RockAndPaddle.com: Rock Climbing

Free climbing is the art of using what nature/the route setter provides to ascend a rock face, or an indoor route. Free climbing is further divided into traditional and sport climbing. Traditional climbing usually means placing protection on the way up the route. Sport climbing makes use of permanent anchors drilled into the rock to safeguard the climber.

Who can climb

It is a common misconception that you have to be young and in superb physical condition to climb rocks. However, many people start climbing when they are in their forties, or even later. And while being fit definitely helps a climber, it is not true that only people with a great deal of strength can climb. Proper technique, not strength, is what makes a climber most successful. Learning climbing requires a combination of both mental and physical practice and control. Clearly, anyone who spends the time to learn the mental and physical techniques can become a climber. In fact, many people with disabilities are climbers. El Capitan, one of the longest class 5 climbing challenges, was climbed by a blind climber. People without natural legs have also shown themselves to be excellent climbers.

10. How a top-rope works. Make sure a basic explanation has been given about top-ropes and their safety features.

9. How the rope gets up there. Depending on the skill level of the beginner, they may start leading on their first day out. Even if you, the "guide," go around top to set up anchors (for lack of an experienced belayer), you should still explain leading.

8. How the gear gets back. This part often baffles beginners. "How do you get the gear back down?" they ask. In this lecture you can include a discussion on how to clip-in direct in order to untie and how to rappel.

7. What to do in case of an emergency. What if something were to happen to the guide? Where is the nearest phone? Where are the keys to the car? What first aid equipment is on hand? These are important questions to address before leaving the ground.

6. Use your legs to do most of the work. It is common for beginners to get completely blown just 20 minutes after leaving the ground. Explain to them how to shake out. Convince them that it is okay to hang. And make sure to send them up with slings to clip-in with in case they'll want to hang for a long time.

5. If you do not trust your belayer, the gear, or the rock, do not leave the ground.

3. How to belay. This should include an overview of 2 to 3 types of belay devices. Explain how some products differ from others, which you prefer, and why.

Indoor and outdoor climbing are two different beasts. The main difference is of course the climbing surface. Most indoor gyms use holds that are bolted onto the wall, therefore the direction of the route is easily seen, as are the individual holds. When climbing outdoors, the holds are not usually as apparent. The outdoor climber spends more time searching for the holds than the indoor climber would.

The second main difference is the level of distractions both have. Indoor climbing is usually a little easier to focus on that outdoor climbing. When outdoors, wind, weather, bugs, and cars are the main distraction. Indoors, the distractions are usually less - only other climbers.

The rating of a climb is a subjective indication of the technical difficulty of the route or pitch to which it applies. All rating systems (apart from the British system) use the difficulty of the crux (the most difficult move or series of moves) to determine the rating, at least in principle. Often though, the rating is upped a bit if a climb is sustained (i.e. has a very long series of very difficult moves).

Generally, the climber who makes the first ascent determines, or at least suggests, the rating. Of course, adjustments after a few ascents have been made are not uncommon.

Apart from free climbing ratings, there are a number of other systems in use to qualify climbs:

The grade of a climb says something about the seriousness of the ascent.
An aid climbing rating scale is used for climbs with etriers and daisy chains.
An ice rating is what you need when you're wearing an ice axe and crampons.

UIAA rating system

The Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) rating scale, an ill-fated attempt at international standardization, is used mostly in Western Germany and Austria.

YDS (Yosemite Decimal System - North America)

The Yosemite Decimal System is the North American rating system. The first number in the YDS designates the class of the climb (always "5" for free climbs), the second number defines the difficulty.

Although the YDS is the most popular rating system in North America, other systems exist (you may have that old guidebook that still lists them). Some may have the NCCS scale (see below), others may have an old YDS that stops at "5.10" no matter how hard that climb is (my old Carderock guidebook had one of those and the "5.10" in there was corrected to a "5.12" when the new guide came out).

NCCS | F7  | F8  | F9  | F10 | F11 | F12 | F13 | F14 | F15 | F16 |

-----|------------------------------------------------------------

YDS  | 5.7 | 5.8 | 5.9 |5.10b|5.10d|5.11b|5.11d|5.12b|5.12d|5.13a|

Decimal	British	Australian	French
5.0	2b	5
5.1	2c
5.2	3a	7	1
5.3	3b	8	2
5.4	3c	9- 10	3
5.5	4a	10- 12	4
5.6	4b	12- 14	4c
5.7	4b- 4c	14- 16	5a
5.8	4c- 5a	16- 18	5b
5.9	5a- 5b	18- 19	5c
5.10	5b- 5c	20- 22	6a- 6b
5.11	6a- 6b	22- 25	6c- 7a
5.12	6b- 6c	26- 28	7b- 7c
5.13	7a	29	8a
5.14	7b		8b


V0-	5.9 to easy 5.10
V0	5.10
V0+	hard 5.10
V1	easy 5.11
V2	5.11
V3	hard 5.11
V4	easy 5.12
V5	solid 5.12
V6	hard 5.12
V7	easy 5.13
V8	5.13
V9	hard 5.13
V10	easy 5.14
V11	5.14
V12	hard 5.14
V13
V14
V15

What you need to climb indoors

Indoor gym climbing involves less personal equipment than outdoor climbing does. Indoor gyms usually have the ropes already set up for the climbers to use for a top rope, and have the quickdraws already clipped in the hangars on the walls for lead climbers.

