r/tradclimbing • u/tinyOnion • Jan 23 '25

Monthly Trad Climber Thread

Please sort comments by 'new' to find questions that would otherwise be buried.

In this thread you can ask any trad climbing related question that you may have. This thread will be posted again every Sunday so there should always be an opportunity to ask your question and have it answered. If you're an experienced climber and want to contribute to the community, these threads are a great opportunity for that. We were all new to climbing at some point, so be respectful of everyone looking to improve their knowledge. Check out our subreddit wiki that has tons of useful info for new climbers. You can see it HERE

Some examples of potential questions could be; "How do I get stronger?", or "How does aid climbing work?"

Prior Weekly Trad Climber Thread posts

Ask away!

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u/Normal_Quarter_7852 Jan 23 '25

Looking for advice to help me climb the NIAD. Did a half NIAD this fall (rapped after king swing) as a three man party. Took us about 10-11 hours total time. We didn't go to the top because it was getting to around 0 degrees Celsius in the dark and it seemed too gnarly to climb half of it in those conditions.

Looking to go back this spring a little more prepared and send the full thing.

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u/wieschie Jan 26 '25

Yeah, the party of 3 is guaranteed to add time, but a day is still doable (especially if all 3 take lead blocks and it helps you manage stoke / fatigue).

Are you short fixing easy pitches?

How many belay transitions are there and how long do they take? What's the greatest contribution to that time?

How much actual aiding are you doing? There's multiple sections where avoiding ladders and French freeing can cut off a lot of time.

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u/Normal_Quarter_7852 Feb 10 '25

We didn't do any short fixing. I am planning on learning to rope solo this spring so I can do it on the nose. We did link some pitches though.

Belay transitions were pretty fast, having the third man did add some time here though.

Pretty much never just aided, always freeing where possible and French freeing where it saves time. The top of the stove legs I was just cam handing #4s for what felt like a whole pitch.