planetFear Articles

Fontainebleau - What is it?

2010-03-10

So what's to be made of all this talk of bouldering for those of us who are either new to the sport, are using it at their local wall as a means of conditioning to aid and improve climbing or, like many, don't know their sloper-treat from their 95.2?

As a relative newcomer to bouldering, pFs James Swann took time out from behind the cameras to learn what it is about the art of bouldering, and particularly bouldering in Fontainebleau, that has so many people hooked.

The PlanetFear Guide To Avalanche Risks

2004-12-17

An analysis of the risks posed by avalanches to off-pise skiers and climbers.

Dark and White Winter Trailquest � Round 6

2010-03-03

Storm, what storm?!

The location of the 6th round of the Dark and White Winter Trailquest series was Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire, and given the "terrible" weather forecast it was a great surprise to start the morning with no sign of wind or rain - the predicted storm simply hadn't materialised. Adrian of D&W, reckoned the omens were good from the start as he had also awoken to no rain and then managed to drive all the way through Mansfield with all the traffic lights on green, something he and surely no other had managed before, so there could never be a chance of rain!

It was great to see a good smattering of new riders in the 163 entrants and whilst they might have thought they h

ShAFF Video Teasers

2010-03-01

For the last 3 years I've bookmarked my favourite adventurous Youtube clips and advertised the playlist via UKClimbing. This year I've decided to turn the playlist into something more of a video-article with comments about the films. I hope that this Top Ten will entertain those who read it, and encourage some of you to come along to ShAFF to watch the films on a big screen, in High Definition, with a big sound system, and alongside an audience, all things that Youtube and Vimeo can't give you...

1. First up it's got to be the outrageously popular Danny McAskill video. Granted, it's a pretty spectacular short film, but I've seen others as impressive, but this one went absolutely ballistic when it hit Youtube on April 19^th last year last year. With over 15,000,000 - yes, that's FIFTEEN MILLION, it has to be one of the most successful extreme films of all time. It's so successful that I've been trying to track Danny down since about April 25

Tricks For Advanced Belaying

2010-03-01

- all photography copyright David Pickford / www.davidpickford.com: no reproduction on other media -

1. Introduction: giving and taking

Basic belay technique teaches us to stand in close to the climb, and lock off the belay device when the leader falls. This is sound advice for the vast majority of climbing situations, but there are very real instances where it is advisable, or even necessary to break this rule. Obvious examples are where the leader has only got runners up to half their height, where there is a risk of slamming into the surface, or where the runners are very poor and shock loading needs to be minimised.

A classic sport climbing case-in-point where a 'soft' belay is essential: the prec