What steps do I need to take to start rockclimbing?

Question

I'm looking to get started within the next year or so. What are the first steps, what do I need to do to prepare myself, what are the risks and how can I become a very skilled climber?

Answer 1

There are many things to learn when first starting climbing, and most of them you have to learn yourself. Climbing is a huge world, bigger than you would expect, with so many different aspects and confusing terms.

However, some tips would be: watch your feet! The worst thing amateurs do is to kick the wall while trying to put their feet on a hold. Keep your feet high and use them to push yourself up (or along) the wall rather than pulling on your arms. Many muscle-bound men have been awed by the feminine grace of a skilled climber dancing up the walls. Strength is a part of climbing when you get into steeply overhanging routes, but until then you should be relying on a good technique and footwork.

Footwork:

Good footwork is one of a climbers most important assets. Except on overhanging rock, you will climb basically on your feet, your arms acting only as a support mechanism to maintain balance as you step up from one foot hold to the next. It's magical how well sticky rubber soles adhere, but even so, a beginner may need some time before she learns to trust her feet. With practise you'll find that even the tiniest footholds can provide good support.

There are many, almost infinite, types of footholds, but aside from the pure friction of simply pasting the foot flush with the wall there are two types of ways to use footholds: smearing and edging.

In the gym, smearing is likely to be the same as friction; pasting your soles flush with the wall. This is handy in the absence of footholds and should not be underestimated. This will work well on the under hanging walls and the easy slabs.

Edging is, obviously, using the edge of your shoe to gain support. This can be done using your toe or the edge of your foot near the big toe or little toe. Do not use the arch part of your shoe for standing on as it does not provide the feeling and strength of the ball.

Heel hooking is a further way to gain an advantage. This is where you use your heel as a 'third hand', raising it above your waist in a hooking motion

Once your foot is on a hold, do not move it till you take it off, as in don’t change the angle it is on in relation to the wall, as this will ruin both the friction and the rubber properties of the shoes.



A common problem with beginners is they rush their moves. They hug the rock, their feet are kicked towards, but not onto, the holds, and, as they don't trust their feet, they are quaking in their shoes with their feet skedadling all over the wall.

Handholds are obviously also important, but are only used for balanced except on overhanging routes and dynamic moves, or dynos, which are mostly for show.
Finger strength and core tension are needed, but they will come with time. Just make sure you are having fun.

“The best climber in the world is the one having they most fun”


The Risks

Climbing is a dangerous sport. Don't underestimate the chance of death. In a climbing gym the chance of gear failure and human error is low as the variables are removed. However, you always have to rely on someone else, the person belaying you. Your life is literally in their hands. Make sure you have a trustworthy person down below.

About 12 people die each year through climbing accidents, and most are preventable, such as people lowering off the end of their ropes 200 metres up in the sky.

To become a skilled climber is not only about your climbing ability. It is also about being able to think on your feet. For instance, you are at the end of a climb, and you double your rope over the anchors so you can rappel down. You look down to see the rope doesn't reach the ground. What now? There are at least three ways to get out of this situation alive, you just have to think about it.

And what happens if you drop you belay device?

There are so many things to learn, a text on anchor setting could easily outweigh all of the Harry potter books combined.

Make sure you get expert instruction!

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Join a climbing club (best option), or join an indoor gym and meet people there who will take you outside. To get started you need a harness, shoes and chalkbag.

Don't worry about the risks, climbing is very safe if done properly. You should read a technical manual such as Freedom of the Hills, for starters the sections on anchors, belaying and top-roping. Climbing becomes more dangerous when you begin leading and doing long routes where you end up pushing your limits. As long as you kow the "rules" and always respect them you'll be fine.

To become skilled, practice a lot. Build grip strenght by hanging on things (anythings) for as long as you can. When climbing, learn to use your legs primarily, and the hands and arms mostly for balance. Staying close to the wall often helps to stay on your feet.

Just have fun!

And if you live somwhere cold and you get the chance, try some ice climbing!

Answer 3

No body's gonna beat answer 1. She was just to thourough. I'll put my answer in points so you can just glance at it and get an idea.

