the climb (shown in behind the scenes). The dramatic cinematics may fool most of society, but any real climber will immediately sniff this out as a fake. Absolutely horrid  representation of climbing.

There’s SO many things wrong with this video its almost hilarious. I immediately busted out laughing when I saw him running to the base (because we all approach like that right?), parkouring between boulders, and the dramatic unnecessary slow-mo crushing of rocks.

I think we can all agree Vertical Limit is genius compared to this representation of climbing. Not sure which is worse…. Bear Grylls “soloing” or Tom Cruise “soloing” in Mission Impossible.

either way… Bear Grylls, little less badass in my eyes. Your just a top-rope tough guy.

Oh and, nice shoes bro. You would think drinking your own urine and eating all those bugs would save you a few bucks to buy a decent pair of shoes.

Anyways, haterade over haha. Climb on everyone! (the real climbing)

-Natalie Duran

~eeee

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2:55-3:10 just makes me want to cry.

I know that feeling. I do partake in the traddin activities. There are certain moves in crack climbing where there is so much pressure on all four points of the body. Trying to place in those intense situations is so nerve wracking. Especially when your pumped! Then you start to ponder whether that last piece you climbed above will hold or not. My hands are sweating just thinking/typing about it.

Trad climbing (for me) is a whole different experience than any other branch of climbing. Any multipitch climb i’ve done has been trad climbing, not sport. Gaining elevation minute after minute is a great experience. I still have the passion for crack. But, after experiencing a horrific trad accident involving my friend… i’ll take me a while to get on the ropes again.

stay pscyhed & climb on

- Natalie Duran

 

What does this thing do again?

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Went out to Indian Cove in Joshua Tree National Park today to do some chill trad climbs with a few of my friends! We even unexpectedly climbed a multipitch route out there. 2nd pitch being a really fun skin scraping chimney climb. For the first time placed my shiny #5 BD at the start of the pitch so the rope doesnt sink into a deep dark crevasses… ran out the rest of the pitch no big bros there with me!

Brought a friend on her first trad climb, first multipitch, and her first rappel! Everything went safe and well, climbing was great and the weather was fantastic! Might head back tomorrow to do some bouldering. Its a great weekend to get out in Southern California. Enjoy friends and family company, and yourself.



*QUESTION from a reader*

maekrystine asked: Gahh your blog is fueling me! I’ve only lead one easy trad climb and followed many multi-pitches,but eventually I want to make the full transition to trad climbing, build my rack, and work on a stable self-reliance. You’re a seasoned (&Filipino!) climber that I’m looking up to :) Also loved those NJC photos! I had my first leads there.

awesome! If I could give any advice.

  • Just get out there and experience it more.
  • Follow up a lot, climb often. Once you find a stable partner; they know how you climb, you know your partner’s capabilities (make sure they are experienced).
  • Read “Rock Climbing Anchors” – A comprehensive guide by Mountaineers outdoor expert series. 
  • Play around with gear, on the ground or on top rope.
  • Try out a mock lead, then a full on lead if your mentally and physically able.

Once you know your in love! Start building up your rack slowly, or save up and get everything you need once you find a good deal!

Climb on!

- Natalie Duran

Anyone have any idea?

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I’m hoping the power of the internet and the online climbing community can do me a solid with knowledge…

Ive been wanting to do a lot of fun crack climbs out in Jtree, but finding partners available can be very difficult. So ive invested on a Petzl Croll & Mini Traxtion to use on a TR solo rig. I have a New England bipattern 10.1 x 70m rope that I am in LOVE with… and it hurts me to think I would put the minitraxtion (with teeth) onto my gorgeous, expensive, glider rope.

My question is:

Does anyone know how to buy dynamic climbing rope per foot/meter? I am looking to buy one that is ideally 45m-ish. To use as a single fixed line for TR Solos. *AND at the best ideal price* <– muy importante. Ive seen some sites online selling 10.1mm for like 90cents per foot. Ridiculous.

… I have been attempting to search online and in stores. For some reason that is beyond me, REI/Sports Challet/etc.. only sells static ropes on the cutting boards. Anyways, any insight please let me know! Help me get vertical, and high up on some crack yo.

Cheers,

-Natalie Duran

Top Rope Soloing

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Went out to Joshua Tree yesterday, tried out a Top Rope solo rig for the first time. Jtree is really the best place for TR soloing. There are a lot of walls that have a walk off approach/decent for single pitch trad climbs. Partners are (in some ways) more safe than top rope soloing. I just like the aspect that I have no time or personal pressure to perform well or fast. Whenever I sport or trad with a partner. I just feel more pressured than if I boulder with a group or by myself. I also just enjoy experiencing the rock & environment by myself sometimes. Also, the fact that I go to Joshua Tree on Thursdays, and most of the time no one is available. Funny irony of that is when I was TR Soloing in Real Hidden Valley, I got a few people offering up as partners because they saw me climbing by myself. Ha

First TR setup on Cyclops [5.3] walk to the top, set anchor, equalize, fig-8 to two oval lockers, tossed a single line down… wrapped down with overhand knots in, flaked excess rope to weight down rope (so it can feeds through my grigri relatively easy). Lastly, go do some rock climbing and not die.

I used a grigri2, feeding worked pretty well on it. No issues, even at the bottom of the climb. Love the fact that I can climb and rap down if I wanna do laps on the route, which isn’t possible with other asenders. In which you have to reach anchors, PAS in, switch out to rap device, etc. I also took some test falls while on cyclops, only sketch thing is that if there is some slack on a system one sudden fall the grigri didn’t catch until half a foot of slack slipped through the system. This only happened once out of all the intended falls I took.

Leading to an improvement I want to adjust: a chest harness. Which is my critique in that a chest harness is probably a better idea when falling. While the grigri is on your harness belt there is still slack (maybe 2ft or so) when you take a fall, even though the rope is taught when climbing. When you climb the grigri is below your crotch but when falling the grigri lands about chest height. Also a negative that it the grigri flops around on the carabiner. On another test fall the grigri was at an awkward position on the locker. So when a sudden weighed fall happened, the grigri had to snap back onto the end position. I found that a BD Screwgate Carabiner worked better in this issue. I havent tried it yet, but a screw link might be the best choice with both of these issues.

After a couple laps on Cyclops I headed out to Real Hidden Valley to do cracks on Sports Challenge Wall, did laps on couple 5.9 then ended the day on Clean & Jerk [5.10c]. Set directionals and hung a lot ha.

The fun scary part is setting anchor, equalizing it.. and then climbing down, hanging and weighing it to set the rope to rap off. Every time i have the “oh shiz, oh shiz, please hold, please hold” moment. Your completely exposed until you are indirect with the grigri & rope.

Open to critiques, and techniques others use for top rope soloing. How is your TR solo set up, with what gear?

Cheers,

-Nat D.