Tips & Tricks - belays

By Andreas Spak

The Rjukan Adventure staff is spending a few days training now so we update this blog with some general tips & tricks about ice climbing.

Having a good system for rigging anchors for belaying, is crucial for both efficiency and safety. You can save a lot of time on long routes if you are efficient on the belays. The system we teach on all our courses is the same that we have used for years, on some of the longest ice route in the world, and even if rigging an anchor for a belay is not rocket science, there are a few things to think about.

Step 1:
Place an ice screw and clip a quick draw in it, then clip your rope in the draw. This way you are safe so that you can use both your hands while you clove hitch the draw's other biner with your end of the rope. ALWAYS have one hand on your ice tools in situations where you can fall off.

Step 2:
Let your belayer know you are safe, so that he or she can start stripping the anchor (all except one ice screw) at the bottom of the pitch, while you build the rest of your anchor. This is a time saver. Place a second ice screw and clip a biner in it, then equalize the two ice screws with a 120 cm sling. Tie an overhand knot on the sling to create an equalized focal point to belay from. Note that "safe" is the only command necessary to use when doing multi-pitch routes. It can be very difficult to hear your climbing partner on long routes, especially with a little bit of wind. This way, if you hear something, you'll know it's "safe", and you can take your partner out of the belay device. On most climbing courses they teach you to use many different commands, but the truth is that yelling commands to each other doesn't work in many situations.


Step 3:
Clip a self locking belay device, such as Petzl Reverso 3, in the focal point. Using a self locking belay device is safer and more efficient then belaying from your harness. Start pulling in the slack in the rope and coil it nicely around your foot or over the rope between you and the ice screw you are attached to. Clip the rope into the belay device and pull in tight. Now, even without using commands, your climbing partner at the bottom of the pitch, will know that when you have taken in the slack, it will be no more than 30 seconds before he or she is safe to climb, and when the rope is pulled tight, it's time to remove the last ice screw, and start climbing.

If you have any questions, please drop us an email to info@rjukanadventure.no.

Ice Camp - last days

The last two days of this week's Ice Camp course have been fantastic, with excellent climbing conditions. Yesterday we climbed Tjønstadbergfossen, located right above center of town, and today we did Nye Vemorkfoss, a classic WI5 route in the canyon at Vemork. During these last days we practiced belays, multi-pitch techniques, route planning and some leading.

The next few days our guides will spend training for future adventures. Training our own climbing skills is important in order to provide the highest quality to our clients. We will update our blog with tips about training and how to improve climbing skills.

Ice ice ice!

A quick update from yesterday's Ice Camp course. We spent the day practicing steep ice and some mixed stuff in Krokan. The plan for the day was: Rig a bunch of ropes and climb as much as you can! Can't think of a better way to spend a winter day.

Technique, practice and experience

In order to become a solid ice climber you need three things; technique, practice and experience. These are important both for safety and to climb more efficiently. We have a strong belief in learning by doing and to let our clients climb as much as possible during our courses.


On this week's Ice Camp and Ice Advanced courses we are fighting the cold weather by doing pretty short days with tons of climbing, making sure no one is standing still more than necessary. Instead of doing shorter routes at Krokan, clients have done laps on 60 meter routes at Vemork with short breaks for coaching and advices. Everyone has done several hundred meters of climbing per session, and today, on the third day of our Ice Camp course, clients climbed like professionals, top-roping hard WI6 pillars and mixed stuff. We believe, as instructors, that this is the greatest reward we can get!

"Practice, and you will learn the technique. Experience is the result of this process"

Last day with Simon, Aine and Alex

Yesterday we decided to have an easy day in Krokan. Temp was back down to below -10 C in the morning and the ice was brittle and hard. We spent the first two hours practicing belays and safety, which are important subjects for anyone with ambitions of doing multi-pitch routes. After the belay session we finished the day with top-roping and some leading. During the four days they have been with us they have made an impressive progress, from TR on easy routes to leading and climbing full pitches of steep ice. They have some great winter adventures waiting for them in the mountains!

Yesterday we also had some clients from Germany on an ice climbing day trip, with Ola as the instructor. This was their first ice climbing trip and we hope this first taste of the sport will motivate them to climb more.

Anneli Pompe and Fredrik Sträng joined us in Krokan later in the day, to train on some of the steeper pillars. Both Anneli and Fredrik are experienced climbers with several 8000 meter peaks under their belts. Ice climbing is a fundamental part of alpine climbing and many of the technical routes on big mountains offers steep ice, so proper training in ice climbing is important.