Attempts to save a Russian climber who became stranded atop a 24,406ft (7,439m) peak in Kyrgyzstan have been abandoned after multiple disastrous rescue attempts.

Natalia Nagovitsina became stuck in perilous conditions atop the towering Victory Peak for over two weeks, after she broke her leg in an accident near the summit on August 12.

Efforts to save the 47-year-old have been hampered by harsh weather, including temperatures down to -9.4°F (-23°C), and the high risks involved in a potential rescue. Earlier this month, Italian climber Luca Sinigaglia died from hypothermia after attempting to deliver vital supplies to Nagovitsina, including a sleeping bag and a gas cooker.

Two other rescue attempts have failed, as one helicopter crashed on the mountain, and another abandoned its efforts due to poor weather. Rescue pilots were due to make a third attempt on August 25, but again abandoned their efforts due to the weather.

"Professional pilots flew in from Italy. But when they flew to the area by helicopter, the weather was not favourable. Before that, they invited a drone pilot who was ordered to probe the area, but it was not possible," explained Ilim Karypbekov, vice president of the Kyrgyz Mountaineering Federation.

"The forecast said that in the coming week, five or six days, the weather would not be stable enough to fly a helicopter, let alone a drone. So they called it off.

"They saw that there was no point in waiting that long. No one could survive that long. They decided that it was pointless to wait any longer."

Despite the dangers, Nagovitsina's son, Mikhail, believes his mother is still alive and is urging Russian authorities to organize another rescue operation.

During a brief weather window earlier this month, officials were able to use drones and helicopters to capture footage of the injured mountaineer. According to Mikhail, the video, shot on August 19, shows his mother moving and waving.

"In the video I received, it is clearly visible that seven days after losing contact, she is actively waving her hand, full of strength," he says.

"My mother is an experienced climber...and is also in very good shape.

"I am sure that she is alive and wants the search to be resumed."

No further rescue attempts have been made. Nagovitsina's body will likely be recovered next spring, when conditions improve, according to Ilim Karypbekov.

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Good news, US climbing fans! One of the nation's most exciting climbing stars is finally back from injury and ready to hit the wall.

Four-time bouldering world champion Natalie Grossman, 24, has been on the sidelines since March after tearing the ACL and meniscus of her left knee, but will be returning to competition at today's North America Cup.

"I get to compete this weekend!" she confirmed via Instagram.

"Today marks 6 months post ACL + meniscus surgery which means I’m finally cleared to lead climb with minimal movement restrictions. Though fully trusting my knee and being in shape is another story."

Although her recovery isn't yet over, Grossman's return to competitive climbing means she could be available for this year's final two IFSC World Cup rounds at the start of September and the World Championships competition at the end of the month.

"Recovery is nowhere near over, but I was given this opportunity and I want to seize it. This is part of the process but it is not the end result! I have no idea what to expect so let’s go have some funnnn and see what happens.

"I’ve poured everything into this long recovery, so no pushing my knee this time. Recovery comes first," concludes her Instagram post.

Who is Natalie Grossman?

Prior to her injury, Grossman's place as the world's best female boulderer was undisputed. The US athlete won four back-to-back World Cup series from 2021 to 2024 and topped the podium at an astonishing eleven World Cup rounds in that time.

She's also been a fierce competitor in the lead climbing World Cup, finishing second and third in the 2021 and 2022 competitions.

Her return from injury will be a welcome sight to climbing fans worldwide, after Grossman missed almost the entire 2025 World Cup season.

Without her, the bouldering competition has been an open affair, with six different winners from the six different rounds this year.

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A 50-year-old climber has died after showing signs of altitude sickness and sustaining serious injuries on Mount Shasta in California's Southern Cascade mountain range.

The unnamed man was descending from the 14,179ft (4,322m) peak when the weather took a turn for the worse and he became disorientated. He also lost contact with his climbing partner in heavy rain and low visibility.

Upon reaching base camp, his companion was unable to contact his friend and called 911 to request emergency help. A nearby search and rescue team promptly launched a rescue effort, but was delayed until the next morning by unforgiving snow and rain on the mountain.

On Sunday, August 17, a search and rescue helicopter located the man's body "at the base of a cliff, wedged between the scree slope and an ice sheet", according to a Facebook post by Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office.

Nick Meyers, of the US Forest Service, told SFGate that the man was found several thousand feet lower than the mountain's base camp, and he likely suffered "a slip and fall on the steep section of the mountain".

Mountain safety

Following the incident, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office warned about the risks of high-altitude climbing.

"This climbing accident is the sixth call for service the Sheriff's Office has received on the Clear Creek route in the past two weeks, underscoring that even one of the 'safest' routes up Mount Shasta needs to be approached with significant preparation and caution," continued its Facebook post.

"Multiple hazards, including falling rock, exposed cliff edges, difficult-to-navigate terrain, and the ever-present risk of rapidly changing weather can make this non-technical climb a perilous endeavour for any climber despite their skill and experience level.

"Thus, we encourage everyone attempting to summit the mountain to have a personal SOS beacon, a GPS device to stay on-route, and ideally one or more climbing partners."

What is altitude sickness?

Altitude sickness is caused by exposure to dangerously low oxygen levels at altitude. Common symptoms include headaches, nausea, dizziness, and shortness of breath, but sufferers can sometimes experience more severe effects like hallucinations.

To mitigate the risks, climbers often acclimatize to the low oxygen levels by spending time in the mountains or sleeping in hypoxic tents, which mimic the arduous alpine conditions and prepare their bodies for altitude.

For more information, check out our expert guide to avoiding altitude sickness.

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A fallen climber has been rescued after he became trapped behind a rushing California waterfall and remained stuck there for two days.

Ryan Wardwell, 46, was rappelling down the Kern River cliffside in Sequoia National Forest when "extreme hydraulics" forced him off his line, and he fell into an open space behind the Seven Teacups waterfall.

The following day, he was reported missing, and a rescue effort was launched when officials noticed that his car hadn't moved from a nearby parking lot.

Over two days of searching, rescuers used everything from infrared cameras to helicopters, but were unsuccessful until a drone caught sight of the trapped climber behind the waterfall. Wardwell was alive and conscious, but noticeably weak, after spending two days with only damp rocks for company.

Footage posted to Facebook shows rescuers from the Tulare County Sheriff's Office travelling down from a helicopter and hoisting Wardwell to safety.

"It had to have been miserable"

Following his rescue, Sheriff's Office Captain Kevin Kemmerling told the San Francisco Chronicle that Wardwell had "tried for days to escape, but there was nothing he could do to break through.

“There was no way for him to warm up or dry out in there, so it had to have been miserable," he continued.

Kemmerling also suggested that “nobody should be doing stuff like that solo, period," as solo climbers and canyoneers are often unable to get help in emergencies.

Wardwell is now safe and recovering from the ordeal after sustaining a few minor injuries and suffering from dehydration.

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Tragedy has struck late into the perilous K2 climbing season, after a Chinese climber was hit by falling rocks and killed while descending the world's second-tallest mountain.

China's Jing Guan was descending the mountain on Tuesday, August 12, when loose rock tumbled down the Abruzzi Spur route and struck and killed the climber. Guan was one of 40 climbers from an Imagine Nepal expedition to summit the mountain in challenging conditions on Monday, along with three other climbing teams.

Multiple other expeditions were abandoned before reaching the summit due to the perilous conditions and high likelihood of rockfalls.

K2, which rises 28,251 ft (8,611m) from the Karokoram mountain range, is second only to Mount Everest in height, and has endured an unexpectedly dry winter. Dry conditions on the mountain have been extremely dangerous for climbers, prompting loose underfoot terrain and multiple rockfall incidents.

Nicknamed the 'Savage Mountain', K2 has a terrifying reputation for climbing deaths. In 2021, mortality rates on the mountain were as high as 25%, but that number dropped drastically to just 13% in 2024.

K2 isn't the only mountain to contend with rockfall in recent weeks. Earlier this month, it caused the summit of Cima Falkner in the Italian Alps to open "like a flower," and send rocks tumbling down the mountain, while in the Dolomites, a British hiker was fined more than $16,000 after calling for rescue from a trail closed by rockfall.

As the planet warms, mountains around the globe are more likely to experience permafrost degradation, when usually frozen ground thaws, loosening rocks on the mountain, according to the Scientific Committee of the Italian Alpine Club which told La Repubblica: "Landslides are on the rise, and the main cause is the climate crisis. There’s no doubt about it.

"Mountains, by definition, are destined to collapse, they won’t remain as we know them forever. What’s different now is that we’re seeing a clear acceleration of these processes, driven by heat and extreme weather events intensified by the climate crisis," it continued.

It's difficult to link single events to climate change, but increased rockfall on K2 appears to be a part of a larger pattern of dry summers and loose rock on the world's tallest mountains.

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A two-time Olympic gold medalist has died after she was struck by falling rocks while climbing in Pakistan.

Laura Dahlmeier, 31, had ascended around 18,700ft (5,699.8m) on Laila Peak in the Karakoram mountain range when she was struck and fatally wounded by falling rocks on Monday, July 28.

The German athlete had won seven biathlon world championships and made history as the first woman to claim sprint and pursuit golds in the same games at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Her climbing partner, Marina Eva, quickly issued a distress call, prompting a large-scale rescue effort. Eva was uninjured and able to safely ascend from the mountain the following day, but rescue efforts were hampered by unforgiving weather conditions and low visibility.

On Wednesday, July 30, a spokesman for the regional Gilgit-Baltistan government confirmed Dahlmeier's death and said that rescuers hadn't been able to retrieve her body, but a final decision on retrieval lay with her family.

A statement posted to her Instagram said Dahlmeier hadn't wanted anyone to risk their lives to recover her body in the case of an accident.

A separate post reads: "Farewell to a wonderful person! Laura enriched the lives of many, including our own, with her warm and straightforward manner.

"We are deeply grateful, dear Laura, that we were allowed to share our lives with you. Our shared moments and memories give us the strength and courage to continue on our path."

Tributes

Dahlmeier was a beloved figure on the biathlon stage, and her death has been met with an outpouring of grief from the Olympic community.

International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry described the incident as "deeply shocking for all of us in the Olympic Movement".

"She will be remembered forever. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this very difficult time."

Triple Olympic luge champion Felix Loch, who represented Germany alongside Dahlmeier, offered a heartfelt tribute on his Instagram account.

It reads: "Laura, you are and will remain not only one of the most successful biathletes of all time, but above all a true role model – for us athletes and for the entire winter sports community.

"You were always genuine, modest, warm-hearted, and fully engaged".

The Karakoram mountains

The Karakoram mountain range is a collection of peaks spanning five countries and 29,789 square miles (77,153km²). It falls mainly in the Kashmir region of India, Pakistan, and China, with the northwestern corner extending into Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

The range includes four peaks over 26,000ft (8,000m), and is best known as the home of the world's second-tallest mountain, the monstrous K2. Because of its remote location and treacherous underfoot conditions, K2 is considered to be one of the world's most dangerous mountains, with a death rate of over 20%.

At 20,118ft (6,132m), Laila Peak isn't one of the biggest mountains in the Karakoram region, but it still presents significant dangers due to its remoteness and unpredictable weather conditions.

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It’s thrilling, moving quickly and continuously along an exposed mountain ridge, unencumbered with ropes and protective gear, getting hands on with the ancient rock. Yep, compared to the short bursts of activity followed by faff and a long belay wait when climbing, scrambling feels like a purer pursuit – a liberating form of adventure. Just you and the mountain. Not as risky as free soloing, but still something that feels just a little…edgy.

The popularity of scrambling has been gaining pace alongside its better-known cousins, namely hiking and rock climbing, for some time. Scrambling is the bridge between the two. At one end of the scrambling spectrum, you’ve got adventurous hiking, the sort where you can no longer amble along with your hands in your pockets. At the other extreme, you’ve got the sort of terrain on which the vast majority of folk, unless you’re someone like Alex Honnold, would want to be attached to a rope.

The line between difficult scrambling and easy climbing is a blurry one and it’s difficult to define exactly where scrambling ends and climbing begins. Regardless, many people have tried to do just this. We thought we’d throw our hat into the ring by asking one of our mountaineering experts to consider just when does scrambling become climbing.

What exactly is scrambling?

Scrambling is defined as the act of using your hands as well as your feet to progress through rocky backcountry terrain. Easier scrambling can be thought of as adventurous hiking, while tougher scrambles can be thought of as ‘nontechnical climbs’, as named in the Sierra Club’s Definitions for Scrambling Ratings – a document I'll be referencing quite a bit in due course.

A scramble will often form the crux – the trickiest bit – of an easier hiking route, and many popular hikes have short sections of scrambling in them. More sustained routes, with long stretches of terrain where the use of hands is required, are usually given a title, making them 'named scrambles'. Examples include the Crestone Traverse in the Rockies or Aonach Eagach in the Scottish Highlands.

Easy scrambles are usually tackled without a rope or other climbing equipment, while most people probably would rope up for the more difficult scrambles. It’s this that begs the question: when does scrambling become climbing?

Unroped scrambling is a potentially dangerous pursuit, particularly in the higher grades, when it essentially becomes easy free soloing – we'll explore this distinction more in due course too. Many of the world's most dangerous hiking trails feature sections of easier scrambling that are typically done without climbing equipment.

How are scrambles graded in America?

The US and the UK have their own grading systems to indicate the difficulty of a scramble. Handily, the American Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) captures the full spectrum of difficulty from a simple walk (Class 1) right through to Adam Ondra’s Silence, perhaps the hardest sport climb ever sent (5.15d). Classes 1 through 4 are described as non-technical mountain climbs, with Classes 2 through 4 representing the sort of terrain that would be defined as a scramble.

Indeed, the much-respected and comprehensive instructional mountaineering text Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills backs this assertion up. It reads: 'Nontechnical climbs, or scrambles, occur on second-, third-, or even fourth-class terrain.'

The Sierra Club have further broken down Classes 2, 3 and 4, giving each subcategories within the grade to describe nuances in difficulty, much in the same way as the Class-5 climbing grades are broken down.

Class 2 is described by the Sierra Club as: 'simple scrambling and rough cross-country travel on scree, talus, and boulders, with minimal exposure and low to moderate risk'. This doesn’t sound like rock climbing to me.

The club describe Class 3 thus: 'moderate scrambling on steep, rocky terrain that requires handholds for upward movement and safety. Beginners may want a belay due to increased exposure and risk of serious injury'. This is beginning to sound more like rock climbing than hiking. However, Angels Landing in Zion National Park is a renowned Class-3 route and very few would think of it as a rock climb.

Class 4, however, is: 'difficult and exposed scrambling on very steep terrain where a rope is often advisable for safety, given the substantial risk of serious injury or death in the event of a fall'. The first subcategory, 4.0, is defined accordingly: 'brief, very hard scrambling' with 'readily available holds' and notes that 'some climbing skills are needed'. Understandably, it recommends a helmet and a rope for belays and descending. By the time we get into the meat of the 4.1 subcategory, however, the words 'rappel' and 'commitment' start getting thrown around. Commitment and rappels? I reckon we’re into the realms of rock climbing here.

