Clove Hitch vs PAS: What Every Climber Needs to Know

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There are mistakes, or misapplication of tools, in climbing that are unsafe. Think tying into a harness with a square knot, threading a belay device with the ropes upside down, or letting go of the break strand.

There are techniques in climbing that are maybe less safe than best practice because the technique doesn’t cover the same beadth of risks that the best practice does. This might be something like the recent trend of belaying from a top anchor using a Petzl Micro Traxion, which is a progress capture device, not a belay device. Petzl actually goes through the trouble of printing materials that say how to employ this technique, and calling out the additional risks. So, it’s not like it’s inherently unsafe. But, we have added risk in that we must make sure that no slack develops in the belay system or we risk the fall forces being enough to cause the device to de-sheath the rope.

Then there are best practice techniques for paticular circumstances, such as a call-and-reponse communication between a lead climber and a belayer before the leader starts climbing: (something like) “On belay?”… “Belay is on.”… “Climbing!”… “Climb on!” Each round of communication prepares both parties for what is about to happen, the leader is to be climbing, but the climbing doesn’t happen until we have checked and verbally verified that both the climber and the belayer are ready.

I see a small amount of the first type of missapplications happening. After all, I am often climbing with kids and many of the places we go to for working on techniques are the same places many beginners go. In these circumstances, I try to say something.

But what bothers me is when people treat the second category of techniques as if they are the first category. For example, I sometimes climb with my ice axe in my hand with the pick facing foward rather than rearward. A rearward pick is the “self-arrest grip.” Our hand is in the position needed to go into self-arrest should we slip and fall. (We did a video and post that goes deep into self-arrest technique.) But sometimes potentially needing to self-arrest is not our primary concern. Maybe the ground is so flat that a trip would not result in a slide. In that case, grip postition can default to whatever is most comfortable. Maybe we are about to climb something steeper and we will be doing something more like a bear crawl up the face. In this case, we will be jabbing the pick into the snow in order to get the traction necessary to move our feet upward; the pick has to be forward.

Context matters when distinguishing between all three of the categories of “technique appropriateness.” Sure, tying in with a square knot is always wrong in any context. But some category two techniques can be category one in the wrong context. Think staying roped together on steep snow without crevasse danger and without putting in placements for the rope. In this case, one falls and the whole team gets yanked down. Some category three practices can be misapplied, too. There is a reason canyoneers don’t always use friction hitch backups. If they are rappelling through a waterfall, that fricition hitch getting wet, changing the level of friction, and locking up can create a significant drowing hazard.

Is this a bit of a rant? Maybe a little. But I think the less rant-like point is that we need to interrogate our own understanding of systems: where they apply best, where they are acceptable, and where they are downright dangerous. There are not “good” systems and there are very few “bad” systems for any and all circumstances.

This video is a prime example of my thinking in this regard. I don’t understand the anger that comes from climbers about using the rope to attach oneself to the anchor or using a tether of some sort. Yes, there are circumstances where I think one method mitigates more of the relevant risks than the other, but I can’t bring myself to say that one is superior all the time and in every way.