Climbing Gear Selection for Rock and Glacier Climbing

Backracks: Anchor Building and Self Rescue

There are a ton of styles of ‘backrack’. These are the tools that always stay with you and don’t get passed off like the lead rack.

These are the tools you want around for anchor building and self rescue. These lists are by no means the only way to roll with these tools but are a good starting point. You should develop you own style based off of your preferences for self rescue and anchor building. Not simply repeating someone else’s style.

Notes on Cordalettes

I do not tie my cords, the main advantage of a cord compared to a sling is it allows for significant extension between anchor pieces when united. It can also easily be tied into a loop as needed with a flat overhand. If you can’t untie your cord because the double Fishermans is too tight, you just have a shitty sling. I prefer a shorter cord of around 15ft, when untied it still provides significant extension and is much more user friendly with less material to manage.

I generally prefer 6mm nylon. While 5mm tech cord is adequately strong it is much less user friendly in self rescue because it has a stiffer less subtle hand and does not bind fiction hitches well.

Notes on Carabiners

• Shape: There are D shaped and Pear shaped or HMS carabiners. The D is meant to be a strong light link in a non-running system. These are great for hooking up a grigri or clipping and ATC to a top anchor. The Pear has a broad nose meant to bind a hitch in the climbing rope. This is the most versatile carabiner and is great for clove and munter hitches as well as rigging your load release for rescue.
• Stock: Round stock and I-stock of the actual aluminum then shaped into the D or Pear. The round stock is heavier, more durable and works better when running ropes in the ATC or a Munter hitch. I generally use I-stock except for my ATC. The new Petzl Attache with the mixed stock is the ideal tool for most pear shaped uses.
• Locking mechanism: Single, double, triple and screw gate or twist lock. No real rules here its very personal but some food for thought. Supervised life support carabiner should be at least a double. Unsupervised life supported should be a triple. I prefer twist locks on my D shaped carabiners and screw gates on my pears. Generally the auto locking nature of the twist lock is preferable but with pear shaped carabiners I am commonly ‘building’ the hitch onto the carabiner and having it stay unlocked during that procedure is preferable.

Backrack

• 3-4 soft slings or cords:(Every soft good has an associated non locker for racking that stays with the sling, generally in the joining knot, so the follower has it to rack it when cleaning). Don’t use up valuable lockers simply to hang your slings.
  • 1 must be a 6mm cord 15ft in length (I prefer a short 15ft cord untied. This is much easier to work with than the longer loops and is the perfect length to build efficient load release systems for self rescue.)
  • 1 must be a triple length sling or longer
  • 1 must be a double length sling
  • Add more cords as commitment increases. When shit hits the fan a cord and a knife can be anything else, and your rap anchors.
• 2 Float Carabiners. 2 pear shaped HMS screw gate locking carabiners – I prefer the i-stock Attache from Petzl (These are your all purpose floating carabiners that work well for for things like, clove hitching to anchors, extending anchor points, running munter hitches and especially rigging load releases for self rescue.)
• ATC with top loop and 2 associated lockers:
  • 1 round stock carabiner – I prefer the new Attache from Petzl with the hybrid stock, round on the nose I on the spine.
  • 1 sm’D double action twist lock to hang the ATC
• 3-4 matching non-lockers (these are great for just hanging random stuff on your harness but are also super useful in the Garda hitch, which is why the need to be the same size and style.)
• 6mm prussic loop (this is sized to be an auto block backup for a double strand rappel.)
• Optional: Microtraxion (this is a light and extremely versatile tool that can perform many functions in climbing and self rescue.)
• Rope cutting knife

*You might consider several extra pieces of soft material like cord to create bail anchors in some alpine contexts. These will generally live in my pack and only be brought out if needed.

Glacier Travel Gear

Supported Glacier Rescue Rack

In a ‘supported glacier travel’ context we don’t all need to carry an exhaustive rack. If there are multiple rope teams we are in a ‘supported’ context. Make sure in addition to this kit each rope team has at least one microtraxion.

• 1 Triple Action Locking Carabiner
• Double length sling
• 6mm prussic loop
• 6mm cord 15ft untied
• 2 Screw Gate Pear Shape Locking Carabiners
• 2 Non Locking Carabiners
• ATC with top loop/Rappel Tool and locker

Solo Glacier Rescue Rack

• 1 Micro-traxion Pulley
• 2 Petzl Attache Lockers
• 1 Petzl Triple Action Sm’D Locker
• 2 Petzl Double Action Sm’D Locker
• 4 Matching wire gate non-locking Carabiners
• 1 Triple Length Dyneema Runner
• 2 Double Length Dyneema Runner
• 1 6mm Cord 15ft untied
• 1 6mm Prussic Loop
• 1 ATC with top loop + dedicate small round stock locker
• 1 16cm Aluminum Ice Screw + Threader – 16cm is all you need to create effective threads, anything larger is just unnecessary bulk.

For more info about climbing skills check out this post:

The Adventure Climbers Toolkit