Winter belays

Winter belays

Winter belays are part of the equipment for climbing in cold environments. Climbing routes in winter is very different from climbing during the summer season. So we have to adapt our equipment and look for good conditions both on ice and on ice-snow routes. This time we will dedicate our post to belaying and belaying options on waterfall and snow routes.

When we have good ice conditions, we use ice screws for protection in the ice and on anchors. We have several lengths of ice screws available and of course also different manufacturers. On our shelves and in the online store you can find Black Diamond and Petzl ice screws. Black Diamond Ice Express are legendary ice screws that were the first to have a quick-turning handle, which made drilling screws into the ice much faster and easier. In thinner ice, screws of 10 or 13 centimeters will come in very handy, while 16 and 19 centimeters and 21 are used or for intermediate protection such as making a belay .

Petzl ice screws

Other ice screws are from Petzl. Petzl made a big leap last year with the Laser Speed Light ice screws. They managed to reduce the weight and make an excellent ice screw head. Anyone who wants to "save" on the weight of ice screws will find this ice screw to be the first choice. Installing it in the ice is also extremely quick and easy.

When climbing a snowy or icy route in the mountains and encounter a rocky section, then in addition to butterflies, we can use pins, but an even safer option is hexes or rockcentrics .

Their advantage is better positioning when climbing winter routes, and their use is highly "advocated" by island climbers, along with their strict ethics. Hexe can also be used in summer. More on this in the video .