How are scrambles graded in the UK?

Scrambles are graded differently to both sport and trad climbs in the UK, with a separate system that goes from Grade 1 (easier) to Grade 3 (harder). The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) outlines the definitions on its website. In fact, it goes as far as to say scrambling is 'essentially' easy rock climbing. Though I and many others would assert that easy scrambling has much more in common with hiking than with climbing.

UK Grade-1 scrambles are comparable to YDS Class 2 routes and are usually tackled without ropes or other climbing equipment. Adventurous hiking, one might say.

UK Grade-2 scrambles 'blur the line between scrambling and rock climbing' though the BMC don’t really describe the terrain in their definition. Let’s bring in the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC), who describe Grade-2 scrambles in their Highland Scrambles North guide as having 'considerable exposure' and 'short technically difficult sections'. Like YDS Class 3, we’re starting to approach something that sounds a little like climbing to me. Scottish classics like the Liathach Traverse and the Aonach Eagach fall into the Grade-2 category.

UK Grade-3 scrambles 'often appear in climbing guides as ‘Moderately’ graded climbing routes', according to the BMC. 'Use of the rope is to be expected for several sections, which may be up to about ‘Difficult’ in rock climbing standards'. Enough said?

The SMC have this to say about UK Grade-3 scrambles: 'Thought-provoking moves on steep rock in exposed situations'. Sounds pretty climbingy to me. Wait…here comes the nail in the coffin, the piton in the rock – if you will. 'A few slings, nuts and karabiners may prove useful for setting up belays'. Case closed. UK Grade-3 scrambling might as well be called climbing. Right?

When does scrambling become climbing?

The short answer to the question posed at the top of this piece is: there’s no agreed point at which scrambling becomes climbing. What is clear is that respected bodies like the Sierra Club, the BMC and the SMC draw many parallels between YDS Classes 3 and 4 and UK Grade 2 and 3 scrambling and easy climbing, while the BMC go further by suggesting a direct overlap between the two pursuits.

So, it seems that scrambling blurs into climbing somewhere within those grades, perhaps at the upper end of YDS Class 3 and UK Grade 2, where the use of a rope becomes desirable for most people in order to prevent serious injury or death, or at least provide the confidence needed to tackle the route.

Another way to think of it is to consider the approach an individual takes to these sorts of borderline routes. Perhaps this is what determines whether you’re scrambling or climbing. Bring your climbing shoes and full rack to the first pitch and you’re doing a spot of easy climbing. Bring a lightweight scrambler’s rack and approach shoes to the same route and you’re taking on a roped scramble. Leave the harness and ropes at home and attempt it sans protection, and you’re embarking on some very bold scrambling.

This begs the question: when does bold, unroped scrambling become free soloing? Well, once you get into routes within the YDS Class 5 grades that describe 'technical rock climbing' or into the UK’s accepted sport and trad climbing grades, you’d be within your right to say you were free soloing if tackling them without a rope. Note: this is certainly not something we’d advise doing.

Brette Harrington, one of America’s leading alpinists and one-time partner of the late Marc-André Leclerc (of 2021 documentary film The Alpinist) fame, cites mindset as being the key difference between scrambling and free soloing. When scrambling, the climber is 'cruising', whereas when free soloing they require laser focus. In this case, it's the competence and confidence of the climber that determines what they're doing, not the difficulty of the route itself.

Now, here’s the thing. Scrambling and climbing grades are highly subjective and the challenges posed by any given route will vary depending on factors like the weather and what the scrambler chooses to wear. A hard scramble that feels desperate in trail running shoes will probably feel much easier in approach shoes. Take on a relatively easy scramble in the wet and you’ll likely be more gripped than on a technical climb in glorious summer sunshine.

Inevitably there’s a bit of an overlap between hard scrambling and easy climbing, and the routes and sort of terrain that fall into the center of this adventurous Venn diagram are bound to cause debate. An experienced crag rat might proclaim that a certain route ‘was nothing more than a scramble’, while someone working their way up the grades would probably consider the same route as a thrilling climb. I’ve heard some people describe the Matterhorn’s Hornli Ridge as a scramble. I’ve one word for such a sentiment: psychopathic.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether it’s technically a scramble or a climb – all that matters is that you enjoy it. As the late legendary American mountaineer Alex Lowe once said: ‘the best climber is the one having the most fun’.

A Yosemite worker who fell to his death while rock climbing in the iconic California park has been identified as a recent high school graduate from Texas.

Grant Cline, 18, from Frisco, died in a fall while rock climbing at Royal Arches, a popular climbing spot below North Dome, according to the Mariposa Gazette. He was living in employee housing inside the park and working for Yosemite Hospitality at the time of his death.

Details on the incident have been sparse, but a GoFundMe page set up to help Cline's family travel to California and hold memorial services says the teenager found his purpose when he started rock climbing age 14.

"Climbing wasn’t just a passion, it was how Grant connected with the world. He found joy in feeling small beneath towering cliffs, peace in nature’s quiet beauty, and purpose in pushing his limits."

The National Park Service has not issued a statement on the case, but Aramark, the Pennsylvania-based company that holds the concessions contract with Yosemite, offered its sympathies to the family, according to the Gazette.

“We are deeply saddened by this tragic climbing accident,” says Sheena Weinstein, a spokesperson for Aramark.

Yosemite National Park is one of the most popular rock climbing spots in the world, with its trademark granite slabs that have been a source of inspiration for rock climbers for some 150 years.

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Two climbers have died on Europe's tallest mountain after a group of five were caught in unforgiving conditions.

The all-Turkish climbing group was descending from the Elbrus mountain in Russia's Kabardino-Balkaria region when the weather suddenly deteriorated and the group split in two.

Climbers Izzet Koseoglu and Adnan Sari were able to safely travel down the mountain, while Mehmet Kocaakca, Cihan Yildirim, and Kazim Guler stayed in harrowing conditions near the summit.

Russian search and rescue workers quickly made their way up and found the bodies of Kocaakca and Guler.

Cihan Yildirim, the third climber to stay on the mountain, was discovered alive and swiftly taken for medical treatment.

A statement from the Turkish Mountaineering Federation confirmed the deaths: "We are deeply saddened by this painful loss. We wish Allah’s mercy to our mountaineer friends who lost their lives and offer our condolences to their grieving families and the mountaineering community,” it read.

“We sincerely thank our Foreign Ministry, consular officials, and Russian authorities for their support in this difficult process."

The incident occurred on April 22, and all three surviving climbers are now expected to travel back to Turkey later in the week.

Standing 18,510ft (5,642m) above sea level, Elbrus is the tallest mountain in Europe.

It's climbed by about 10,000 to 12,000 people every year, and is generally considered to be safe, with just a 0.1% mortality rate.

Climbers can expect to encounter thick snow and freezing conditions during a typical climb, which usually takes between 12 to 14 days, including acclimatization time.

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One of the UK's most experienced mountain rescue experts has died at the age of 72. David Whalley was a Royal Air Force and mountain rescue veteran who died this week after being diagnosed with terminal liver disease last year.

David 'Heavy' Whalley was one of the UK’s most revered mountain rescuers who had taken part in several important rescue efforts. In December 1988 he was the senior team leader at the Lockerbie disaster, when Pan Am flight 103 was bombed in a terrorist attack over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.

He also aided the hunt for survivors when a Chinook helicopter crashed in 1994 on Mull of Kintyre, killing four RAF crew and 25 terrorism experts. In total he attended more than 70 aircraft crashes.

Scottish Mountain Rescue has hailed Whalley as a "true legend" and said it was "deeply saddened" by his death.

It added: "[He] dedicated his life to helping others in the mountains, giving countless years of service with unwavering commitment, skill, and compassion. He was a leader, a mentor, and a friend to so many in the mountain rescue community and beyond.

"His knowledge, experience, and kindness left an indelible mark on all who worked alongside him."

The Hebrides Mountain Rescue Team posted on Facebook (above) that they were "very sad upon hearing of the passing of RAF and Scottish Mountain Rescue legend David ‘Heavy’ Whalley".

The team shared a post showing Whalley officially opening a new base, "which he did magnificently with the heated rope cutter".

During Whalley's 40-year career with the RAF Mountain Rescue Service, he attended more than 1,000 mountain incidents and many air accidents, helping save hundreds of lives.

It was when he first joined the RAF that he got the nickname, "Heavy", for standing at just 5ft 4in and weighing just seven stone.

He shared much of his life, including photos of bygone adventures and feelings of PTSD following the Lockerbie disaster, in his Wordpress blog. In his final post on March 16, 2025, entitled 'Great memories through photos and music', he reminisces over happier times in his life.

A comedy photo of his German Shepherd Teallach wearing sunglasses and a hard hat surrounded by mountain rescue gear heads up the post.

"A giant amongst men"

Comments on Scottish Mountain Rescue's Facebook page have garnered hundreds of reactions and comments.

Highland Cross posted: "His contribution to Mountain Rescue is vast and we have lost a great repository of mountain history with his death."

Another user commented: "So sad, but he lives on in the Scottish Mountains and in the lives of the people he saved and those he coached and mentored. He will never be forgotten."

Another said: "A giant amongst men, the epitome of selfless commitment. RIP Heavy."

Many commenters revealed how much they enjoyed following Whalley's adventures on Instagram. See more @heavywhalley64.

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The revolutionary outdoors inventor of FiveFingers barefoot shoes has died after suffering a fatal fall while climbing in Italy.

48-year-old Robert Fliri was descending the Oberettespitze mountain in the Tyrolean Alps of Northern Italy when he lost his footing and fell almost 1,000ft / 305m as horrified friends watched on.

His two companions quickly raised the alarm, and local authorities launched an immediate rescue effort. They soon located Fliri with the help of a helicopter but found him dead at the scene.

The incident occurred on Wednesday, March 5.

Fliri was a beloved figure in the outdoor community due to his invention of the FiveFingers barefoot shoes.

These hiking, climbing, and trail running shoes mimic the close feeling of being barefoot with thin outsoles that follow the shape of your feet and individual sections for each toe.

The shoes launched in 2006 to immediate success and are now produced by outsole experts Vibram.

As an experienced mountaineer and trail runner, Fliri took inspiration from the freedom of being barefoot in the wilderness.

Prior to launching the FiveFingers shoes, he told Birthdayshoes.com: "We have five toes: when they can move and grasp the ground independently, and when you can really sense the surface under your feet, your body is able to do what it is designed for by nature. This is a powerful feeling."

"It is very joyful to move around on the five-fingers [sic]; you will become really happy to move. Your movements will be more flexible, more supple."

The Vibram FiveFingers shoes are now produced in a range of styles to suit different outdoor pursuits and terrain.

The V-Alpha and V-Trail shoes are suited to runners and hikers looking for a close, barefoot feel as they speed through the wilderness. Waterproof, insulating models like the V-Lynx are better suited to chilly autumn and winter treks. FiveFingers water-shoes are also available.

Shoes from the FiveFingers range are available from $130 on the Vibram website.

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A good quality ice axe is non-negotiable for tough winter walking and climbing in the backcountry. If you plan to take on tricky winter conditions, don't compromise with sub-standard gear; get the best there is, like this model from DMM, now almost $25 off.

Right now, you can snag the DMM Spire Tech ice axe for just $99.99 at Outdoor Gear Exchange - 20% off its list price of $124.95.

This well-rated ice axe is designed for tough, technical ascents. It's made from anodized aluminum, which is both lightweight and sturdy, and features a slightly bent shaft for aggressive pickup and clearance when swinging.

Climbing expert Matthew Jones was extremely impressed when he took the DMM Spire Tech to the backcountry.

"The front point penetrates superbly – in many conditions it performs almost as well as a technical ice tool, holding in ice well without too much shattering," Matthew said in his four-and-a-half star review.

"On mixed terrain, it’s also great for hooking over rock bulges, and when daggering, it also gives additional clearance for hands, keeping them drier and reducing the chances of bruised or busted knuckles."

The DMM Spire Tech ice axe boasts the coveted top spot in our guide to the best ice axes. Take a look for more superb option.

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Climbers using one of Black Diamond's premier climbing harnesses are being urged to return the product after the company said users were in danger of "serious injury or death".

Black Diamond issued a recall of the popular Vision climbing harness last week after it received a report of the waistbelt failing after heavy use. In its recall notice, the Utah-based company described the issue as the "premature degradation of its specialized materials and construction."

The statement continued: “This has the potential to create a risk of serious injury or death.

"Consumers who own the Black Diamond Vision harness should immediately stop using it and follow the recall procedures."

Affected climbers can claim $200 in credit or a full refund via the Black Diamond website.

Weighing just under 8.8oz / 250g, the Vision harness was designed to be a lightweight, minimalistic option for ascending tricky alpine routes.

It's the second Black Diamond product in under a month that's been recalled over safety concerns. On February 18, we reported the recall of several popular Black Diamond avalanche beacons. This was due to a corrosion issue that caused the beacons to malfunction, potentially endangering the lives of backcountry skiers and snowboarders relying on them in an emergency.

Pick the perfect harness

A dependable climbing harness is vital for a safe, secure climb, whether you're in harsh backcountry conditions or the local gym.

If you're in the market for a new climbing harness, look below for our top tips on how to choose one that will keep you safe and secure while climbing.

• Type: To pick the right harness, you'll need to know what you're going to be using it for. You'll generally see different harnesses for gym, trad, alpine, and ice climbing. Gym harnesses are usually lightweight, trad harnesses feature lots of gear loops, alpine harnesses are more basic, and ice climbing harnesses are designed to withstand cold weather conditions.
• Size: Harnesses typically range in size from XS to XL based on your waist and leg circumferences. The right size can be adjusted to be tighter or looser.
• Fit and comfort: A good harness should feel snug and comfortable without pinching when you move. The waist belt should sit just above your hip bones and should not move around too much. The adjustable leg loops should be tight enough to keep you firmly in place without digging into your thighs. To ensure comfort, look for a model with ample padding.

For more on climbing harnesses, check out our complete guide on how to choose the right harness and how to properly put one on.

• The best crampons: tested for sure-footed traction on frozen terrain
• The best ice axes: for tackling frozen terrain

Mountain rescue officials in Scotland are pleading with the public to use proper equipment, following a tough winter rescue.

The warning came after the Killin Mountain Rescue team was called to the Stuc a Chroin mountain on Sunday, February 16 to assist two hikers who'd become stranded in freezing, winter conditions and heavy snowfall.

"Another challenging rescue last night, this time on Stuc a Chroin," the KMRT said on Facebook.

On this occasion, the stranded pair had the right equipment to keep them warm while awaiting rescue.

“Our team successfully brought to safety two stranded climbers in full winter conditions.

"We want to take this opportunity to emphasize the importance of proper winter gear. We’ve seen a concerning trend of microspikes use instead of crampons."

Microspikes are lightweight traction devices that can be attached to your hiking or mountaineering boots. They're designed to dig in and enhance your grip on icy, and moderately snow-packed surfaces. They're best suited to moderate weather conditions and relatively flat terrain.

