Glissade (climbing)

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Technique in mountaineering

title: "Glissade (climbing)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["climbing-techniques"] description: "Technique in mountaineering" topic_path: "general/climbing-techniques" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glissade_(climbing)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Technique in mountaineering ::

| image1=Climbers glissading 11.jpg|caption1= | image2=Glissading 0125 (3938801127).jpg|caption2= A glissade is a climbing technique mostly used in mountaineering and alpine climbing where a climber starts a controlled slide down a snow and/or ice slope to speed up their descent. Glissading is ideally done later in the day when the snow is softer.

Most glissading is done in a seated position (and ideally with a water-proof durable surface on which to sit and slide), with the legs bent to absorb shocks and bumps, and an ice axe held diagonally across the body to be in a position to perform a self-arrest if the glissade starts to get out of control.

As glissading is typically done on the descent of a climb when climbers are tired, it can lead to serious injuries. High-speed glissading is also not advised and can make any self-arrest more difficult and also dangerous (e.g. such as dislocated shoulders); it can also result in uncontrolled falls onto more dangerous terrain, and has been known to set off avalanches under certain conditions. Glissading near crevasses (e.g. a glacier or a bergshrund) is also very dangerous, and even more so when attempted as a rope team.

References

References

  1. Gantenbein, Douglas. (24 February 2022). "What pants won't shred when I'm glissading down icy slopes?".
  2. Rossiter, Kel. (18 May 2016). "Learn This: How to Glissade".
  3. (2015). "Fall on Snow - Glissading with Crampons". [[American Alpine Journal]].
  4. Pierson, James. (8 June 2015). "How To: Glissade Safely".
  5. Rappold, R. Scott. (8 April 2009). "Glissading is fast and fun, but it also can be a shortcut to the emergency room". [[The Gazette (Colorado Springs).
  6. Bloemsma, Katrina. (2024). "Snow Travel Techniques for Mountaineering".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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