Your Guide to Epic Big Walls Without Epics
HowNOT2 Course
The lightest but most useful thing you can take up a big wall is knowledge. Welcome to a resource that will help you be successful in getting up big rocks. Big walling is a big topic so we broke it into bite-size "pitches" with a video to START each one. The aim is to have lots of videos, photos, and written content in each section, not just of our stuff but your stuff as well. Imagine all the good stuff on mountain project with none of the bad - we call this revolutionary idea "a middleman". See HowNOT2 contribute your beta below.
There are 12 main sections that cover the topic A-Z and we will guide you to them in this "textbook". Consider each blog we send you to as "chapters" and they will always point to the next place you should go. Treat this page as a topo for the overall course.
Planning for El Capitan
Logistics can set you up for success.
12 Essentials You Need To Climb Big Walls
What to take to live in a vertical world.
Packing Haul Bags for Big Walling
How to pack a giant one chamber bag.
How to Sleep on a Cliff and Poop in a Bag
Just living on a cliff face is a skill.
My Big Wall Rack - Cams, Nuts, and Hooks
Look at people's racks and enjoy gear porn!
Aid Climbing - Hooking and Nutting
Placing gear is more an art than a science.
15 Knots You Need to Big Wall
Tying together a foundation to send.
Aid Climbing Big Walls - How To Lead
The process of climbing the ladder you installed
Big Wall Anchors
Setting up a great anchor is the foundation to being efficient and organized.
Hauling Giant Big Wall Bags Up El Capitan
Getting to the top is cool, but dragging 200lbs of dead weight to the top is the real miracle.
Ascending Up Big Walls
Sometimes following can be just as tricky as leading.
Getting Down From Big Walls Is Dangerous
Going up is only half the job.
Aid Climbing Roofs Is Harder Than You Think
The nuances to steep climbing.
Big Walling - Full Example Start To Finish
Watch the whole process A-Z.
BigWalls.com
John Middendorf donated BigWalls.com to this project. Clicking and sharing it will bring you to this main blog which leads you to every other part of our big wall content. Did you know BigWalls.NET was the first climbing website in the world and John still operates it? Founder of A5 Adventures, John has been crushing walls since 1978 and has heavily influenced hammers, hauling pulleys, ball nuts, drill holders, solo devices, hooking pitons, haul bags, and portaledge designs for over 25 years. Today he sells the D4 portaledge. Visit BigWalls.NET for a rich source of history and beta and enter BigWALLS.com to come back to the Big Wall Bible.
Disclaimers!
You could die trying the stuff we talk about. Don't sue me because I showed you my rack and tell you how to poop in a bag, please. How's that for a disclaimer?
What I meant was, please seek professional advice on extreme sports techniques and follow the manufacturer's recommendations on your gear. Everything in this content is personal opinion and the break tests are not statistically significant to base your life on the results. Is that better?
Why The Bible Theme?
Well, Bible starts with B and so does Big Wall. Also because this is going to be a lot of sections with a lot of people adding to it and most of it will be right. It's also easier to make jokes as we go.