Crampons are a necessity for mountaineering in the steep and often snowy Scottish Highlands. Compared to microspikes, they feature larger, more aggressive spikes capable of taking on steep inclines and technical climbing sections.

“Microspikes are not designed for the conditions currently facing most of Scotland’s mountains," the KMRT continued.

“For your safety, please use crampons and ice axes, and possess the necessary winter skills for winter mountaineering."

Different types of crampons are suited to different terrains. C3 crampons are the best for tough mountaineering routes at high altitudes. They feature 14 large and aggressive spikes per shoe and can be used to dig into hard ice and keep you upright in extreme snowy conditions.

If you're eying up a winter expedition in the Scottish Highlands, and wondering which crampons to use, check out our expert guide.

Our favorites are the Grivel G12s, which boast an easy, precise fit and large reliable spikes.

In his four-and-a-half star review, climbing expert Matthew Jones said this reliable pair: "has proven its ability in mountain ranges worldwide, combining a robust build with versatile steep-ground performance."

For more on winter equipment, check out our how mountaineering expert Alex Foxfield updates his hiking gear for winter.

• The best climbing shoes: get a grip both indoors and out
• The best men’s winter boots: stay warm and dry on and off the trails

Two climbers had to be rescued in Cairngorms National Park, after being hit by falling snow and ice from a collapsing cornice above them.

These overhanging masses of snow can become unstable and break off, and can also trigger avalanches.

Revealing footage released of the rescue shows the casualties being treated on the site of the incident in the Mess of Pottage area of Coire an t-Sneachda on Sunday, Feburary 16. They were then lowered to the valley floor and stretchered out in a helicopter.

RAF Mountain Rescue Service were training in the area and were able to help Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team with the operation, which took 15 people in total.

Cairngorms Mountain Rescue Team leader Iain Cornfoot said that the pair were unfortunately "in the wrong place at the wrong time", reported the Strathspey Herald.

Coire an t-Sneachda is a corrie – a bowl-shaped valley – in the Cairngorms. The Mess of Pottage is a popular climbing area and with many moderate mixed rock and snow routes, gullies and ramps.

"One of the most unusual avalanche seasons in history"

Since the incident the Cairngorms Mountain Rescue Team has had to respond to two more emergencies where climbers needed rescuing following human-triggered avalanches.

On Tuesday three climbers had to be rescued, followed by two more later, also in the Coire an t-Sneachda area.

Earlier this month the Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS) said a lack of snow has resulted in it having one of its most unusual winters in its almost 40-year history.

Far fewer avalanches have been reported than in previous years, thought to be because of the lack of snow.

Cornice safety tips for mountaineering

Cornices pose hazards to adventurers underneath them. They can break away underneath you, or they can fall down on top of you. They can also trigger an avalanche, which can affect climbers further down the mountain.

There are steps you can follow to maximize your safety when hiking or climbing in snow conditions.

1. Check the weather

Pay attention to rising temperatures in recent days as this can increase the instability of snow, as can high winds.

2. Change your route

Stay off the summits and also away from routes that take you below areas you’ve identified where cornices might build up.

3. Carry a satellite communicator

A satellite communicator keeps you tethered to the world thanks to its ability to relay messages and signals via the network of satellites, even in tough conditions.

4. Sign up for avalanche safety training

Avalanche safety training will teach you how to identify avalanche-prone areas and avoid them, as well as how to use gear like an avalanche beacon and probe.

If you're planning on hiking in avalanche-prone areas, check out our buying advice below and consider carrying an SOS device such as a Garmin Inreach.

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• The best waterproof jackets 2025: brave the elements with these top-rated hard and softshells

The mountain rescue team overseeing America’s tallest mountain could be cut in half as part of a government policy to reduce spending and downsize federal agencies.

The new measure would mean only six rescuers will watch over the 500,000 visitors and 1,000 climbers who flock to Denali National Park every summer. Of those six, two are supervisors who must remain in the office, leaving just four rescuers on the mountain during the peak climbing season.

It comes after a federal hiring freeze was signed into law by President Donald Trump last month.

The freeze stops government agencies from hiring new employees and spells trouble for the National Park Service, which hires an army of temporary workers each year to help manage the nation's wilderness areas in the busy summer months.

Despite a new order exempting seasonal employees from the freeze, many were reportedly still told they no longer have job offers. The National Parks Conservation Association claims that more than 2,000 temporary employees have had job offers rescinded.

Six of Denali’s 12 current rescuers are employed on a seasonal basis, joining up with the rest in May for the climbing season. ExplorersWeb reports that they have also had their job offers rescinded.

When questioned on the hiring freeze, the NPS told Advnture:

"The National Park Service is implementing President Donald J. Trump’s Hiring Freeze Executive Order across the federal civilian workforce. The order does allow for exemptions for the hiring of certain positions.

"The NPS is assessing our most critical staffing needs for park operations for the coming season and is working to hire key positions. The NPS is committed to protecting public lands, infrastructure, and communities while ensuring public access."

At 20,310ft / 6,190m, Denali is the tallest mountain in North America. Climbers attempting to scale it brave extreme weather conditions and temperatures well below freezing. More than 50 people have died on mountain since 2010.

America's tallest peak has already been in the news in recent weeks.

Last month, President Trump stirred controversy by reversing an order that recognised the mountain by its indigenous name - Denali, the moniker native Alaskans say had been in use for more than 10,000 years.

Trump officially changed the name back to Mount McKinley, after the 25th US President, William McKinley.

President McKinley never visited his name-sake or even the state of Alaska, nor did he have any cultural connection to the area.

The move was met with widespread criticism from political opponents and the native Alaskan community.

“I strongly disagree with the President’s decision on Denali,” said Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“Our nation’s tallest mountain, which has been called Denali for thousands of years, must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans, who have stewarded the land since time immemorial."

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A Californian woman has died after a climbing accident in Nevada’s Red Rock Canyon.

Micah Manalese was attempting to rappel down the popular Community Pillar route when she fell more than 100ft / 30.5m, sustaining multiple serious injuries. Search and rescue officials, were in the midst another rescue operation at the time and diverted in the hope of saving the 30-year-old, but she succumbed to her injuries at the scene.

Married couple Joe and Carey de Luca had been descending the Cat in the Hat route, roughly 100 yards / 91m away from the scene of the fatal accident. While rappelling, their 70-meter ropes tangled with two friends’ ropes, leaving all four stuck. After hours trying to find a solution they called search and rescue and a team began climbing up to them. Rescue teams had planned to stay with the four to help them rappel down without further incident when Joe heard a scream and witnessed Manalese fall down the canyon.

“I saw her hit (the cliff) three times, and then her body stopped,” Joe told Climbing.

“It was evident to me that the chance of life was zero, or at least very low if we didn't do something quickly.”

The decision was taken to extract all four by helicopter, so that search and rescue could quickly get to the site of Manalese's fall but when they reached her she was non-responsive, having sustained multiple injuries.

Search and rescue teams have yet to identify the cause of Manalese's fall or any specific circumstances surrounding the accident.

“Micah was full of life, very brave and fearless, a true daredevil,” friend and fellow climber Rea Wehner told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“She was full of happiness, whenever you saw her, she was always smiling, her smile was contagious.”

Rappelling safety

Also known as abseiling, rappelling is the climbing term used to describe the act of descending a mountain, crag, or wall using a rope attached to an anchor at the top.

Ropes are passed through a top anchor and belay devices attached to you and your partner’s harnesses. You’ll typically face the wall and lean back while your partner on the ground feeds the rope through the belay device, slowly lowering you down.

Top tips for rappelling

• Tie knots at the ends of your ropes so you don’t slide off the end
• Tie an additional knot as a brake, or use an auto-locking belay device
• Make sure you have a climbing partner who you trust
• Communicate with your climbing partner

For more on rappelling safety, check out our expert guide. However, please remember that rappelling is potentially dangerous. It must be learned from a qualified instructor, and cannot be fully understood without in person practice and direction.

An injured ice climber is on the road to recovery after a daring 10 hour rescue to get him off the mountain following a 60ft fall.

Slavek Zaglewski from Oakland, New Jersey had been attempting to climb the challenging ‘Shoestring Gully’ route, near Crawford Notch in New Hampshire’s White Mountains on Saturday, December 14. Ascending with a friend, the 55-year-old lost his footing and fell roughly 60ft / 18m, landing at the climb’s base.

Fearing for his friend’s life, Slavek’s companion, Mariusz Markewicz, notified search and rescue, who immediately set off to find the injured climber.

After receiving the call at around 7.30pm, a small segment from the Mountain Rescue Service, and the Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue Service reached Zaglewski at 11.19pm and treated him for hypothermia. The remaining rescuers lugged 600ft / 183m ropes to a ridge atop the mountain route to assemble a sophisticated rope and litter system capable of lifting the climber to safety.

Commonly used by emergency services and mountain rescue, rope and litter systems allow rescuers to pack injured people into a gully and hoist them horizontally or vertically to safety.

At 12.46am, the litter reached Zaglewski, who was bundled into the gully and raised almost 400ft / 122m up the ridge. Still suffering from cold, the Oakland native was carried down the mountain by rescuers, who finally reached the trailhead at 5am on Sunday morning, nine and a half hours after they’d first received the call.

Impressed by the quick-thinking rescue operation, Sgt Alex Lopashanski, of New Hampshire Fish and Game, which had received the initial rescue call, told the Concord Monitor: “Without those guys coming out at night, he would have died that night, either from his injuries or the cold.

“It was a mission that really put together all the skills that they practice and are good at.”

Following his rescue, Zaglewski was immediately taken to hospital, where he’s been for the past two days. Despite the ordeal, the 55-year-old is expected to make a full recovery and didn’t suffer any major injuries from his fall.

“It does seem like he’s going to pull through without any long-lasting injury,” confirmed Lopashanski, who believes the climber fell due to loose rock.

“Instead of an ice climb, it was a frozen, unconsolidated rock,” he continued.

“Although it’s typically a fairly straightforward ice climb, ice just hadn’t formed there yet, which made the climbing difficult.”

Although it can be done safely, ice climbing is a challenging pursuit that demands prior knowledge and the right, working equipment. For information on how to get into ice climbing and what equipment to take, check out our expert guide to ice climbing.

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Clothes and climbing gear have reportedly been found after three men were reported missing on New Zealand's highest peak yesterday. The party of two US mountain guides and one Canadian set off to summit Aoraki/Mt. Cook on Saturday but failed to return to meet their prearranged transportation on Monday.

According to a statement by New Zealand's police, the missing party includes Kurt Blair, 56, of Durango, Colorado, Carlos Romero, 50, of California and an unnamed Canadian climber. Blair and Romero are both certified alpine guides, according to the American Mountain Guides Association.

The trio flew part-way up the mountain to Plateau Hut to begin their ascent, and several hours after they were reported missing, mountain rescue teams discovered their belongings.

According to a Facebook post by Silverton Avalanche School in Colorado, where Blair was employed, the climbers are presumed deceased.

"We received notification from NZ authorities that the climbers appear to have taken a fatal fall from high upon the peak. Gear and equipment found from the party has helped SAR piece together the tragedy although remote, technical and heavily glaciated terrain coupled with deteriorating weather has prevented a recovery of the climbers."

Search efforts have been suspended due to heavy rain and snow in the area and are not expected to resume until at least Thursday.

Blair's profile on the AMGA website describes him as an avid rock climber and mountaineer who has climbed in Alaska, Canada, Yosemite, the Swiss Alps, Ecuador and the Himalayas.

SAS says the news is devastating, writing of Blair:

"Anyone who shared time with Kurt in the mountains knows that his calm demeanor and positive presence ran counter to the rough edges and sharp tongues so often exemplified by the hard scrabble ranks of mountain guides. He was the nicest guy you’d ever share a rope or trail or skin track with."

Standing at 12,218 ft in the southern Alps, Aoraki/Mt Cook is part of a mountain range that runs the entire length of the South Island and is a popular destination among alpine enthusiasts.

What are the dangers of mountaineering?

Climbing a peak like Aoraki entails mountaineering equipment and experience rather than simply hiking, and the case highlights the inherent dangers of the activity, even among the most highly skilled and qualified. Mountaineering involves exploration of remote areas at high altitudes, in avalanche-prone conditions and in adverse weather conditions.

For any mountaineering expedition, it is recommended you hire a professional guide. You will also be required to have the following gear, at minimum:

• Winter hiking boots or mountaineering boots
• Crampons
• Helmet
• Ice axe
• Harness and belay device
• Climbing ropes
• Carabiners

You can learn more in our article on the dangers of mountaineering.

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When it comes to climbing and mountaineering, there’s a huge difference between the word epic when it’s an adjective and when it’s a noun. If you come back from a trip to the Himalaya and your friends ask you how it went and your reply is something along the lines of, “Oh, man! It was absolutely epic,” you’ve probably had a good time. If your reply is something more akin to, “Oh, man! We had an epic,” the meaning is altogether different. You’ll either have a hollow look in your eyes, or you’ll be bouncing with a new found lease of life, having flirted a little with its end. Adjective: good. Noun: not so good.

So, what is an epic exactly? One of our mountaineering experts is here to reveal all, consider a few high-profile examples, share his own tales and give guidance on how you can avoid being caught in one.

What is an epic?

An epic is a climbing trip or mountaineering expedition that goes wrong, usually leading to those involved remaining on the climb or out in the mountains much longer than planned, having to overcome mounting difficulties to escape. An epic can range in severity from becoming lost on a hike and subsequently getting caught out by the dark, to a full-on survival ordeal. Sometimes an epic may involve a rescue.

Any number of incidents or factors can lead to an epic, including kit failure, getting lost, a sudden injury, a dramatic turn in the weather, the underestimation of the technical difficulty of a route, inexperience, exhaustion, dropping a crucial piece of equipment and more. Often, it can be a combination of these that leads to a dangerous situation.

Typically, at some point during an epic the type 2 fun that many of us seek out when venturing into the outdoors gets shoved firmly into type 3 fun territory: I.e. not fun at all. The words harrowing and survival are often associated with an epic. However, the experience can be turned into a positive, as epics make for some of the most captivating mountaineering stories and the lessons learned from them should mean similar mistakes aren’t made again.

Many agree that when a fatality or a life-changing injury is involved, the expedition or climb should not be classed as an epic but as a tragedy or similar.

Meet the expert

More on what constitutes an epic

• Whether or not something is an epic is relative to the individual in question
• What an elite climber would consider an epic may be different to what a leisure hiker would consider
• Epics are often newsworthy and usually make for great stories afterwards

Everyone’s interpretation of what constitutes an epic will be personal to them. Nimsdai Purja’s Beyond Possible, a book documenting his journey to climb all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks in seven months, opens with the phrase: Your extremes are my normality. I admittedly found this immediately irritating and put me off reading the rest of the book. However, it does underline that what a top mountaineer would consider to be an epic is likely to be way beyond what a casual hiker might consider to be a bit of a close shave. So, epics are relative to each individual and also the point it occurs during their own life of adventure.

