howNOTtoHighline

EARLY ACCESS - TOPLESS DOME

I'm stoked! This is 16 months in the making for How NOT 2.  I started talking to Rachel Saker in the fall of 2020 about joining her on her mission to make it to the top of Topless Dome which has not happened since 1978 where no one has been since.  I flew to Alabama twice to film this and spent 62 hours in the cave the 2nd time to help push the project over the finish line.  We rappelled next to the 400 foot tall water fall after reaching the top and finding all sorts of "treas...

100,000 Subscribers! SPRAT Certified & Coming Episodes

NO CHARGE ON UPDATE VIDEOS/POSTS FYI

EARLY ACCESS - Not that early though this time as I'm finishing this late the night before publishing but I have many episodes coming out that are edited BEFORE Tuesday night and I'm going to give you guys, my supporters, early access when available.  Which will be extra cool for the courses we plan on releasing painstakingly 1 per week as you will have access to the entire thing right out of the gate.  I will also be giving you exclusive b...

March Madness HMS Locking Carabiner Showdown

Carabiners Tested in this video in order of test: 

1- Trango Regulock HMS Autolock  

2- Black Diamond RockLock https://tinyurl.com/bdf6698b3- Beal Be Lock 

3 Matic  https://tinyurl.com/2p8r5nkk

4- Camp Atom 2Lock https://tinyurl.com/bdda5mzm &n...

Sketchy carabiners from Amazon, AliExpress, Ebay and Walmart tested!

Just because the swivel is "rated" for 30kN or 6,750lbf doesn't mean the cheap looking carabiners they come with are safe for life supporting activities such as climbing or aerial silks.  A carabiner safe for climbing should be rated for 20kn or more and certified at least by CE with an EN number and ideally UIAA rated because they have a higher standard.  There have been reports of actual fraudulent products made to look like the legit ones!!! This is a risk if you buy life support...

See how much force it took to pull a raft off a rock + D Link Pull Tests

Getting a boat wrapped on a rock is hard.  Getting it pulled off can be harder if the water wants to fight you.  I learned that water makes the force move all over the place and sometimes a 3:1 isn't enough to pull it off if you are fighting the water directly.  D Links are stronger than the welds that hold them on.  The 2nd half of this video is pull testing different d links on a thwart.   

Go check out Trevor and Nathan's assessment of this test at Rafti...

NO CHARGE - Done with our canyon course

Canyon course coming soon with Brent Roth https://www.instagram.com/whitewaterpirate/ 😀 https://www.extremegear.org/👉 Shirts and hats http://www.hownot2swag.com   👉Our episode about Ukraine htt...

NO CHARGE: I zoom called slackliners from Ukraine and Russia: the consequences of war

I made this to support my friends.  I did NOT charge patrons to make this episode.

This is the story of my slack family living with the consequences of war.  Send them good vibes and be respectful in the comments.

VT Prusik TESTED: Here are our results

We pulled on 8mm and 7mm VT Prusiks on semi-static nylon climbing ropes 10mm, 8mm and 6mm diameters.  Brent Roth (https://www.instagram.com/whitewaterpirate/) showed us how he uses it in a canyon and Cory Grossman (https://www.instagram.com/grossmancory/) showed us a few tricks arborists use with it.   

THE R...

See what broke our snow anchor pickets!

We tested pickets, bollards and even a glove for a snow anchor with Kevin Watson and https://www.instagram.com/cruikedjoe/   

😀😀😀FLASH SALE - 20% off for 24 hours of Ice Axes on https://www.extremegear.org/ with discount code SNOW (expires February 24th at 7am PST)  

👉👉👉Shirts and hats 2022-02-23 15:01:03 +0000 UTC View Post

NO CHARGE - How we got 7+ MILLION views just opening carabiners

Brent Roth (https://www.instagram.com/whitewaterpirate/) showed me a carabiner trick.  We posted it.  It got reactions.  Rinse and repeat and here we are with over 7 million views and a whole array of emotions over a few short videos.  Short answer: super good enough.  Don't go replacing all your carabiners or super gluing anything shut.  Understand how it fails so you can be saf...

Do WET climbing ropes break weaker???

The rumor is that wet ropes are significantly weaker.  The instructions that come with the rope say that it is dangerous.  Climbing magazine advises not to use a wet rope.  UIAA supposedly got 3 falls instead of 7 like normal, before it broke.  What are we supposed to think and do when we end up with a wet rope?  