-Start going to an indoor climbing wall
-Join a club if you can, and try and meet some climbers
-If after a month you still like it, read up or ask here about buying a pair of rock shoes and buy some
-You don't even need to go getting a chalk bag at first, get a chalk ball
-Do as many courses on things like, learning to lead climb, setting up anchors, rope techniques, knots and so on. Think about doing a course on Rescue Emergency Care, it's always handy if someone takes a fall going for their second gear placement on a lead climb
-Good climbing is about
A) Good route planning, just comes from practice and experience
B) Skill and technique, this gives you confidence too and you climb better, kind of circular
C) Confidence, from knowledge that you are a strong climber, that you're with another good climber, and just that you're not going to fall and if you do the belayer will be doing their job and will arrest your fall
D ) Fitness, stamina, ballance, and flexibility. Start jogging or skipping rope, do yoga, and always warm up and stretch before a session at the wall. Good ways to improve these
E ) Strength.

Answer 4

Some gear can be rented, but you will want to start by buying the following:

1. A good pair of rock shoes. If you want to climb outdoor, make sure they are very snug and you are able to stand in them for a couple hours without them getting painful. If you are going to climb indoors, they can be tighter as they can be removed between routes.

2. A harness. Basically this comes down to fit and cost. Most will do the job but you may want to consider adjustable leg loops if you will be climbing outside with different amounts of clothing.

3. A belay device and biner. You can borrow one from a friend if you really need to, but it would be better to have your own - I recommend the Black Diamond XP and a big locking biner.

Then either find a friend to climb with (at the indoor gym or climbing club) or take a class - you will have a great time.

Once you get some basic skills, read "How to Climb" by John Long. He also wrote books about setting anchors and tying knots - all good skills. Climb with someone you trust who will teach you the safe way to climb and you will be fine and have fun.

Good Luck

Answer 5

Tips For Rock Climbing



Climbing is rarely about actual strength. Of course strength helps but the better and more experienced you get you'll find that balance and technique are FAR more important. Climbing well does not always mean getting to the top. Climbing is about being in control, moving decisively and fluidly up the rock and not thrashing and scrambling.

Work on balance and overall strength and not on building large muscle groups. Build your heart rate and work on finger strength.

There are three types of climbing. Trad (traditional) climbing is identified as routes where you must place you own safety gear. You are free climbing and using combinations of stoppers, cams, hexes and even pitons as protection. Sport climbing is usually short face climbs (though they can be milti pitch) using all bolts. Bouldering is done without ropes and done on free standing boulders. These routes are between 3 and maybe 20 moves; they are practice for sport climbing and often involve gymnastic or dynamic moves. The rating system in the US is called the Yosemite System and goes from 5.0 to 5.14. Ratings at 5.10 and above also include letters 5.10a, 5.10b, 5.10c, 5.10d, and 5.11. Boulders are rated with V1-5 based on difficulty.

Question on leading a trad route - say you start a route placing gear as you go. You get halfway up and can't get past a crux, so you drop down. Now, how would you get the gear out that on the in the wall? (i.e. the top piece that you came down on.)? You don't. Unless, you can walk to the top and rappel down to retrieve your gear. Be careful when lowering off climbs on one piece of equipment, that fails, you die! Better to lead trad routes several grades below your ability level.

Why does most mountaineering guides require you to have plastic boots instead of leather? Simply, the warmth, plastic boots have several layers and are quite a bit warmer. Most guide services do not want to deal with any frostbite problems while guiding. As a beginner/recreational climber...find a size that is snug...but comfortable. If you could not wear the shoes for one hour without discomfort....then the shoes are too tight.

I have been climbing 5.10/11 since 1977. In my experience, a little bit of tightness may give you a slight advantage....you get up a 5.11a when normallly your limit is 5.10d...but I would much rather enjoy my recreation than climb at my ultimate limit.

RP's are a brand name for artificial chock stones. Like Stoppers, Rocks, Walnuts, Offsets, etc, it is the name given by the manufacturer; Pacific Crossing. Typically RP's were small to micro sized brass alloy nuts, similar to the Black Diamond copper/steel nut made today.

RP's were used, almost to the exclusion of any other micro nut, in Yosemite to push the frontier of what was possible with clean aid climbing in the late '70s, '80s, and early '90s. With the huge growth of the sport of climbing in the 1990's, many other companies began producing micro nuts similar to the RP

Answer 6

the best steps would be vertical ones