Climbing

Climbing covers a range of recreational, adventurous or sporting activities involving using one's hands and feet to move up the surface of a steep object. Evolving from the pursuit of mountaineering, rock climbing is the scaling of steep rocky surfaces, usually using ropes and other climbing equipment for protection.

Rock climbing can be subdivided into free climbing (where ropes and gear are used strictly for safety in the case of a fall), and aid climbing, where a passage up a piece of rock is engineered by using equipment placed in the rock for upward progress.

History of rock climbing - A brief Overview

One of the earliest recorded climbs was by Antoine de Ville. His 1492 ascent of Mont Inaccessible, Mont Aiguille, was accomplished under royal orders, through the use of techniques developed for sieging castles.

The first ascent of Mont Blanc in the Alps in 1786 is often referred to as the start of mountaineering’s “modern era”. By the mid 1800's, climbing had developed into a recreational pastime, with equipment consisting mainly of an alpenstock (a large walking stick with a metal tip), a primitive form of an instep crampon, and a natural fiber rope.

The practice of rock climbing began as an important component of Victorian mountaineering in the Alps. But it is generally thought that the sport of rock climbing began in the last quarter of the nineteenth century in at least two areas: Elbsandsteingebirge, in Saxony near Dresden [1], and the Lake District of England [2]. By the end of the Victorian era as many as 60 rock climbers at a time would gather at the Wastwater Hotel in the Lake District during vacation periods [3]. And by 1903 there were over 500 climbers active in the Elbsandstein region, with numbers growing, so that by the 1930s there were over 200 small climbing clubs represented in the area [1].

As rock climbing matured, grading systems were created in order to more accurately compare relative difficulties of climbs. Over the years both climbing techniques and the equipment climbers use to advance the sport have evolved in a steady fashion. A collection of historical benchmarks serves to illustrate progress in an activity that many participants regard as more a lifestyle than merely an athletic pursuit.

Types of climbing

There are two general types of climbing. These are free climbing and aid climbing.

Aid climbing Is climbing using the equipment you place in the rock rather than using the rock to ascend the cliff face.

Free Climbing is when the climber is using his hands and feet to against the rock itself to ascend a climb. The following are all types of free climbing:

- Top rope climbing, or top-roping, is when an anchor is placed at the top of a climb and a rope is hung down from it. This is used to protect the climber on his ascent, and it is usually used to lower the climber off the face.

- Traditional lead climbing, "Trad Leading", is when the leader ascends a climb while placing removable protection gear which is used to attach the rope to for safety. Once the leader gets to the top of the climb or pitch, the next person, the "cleaner", follows the leader up the climb and removes (cleans) the protective gear from the climb. Trad leading is more nature friendly because the gear is removed and nothing is left scarring the rock. Trad leading is as safe as your capability to take care of and place gear. The big disadvantage of leading is having to carry all the equipment up the climb.

- Sport lead climbing, "sport leading", is the same as trad leading except there are bolts drilled into the rock face that are used to clip to instead of placing your own gear while you climb. Sport leading can be dangerous if the bolts are not upkept. They can rust out and break when weighted, so using bolts is at your own risk. The advantage of sport leading is you do not have to carry the trad gear to complete the climb.

- Bouldering is climbing short heights (usually a max of 15 feet) without a rope. Most boulderers will bring a pad to put on the ground to help pad a fall. Most of the time boudlering involves traversing around a wall or on a rock rather than climbing up it.

- Ice climbing is similar to traditional climbing except on ice-covered slopes or frozen waterfalls. Different equipment and ethical rules apply, however.

- Indoor climbing is done on a wood and plastic simulation of a rock attached to a wall, often in a dedicated rock gym. For most people it will be the easiest and cheapest way to get started. Climbing Climbing competitions are held on artificial climbing walls.

Short (one-pitch) climbs on the Calico Hills, west of Las Vegas, Nevada

Safety

Being safe in climbing is mainly a process of making safe choices and decisions. Gear placements, the type of route, the difficulty of the route, attitude, experience, preparedness, capeability are all things that have to be taken into consideration in determining whether a given climber can "safely" attempt a given route.