Epics are sometimes newsworthy, particularly if they involve a rescue or the people involved are missing for a significant amount of time. We recently reported the story of two climbers becoming stuck on a multi-pitch route on Mount Whitney. The rescue crews that came to their aid stated that the pair were “beyond their skill level”, adding that the “mission was the result of a series of bad decisions (until the good decision to call for help) that were entirely avoidable if proper preparation had been done.”

One thing epics all have in common is that they make for great stories, often once enough time has passed for the ordeal not to feel so present. Whether it's in the local climber's pub or on stage at mountain festivals, climbers often enjoy regaling their tales of derring-do and survival.

Speaking of the pub, while researching this feature, I scrawled through countless message boards to get different takes on the definition of an epic. My favorite came from a British climbing site: “It's when you miss last orders [at the pub]”.

High-profile epics

• There are many tales of epics involving famous climbers and mountaineers
• Joe Simpson's Touching the Void ordeal on Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985 is perhaps the most famous
• The first ascent of K2 in 1954 ended up being an epic for legendary alpinist Walter Bonatti
• Chris Bonington and Doug Scott's harrowing ordeal on the Ogre in 1977 is another well known epic

There have been countless epics involving famous climbers and mountaineers, while many people have been made famous by the epic that they were involved in, as is the case with Joe Simpson's ordeal. Below are just a few notable examples, there are many, many more.

SPOILER ALERT: these three tales are all documented in various media forms, so if you don't want the specifics of the stories ruined, skip past them.

Joe Simpson touches the void

Perhaps the most famous tale of an epic in the big mountains was wonderfully documented by Joe Simpson’s 1988 book Touching the Void, which has since become an acclaimed documentary (one of Advnture's best climbing films) and a theater production in London's West End.

For the uninitiated, having reached the summit, Simpson suffered a fall and broke his right leg. This forced a hasty retreat, with climbing partner Simon Yates lowering Simpson from the North Ridge using two lengths of rope. Having made it most of the way down, Yates inadvertently lowered Simpson over the edge of a cliff and he was unable to climb back up the rope. In order to save his own life, Yates made the decision to cut the rope, very much the most iconic moment in the tale.

Simpson miraculously survived the fall, having landed on a snow ledge in the jaws of a crevasse. With no other choice, he crawled deeper into the abyss, before finding a way out and crawling and hopping five miles back to base camp, spending three days without food and water. It's considered one of the classic modern survival stories.

Walter Bonatti's big night out

The successful first ascent of the iconic K2 in Pakistan’s Karakorum in 1954 was an Italian expedition. The youngest member of the team was the burgeoning alpinist, Walter Bonatti, included in our list of the world's greatest mountaineers. During the summit push, his job was to take oxygen cylinders up to Camp IX with native a Hunza climber named Amir Mehdi. However, the pair who would go on to successfully reach the summit, Lino Lacedelli and Achile Compagnoni, had placed Camp IX higher than had been agreed with Bonatti.

Bonatti and Mehdi reached the previously agreed point at around 8,100 meters, above the 8,000-meter threshold commonly referred to as the Death Zone, due to the debilitating effect of that kind of altitude. Mahdi was noticeably struggling and there was no way the pair could have reached the relocated Camp IX. This forced an open bivouac without so much as a sleeping bag for warmth. Mahdi lost his toes, though Bonatti escaped relatively unscathed.

The controversy that followed would mar what should have been a glorious achievement for Italian alpinism. Bonatti accused Lacedelli and Compagnoni of knowingly moving the location of the camp so that Bonatti wouldn't have the possibility of going for the summit with them. It's likely that the prodigiously talented Bonatti would have achieved this feat without oxygen, thus outdoing Lacedelli and Compagnoni's own oxygen-assisted summit. Lacedelli and Compagnoni's version of events led to Bonatti being ostracized by the climbing community. However, in light of mountain evidence, Bonatti's account was finally proved to be true in 2007.

Bonatti would go on to be one of the greatest mountaineers of all time and was the first recipient of the Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009, a prize that was then named in his honor. For a full accounting of the K2 epic, Bonatti’s book The Mountains of My Life is a terrific read.

Bonington and Scott battle the Ogre

Chris Bonington and Doug Scott are two of Britain’s most famous mountaineers. Like Bonatti, they were also recipients of the Piolet d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2015 and 2011 respectively. Bonington recently celebrated his 90th birthday.

However, they both suffered a harrowing epic on Pakistan's Baintha Brakk, a formidable 7,285-meter giant and one of the most challenging mountains in the world. Fittingly, it's more commonly known as The Ogre. This was no classic mountain peak but a “complex of granite buttresses and walls, threaded with icy gullies and ice slopes, leading to a three-headed crown towering above the Baintha Brakk glacier,” recalls Bonington in his book, Ascent.

On 13th July 1977, Scott and Bonington made a stunning first ascent but things quickly took a turn for the worse, to put it mildly, on the descent. During the icy rappel from the summit, Scott fractured both his legs just above the ankle. They saw out the sight on an improvised ledge and started their brutal descent the next morning.

They met up with other members of the expedition team below the summit and refuelled. However, a violent storm swept in, engulfing the mountain. With supplies running low, fatigue setting in and the injured Scott to get off the mountain, they had no choice but to descend through the storm. Bonington suffered a major fall during a subsequent repel, breaking his ribs. Thanks to teamwork, grit and determination, and a positive turn in the weather, the group eventually made it back to base camp after descending for a week. 

Even in the midst of it all, Bonington, while seriously concerned about developing a pulmonary oedema joked: “We're going to make a fortune out of this with the book.” 

My own experiences

My own experience of epics are on the less severe end of the scale – limited to a badly judged wild camp that came early in my apprenticeship with the outdoors; and a winter mountaineering day that ended in darkness and an improvised abseil. 

The former I can put down to inexperience, inadequate kit and a sudden change in the weather. A friend and I had set up camp below the summit of Scafell Pike in the English Lake District. In our inexperience, we hadn’t considered the exposed position, the alignment of the tent with the wind direction and the potential for the conditions to rapidly deteriorate through the night. We were woken in the early hours by severe gusts, heavy rain and a snapped tent pole. Unable to stay in our beleaguered shelter, we decided to pack out, hiking through atrocious conditions in the dark for several hours, floundering with some dubious navigation calls and eventually making it back to the car, dripping wet and freezing. Not a survival story, but definitely a case of an expedition gone wrong and, at that point in my apprenticeship with the hills, a real epic.

The second case I can put down to inadequate equipment, inexperience and underestimation of the route. Three of us decided to climb Eryri’s (Snowdonia) Tryfan North Ridge followed by Glyder Fach’s Bristly Ridge in winter. The other two had climbing equipment, but I was relatively confident I could climb the routes without, having done them in summer without any issues. 

We tackled Tryfan no problem but during the descent, one of my friends lost a crampon, and he didn't realise it had come off for quite a while. We retraced our steps and found it but the detour had cost us precious time. A bottleneck had formed at the deliciously named Sinister Gully at the base of Bristly Ridge, with several roped parties taking considerable time to ascend. 

Again this cost us precious minutes and by the time we were halfway through the route, we realised darkness was bound to snare us. Cue an impromptu rappel and hasty descent through the deepening dark. Of course, I didn’t have a harness, so my friend had to send his up on the rope, having already rappelled. Again, this was only a minor epic and one that I actually look back on with fondness. It definitely had all the ingredients of an epic, perhaps without the terror. 

Generally though, I’d like to think I’ve managed to avoid any serious epics. Which brings us nicely to...

How to avoid getting into an epic

Build your skills with trained professionals: book a guide or enrol on a mountaineering or climbing course to gain skills and confidence.

Always check the weather forecast and (if applicable) avalanche forecast: Mountain weather and avalanche forecasts will guide you on what to pack, where to go, what route to take and what to expect.

Plan safe escapes from your chosen route: Things can go wrong. Plan safe escape routes so that you don’t have to improvise and end up on something even more technical.

If you’re heading out on a committing route, make sure it’s within your grade: Don’t push your climbing or mountaineering grade on a route that requires significant commitment. It may be that you’re climbing somewhere remote or that the route doesn’t have many possible escape routes. If this is the case, do a route that's within your comfort zone in terms of technicality.

Ensure you have the appropriate equipment for the conditions: This is particularly crucial in winter, when the weather can be extremely challenging. You should have an ice axe, crampons, goggles, spare layers, spare gloves and hats, a down jacket and an emergency blanket or blizzard jacket.

Check and double check your equipment and supplies: Running out of battery, water, food or fuel aren’t options in the wilderness. Forgetting your crampons or headlamp could have serious consequences. Check and double check everything, including ropes for wear and tear.

Climb with people you trust: It’s essential to climb with someone you trust to enable proper communication during the adventure.

If you're planning on any mountain adventures in the coming months, mountain rescue services across the globe have a clear message for you: be careful and go prepared. This is after a spike in callouts in several mountain areas has left emergency services overwhelmed and off their feet.

Earlier this month, Mountain Rescue Aspen announced that they’d responded to 101 callouts in a calendar year for the first time in their history. Responsible for rescues in the Colorado Rockies, the service’s previous record of 91 was beaten in early October.

“With three months left in 2024, we’re hoping NOT to break any more records,” Mountain Rescue Aspen said via Facebook. “Stay safe out there, everyone.”

In September alone, the 50-person volunteer team embarked on 30 missions, averaging one per day as volunteers were kept busy locating, rescuing and assisting lost or injured hikers.

It's not just high altitude areas that are being stretched either. Across the pond, the Scottish Mountain Rescue Service (SMRS) was forced to issue a warning to hikers in the Highlands. Approaching the winter months, they too have experienced a spike in the number of safety incidents and are advising hikers to stay prepared.

In a statement posted to Facebook, SMRS advised hikers to bring “suitable clothing for any weather conditions you may encounter, and have within your rucksack a spare warm layer (jacket, fleece), spare gloves, hat and extra food.

“In addition to that, it is important to have a map for the area you are walking in, a compass (know how to use it) and a torch and spare batteries,” the statement continued. “We have moved into autumn and the evenings are getting darker and temperature is dropping.”

Responsible for overseeing all 10,226 square miles (26,485 km2) of the Highlands, the Scottish Mountain Rescue Service also advised against over-reliance on mobile phones for navigation, citing their limited battery life and unreliability in the cold.

“With a bit of forward planning, looking at weather forecasts, thinking about your route and your skills will enable you to have an enjoyable day out,” concludes the SMRS.

Staying in touch in the backcountry

Cell service is never guaranteed in the backcountry and phones can easily die in cold weather, so satellite communicators are often a better choice.

Models like the tiny Garmin InReach allow users to send for help in temperatures well below freezing and in areas where cell service is unavailable.

Over the past decade, over 10,000 people have used Garmin's satellite communicator system 'inReach' to get emergency help in the backcountry.

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Two climbers who became stuck while attempting a multi-pitch route on Mt. Whitney waited over 18 hours for mountain rescue, with one dangling on-rope the entire time

According to a Facebook post by Inyo County Search and Rescue, the party of two set out from the Whitney Portal to tackle the 11-pitch, 5.7-grade route of the Mt. Whitney East Buttress just after midnight on September 21. They reached the base of the climb at approximately 10 a.m. but had only completed three pitches five hours later.

Due to diminishing daylight and snow and ice on the route, the climbers reportedly "decided they were beyond their ability" and attempted to bail off the route into a neighboring couloir. However, they were unable to complete the bailout and contacted mountain rescue for assistance.

Despite attempts by Inyo SAR to coach the climbers to self-rescue, the pair were "not comfortable executing any of the methods discussed" and, with nightfall fast approaching, had to weather in place overnight with one climber spending the entire night on the end rope just 100 ft from their partner.

"One member of the party had done an initial rappel but was unable to re-ascend the rope back to the original anchor."

The following morning, search and rescue teams entered the area via helicopter and climbed up to the duo to rescue them. The climbers were able to hike to safety, leaving gear behind in the wall, but the rescue crews note they were "beyond their skill level" and caution all rock climbers to be prepared and consider climbing with a guide to learn the required skills for alpine climbing.

"Alpine rock climbing is a serious endeavor that requires many different skills to do safely. Those skills include the abilities to conduct accurate self-assessment of your skill versus your objective, to understand weather conditions and their effect on route conditions, and to perform self-rescue techniques in stressful situations."

"This mission was the result of a series of bad decisions (until the good decision to call for help) that were entirely avoidable if proper preparation had been done."

How to stay safe when rock climbing

Just because rock climbing carries some inherent dangers doesn't mean you don't have a say in how safe you are. The following are some important steps you should take for staying safe when rock climbing:

• Take climbing skills classes with a trained professional.
• Wear a helmet, even when on the ground.
• Take good care of your ropes by cleaning them and inspecting your ropes and other gear regularly .
• Wear well-fitting climbing shoes and harness.
• Climb with people you trust and communicate properly on belay .
• Check the weather before you go.
• Have winter gear for winter conditions, such as an ice axe and crampons, and know how to use them.

Learn more in our article on the risks of rock climbing.

• How to use an ice axe: wield your ice tool with confidence

Officials at Yellowstone National Park have launched an urgent appeal after one of their employees disappeared while hiking a mountain in stormy weather in a remote section of the park. 

According to a news release from the National Park Service, Austin King, 22, was last heard from on Tuesday, September 17, when he called friends and family from the summit of Eagle Peak in the southeast corner of Yellowstone. The report states that King is working as a concession employee in the park and the peak had been part of a seven-day backcountry backpacking trip. 

He reportedly described experiencing fog, rain, sleet, hail and windy conditions from the summit, and was reported overdue on Friday afternoon when he failed to arrive for his boat pickup on Yellowstone Lake. A search and rescue effort launched the following morning in the high mountain areas of Eagle Peak and surrounding areas. Rescuers discovered King’s camp and personal belongings Saturday evening in the upper Howell Creek area. According to an update from the NPS, searchers are reporting accumulations of snow and ice and six-foot drifts on Eagle Peak.

King is described as 6-foot tall, weighing 160 lbs with brown hair and hazel eyes. He was wearing glasses, a black sweatshirt and gray pants. Park officials have released an information poster which you can view below with two photographs of King. They are appealing to anyone who was traveling in the area and think they may have seen King to get in touch with the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center at (307) 344 2643.

Backcountry safety

Backcountry backpacking trips can be some of the best adventures you can have in the wild, but it's important to be prepared with the following safety procedures, especially if you plan to hike alone:

• Always tell some where you are going, and leave detailed plans including your route and timings.
• Check the mountain weather forecast using a reliable weather app, and avoid high elevation areas if there is rain, fog or high winds in the forecast.
• Carry a satellite communicator such as a Garmin InReach so that you can signal for help even if there is no cell service.
• Pack the hiking essentials, including a first aid kit, water and extra layers.
• Wear proper hiking boots or shoes with good traction.

Finally, always hiking within your ability level, know when to turn back and even have a Plan B in mind for when the weather doesn't play ball with your plans.

• When should you not go hiking?

A Utah search and rescue team has taken to social media begging people to stop cliff jumping at a popular waterfall after being called out to four accidents in the space of a week.

Grand County Sheriff's Search and Rescue took to Facebook yesterday in a bid to discourage further incidents at the waterfall in the north fork of Mill Creek, known to locals as Left Hand, which is in a beautiful red rock canyon just outside of Moab.

