Dry Tooling vs Mixed Climbing

Mixed climbing is like dry tooling except you have to also worry about switching on and off of ice. This makes mixed climbing more difficult and more dangerous. Dry tooling skills, however, are essential for mixed climbing, so many mountain climbers still practice dry tooling during mixed climbing.

Why Do People Dry Tool?

When a lot of people first learn about dry tooling, they have one common question and that is why do we need to learn dry tooling because it seems like an absurd sport, and it is hard to imagine why a mountain climber would choose it over rock or ice climbing or mixed climbing, To answer this question we have these following answers:

Training

As we have already said it earlier that the origin of the sport, and probably the reason that most people still practises dry tooling, is for training. In terms of ice climbing training, there is absolutely no substitute to a good dry tooling session and you will work on everything:

• Holding your axes for tens of minutes at a time helps you build the anaerobic muscles you need for crushing long routes on ice.
• Keeping your axes balanced on small handholds helps you develop the movement and muscle memory necessary for ice climbing.
• You learn to trust your gear placements on ice if you don’t touch the rock you’re climbing.

For these reasons, lots of people will dry tool in the summer months when there is no ice to climb and it also keeps their skills sharp and makes sure that the climber’s strength doesn’t disappear in the offseason.

Dry tooling is also excellent practice for alpine and mixed climbing routes since your ice tools will likely be required as well when mountaineering because exposed rock climbing is incredibly difficult when you are wearing mountaineering boots and gloves.

And for this reason having good dry tooling skills are very much important for mountain climbers or mixed climbers, though mixed climbing is at least 50% dry tooling. People use dry-tools to train themselves before taking on difficult alpine routes because it’s always best to develop your skills beforehand.

Recreation

Aside from those who use for training purpose, there is a small group of people who like to dry tool simply because it is quite a fun activity! Dry Tooling is a unique sport with its own challenges and benefits, and there are some really entertaining elements to this recreating activity.

You get to learn a whole slew of new moves like the ones mentioned above and challenge yourself at something new and we would guess that the majority of people still dry tool for training, there are some people out there who do it purely for recreation activity.

What Do You Need to Dry Tool?

Now let us tell you about another plus point of dry tooling and that is it does not take a lot of equipment to go! If you have got the gear for outdoor rock climbing which consists of rope, draws, PAS, you are already halfway up there. Having ice climbing gear will make drying tools easier if you are further along in your skill development.

You will need the following equipment to dry tool:

• Ice Axes
• Crampons
• Mountaineering boots
• A helmet
• Climbing Gear

Axes

Ice axes are probably the most essential pieces of gear for dry tooling and you use them to jam into cracks, hook onto handholds, and haul yourself up the route.

It is really important to get climbing axes, not mountaineering aces; the curved shape and specialized handholds offered by ice axes make them infinitely easier to hold on when you are dry tooling and you should make sure to sharpen your blades after a dry tooling session, as scraping them against the rock can dull them out.

Crampons

Crampons are not essential for dry tooling and some people use climbing shoes, still we would highly recommend to use crampons, especially if you are training for ice. Mono points work better than dual points, because of the fact that you can get more exact foot placements.

As with your ice axes, dry tooling can dull your points a little, especially if you try to smear .

Mountaineering Boots

If you are wearing crampons, you need something to attach them to so mountaineering boots are the most obvious thing for it although you could also use approach shoe if you have the right type of crampons.

For majority of the climbers, mountaineering boots will be the easiest option, especially if you already have a pair of mountaineering boots back at home but there is also a downside which is that it can get heavy sometimes, which makes you tired and makes it more difficult to do delicate foot maneuvers.

If you are using dry tooling to train, then mountaineering boots can be a good thing as it will build up the muscles you need for ice climbing and if you are pursuing the sport just for fun, you may look at some alternative footwear like fruit boots.