👉👉👉Results and links to referenced material are all at https://www.howno...

Gym Climbing Forces - Climbing Science

How much force is on the climber, the belayer and the bolt when you whip at the gym?  2 years ago we did some tests at the gym and it was really popular, but people said our hertz, or rate in which the load cell reads, was too slow to pick up the peak force.  So we literally helped create the LineScale3 which is the only load cell to record internally and reads at 1280hz as opposed to 40hz.  I sold 2022-02-09 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post

NO CHARGE - We dressed our drop tower dummy

We dressed a dummy, what can I say.  It's odd, I know.  A solid steel weight is not a good representation in the drop tower for real life scenarios but it can help isolate certain tests.  However, we want a more fun and a more realistic dummy.  For $300, this was a good test to see if we want a person shaped weight, which did work for some tests as long as we had the full body harness.  If we put a normal harness then the dummy would be hanging in a 45 degree angle if...

Guess which carabiner breaks last 👉 CARABINER SHOWDOWN

We tested 12 wire gates climbing carabiners in a chain until the last one was standing. If you use rated gear, it is super good enough.  This is edutainment... NOT science!  We share HOW to buy, not WHAT to buy at the end of this video.  Our Results: ***Psych! You'll have to watch the video to get the answers!  Guess in the comments*** Time stamps would give it away too!  

😀😀😀DISCOUNT GAME:  24% off all our wiregate carabiners for 24 hours at 2022-02-05 20:19:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Nalgene Missiles!

Please don't drop anything on my head.  Secure everything well!  The MBS of a watermelon is one good aim!  

😀😀😀DISCOUNT GAME:   

👉20% off for 20 hours on any of the helmets -  https://www.extremegear.org/shop/helmets

👉Discount code found in a harness product description - h...

Mechanical Advantage is a Myth

We all know friction in a mechanical advantage block and tackle pulley systems can reduce output, but I haven't heard anyone talk about stretch. I am always using semi static or climbing ropes, which have a lot of stretch.  We test all the way up to a 13:1 with dynamic, semi static and 0 stretch dyneema.  We did NOT use multipliers or brakes to simplify this already long experiment. *All numbers are in kN.  Trying to keep a lot of data easy to look at! 

►►►DYNA...

NO CHARGE: Mountain Project: I respond to trolls!

Sorry if you don't like drama.  I didn't charge for this naturally.  I don't think elitists with a position in this community should post after post dog my efforts without me calling them out.  Wednesday's video is great. So just hang on for this ride and I value your support! 

Do you think backyard science has value?  Do you think standards testing is all the climbing community needs to learn about their gear.  If you are way smarter than me, email me and ...

Does climbing gear pulling out soften the blow on the next piece?

Putting in climbing trad gear that might not hold you can sometimes make you feel better, but it also can wear you out to put it in.  Does that gear help absorb some of the fall if it blows???  We did 6 tests on the drop tower and here were the results: 

►Test 1 - Dog bone only - Dummy 4.08kN 

►Test 2 - 2 Catnips - Dummy 3.18kN / Catnip 1.79kN (it reduced it by 0.9kN) 

►Test 3 - 2 Catnips - Dummy 2.93kN / Catnip 1.92kN (it reduced it by more th...

NO CHARGE - Climbing artwork and website updates

FYI - I don't charge for monday update videos

I share my thoughts on last weeks comments.  I show you what's coming this week.  And here are all the updates on the behind the scenes for our show!  

😀😀😀https://www.extremegear.org/ If you buy gear, get it here.  More discounts coming on wednesday's video!  

👉 Stacked carabiners episode 2022-01-17 15:38:29 +0000 UTC View Post

Climbing carabiners don't break like you think

Are multiple carabiners stacked in 1 climbing hanger dangerous.  I think so!?!?!  Maybe.  See what happened in this episode.  

😀😀😀DISCOUNT GAME:  20% off all carabiners for 20 hours (from this page https://www.extremegear.org/shop/hardware/carabiners) Discount code is found in a description or in the specs of one of the cams found at 2022-01-15 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post

Are Frozen Climbing Ropes Weaker? ❄ ⛄ 🌨 🥶

SORRY FOR DELAYED POSTING.  THIS TOOK SO MUCH EFFORT TO GET OUT ON TIME WEDNESDAY I FORGOT TO POST ON PATREON.  WE ARE DOING A 20% OF CARABINERS FOR 20 HOURS FOR A SATURDAY VIDEO.  I'LL BE SURE TO POST THAT ONE ON TIME.  