"The depth of the pool below the waterfall changes constantly with the flow of the creek. Jumping from above the pool is a calculated risk that can lead to life-altering injury. It’s simply not a smart thing to do," warns GCSAR, revealing that one of the callouts involved injuries to two parties.

Memorial Day typically brings a surge in cliff jumping at the spot, and after a particularly busy week for rescuers in 2020 which saw nine rescues in as many days, crews worked with the BLM to install warning signs along the trail. However, clueless visitors are ignoring the warnings, and some end up paying the price.

"Despite these signs that clearly warn about the hazards of cliff-jumping into shallow pools, many people still jump and end up with broken bones and other serious injuries."

Though taking a refreshing dip after a hot hike can seem like the perfect summer activity, even landing in the water slightly off-kilter can result in broken bones, joint injuries, concussion and spinal compression. Two summers ago, a man died after misjudging a cliff dive at Olympic National Park.

Water starts to feel more like concrete when you’re just flopping in from as little as six feet high and even if you’re a skilled diver, there are still other hazards – obstacles in and around the water that you could hit, the water being shallower than you realize or extremely cold water eliciting cold water shock.

Cliff diving is considered quite a controversial activity. You can learn more in our article on cliff diving, and if you want to cool off, consider wild swimming safely instead.

• The best water shoes 2024: tested for traction and protection in the water

Memorial Day typically kicks off the busiest two-week climbing period of the year on Denali, and this week has kept mountain rescue teams for the National Park on their toes on North America's tallest peak. Rescuers have reportedly spent several days trying to reach and deliver aid to five climbers who are suffering from hypothermia and frostbite.

According to a news release from the National Parks Service, mountaineering rangers received an SOS message via a Garmin InReach satellite communication device at 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning reporting that a team of three climbers on the 20,310-foot summit was hypothermic and unable to descend.

"Rangers maintained two-way communications with the team until approximately 3:30 a.m., when the team texted that they planned to descend to the ‘Football Field’, a flat expanse at 19,600-foot elevation," states the report.

Park helicopters were unable to land in the area due to adverse weather conditions on Tuesday morning, so the Alaska Air National Guard was recruited. Their crews managed to spot two of the climbers at between 19,000 and 20,000 feet just before noon, while the third was located by a climbing guide near Zebra Rocks lower down. The helicopter was finally able to land at a camp at 14,200 feet at 5 p.m.

In a separate incident, two climbers had been receiving treatment for frostbite at a medical tent at the same camp for several days, and the helicopter was able to evacuate them by air before returning to attempt to reach the climbers higher up the mountain.

By 9 p.m., one of the three climbers had made their way down to the 17,200-foot high camp and was experiencing severe frostbite and hypothermia. An NPS ground team ascended from 14,200 feet and were ultimately able to evacuate the patient at around 10:15 p.m.

Clouds moved back into the area that evening and attempts to reach the remaining two climbers failed. As of Wednesday morning, they remained at the Football Field and rescuers were waiting for the weather to clear before trying to reach them again.

Just last week, a Japanese climber was found dead on Denali while a month ago, we reported on a New York forest ranger who died in a 1,000-foot fall while climbing in Denali National Park.

The NPS reports that there are currently 506 climbers attempting climbs on Denali. So far this season, 17 out of an additional 117 climbers have reached the mountain’s summit, equating to a 15 per cent summit rate.

• The best emergency blankets, bags and shelters 2024: lightweight lifesaving gear

A new technology is being trialed in Colorado that can help search and rescue teams find missing parties in the backcountry in less than three minutes.

The Lifeseeker was developed by Spanish research and technology company Centum and is a location system that acts like a small cellphone tower, attaching to the outside of a helicopter. The device turns the cellphones of missing backcountry users into emergency beacons that can quickly guide mountain teams to the exact location of the missing person.

According to a report in the Colorado Sun, the device is currently being tested for use by rescue crews in La Plata Canyon, northwest of Durango. In their trials, rescuers were able to locate two test subjects within two minutes and 14 seconds. 

The densely forested, rugged canyon is framed by high peaks and several trail runners have gone missing there in recent years, including David Lunde and Daniel Lamthatch in 2022, and more recently Ian O'Brien in 2023. In all three cases, the search efforts were called off after several weeks of combing through difficult terrain with no sightings, but it's hoped that the Lifeseeker could shave valuable time off these searches and help bring hikers and runners home.

The device still needs a clear view of the terrain being searched and no interference, but in the right conditions, rescue teams could pick up the signal of a cellphone within 20 miles, though it operates best within a five mile radius. It then zooms in on the signal until team can pinpoint exactly where the missing person is, and either land the helicopter or send crews in on foot to deliver aid. It also allows teams to communicate with the subject via text message.

According to Centrum, the device has already been used in over 200 successful missions in more than 10 countries. The technology is in the process of being approved by the FCC for use in the US. If approved, it will add to the tools available to search and rescue teams like satellite communicators and RECCO reflectors.

Backcountry safety

When venturing into the backcountry, hikers and runners are reminded to always practice the Three T's: trip plan, train and take these essentials:

• Electrolytes and energy bars
• Trail running sunglasses
• Running headlamp
• Emergency bivy sack
• Minimalist first-aid kit focused on items to stop bleeding, but also has meds and other minor ailment treatments such as moleskin
• Folding camping knife
• Fire starter
• Map and compass
• Two-way communications devices such as the Garmin InReach
• Battery pack with appropriate cables for electronic devices
• Wool or synthetic running gloves
• Wool skull cap/hat
• Soft water bottles and water filter
• Phone with offline mapping app
• Lightweight waterproof breathable shell jacket
• 12-liter running vest
• Mid-layer micro-puffy jacket for runs that will take you high or deep or when weather dictates need for extra warmth

Learn more in our article on backcountry survival tips for trail running in Colorado.

• Garmin launches tiny inReach Messenger to let you send texts in the backcountry

A long-serving New York forest ranger has been confirmed as the climber who died following a 1,000-foot fall in Denali National Park on Thursday. The incident resulted in serious injuries for her climbing partner.

Robbi Mecus, 52, was climbing “the Escalator” route on Mount Johnson with a 30-year-old unidentified California woman when the pair, who were reportedly roped, suffered the fall. Witnesses alerted authorities at around 10:45 p.m. before building a snow cave to shelter the surviving climber, according to the Sacramento Bee. Mountain rescue teams were able to transport the surviving climber to the hospital by helicopter on Friday, but due to weather conditions could not extract Mecus's body until Saturday.

Mecus worked for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for 25 years, mostly in Essex and Franklin counties, making her work largely within the Adirondacks. According to reporting in the New York Times, she was involved in rescuing a frostbitten hiker in the region only a few weeks ago. She came out as transgender aged 44 and was an advocate for L.G.B.T.Q. climbers in New York and was an organizer of Queer Ice Fest in the Adirondacks.

Mount Johnson is an 8,400-foot peak with a notable north face that challenged alpine climbers with over 4,000 feet of vertical sheer granite with climbing routes, including the one that Mecus was attempting, which is described as a steep and technical climb involving snow and ice.

• This tiny Garmin satellite communicator could save your life

Link the Adventure Cat narrowly avoided becoming the missing Link when the mountain climbing kitty had to be assisted off a Colorado peak by the Rocky Mountains Rescue Group.

Hang on? A cat? Dogs going missing on mountains you can understand, but what’s a cat doing up there? Not belaying, presumably.

Link the Adventure Cat is a minor internet sensation with her own Instagram page where he profile reveals her full name as Link Wolff and describes her as a “climber” and “adventurer breaker of boundaries/stigma”. 

It seems she often accompanies her owner on outdoors adventures (a video on Link’s Instagram account shows Link and her owner climbing the North Ridge on Montezuma Tower in the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs), with Link being carried in a special backpack. But recently they ran into some trouble a few days back and mountain rescue had to be called out.

Rocky Mountain Rescue Group shared a photo on Instagram announcing that they were now “moonlighting as MEOWtain Rescuers!” (someone on the team should also clearly be moonlighting as a Christmas cracker gag writer). This was after they rescued Link, her owner and another unnamed climber from First Flatiron in near Boulder, Colorado. There are no details of how Link and company got into difficulties.

The rescue team gave the climbers headlamps (sadly they didn’t have one in Link’s size) and lowered all three to safety. 

“I rarely take her out of the backpack while we climb unless there is a solid ledge to stand on,” Link’s owner says. “I have also installed many redundancies to keep her safe in the backpack and harness to provide extra safety measures… Her life is of the (utmost) concern to me and I take it very seriously whenever we’re out doing something like this… I would not do any of this if she did not enjoy being out there.”

• The best approach shoes 2024: whether you're scrambling, or tackling technical approaches and via ferrata

A callout to a popular climbing spot in Boulder, Colorado took an unexpected turn last week when rescue crews arrived to find that in addition to two climbers, their subject included one cat – in a backpack. Rocky Mountain Rescue Group received the call Saturday night for the rock climbers who had become stranded atop the Flatirons, but it wasn't until they reached the party that they realized they were also charged with extracting their feline friend to safety. 

Boulder's Daily Camera reports that climber Austin Wolff had recently seen someone else climbing with their cat and thought it "would be cool" to take his feline companion, named Link, with him on a Colorado adventure before moving back to his home state of Texas. 

It turns out that Link is no stranger to adventure – she has her own Instagram account called @link.the.adventure.cat revealing she is two years old and was adopted in Texas. However, the pair bit off more than they could chew when they set off around 3:30 p.m., soon finding themselves in total darkness and without proper gear to make the descent.

RMSG, who jokingly described themselves in a Facebook post as "Moonlighting as MEOWtain Rescuers," seemed to take the surprise encounter in their stride.

"Although we primarily train for assisting humans, this week we had the opportunity to meet this adorable kitty when his human climbing partners became stuck in the dark on the First Flatiron."

They go on to report that they provided headlamps to the climbers – we assume they allows Link to reply on her in-built night vision – then lowered everyone safely to the ground on belay.

In the days since the kitty extraction, Reddit users have picked up on another curious detail making the story even more intriguing – Wolff is a climbing coach, operating his own business providing individual and small group climbing classes and coaching, leaving some users to wonder why he thought it would be a good idea to bring a cat, and how he became stranded.

"Can you imagine calling yourself a climbing guide after needing a rescue off what is widely known as one of the best first timer beginner climbs in the country?" writes one Reddit user.

The Flatirons do provide fairly easy rock climbing on most popular ascents, but rappelling off the back is technical, requiring knowledge of climbing safety, often requiring two ropes and is not a maneuver to be completed in the dark or by a novice.

This is the second time this week cats on the trail have made our news feed, after we reported on a New York cat that guides hikers on the Appalachian Trail – perhaps Link and Wolff want to trade in their climbing shoes for hiking boots when they get back to Texas?

• Best women's climbing shoes

A body discovered in the crater of Washington's Mount St Helens is that of an "experienced climber" who was preparing to make a descent of the stratovolcano by snowboard, according to recovery crews.

On Saturday, the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office received a report that a climbing group had reached the summit of Mount St Helens and observed the body within the crater, approximately 1,200 feet below the summit. In a Facebook post, the SCSO reveals that the group first became aware of the incident when they spotted some personal items at the summit.

"The climbing group located a backpack, digital recording devices, and other personal effects near the rim of the crater. Near the personal belongings, a snow cornice near the rim fractured and fell into the crater of the mountain."

A snow cornice is an overhanging mass of snow that can extend out over the edge of a ridgeline, or in this case the edge of a crater, appearing to be on top of rock. However, these can break away which is presumed to be the cause of this tragic accident.

"Snow cornices are difficult to detect and become weaker during warm, sunny periods," warms the SCSO.

Members of the Volcano Rescue Team had to be airlifted to the edge of the crater at 8,363 feet from where they ascended on foot to recover the body. The subject was later identified as 42-year-old Washougal resident Roscoe Shorey, who the SCSO report had summited the volcano 28 times previously. 

Beware spring conditions

Though it can seem like it's still winter up high, warming spring temperatures can bring instability to snowpack, increasing freeze/thaw cycles and raising the risk level of events such as avalanches and making snow cornices more of a hazard. 

During spring conditions, it's important to check the mountain weather forecast for the 72 hours before you set off on an expedition, and watch out for high risk factors, such as unusually warm days and cold overnights as well as high wind. The best way to avoid cornices is to stay off ridgelines and well back from the edge of any summit or ridge.

• Best ice axes: tested by experts

A Colorado rock climber is lucky to be alive after surviving a dramatic 120-foot plunge over the weekend which prompted a precarious rescue mission.

According to a news release by Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, the 48-year-old Grand Junction man was climbing with a companion in the area of Mother's Buttress,  a large granite wall in Unaweep Canyon which is is one of the most popular climbing spots in the area north of Highway 141 in Whitewater. The man reportedly fell from the Tooth and Claw and suffered injuries, though no details were released on how the accident occurred.

Dramatic photos from the rescue, which you can see below, show the complex nature of the operation, which shut down the highway in both directions ad required a response from the MCSO along with volunteers from search and rescue and officials from Gateway Fire Department, CareFlight, and the BLM. 

The search required a drone to locate the climbers who were found on a ledge 200 feet from the base. Rescue climbers then climbed up to reach the pair on belay and transported the patient down the cliff in a stretcher before taking him to a local hospital via helicopter. He is said to be in stable condition. 

"That's quite the fall. What a blessing to be in stable condition. Great job crew!" wrote one Facebook user after viewing the photos.

Rock climbing safety

Falling is the most common cause of climbing injuries and it usually happens when you’re on the way up, not down. Lead climbers are at higher risk of falling than their partners. If you’re leading, you’re only as safe as the last piece of gear you placed, after all. 

The following are some important steps you should take for staying safe when rock climbing:

• Take rock climbing skills classes with a trained professional
• Wear a helmet, even when on the ground
• Take good care of your ropes by cleaning them and inspecting your ropes and other gear regularly
• Wear well-fitting climbing shoes and harness
• Climb with people you trust and communicate properly on belay
• Check the weather before you go and stick to dry days for outdoor climbing
• Climb indoors when the weather isn’t playing ball

Learn more in our article titled Is rock climbing dangerous? 

• Best approach shoes

Two climbers in France had to be rescued from a cliff face in a four-hour operation recently after one of them suffered an injury during a notoriously tricky ascent.

Members of the French specialized emergency services had to abseil down the cliff near Aiglun, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of southeastern France, to get to the climbers.

Despite being experienced, the climbers, both in their thirties, became trapped over 250m above the ground while climbing a route called “Shining”, one of the more difficult in the Alpes-Maritimes. 

One of the climbers sustained an injured to their hand when they caught it on a piece of climbing equipment known as a snap hook and was unable to carry on with the ascent.

Four gendarmes from the region’s specialized high mountain rescue unit – the Peloton de gendarmerie de haute montagne des Alpes Maritimes (PGHM 06) – were helicoptered to the site. Lieutenant Jérôme Bourrières, commander of the PGHM 06, called the ensuing four-hour operation “the most technical rescue in a long time”. It was made difficult by an 8m overhang of rock.

