Author: Kevin

When cleaning pitches like the first two of West Face of Leaning Tower… --- Take 48” dynex runner and girth hitch it to your belay loop. Make sure you have a fifi hook --- West Face pitch 1 and 2 have a looooot of bolts on each pitch, ideally, your leader will not be clipping the rope to all of them, and though he/she will try to mitigate this, skipping of bolts will lead to sections of overhanging rock where the rope traverses. As the second, you will curse him/her because of the tension that this causes in the rope. You will be stuck at the bolt, unable to get the quickdraw off of the bolt because of the forces pulling you to the right (in the case of West Face). This is where you go to the books and know that the next step is to move the top aider above the piece and weight that aider…

I (sometimes) tee off** if I need support for reaching the next piece. ** Teeing off is where you will take your upper foot, fold it in front of your aiders to make a figure 4 shape, then trap it in place with the pressure of the adier being cammed into the wall by your lower foot. I'm assuming that single sentence doesn't help without a visual so I'll try again. step 1: realize, "crap, I need to move up in my aiders but the angle of the wall is going to make me fall backwards!!!" step 2: place your lower foot in the highest step of the ladder that you'll need to accomplish said move. step 3: using that lower foot, pull the aider back from the wall to give yourself space to place your other leg between the aider and the wall. step 4: take your higher foot…