Helmet

If you want to dry tool, a helmet is essential and this is not rock climbing, where you can get away with climbing unprotected. The climbers absolutely need a helmet for dry tooling for too main reasons which are as follows:

1. The risk of rockfall is often high on dry tooling routes.
2. Dry toolig puts you at greater risk of having a tool stick into the rock and knock you off balance. This makes it harder to maintain your position in mid-air and more likely you will swing into the rock..

So for these above mentioned reasons you should always wear your helmet when dry tooling.

Climbing Gear

A standard climbing rack is required in addition to the specific gear needed for dry tooling:

• Rope:  Make sure you have a dynamic rope with at least 9.4mm thickness
• Quick draws: The number of quick draws depends on the length of the route, but we would recommend at least a dozen.
• Harness and belay device: If you are using a harness and belay device, make sure your partner knows how to use them.
• Rock shoes: Some people like to switch from mountaineering boots to rock climbing shoes, so pack a pair when you go!

Where Can You Dry Tool?

Now that you know what dry tooling is and the things required for dry tooling it is the high time to talk about where you can actually dry tool.

We would like to tell you that there are some issues concerning the ethics of dry tooling, because your tools can scratch up the rock and leave permanent scars and for this reason  you should not dry tool on established rock-climbing routes because it damages the route for future climbers.

This is a decently used rule that you should follow but it quite can be frustrating sometimes to not be able to dry-tool at established crags but there are some places where you can go:

• Choss piles/bad rock
• Dry tooling crags
• Mixed climbing routes
• Indoor/manmade walls

Choss Piles/Bad Rock

Do you remember when we said that dry tooling is exposed to more rock fall than rock climbing we said that because lots of dry tooling occurs on chossy or poor-quality rock.  If you want to make sure that you are not stepping on the toes of any rock climbers, well the best way to do so is to go where the rock climbers won’t go which usually means poor-quality rock that people have yet to rock climb on.

As a dry tooler, it can be frustrating to always be stuck with the bad rock, but there is a valid argument for doing so. As rock climbing is more popular than dry tool, it makes sense to place the best rock in an area where more people can enjoy it.

Dry Tooling Crags

If you live in a popular climbing area, there are likely to be some established dry tooling crags that you can climb on as these are cliffs where all of the routes have been set with dry tooling in mind and you absolutely do not have to worry about scratching the rock, and you can stein or torque to your heart’s desire.

Mixed Routes

Climbing on established mixed climbing routes in the summer can be an excellent way to get some dry tooling in on higher quality rock and because these are mixed lines, the rock will already be scratched, and you will not have to worry about any blowback from you putting tools on it.

In a mixed environment, you’re also more likely to experience longer pitches than you would in an alpine environment.

Indoor/Manmade Walls

Last but not the least, as the sport continues to grow in popularity, there has been an influx of manmade walls being built to accommodate dry tooling and there are also tools out there that will let you dry tool in climbing gyms.

Though these routes are pretty boring, but are more designed for working out than they are for doing any of the fun dry tooling moves and top to that if you are an ice climber looking to keep your fitness up then it is the best option.

Tips to Try Dry Tooling

So after discussing about dry tooling for so long now it is the time to talk about the tips of trying dry tooling and those tips are as follows:

• Find a more experienced friend! A great way to learn dry tooling for the first time is to go with someone who knows more than you do. Leading routes, setting up top rope, and giving technique advice are some of the things they can do for you.
• Go with a guide: Go with a guide: Although not many guiding companies offer dry tooling courses (although they may have mixed climbing ones), you could always hire a guide for the day and have them teach you. However, this will be more expensive.
• Rent or purchase used tools: Rent or borrow tools: If you are just getting into the sport, renting or borrowing tools can be a great way to do so without spending a lot of money. There are some outdoor apparel stores that rent ice climbing gear at reasonable prices
• Practice on top rope: Practice on top rope: Although dry tooling isn’t as dangerous as ice climbing, lead falls can still be awful. To avoid this, we would recommend doing laps on a top rope so that your body learns how to move.