The two men were around two-thirds of the way up the cliff, so the gendarmes were dropped at the top and abseiled down, where they managed to throw a rope to the two men. 

The team managed to hoist the victims to safety just before sunset. The operation ended shortly before 5pm. The injured climber was taken to hospital in Grasse. 

Bourrières added that the climbers were very well equipped and able to tackle this type of route. “These experienced climbers did not commit negligence. Falling is part of such an activity,” he said.

• The best approach shoes 2023: for technical approaches, scrambles and via ferratas

A climber was trapped for 12 hours on a rock face in Utah this weekend when his knee became wedged in a crevice.

The incident began around 8pm on Friday when the unnamed climber slipped while navigating Generic Crack in Indian Creek, a climbing area in the northern part of the Bears Ears National Monument in the canyonlands area of San Juan County, Utah.

His knee became lodged in the narrow crack, immobilizing him in a precarious position high above the ground. His climbing partners could not free him and were forced to call for help.

Rescuers arrived at the cliff and quickly realised that they’d need extra help from above, so they requested a Classic Air Medical helicopter to fly team members to the top of the cliff and rappel down to the trapped climber.

In a posting on Facebook, the search and rescue team said after several hours of attempting to free the hiker they had to call in additional resources from Grand County. “With their help the male was free and on the ground safely. After being stuck on the wall for around 12 hours, thankfully he only suffered minor injuries.”

See also What is mountain rescue? A look at how the service differs across the world.

Indian Creek is renowned for its sandstone crack climbing. It has an elevation of 5,765ft (1,757 m).

According to Climbing magazine, although Generic Crack’s name, “is boring (the first ascent party never officially titled it), the climbing is far from it. At 130ft long, the splitter starts at hand-sized and widens to fists at the top. Unlike many Creek cracks, this one has slots that fit big hexes perfectly. There is a 100ft second pitch of 5.10 offwidth, but it’s not done nearly as often as the classic first pitch.” You climb it using a technique called lead climbing.

• Types of rock climbing explained

There is, sadly, a tragic downside to adventure tourism. Adrenalin junkies may spurn beach holidays, art galleries and theme parks in search of the kind of exquisite excitement on an element of genuine risk can generate, but the cost is potentially the highest price of all. 

And some of the biggest natural draws for thrill seekers are also the deadliest destinations: mountains. And that’s not just hyperbole based on gut feeling – it’s not official.

Because holiday rental company Holidu has conducted research into the most dangerous attractions in the world, and nine of the top 10 spots are mountains, with Europe’s tallest peak taking the dubious pole position

Here’s that Top 10 in full (with average annual deaths / average annual notable accidents):

1. Mont Blanc, France and Italy (100 / 22)
2. Ben Nevis, UK (3 / 20)
3. Mount Fuji, Japan (7 / 11)
4. Mount Everest, China and Nepal (8 / 7)
5. Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (10 / 8)
6. Yosemite National Park, US (11 / 41)
7. Table Mountain, South Africa (15 / 11)
8. The Matterhorn, Switzerland (12 / 14)
9. The Grand Canyon, USA (12 / 21)
10. The Cliffs of Moher, Ireland (9 / 12)

In total, these natural attractions account for an average 215 deaths a year, with Mont Blanc way out in the front with around 100 deaths each year. 

It’s worth noting that the list is weighted to take into account the number of visitors that each attraction draws each year. That’s why Scotland’s Ben Nevis makes a perhaps surprising appearance at number two: although it sees far fewer annual deaths than Mont Blanc, it welcomes significantly fewer tourists each year and so, upon comparison, it’s actually presents a greater risk.

Holidu also points out, “The natural wonder that is the most frequently reported on in the context of accidents is Yosemite National Park in California, United States. The National Park was referred to in 41 different news reports in 2019 about tourist accidents, many being linked to climbing incidents.”

With Britain’s The Lake District (17 / 27) at number 11, the first ‘non-climbing-related’ natural attraction on the list is the the USA’s Colorado River (7 / 7) at number 12.

Meanwhile the highest ranking waterfall is New York state’s two-stage Kaaterskill Falls, which, Holidu points out, isn’t deadly because of it’s height or width, but because of its beauty: “Reports claim that the last four people who died at Kaaterskill Falls were either taking or posing for a picture.”

• Why do so many people die at Angel's Landing?

A mountain rescuer has shared footage from his helmet camera that shows how a climber was saved from a 300-meter deep crevasse on Mount Annapurna, Nepal. 

Anurag Maloo fell while descending Annapurna on Monday April 17, the same day renowned Northern Irish climber Noel Hanna died on the mountain. Two Polish climbers, Adam Bielecki and Mariusz Hatala, made it back to base camp safely, but bravely headed back up to find Maloo after hearing about his plight.

A video of the rescue captured by Bielecki's helmet camera (which you can watch below) was shared by local news and travel site EverestOfficial. It shows just how awkwardly Maloo was positioned, unconscious and tightly wedged.

Three days after Maloo's fall, Bielecki, Hatala and a crew of other rescuers were able to haul him back to the surface – in critical condition, but alive.

As Snowbrains reports, Maloo is an experienced climber, and was on a mission to conquer all 14 peaks above 8,000m and scale the world's seven summits to raise awareness of sustainable development in the EU. It's not certain exactly how he ended up falling, but reports suggest he may have grabbed the wrong rope while rappelling down an icy cliff.

Crevasse safety

Just a few days ago, French skier Les Powtos shared a video of himself narrowly avoiding disaster after he fell into a crevasse, and was saved when his skis became wedged, stopping his fall. After calming down, he managed to escape using an ice axe and crampons after his companions fed a rope down to him.

Crevasses can be extremely deep, and can be completely hidden if a thin 'bridge' of snow forms over the top. The British Mountaineering Council explains that it's essential for anyone venturing onto a glacier to have a full set of rescue equipment, and the knowledge to use them if necessary.

"Crevasse rescue is an emergency procedure," says mountain guide Stuart Macdonald, who runs the Avalanche Academy in Chamonix. "Through sound planning, good navigation and controlled skiing you should be able to minimize the risks. It’s far better to avoid falling in rather than having to carry out a rescue. However, if operating on glaciers you have to be prepared for the worst."

• Best avalanche beacons: emergency transceivers tested and rated

Do you have to pay for mountain rescue? If you’re injured, sick or lost on a mountain and can’t get down by yourself, this question should be the furthest thing from your mind, and yet there are countless cases of people delaying and even evading rescue for fear of receiving an astronomical bill in return. 

There’s the story of a climber on Mount Baker who descended 3,000ft on a fractured ankle before submitting to rescuers. The lost trail runner in Tucson who hid from his rescuers overnight to avoid a bill. A woman who delayed in calling mountain rescue for hours while she searched for her missing husband at high altitude on the Colorado 14er Mount Evans in increasingly deteriorating conditions. And a paraglider who had crashed into a mountain and tried to slide down scree slopes with what would turn out to be permanent spinal injuries rather than have a team stretcher him out.

What would possess these folks, who statistically speaking all had working cell phones, to delay in dialing 911? In each case, it comes down to a persistent myth that if mountain rescue comes to stretcher or helicopter you off a mountain, you’ll be hit with a bill for $10,000. This number comes up over and over again in mountain rescue testimonials about people avoiding or delaying rescue. Why? In part, it’s probably because of news stories like one about a hiker who sprained his ankle in Colorado who was facing charges of $10,000 after being rescued from Clear Creek Canyon in 2007. The truth of the matter, however, is that he wasn’t helped by mountain rescue at all, but by Golden firefighters, and it was them who billed him. Two years later, the case was still in dispute, the bill had been halved, and it’s not clear that he ever paid anything. 

It also seems likely that for American hikers and trail runners in particular, resistance to calling for help, or receiving help, is because they do routinely get hit with colossal bills for medical services, even when they’re insured, making them extra wary of any type of emergency or medical assistance. 

And for some, there’s bound to be an element of shame to admitting you overestimated your capabilities, forgot to bring your water bottle or attempted to hike a 14er wearing flip flops.

But the $10,000 mountain rescue bill is just a myth. If you get lost on a mountain and they assist you on coming down, mountain rescue will not bill you for their services in the US or the UK. Mountain rescue, which falls under a wide network of largely volunteer-based search and rescue (SAR) agencies including the coastguard, exists to save lives – not just the lives of those who can afford to pay for it (why this same ethos isn’t embraced by the wider healthcare system in the US is another article altogether).

Colorado SAR, who provided resources for this article, state that not only do they believe mountain rescue to be an essential service and take pride in their volunteer work, but that they further believe it helps to sustain the Colorado way of life. Charging for their services, especially in a punitive context, does nothing to further the outdoors-focused culture here and could even damage Colorado outdoor tourism. 

Yes there are some dubious calls – the Swedish couple who called for an air ambulance on a hike because they were tired, even though there was a cottage nearby where they could have rested (they opted to pay for the helicopter ride anyway), and those late night walkers on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh who called mountain rescue because they became scared of the highland cows. But if you are injured, lost or actually too tired to call down, you shouldn’t hesitate to call for help. 

Failure to dial 911 when you need help can obviously increase your risk of exposure and hypothermia as well as sustaining further injuries, but it doesn’t just increase your risk – making a call at 11pm that should have been made at 3pm can mean rescuers themselves have to spend the night on the mountain, which is riskier for them and can end up costing them more as they use more resources.

Now all of this said, there may be charges associated with getting rescued from a mountain, it’s just that those charges won’t come from the mountain rescue team. If you call 911 straight away when you fall into trouble and a team is dispatched to find that you only need navigational assistance or minor first aid, they might guide or stretcher you down the mountain and from the trailhead, you may be able to get home yourself or call a friend for a ride. 

But if your rescue involves an ambulance that’s waiting for you at the trailhead, in the US you will have to pay for that ambulance, either out-of-pocket or from your insurance deductible. As you’ve probably already realized then, any medical care you receive at the hospital will also come with charges, and those can be astronomical – let’s not forget the New Zealand woman who fell while rock climbing in Yosemite National Park and was hit with a $1.2 million hospital bill. Just because SAR exists to save your life, it doesn’t mean they provide insurance against injury. 

Then there are the cases where you could face criminal charges for your conduct. A recent and high profile example of this was a Utah doctor who faced, you guessed it, a $10,000 fine after misleading mountain rescue and impeding an investigation after his climber partner fell whilst climbing Mount Denali. Such cases are the result of reckless and unlawful behavior, however, not failing to lace your hiking boots properly and tripping over, and charges would be filed by a prosecutor, not mountain rescue, who take no official position in such matters. 

So we can’t say that any incident in the mountains wouldn’t cost you a dime, but surely a dime is better than permanent injury or death, and remember, the sooner you call, the more damage you can potentially avoid.

What you can do is prepare. Check the conditions. Dress in hiking layers. Tell someone where you are going. Know how to survive a night on a mountain. And if things go off course, ask for help.

If you clicked on this article seeking a story of the desperate plight of one stranded hiker struggling to survive overnight at subzero temperatures, I’m afraid you might be disappointed. I’m not painstakingly typing this using the nubs of my gangrene-wrought fingers, lost to the ravages of frostbite, because I’ve never had frostbite. In fact, I’ve never really got properly lost on a hike, never mind required the services of mountain rescue.

I do have friends who have spent unplanned nights in the wild. One, a diabetic, whose first date with her now-husband was a mountain biking trip in Fruita, CO that ended with them spending an accidental night on the slickrock rationing her insulin.

Worse, two friends who took a chance on the gnarly Maroon Bells in October, far too late in the season, and weren’t back by nightfall. After a gut-wrenching couple of days waiting for news in our small town, only one was brought out alive. But this far, I've avoided such mishaps.

“Any of us could get into trouble at any time.”

My boyfriend would say it’s because I’m too organized to have such a misadventure, and yes, I do my research, I check the weather, and am getting better about telling someone where I’m going. But deep down, I know it really all comes down to the luck of the draw.

“Any of us could get into trouble at any time.”

This is practically a mantra repeated multiple times by Geraint, an affable member of the Western Beacons Mountain Rescue Team with whom I recently spent the day out in the Brecon Beacons in south Wales.

These low-lying mountains are home to one of the most significant cave systems in Europe, and the rescue team was among some 300 involved in the successful rescue of an injured caver who spent 54 hours underground before being brought to light via the longest stretcher carry in British history.

Stories like these demonstrate the enormity of what goes into mountain rescue, how tremendously unassailable those who carry out rescue missions are, and how calling for mountain rescue really, really isn’t like calling an Uber.

Most of us think that if we get into trouble on a hike, we can just ring for help and it will soon come, and we’ll be home for dinner. Technology like GPS watches and emergency beacons, and even RECCO Reflectors has no doubt fed into this illusion. However, there are an almost unfathomable number of hours of training, expertise, expense and equipment that go into getting you out of a sticky situation and when you learn how much, you wonder how it ever gets off the ground at all.

We start walking. It’s a gentle walk through lovely countryside, Geraint stopping occasionally to point out interesting features such as an old tramline from the mining days gone by. These are used to refine our map reading skills as we compare our surroundings to the features on an Ordnance Survey map of the area. Prompted by the rescuers, we identify a stand of trees on our left to help orient ourselves on the map.

Only a few minutes later, they ask us to orient ourselves again, using the same woodland. The map still shows it as being to the west, but in 3D the trees are gone. We’re slightly lost. The map is a new edition, but we’ve rounded a bend and deforestation means the woodland isn’t as big as it used to be, so we can no longer see it when we think we should be able to. Turns out our navigation skills aren’t as sharp as we thought.

After a couple of miles, we stop and are instructed to pretend that one of our teammates has broken her ankle. Something that could indeed happen to anyone, at any time. What do we do? Well naturally, we all pull out our phones to call for help. How else would you get an Uber at this hour? Except that not a single one of us has service. We’re really not very far from the car, but in an emergency, we’d be stuck if we were totally reliant on our phones.

We decide that if this were really happening, we’d send Advnture Consulting Editor Pat Kinsella for help, since he’s an avid trail runner and nimble on his feet. But in real life, there might not be a Pat. You could be alone, without a map, and even if you do have service and a map, the trees you were using to navigate have been cleared, so you don’t really know where you are.

Here, the team introduces us to an app that I'm never taking off my phone, OS Locate, which helps you quickly identify and communicate your location, even when you don’t have service (note: this is UK-only). One of our colleagues from Yachting Monthly tries it, and within moments, Geraint has received a message via WBMRT with our position. So assuming you’re conscious and have access to technology or a fast-footed, uninjured friend, you’re in good standing for an imminent rescue mission. Now we sit back, relax and wait for our ride.

Just kidding. In a real-life scenario, getting the call out that you need help and communicating your location triggers a highly complex mobilization response that is actually years in the making.

Let's go back to the beginning. In order for a unit such as WBMRT to even exist, there has to be fundraising, and by that I mean a lot of fundraising. WBMRT needs to raise between £25,000 and £30,000 ($30-$36K) each year just to cover overheads, according to their fundraising page.

