Alpine Badass Luka Lindič’s Advice for Climbing New Lines in the Mountains
Luka Lindič is, in my opinion, one of the most impressive alpine climbers around. He’s a quietly confident generalist, excelling on boldly traditional rock, steep ice, and committing mixed terrain. The 36-year-old has made numerous notable first ascents, including Heart of Stone (M7 90° snow; 1,050m) on Alaska’s Mt. Huntington; the Leclerc-Lindič (M7+ WI6+ R; 1,100m) on Mt. Tuzo, Canadian Rockies; Pot (5.11 A3; 800m) on Aguja Poincenot, Patagonia; and the 1,350-meter North Face (ED 90°) of Hagshu, a 6,515-meter mountain in the Kishtwar Himalaya, which earned him a Piolet d’Or.
At the Arc’teryx Climbing Academy in Squamish last month, Lindič gave a presentation about establishing first ascents in the mountains. For a mere $10! I immediately signed up. The 20-odd people in attendance spanned generations of climbers and ability levels; there were at least two other Piolets-recipients in attendance, several hardcore alpinists, and many more wide-eyed young guns eager to learn. Lindič spoke for an hour—riddling his presentation with dead-pan Slovenian humor—and I quickly realized that his advice was practical for any alpinist or backcountry rock climber, not just those questing into unclimbed terrain. So I have attempted (with permission) to summarize some key points below.
The must-haves
Each new line Lindič climbs must have one of two characteristics: (1) It must be visually aesthetic, or (2) it must be physically difficult. Sometimes, as with Lindič’s 2022 route Invisible Transformation, which paired some of the hardest pitches in the Julian Alps with a logical path up an iconic face, you get lucky and climb a new route with both of these stipulations.
But even the most beautiful route in the world isn’t worth doing if it’s too exposed to deadly hazards. Everyone has their own risk tolerance, but be sure to identify your acceptable level of risk beforehand, and then stick to it shamelessly. When we’re climbing in busy areas, like the Alps, or Patagonia, it can be easy to fall into a herd mentality when we see others accepting greater risk.
Reconnaissance trips are a good use of your time
If your intended objective is close to home, spend a weekend sussing it out for the following weekend’s attempt. If it’s far from home, say Patagonia or the Himalaya, spend an entire trip climbing something easier in the vicinity of your long-term objective. This allows you to view the route and glean important beta about things like the rock type, climbable features, possible cruxes, and descent options. For Lindič, standing on the summit of Aguja Saint-Exupéry gave an invaluable perspective of the South Face of Poincenot, and the eventual line of Pot. Make sure to take detailed photos to reference later! Then return to the same zone on a subsequent trip to climb your original objective.
Take lots of photos
When new routing or climbing established routes with little beta, panoramic photos or videos of the mountain are helpful to have while on the wall. It can be difficult to ascertain exactly where you are on a big, clean panel of stone, since steep rock faces do not provide clear lines of sight. Photos taken from the base of the mountain, or from across the valley, can provide a big-picture perspective about which prominent features you need to aim for.
Generally speaking, the more blank and technical the face is, the more route photos are important. Sometimes, it is best to actually climb a hard or devious pitches to link easier crack systems together, rather than continuing up medium-difficult terrain that will eventually dead end. Detailed photos help remind you where to branch out.
Get creative
While on the first ascent of Pot on Aguja Poincenot’s impressive South Face, Lindič was faced with a blank section of vertical granite. Rather than drilling another bolt, he made a lasso and threw it around a horn high above, then jugged the line.
Complex mountains often require redpoint tactics
Think about the mountain as a series of moves on a project. The approach is one move to learn en route to a successful redpoint ascent; the glacier beneath the wall is another move; the first five or 10 pitches is another. Sometimes you need an entire season to learn just one move. Eventually you’ll clip the chains.
Learn the descent
If your intended line of descent is long and requires a lot of rappels or down climbing, climb up your descent line during a shorter weather window so you can familiarize yourself with the terrain. While waiting for a four-day window to finish Pot, Lindič used a brief, one-day window to climb his intended line of descent, the Whillans-Cochrane (5.9 70° snow; 550m). When he finally topped out Pot later that season, the summit of Poincenot was in a whiteout. He was grateful to not be onsighting his descent blindly.
If you do have to onsight the descent, and there are no established anchors, prioritize slung horns and blocks to conserve your rack. Solid ice is even better, since rappelling from V-threads requires no hardware or cordelette. Lindič will bring extra nuts to bail from when climbing a big granite route, and extra pitons if climbing limestone. If you are uncertain about the quality of your anchor, build a secondary anchor in an adjacent crack and loosely clip a sling from it to your primary anchor as a back-up for the first person while they rappel. Make sure the last person to rappel cleans the back-up anchor.
Have a realistic success rate
Climbers want to feel the success of a big climb after every trip. That’s not often the case. Lindič’s personal alpine success rate is about 50%.
Think about your ropes
For a serious granite rock climb, Luka likes to bring a thicker—~9.5mm—rope as his main climbing line and hauls using a dynamic half rope. He likes the redundancy of having a second dynamic rope available should his main line get core shot. In “classic” alpine terrain, where he does not expect to haul, he uses two half ropes to reduce rope drag. On extra complicated climbs, that involve both adventurous free climbing and hauling, he will climb on half ropes and bring 30 meters of 6mm cord to both haul and utilize as bail cord when rappelling. (Check out this article, about his new route Heart of Stone on Alaska’s Mt. Huntington, for photos of this rope system.)
First ascents are not solely the domain of elite climbers
There are many mountains in the world, each of which has routes of various difficulties. It doesn’t matter if you climb 5.9 or 5.13—just be solid at the grade and considered in your decision making. Recognize when an objective is—or becomes—too difficult for you to climb it safely.
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