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.[1][2]
Most glissading is done in a seated position (and ideally with a water-proof durable surface on which to sit and slide),[3] 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.[1]Crampons are explicitly not used while glissading as they can cause serious injury.[1] Some climbers can glissade in a standing-up position (also called 'boot-skiing'),[2] which has a greater risk and is unfeasible for longer slides.[1]
As glissading is typically done on the descent of a climb when climbers are tired, it can lead to serious injuries.[4] Glissading with crampons is particularly dangerous and can lead to broken ankles, but tired climbers sometimes forget to take them off.[5] High-speed glissading is also not advised and can make any self-arrest more difficult and also dangerous (e.g. such as dislocated shoulders);[4] it can also result in uncontrolled falls onto more dangerous terrain, and has been known to set off avalanches under certain conditions.[6] Glissading near crevasses (e.g. a glacier or a bergshrund) is also very dangerous, and even more so when attempted as a rope team.[2][4]
See also
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