The Toyota truck that Neil and Geraint arrived in cost £39,000 used (around $48,000). It’s absolutely brimming with medical and rescue equipment that costs many thousands more. None of this is supplied by the government. It exists because volunteers like Neil and Geraint decide it’s worth their time to fundraise for it.

Due to their efforts, the team exists in the form of about 100 volunteers, which covers one of the largest areas covered by a single Mountain Rescue Team in the UK. They go through extensive training in fitness, navigation and medical care, which can take up to a year.

The training is grueling – only a few weeks previously, one of their team developed hypothermia during a training exercise. They operate 24/7, 365 days a year, which again might create a slightly inflated impression of safety for many in the mountains. But as I said, getting a message out to them is just the beginning.

Once your location (and ideally, details such as your condition) have been relayed to the organization, it’s time to assemble a team. No, they’re not just sitting around the station drinking coffee, flicking bits of rolled up paper at each other and waiting for your call so they can slide down a pole and come to your rescue.

Neil and Geraint have jobs. And families. They might be in the middle of Christmas dinner when you call, or if you’re really unlucky, away on holiday. The alert from central command goes out to the entire team, and as long as they’re within an hour’s drive (and presumably not tied up at work, healthy, sober and able to act), they have to respond that they’re available.

Out of a team of 100, you’re bound to be able to get at least eight able bodies you’d think, so things are looking up! But again, you better think twice about breaking your ankle on a remote mountain on Christmas Day.

So plan on it taking at least an hour just for the team to be assembled, and drive to the closest point for vehicles (assuming this will be a foot rescue).

What are you doing all this time? I can tell you that despite the mild conditions and our multiple layers, I was getting a bit chilled with all this standing around. Good thing we had an emergency shelter to huddle in, but without it, subtract a couple of degrees and a lot of expensive Helly Hansen kit, and you’re starting to look at hypothermia while mountain rescue is loading gear out of the truck.

Let's talk about the gear. They know you have a broken ankle, so that means they need the stretcher. That weighs about 20 kg (44 lbs) empty and is carried in two parts to the scene like a backpack, then needs to be assembled. Then there’s a medic bag and blankets and ropes in case you’re down in one of the area’s many sinkholes or quarries.

Back at the parking lot, we passed around the gear to feel the weight – I’m smallish but medium-strong for my 5’4” stature and could barely lift the rope bag, so you’d better hope I'm not on your team when you need help. Each rescuer is loaded up with a backbreaking amount of gear before setting off on what might be many miles of rough terrain in treacherous weather. I’m starting to doubt they have a whole lot of knee cartilage left between them.

Finally, they arrive and put the stretcher together, which is pretty complicated. But now you can just lie back, relax and be ferried to safety, right? You might have guessed this, but it’s not that easy. By this time, we’ve assembled in a quarry and it’s taking eight of us to load a 50 kg (110 lb) dummy onto the stretcher. That’s not a very heavy person, so if you weigh twice that, let's hope a big team comes for you.

As it is, we need to attach a bicycle wheel to the bottom of the stretcher to help us roll it along, which takes some of the load off but is precarious. We lift the stretcher and the wheel plus our group size make the carrying easier than I feared, but everything else makes it difficult.

We’re all different heights, for starters, and we’re clambering over really rough terrain, the type you’d expect when you’re, oh, literally anywhere in the mountains. It’s difficult to keep the stretcher level, and extraction isn’t as simple as just marching the patient out. All the weight is on one shoulder, which gets tiring fast, and every time any member of the team needs to switch, we have to stop and change sides.

The constant jostling often induces motion sickness in an already injured or sick patient, so if you’re the one in the stretcher, you may have to vomit. You’re strapped in, however, so this involves stopping and setting you down or tilting you to one side. It’s not pretty and it's going to take hours.

Of course, the movie version of this story ends with you being spoon fed hot soup by a lovely nurse and and Neil and Geraint arriving back at the dinner table in plenty of time to enjoy the carving of the turkey, surrounded by their loved ones, but the reality may be far from that. You hopefully do get to safety, but the team still has to pack up the gear and take it back to central command. Chances are high that they’ve missed dinner altogether, they’re exhausted and probably have work the next day. They’re not getting paid a penny for this, but this is what they signed up for.

On the drive home, Pat and I agree that neither of us, despite an immense love for the mountains and decades of experience, is cut out for this kind of work. The temptation to simply spend a couple of hours looking for you then calling it a day would simply be too much for lightweights like us.

Mountain rescue is serious work. The men and women that devote themselves to it are outstandingly selfless and remarkably positive about it. They're truly happy to come and assist you if you break your ankle or get into trouble in the mountains. Even if you’re somewhere you shouldn’t be in bad weather wearing flip flops (though you will get a talking to for such behavior). But it’s going to take a lot of people power and non-guaranteed resources to reach you and the best thing you can do is help them out.

Be prepared. Don’t hike alone. Tell someone where you are going. Learn how to navigate. Any of us could get into trouble at any time and calling mountain rescue isn’t like calling an Uber.

Rescuers in Oregon had to think creatively and improvised to save a man who decided to try climbing a 300ft cliff while hiking, and found himself unable to move either up or down.

As the Sacramento Bee reports, 41-year-old Anthony Lohman became 'cliffed out' about 100 feet off the ground, and called emergency services for help. Deputies pinpointed his location using photos from his phone, and rescuers spoke to him via a speaker mounted on a drone. 

A helicopter was dispatched, but poor weather conditions hampered the complex rescue, which you can watch below in a video clip shared by the Curry County Sheriff's Office on Facebook.

"Four SAR members risked their lives on the thin steep ridge to establish a tail hold by wrapping a 150ft section of rope around the top edge of the rock bluff," said the Sheriff's Office. "A single rappeler was lowered to Lohman who was then able to attach a harness to Lohman and the both of them descended to the beach below."

The rescue took five hours in total, and it was dark by the time Lohman was safely back on the ground.

Hiking alone can be very rewarding, giving you time to think and appreciate nature, but it also comes with risks. It's always wise to research your route ahead of time, and stick to your plan. Sticking to popular hiking trails reduces your chance of running into trouble (the number of cars parked at the trailhead is a good indication). For more advice, see our guide hiking alone: risks, benefits, and top tips.

• Best hiking boots: footwear for tackling tough terrain

Whether you’re on the crag scoping out your next move, or on belay down on the ground, rockfall is a common risk associated with climbing that you need to prepare for by wearing a climbing helmet. A climbing helmet will also protect your head in the event that you take a fall – even if you trust your climbing partner with your life, swinging into the rock wall is a lot less scary when your head is cushioned.

For safety purposes, we recommend that you always wear a helmet when climbing, but we know you might have some questions around which type of helmet to choose, whether you can wear an existing helmet that you use for another sport for climbing, and how to fit a climbing helmet, so we’re here to walk you through all the details.

What are the different types of climbing helmets?

There are two main types of climbing helmet you can choose from that both have different pros and cons depending on your priorities:

• Hard shell helmets: Feature a hard outer shell with a thin layer of foam on the inside, and are usually more durable and less expensive.
• Foam helmets: Made using a thick layer of foam and are very light and breathable, but less durable and more expensive.

As you can see, if you’re on a budget and looking for something that performs well and lasts a long time, hard shell helmets are the way to go. If comfort is your main concern and you’re going to be out climbing in hot temperatures, you might want to spend a little extra on a foam helmet. Either type of climbing helmet will provide you with protection against falls and falling rock, however.

Can a ski helmet be used for climbing?

Your ski helmet might provide ample protection against chunks of rock, but it’s going to be heavy and insulated, meaning it won’t be as easy to look up to scout your line or down to check your footwork, and will get pretty uncomfortable in warm weather, which is probably when you do more of your climbing. So, no, you can't really use a ski helmet for climbing.

Can you use a bike helmet for rock climbing?

This is a really common question, since almost everybody owns a bike helmet. Your bike helmet will not provide adequate protection for rock climbing purposes either. First of all, it has vents which allow airflow when you’re pedalling, and also allow small rocks to enter – it would probably slow down small, crumbling rock but you’d end up with a helmet full of gravel, which isn’t exactly ideal. 

More importantly though, bike helmets are very specific to bike crashes and designed to absorb and distribute the impact of going over the handlebars and landing on the front or top of your head. In a bad crash, your bike helmet will break or be severely compromised, and no longer offer you protection. Similarly, if you wear it climbing and have a fall where you hit your head or are hit by a big rock from above, you might receive some protection that one time, but it will be compromised for next time. Like your ski helmet, it will offer some protection but isn’t ideal.

How do I know what size climbing helmet to buy?

So, now that we’ve established that you do in fact need a climbing helmet for climbing, how do you know what size to buy? An easy option is to head to your local gear store so that you can get expert advice and try some on, but if you’re ordering on online, it’s important to get the right size for your safety, and also because safety gear like helmets often can’t be re-sold once they’ve been purchased and returned. 

When shopping for a climbing helmet, you’ll notice that they usually come in two sizes – typically S/M and M/L. This is because climbing helmets are adjustable, so each size covers a range of head circumferences. Each brand varies slightly, but the smaller helmet size is usually for a head circumference of about 19in - 22in (48cm - 55cm) while the larger size accommodates heads that are about 22in - 25in (55cm - 63.5cm). There is always some overlap for those who fall right in the middle.

To measure your head circumference, grab a measuring tape and wrap it around your head, just above your ears and so that it’s about an inch above your eyebrows. If your head circumference seems to fall right in the middle of the two sizes, it’s best to try on helmets in 3D if you can.

How tight should a climbing helmet fit?

Once you’ve figured out which size of climbing helmet you need, it’s time to adjust it so that it fits for both comfort and maximum protection. The golden rule is that your helmet should be snug, without being uncomfortably tight or restrictive – a lot like climbing shoes, actually – and it definitely shouldn’t be loose.

How to fit a climbing helmet 

To adjust your climbing helmet, start by loosening the adjustment dial at the back and sit it on your head without fastening the chin strap – it will sit a lot higher than your bike or ski helmet, but don’t worry,  this is how it’s meant to look and feel. 

Next, follow these steps:

1. Start to tighten the adjustment dial until it feels snug around your head.
2. Before you fasten the chin strap, move your head from side to side and up and down, just like you would on the rock. The helmet should stay in place even without the chin strap being fastened.
3. Once you’re satisfied that the helmet won’t budge, but isn’t so tight as to give you a headache, fasten the chin strap and tighten it so that it’s comfortably snug under your chin. The side straps on either side of your ears should be flush to your skin.

And that’s it – you’re ready to go and send it!

• How should rock climbing shoes fit?

What is mountain rescue? If your ankle’s done, on the mountainside. Who you gonna call? Mountain rescue! If an avalanche, sweeps you off your feet. Who you gonna call? Mountain rescue! I aint ‘fraid of no peaks. I aint ‘fraid of no peaks. If take a fall, down a big, steep crag. Who you gonna call? Mountain Rescue! An icy cold, has begun to take hold. Who you gonna call? Mountain Rescue!

That’s right peak busters, when you get in trouble in the mountains, there’s one bunch of heroes you gotta call: mountain rescue. Just dial 911 in America, 112 in Europe, Australia and the Himalayas, 999 in the UK and 111 in New Zealand!

But what is mountain rescue? How does it differ between the US, UK and Europe? Most importantly, how do you raise the alarm and contact mountain rescue in an emergency?

What is mountain rescue?

Mountain rescue is exactly as it sounds, teams of highly trained individuals who come to the aid of the injured, unwell, lost or missing in our mountain regions. Skilled in both emergency procedure and upland craft, they operate beyond the reach of traditional emergency services in what is a highly specialized environment. Their job is to aid the casualty off the mountain and into the care of the ambulance service or hospital, if required.

In some countries, professional rescuers are dropped into the thick of things by helicopter; some countries have teams of volunteers, primed to take to the mountains in their best hiking boots to come to your aid; and in some places there are no mountain rescue teams at all.

Is hiking dangerous? The truth of the matter is that it can be, so it’s always prudent to know how to contact mountain rescue in the region you plan to explore.

When you get through, mountain rescue will usually ask for the following details:

• Location (ideally with a grid reference). On high mountains, you will also be asked to give an approximate altitude.
• Name, gender and age of the casualty.
• The details of the emergency and suspected injuries sustained.
• What the weather conditions are like.
• The number of people in your group.
• Your contact details.

If you can’t get reception, it’s recommended that you still send a text message to the emergency services number with the above information. A text will make it through even with the faintest signal. If you are with a group, send a confident member to seek signal and try to get through. If you are alone, try to summon help using your hiking whistle.

Calling mountain rescue doesn’t automatically scramble a squadron of helicopters to come to your aid. The response will depend on the severity of your emergency and, if the expert on the other end of the phone thinks the situation is one you can deal with yourself, they may be able to solve it by giving you advice.

However, in a more serious emergency, mountain rescue personnel will be called out to come to your aid. The nature of mountain terrain means that they may take quite a while to reach you, which is why a helicopter is often called for severe situations. If you know a helicopter is coming to your aid, make you and your party as bright and conspicuous as possible. To signal the helicopter hold your hands out above your head to form a Y-shape. To indicate that help is not needed, hold one arm diagonally up and the other diagonally down.

The traditional way to contact mountain rescue is by phone but this relies on having a network signal and smartphones are prone to fail in cold conditions. Many mountaineers carry a satellite communicator, which contains a personal locator beacon (PLB) and can raise the alarm at the push of a button. These robust units boast excellent battery life and better coverage than a mobile phone.

Mountain rescue in the US

Mountain rescue in the US is a mixture of professional teams in many of the National Parks and voluntary services in other regions. Popular national parks that have the benefit of paid mountain rescuers include Yosemite, Denali, Mount Rainier and Grand Teton.

Voluntary services are often supported by the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA). The MRA is an organization of teams dedicated to saving lives through rescue and mountain safety education and is split across eight US regions. Founded in 1959 in Oregon, the MRA is the oldest search and rescue association in the country and has become critical to mountain rescue in North America.

The good news is that, generally speaking, wherever you are in the mountainous regions of the US, you should be able to get help should you need it. However, the search and rescue (SAR) laws differ from state to state, meaning there is the potential for you to be held liable financially for a rescue. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to obtain a state-issued SAR card, giving you insurance and thus covering you against the cost of rescue. The cards are inexpensive and give you peace of mind while on the trails.

How to call mountain rescue in the US

Dial 911 and be ready with the usual details, as well as the name of the trailhead you accessed. Stay where you are unless advised otherwise and follow the instructions given.

Mountain rescue in the European Alps

The intricacies of rescue in the European Alps differ depending on where you are but it’s generally a professional service that’s overseen by police forces and non-profit organisations. It’s essential to have travel insurance suited to your activity, as the cost of helicopter rescue can be eye-watering, depending on where you are. In a potentially serious situation, the last thing you want is to be weighing up whether or not to call for help based on monetary concerns.

The teams are highly trained in techniques like crevasse rescue and how to deal with casualties struggling with altitude. Most work alongside helicopter crews, such as Air Zermatt, who were recently the subject of a Netflix documentary ‘The Horn’.