Climbing system

Techniques

Climbing Techniques can be divided into basic categories that frequently overlap.

Face climbing:

High angle to vertical: Smaller hand holds and edging

Overhanging: climbing rock features beyond vertical

Friction slab climbing: low angle smearing (with the sole of your foot)

Crack climbing:

Jam crack: Hand, fist, or finger size

Off-widths: bigger than fist, but smaller than chimney

Chimneys: Body or larger sized cracks

Rappelling

Rappelling (Abseiling) is commonly accepted as being one of, if not the most dangerous part of rock climbing. The accident statistics support this view. One of the reasons is that many times on a descent or retreat people are tired and make mistakes. Another factor is that you are totally relying on your equipment to support your life instead of the normal method of using the rope as a back up to your rock climbing ability.

Grades

Climbing communities in many countries, as well as individual regions, have developed their own climbing rating systems. Ratings are a method to communicate or record the consensus difficulty of climbs. The more refined systems exist in areas where the routes have been ascended many times, by many climbers. Nevertheless, the perceived difficulty of a climb may vary from person to person, depending upon individual strengths and weaknesses. For a climber very good at pulling on large holds, for example, a 5.11a "jug" route will probably seem a little easier than it would for another climber whose specialty is balance-climbing on small holds.

There are three considerations that are commonly addressed by a rating system:

How hard is the hardest move? (pure technical difficulty).

How sustained is the route? (how much stamina you need to climb the route).

How dangerous is the climb? (what the chance of injury is upon making a mistake whilst climbing)

Hiking, Bouldering, Roped free climbing, and Aid climbing all share these factors to one degree or another.

Many existing systems deal only with one or two of the factors cited above - some emphasize the technical difficulty, some the endurance. Other systems (such as John Gill's "B" system) are partially based on the number of ascents the climb has had. The result is a complicated situation in which comparison of climbs from one region to another--particularly if the types of rock differ--can be tenuous. Go to the main article for details of the various systems, and a comparison chart.

Just for good measure there is one more scale to remember. A scale for how much time a route typically takes to complete.

Access Issues

Rock climbing is not necessarily allowed on any given rock formation. The regulations vary from place to place but trespass laws are the most common impediment to climbing. Even where physical access is not an issue, climbing might not be allowed due to public liability concerns. Land owners often ban climbing during particular seasons to protect, for example, nesting birds. There are several organisations devoted to opening up new areas, or protecting access to existing areas, for rock climbing. In the USA, the largest of these is The Access Fund. In the UK, an equivalent organisation is the British Mountaineering Council's Access and Conservation Trust.

Climbing on buildings and structures ("buildering") without the owner's consent is illegal in most cases.

Climbing on an outdoor climbing wall

Climbing in popular culture

Rock climbing has been featured in many popular movies, such as Cliffhanger and Vertical Limit, but save for a few exceptions (The Eiger Sanction being one example) it is generally given an inaccurate portrayal by Hollywood and much of the popular media. The sport of rock climbing was swept up in the extreme sport craze in the late 1990s which led to images of rock climbers on everything from anti-perspirant and United States Marine Corps commercials, to college promotional materials.

Climbing clubs

Climbers often belong to Clubs, some of which were started in the very early days of the activity. Clubs are often responsible for the publication of Climbing Guides. The article Alpine Club lists some of these organizations.

In the UK there are several prominent clubs, including:

Alpine Club (UK) - probably the first Climbing Club.
Climbers' Club - senior club for England and Wales, except the Lake District.
Fell & Rock Climbing Club - for the Lake District.
Scottish Mountaineering Club

In the United States several venerable clubs are:

American Alpine Club - founded 1902
Sierra Club - founded 1892
Colorado Mountaineering Club - founded 1912
Chicago Mountaineering Club - founded 1940
The Mazamas - founded 1894
The Mountaineers - founded 1907

Sources and notes

[1] Goldammer, Albert & Wächtler, Martin (1936). "Bergsteigen in Sachsen", Dresden
[2] Jones, Owen Glynne (1900). "Rock Climbing in the English Lake District", G. P. Abraham & Sons, Keswick
[3] Hankinson, Alan (1972). "The First Tigers", J. M. Dent & Sons, London

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