Breakdown of Альпинист надел было снаряжение, однако решил не лезть в ущелье.
не
not
в
in / to (direction)
быть
to be
решить
to decide (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Альпинист надел было снаряжение, однако решил не лезть в ущелье.
Why does the sentence use the unidirectional лезть instead of the multidirectional лазить?
Even though the action was cancelled, the intention was a single, specific trip in one direction (into the gorge). When referring to a specific, one-time planned movement toward a destination, Russian uses the unidirectional verb лезть. If he had decided to stop climbing gorges in general, you would use лазить.
What is the word было doing after надел, and why is it translated as 'was about to'?
Using the particle было immediately after a past tense perfective verb is a special structure that indicates a 'thwarted action'. It means the action was started, almost finished, or intended, but was suddenly interrupted or cancelled. Here, he had just started putting on the gear when he changed his mind.
Why is the imperfective verb лезть used after решил не? Doesn't a single, specific decision usually take a perfective verb?
When you decide not to do something, Russian strongly prefers the imperfective aspect for the negated infinitive. Even though the climb into the gorge would have been a single, specific event, a conscious decision to refrain from an action almost always triggers не + imperfective. Therefore, решил не лезть is the standard phrasing.
As a quick refresher, could we use одел instead of надел here for putting on equipment?