Away from the highest mountains, there are mountain rescue teams in places like France and Italy that operate on a voluntary basis, coming to the aid of the stricken without getting paid. This means that you can expect rescue not to cost you anything in the lower ranges.

How to call mountain rescue in the European Alps

Dial 112, which is the European emergency number and ask for ‘police’ and ‘mountain rescue’. After raising the alert, don’t hang up until told to do so and make sure you follow instructions given by the emergency services.

Mountain rescue in the UK

What is mountain rescue like in the United Kingdom? The mountains of the UK do not reach the great height of those found in the US or in the Alps. However, this fact makes them more accessible to the general public, with popular peaks such as Snowdon, Ben Nevis and Helvellyn receiving hundreds of thousands of hikers every year. Many people get lost hiking, while accidents and, sadly, fatalities are commonplace.

While the dangers posed by altitude and glaciers are not present, there are still many hazards on the UK’s peaks, while conditions can be extremely challenging once temperatures plummet in winter, particularly in Scotland, where potentially fatal avalanches are a real possibility too. Hikers attempting routes without proper mountaineering equipment, such as crampons and ice axes, often get caught out too. To give a sense of how busy services can be, in 2021, Scottish Mountain Rescue Teams responded to 683 callouts.

Due to this, the UK has 74 mountain rescue teams (49 in England and Wales, 25 in Scotland) covering all the major upland regions. One of the main differences between British mountain rescue and in the Alps or the US is that it is a voluntary service. The rescuers don’t get paid but instead do it to help others and for the love of the mountains. Mountain rescue teams in the UK rely on charitable donations to function.

How to call mountain rescue in the UK

Dial 999 (or alternatively the European emergency number 112) and ask for ‘police’ then ‘mountain rescue’. Once you’ve given your details, stay where you are unless in immediate danger and wait to be contacted by the rescue team, who will give further advice.

Knowing how to store climbing rope is important, not only to enhance your rope’s lifespan but to also keep it in good nick. After all, this is a piece of equipment that you often trust your own and others’ safety to, so treating it poorly is downright irresponsible. Rope management goes way beyond what you do on the crag. Here, we guide you through the steps you can take when storing your climbing rope.

Having a rope bag is handy for both storing and transporting your rope. A bag will protect your rope from dirt and moisture and the bag’s tarp sheet makes packing the rope away at the end of a climbing session quick and easy. Knowing how to store climbing rope in a rope bag is a very useful skill to have.

To pack your rope away:

1)    First, tie one end of your rope around one of the tarp’s loops.

2)    Next, feed out the rope, just as you would before climbing, onto the sheet.

3)    When done, tie the other end of the rope onto the loop on the opposite side.

4)    You can then collect the tarp and rope together and drop it into the bag, carrying it away just like a hiking backpack. As an added bonus, the rope is also primed for your next climbing session.

The video below shows this process:

If you don’t have a rope bag, no problem. Simply coil the rope (more on this in a mo) and carry it out. If you’ve got distance to cover on the walk out and it’s raining, having a large dry bag handy is useful for keeping your precious rope out of the drink.

How to store a climbing rope: coiling your rope

At the end of a trad or sport climbing session, it’s useful to be able to quickly coil your rope when leaving the crag. In mountaineering situations, this is even more essential, as speed equals safety, particularly in winter. The fastest way to coil a rope at the end of the climb is to:

1)    Find the middle mark and hold this in one hand with one strand on either side.

2)    Warp the strands around the back of your neck and extend the arm holding the middle marker straight down.

3)    Take the strands down across your body to the little finger side of your hand, take them in your hand and pass them around the back of your neck again.

4)    Next, do the same as step 3, but this time taking the strands to the thumb side of your hand.

5)    Continue to repeat this process, alternating between little finger and thumb side, and take in as many coils as the rope allows. Keep your arm that’s holding the coils straight to ensure all coil lengths are the same.

6)    When there’s a couple of metres of rope remaining, separate out the coils and wrap the spare rope tightly around the top of the coils a few times, before passing the end of the rope through the gap at the top.

7)    You can then take the what’s left of the loose strands, put them over your shoulders, tie them around your waist and carry them like a daypack.

This video below shows this process:

How to store a climbing rope: where and where not to store it

Once nicely coiled or bagged, you can store your climbing rope away. A big no-no is simply leaving it in the car for extended periods or, for that matter, anywhere else that is prone to fluctuations in temperature. Places like garages or outbuildings get cold during the winter months, which is when you are most likely to be leaving your rope unattended (unless you’re a mountaineer or enjoy ice climbing, that is). These fluctuations don’t do your rope any good at all.

Ideally, your climbing rope should be stored in a dry, dark and cool place, away from direct sunlight and chemicals. It should not be crammed into a container or anything else that squeezes it rather than letting it lie as naturally as possible. Rope bags are designed to provide plenty of room for your rope, which is why they are preferable. The rope should not be hung from any of its coils.

When dirt builds up over time and you notice your hands are black after handling it, it's important to clean your climbing rope too. Hand washing your rope is the safest approach and our guide explains exactly how to do it.

Is rock climbing dangerous? To the uninitiated, it certainly appears so. After all, we're talking about a pursuit that involves attaching a rope to yourself and scaling near vertical cliffs above drops that would potentially kill you if you fell without protection. So, those thinking about giving it a go would be well within their right to ask: is rock climbing dangerous?

However, millions of people rock climb worldwide, so surely it can't be that dangerous? It's a pretty standard activity on children's residential trips and, if you take a trip to a well known crag on a sunny day, you'll find loads of people attached to a rope, battling their way upwards.

So, to get to the bottom of whether or not rock climbing is dangerous, what the risks are and how you can control them, we've asked a couple of our climbing experts to put down their chalk bags and pick up their keyboards.

Is rock climbing dangerous?

Rock climbing is not considered a particularly high risk sport when practised safely.

Data suggests the odds of dying while rock climbing are well behind the likes of swimming, cycling and even running. However, the risks associated with rock climbing, as with many outdoor pursuits, do mean that an accident can be fatal.

A major element of climbing is learning to use protective gear safely. Once you have the knowledge and experience to do this, you'll be mostly in control of the hazards. Basically, you can manage the danger to an acceptable level. 

This sets rock climbing apart from something like road cycling – you can't control what the person in the car heading towards you is going to do. Another example is mountaineering, where you can take all the precautions in the world and still be swept away by an unexpected avalanche. Dangers that you have little control over are called objective dangers. The main objective danger when rock climbing is rock fall and this can be managed, to an extent, by wearing a helmet.

In short, the dangers present when rock climbing are mostly manageable. Rocks falling from above are countered by your helmet. A fall is countered by the fact you're attached to a rope, a belayer and you've placed protective equipment into the wall.

Of course, the hazards ramp up significantly if you were to remove protection entirely. This approach to rock climbing is free soloing and it's extremely dangerous.

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What do the stats say?

• It's difficult to assess the stats as it's unclear how many people climb every year
• Added to this, not everyone accesses emergency care, while many injuries don't require such attention
• However, stats suggest only 2.5 per 1000 climbers end up in an emergency room

A common way of answering this question is to say that you’re more likely to get injured driving to the crag than when you’re on belay, but is that actually true? 

While data on climbing fatalities is spotty, an article for the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that 40,282 patients in the US received emergency room treatment for rock climbing related injuries over an 18 year period. At 2,237 patients each year, that sounds like a lot, but if Statista is right in reporting that 10.28 million Americans went rock climbing in 2020, then the chances of ending up in the emergency room is about 2.5 per 1000 climbers or 0.25 per cent. Of course, it doesn't take into account more minor injuries that didn’t require emergency treatment or the sad fact that many Americans skip medical treatment altogether due to lack of insurance. 

• Comparing climbing stats to driving is difficult as a much larger proportion of the population drive a car

Over on America’s highways, the CDC reports that in 2012 alone more than 2.5 million Americans ended up in the emergency room after a car crash while data on traffic related injury rates averages more than 800 traffic accidents per 100,000 population. But note that the number is per 100,000 population not per 100,000 drivers, so it’s not really possible to compare it with the climbing statistics. While there’s no argument that driving a car is one of the most dangerous things you do on a daily basis, its dangers are increased because most of us do a lot of it. A lot more than, say, rock climbing. And that’s where this comparison gets a bit fuzzy. 

It’s easy to use insurance data, petroleum sales and traffic cams to estimate how many cars are on the roads and for how long, but we don’t truly know how many people go rock climbing and for how long and often they do it. We also don’t have data on those minor injuries sustained that don’t require medical intervention. 

• According to some data, you're less likely to die when rock climbing than you are when swimming, cycling or running
• Rock climbing is not considered dangerous, though there are obviously risks involved

What makes more sense is to compare rock climbing to other sports, and this data gathered by Bandolier places the odds of dying while rock climbing well behind swimming, cycling and even running.

So, that was a long winded way of saying that rock climbing is not considered a particularly high risk sport and we really don’t know how it compares to driving a car, but there are definitely risks associated with rock climbing as there are any outdoor activity. Let’s face it, if there weren’t, we’d all be spider-manning up El Capitan tomorrow.

What are the risks of rock climbing?

According to a study by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, rock climbing accidents account for 10% of all mountain accidents and are rare but potentially fatal. The following are some of the common risks associated with rock climbing according to the study: 

Minor injuries 

The majority of climbing accidents lead to minor injuries such as scrapes from the rock and strained or torn ligaments. Climbers most frequently injure their extremities, not internal organs. The predominant portion of injuries are to the head, neck, chest and abdomen.  

Falling 

Falling is the most common cause of climbing injuries and it usually happens when you’re on the way up, not down. Lead climbers are at higher risk of falling than their partners. If you’re leading, you’re only as safe as the last piece of gear you placed, after all. This is why the start of a climb is often the most fraught, as that first bit of gear is often placed at a moderate height where a fall before it's correctly installed would still hurt.

Improper use of equipment  

Of course, human error accounts for some rock climbing accidents, whether that’s not communicating with your partner properly, not tying in properly or not placing gear securely. 

Gear failure 

Though not common, it is possible for gear such as ropes, harnesses and anchors to fail. All of this gear should be purchased from reputable brands who are scrupulous in their safety manufacturing protocols. 

Ankle injuries 

Ankle injuries are common in bouldering, when you don’t land on the pad correctly, and also for lead climbers who fall before the first piece of gear is placed. These are usually fairly minor strains and sprains. 

Snow and ice 

Snow and ice covered surfaces increase the probability of falling, and the length of the falls. 

Weather 

Changing weather conditions always increase danger in the outdoors, whether that’s climbing a slick surface in the rain or dangerous conditions like lightning.  

Falling rocks 

This is one of those Five per cent of injuries involved someone being hit by a falling rock. This is one of the reasons why wearing a climbing helmet is so important.

How to stay safe when rock climbing

Just because rock climbing carries some inherent dangers doesn't mean you don't have a say in how safe you are. The following are some important steps you should take for staying safe when rock climbing:

• Take rock climbing skills classes with a trained professional
• Wear a helmet, even when on the ground
• Take good care of your ropes by cleaning them and inspecting your ropes and other gear regularly
• Wear well-fitting climbing shoes and harness
• Climb with people you trust and communicate properly on belay
• Check the weather before you go and stick to dry days for outdoor climbing
• Climb indoors when the weather isn’t playing ball

What is windchill? You might have read the term on a mountain weather forecast. On gusty winter days, TV weather presenters will often mention the windchill factor and say something like: “But, add in the windchill factor and it will actually feel like minus ten!” Plus, we all know that a strong wind can make matters feel nippier but there’s far more to windchill than just that.

The windchill factor is arrived at by considering the environment's ambient temperature, the wind speed and the humidity to give a ‘feels like’ temperature value. The higher the windchill factor, the more heat exposed skin will lose to the environment, which can be a problem for those of us wanting to embark on epic snowy adventures, especially in the mountains.

When hiking, climbing, running or camping during the winter, arguably the biggest danger is the cold. It’s important to understand the hazards presented by freezing conditions, how to spot them, prepare for them and deal with them.

The body loses heat in a number of ways: through evaporation when you sweat and breathe; through conduction when you come into contact with something colder than yourself; through radiation from uncovered skin; and, crucially in terms of wind chill, through convection. This is why items like the best waterproof jackets and pants are designed to be windproof, to protect you from losing heat in such a way.

The dangers posed by windchill

Wind chill can have an adverse effect on exposed skin. As it increases, so too does heat lost through convection. The risk of frostbite increases markedly when the windchill factor is high. For example, frostbite can take hold of exposed skin in just 10 minutes on a day when the ambient temperature is 0°F (-18°C) but the wind speed is 95 kph; whereas it might take more like 30 minutes for frostbite to take hold when the ambient temperature is -30°F (-34°C) but the wind speed is negligible. Throw extremely low ambient temperatures and high wind speeds together and you’ve got a cocktail your extremities will not want to taste.

You don’t want your adventure to be ruined by the discomfort of frostnip or, worse, to lose something to frostbite. Always wear a pair of the best hiking gloves in winter and bring a spare too, they can easily get blown away in gusty conditions. Your fingers’ large surface area makes them particularly prone to convective heat loss, which is why protecting them is so vital.

Significant windchill also increases the risk of hypothermia, an illness that occurs when the cold overrides your body’s ability to regulate its normal temperature. This is a condition that, if nothing is done, eventually leads to death. Prevention is better than a cure, so keeping an eye out for the windchill factor on the day of your chosen adventure and dress to avoid the worst of it.

How to prevent the effects of windchill

As legendary adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes – and many others before and probably since – proclaimed, “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing”. This is true up to a point when it comes to windchill. Its effects can be significantly reduced or eliminated altogether by wearing suitable windproof clothing and covering up any exposed skin. This is why Everest summiteers always look like something between an astronaut and the Michelin Man and why we’re yet to see anyone up there in shorts.

So, first things first, layer up. Proper layering enables your body’s radiated heat to be captured and stored in the air inside and between your clothing layers. Down jackets are the best insulators and make a good mid layer to be sandwiched between your base layer and your windproof outer shell. When the windchill factor is high, the best hiking pants that are windproof are a must too.

That’s the basics taken care of: your legs, torso and arms are covered, so can’t lose much heat through convection, and much of the heat you are losing through radiation is being captured nicely. Now for the other areas of exposed skin. We’ve already mentioned the importance of two pairs of gloves; it’s also prudent to bring along a couple of your best hiking hats to insulate your bonce.

The best winter hiking boots will keep the cold and wet away from your feet, while gaiters are recommended to stop water getting in over the top. All that’s left now is your face. In extreme conditions, you can cinch your hood tight and pull the front zip of your hardshell right up to your chin. Ski goggles and a buff pulled up to cover your nose and mouth to complete the ‘no skin on show’ jigsaw, thus hugely reducing the effect of any windchill. However, if you are resorting to such measures, you should probably be thinking twice about continuing your adventure.

Where to look for the windchill factor in a forecast

A designated mountain weather forecast will always display the windchill alongside the expected temperature for the day in question. It may not always be labelled as windchill but instead might be labelled under ‘feels like’. Use this information to plan what to pack and always take a little bit more than you think you'll need. Happy adventuring and stay safe out there!