Are climbing ropes weaker if they get frozen??? We put climbing ropes in the freezer then pulled on them.  This has been requested many times.    

  👉See MBS is a myth video at 2022-01-14 02:15:37 +0000 UTC View Post

NO CHARGE - Drop tower slow mos

We did a LOT and we teased a LOT in this video about what's coming.   Please buy your climbing and caving gear at https://www.EXTREMEGEAR.org/.  They support this channel with 10% of your purchases and the rest goes to their non profit for Cave Exploration Society.  The first discount game starts wednesday!  

►10% off at 2022-01-10 16:44:16 +0000 UTC View Post

How NOT 2 Raft - Which paddle stroke gives you the most force?

We collaborated with Rafting Magazine to do some backyard science for rafters.  Which paddle is going to give you the most force?  Which stroke is going to give you the most force?  The results were NOT what they were expecting!  

►►►Read their article at https://www.raftingmag.com/rafting-magazine/tgs-paddle-power 

►►►Watch their video at 2022-01-05 15:22:26 +0000 UTC View Post

NO CHARGE - Happy New Year - Huge HowNOT2 Update

Thank you to everyone who donated in 2021!  We value your trust when you invest in breaking gear fear so we love transparency.  Our spreadsheets from all our income and expenses for 2021 is at https://www.hownot2.com/donate.  Short story is: Donations $46,256.  Expenses $59,134.  We did a LOT with $59k.    We had fun flexing our new beautiful camera, audio and after effects for this...

100 feet deep in the hot Idaho desert, this cave had...

Brien Hawker (@dopeasbuck) and Landon Suthers (@burning_gasoline4fun) took me caving in the middle of nowhere in Idaho.  This desert was 100 degrees and quite interesting what I got to see just about 100 feet below the surface.    

►January 1st - https://www.EXTREMEGEAR.org/ is officially open.  A small % of your purchases will go back into supporting us to make even more content.  100% ...

How NOT to simul climb... literally

If you want to see part of the #RoyalArches route in #YosemiteNationalPark, then this is the video for you.  If you want to learn something, well... we have 300 other videos for that.  Don't use tooth devices to belay while climbing!  Always tie knots in the end of your ropes when rappelling.   https://www.instagram.com/ryansheridan/ 

Jeremiah LeTourneau and Eric Odegaar...

I moved to Seattle - (No Charge)

I'm living in Seattle now and prepping and planning and maximizing my lab time with more break tests in 2022 than the last 5 years combined.  I plan on being in the lab about 1 week a month and Bobby may even be able to break stuff when I'm not around.  Being more prepped before testing, and narrating AFTER analyzing all the results will make the episodes twice as awesome in half the length.  

John Fioroni from 2021-12-20 15:40:24 +0000 UTC View Post

Drop Tower Soft Opening

Here is the soft opening of our drop tower.  We did random tests that we were most excited about.  We drop tested Metolius Easy Daisy and ascenders on 11mm and 8mm ropes.  We also did them in SlackSnap so we could compare slow pull vs dynamic falls.  

Our timestamps and results are the following:  00:00 Soft Opening 00:45 PAS 100lbs FF1 3.8kn 02:05 PAS 200lbs FF1 7.2kn 03:02 PAS 200lbs FF2 10.4kn 04:36 Gear Wall 06:24 11mm vs ascender Drop Tower 6.4kn 07:28 8mm ...

Rappelling Hacks

Thank you Andy Kirkpatrick for DOWN (found at https://amzn.to/304zkY5).  We show 2 rappelling hacks if you drop your rappel device: the munter, super munter.  We also show how to get down when you don't have enough rope with a biner block.    Never rely on any rappel system without checking it BEFORE removing your personal anchor!  Rappelling has caused many many deaths in climbing.  Take it v...

How NOT 2 be a Hooker - Big Wall Hooking Pitch on Leaning Tower

How NOT to be a hooker shows you all the ways the F word can be used, but also the concept of big wall hooking with a real life example.  At the end we include break tests, mostly from: https://youtu.be/D7_S_UHtgFA Our hooker was Ryan Sheridan and can be found at https://www.instagram.com/RyanSheridan Climbing the A4 Roulette was the "approac...