For most indoor gyms, you only need to bring a harness, shoes, and chalk bag. Most gyms rent these items as well, if you are a beginner and don't have any equipment yet

When moving up, stay as close to the face (wall) as you can, the closer your center of gravity is to the wall, the less your muscles have to work to hold you. If your body is vertical, then all you need to do is stand in place rather than cling to the rock. It helps to climb with the inside edge of your feet, not the toes, to achieve this.

When resting (and you should do this often to look down and check your footholds) straighten your arms (so you don't tire them out) and lean back (ideally with handholds fairly high up).

Rely upon your legs more than your upper body strength. Your legs are much stronger than your arms so don't just try to act macho by pulling yourself up the face (wall), just stand up!

Try to position your hands and feet on the holds in the positions you will want them in for the next move. This will reduce the amount of switching and improve your speed and skill by making you plan your next move.

Don't lean too far away from the wall when you are resting, when you are ready to continue it will just take more strength to pull your body back against the face. (This is more important on short climbs then long day climbs when there is more time to rest.)

Always ensure that all the main finger angles are utilized during the warm-up - i.e.: crimp, half crimp, open hand, sloper and pinches (See also - High, June '96)

Ensure that all main arm positions are worked through the full range of motion during the warm-up - i.e.: pull-down, side-pull, reverse side-pull and undercut.

Try to climb fluidly, smoothly and in control; and only attempt faster moves to recruit your neuromuscular timing towards the end of the warm-up.

For endurance, a light 'primary pump' is needed to open the capillaries and to activate your
body's lactic acid transfer systems.

1. Drink a ton of water starting 2 days before the trip and continuing until you get home. I drink so much that I constantly feel bloated. If you live at altitude, train at altitude.
2. Take advantage of the natural hills in your area.
3. Start training about three to four months before any big trip. At the two month mark, increase training. I work out twice a day for the last month or so. Don't wear yourself out, but get addicted to the training. Make it the best part of your day.
4. You should be fit for endurance as well as strength. Switch off days building up strength three days a week and endurance three days a week. Rest one or two days a week.
5. Find a set of stairs, bleachers or hills, preferably outside. Wearing the boots you plan to wear (even plastic boots) and a weighted down pack, climb for thirty minutes to an hour. Not only will this work your strength, it will also break in your pack and boots.
6. Eat plenty of carbs and drink a ton of water before you work out.
7. One day every two weeks, plan for a two to three hour workout. Try to hike up a local hill or mountain with your pack and boots, or take a long hilly bike ride. If terrain doesn't permit the outdoor marathon day, do as I do: Wake up at 5 AM and climb the escalator Stairmaster for a two hour set of speed training on level five. Don't forget your loaded pack. (Indoors, I wear light hikers with a short ankle instead of my plastic boots.)
8. Treat yourself to a massage or a steam as often as possible.

To learn good technique, climb easy routes instead of getting stuck halfway up hard ones. Concentrate on footwork etc.

Some climbers, i.e. the French, climb very slowly and methodically. At the other end of the scale we have dynamic styles such as that practiced by Johnny Dawes. Both ends of this scale are recognized 'good techniques'.

This means that technique is not about climbing a certain way, it is about adapting your climbing style to make use of your strengths. The French move slowly because they all have enough stamina to hang on while they work out the best possible sequence of moves. If you, on the other hand, are best at sheer explosive strength it's probably better for you to power through your routes than take the slow approach.

Don't do this forever though, because improving is about strengthening your weaknesses!

The best way to learn is to watch somebody good while you belay them. Notice how they approach the climb and try to imitate any clever moves they do. Or ask them to guide you through a particular sequence, such as rocking over.

Practice them yourself, repeatedly. At first, any new techniques will feel uncomfortable and you'll probably think they are not worth the effort but after a while you will get used to them and find more and more places where they are useful, and eventually some places where you couldn't have managed without.

For general training, climb when you are tired - too tired to simply power through a sequence of moves. Force yourself to move slowly and use your technique to conserve what's left of your energy (being tired helps as brute force is just not an option). Plan your moves in advance. Snatching for holds is not allowed: find a controlled way of doing it.

Traditional protection is used in cracks and flakes for anchors. Traditional protection placement is one of the most difficult aspects of climbing to learn.

The secret of hand grips is, where possible, to take the effort away from your muscles by cunningly wedging your hand into the rock instead of clinging on to it with a pinch grip. Some 'jams' are described here.

Finger Jam: For small cracks. This has a 'camming' effect and locks the fingers into place - you can relax the muscles now and the hand will stay put.

Hint: The move can also be done with the thumb pointing up. With the crack above you this is not so effective but it's good if the crack is below you.

This is not as good as a finger jam but still incredibly useful in some places. If the crack is slightly wider you will need to try spragging - fingers push on one side of the crack, thumb on the other.

Fist Jam: This is fairly self-explanatory. The hand is placed into the crack and the fist is then clenched, so the muscles expand and wedge the hand in place. Easy. But unfortunately painful at times... you may wish to tape your hand (so I hear) but I have never done so yet.

I was trying an indoor boulder problem recently with a 2-finger pocket towards the end. Of course I instinctively put in the index and middle fingers of my right hand. It wasn't a good hold, but I managed to power through and finish the route all the same.

I later adopted this problem as a warm-up every time I went to the wall. Somebody suggested to me that I should use my middle and ring fingers in the pocket, not the other two. Good idea.

And, of course, it built up my ring finger more, and rested my index for moves where it was needed!

The moral is, obviously enough, be flexible in which combinations of fingers you use. Experiment a lot: It could get easier.

"If the pocket is circular in shape & particularly if it is shallow, it can help to stack 3 fingers. Put the ring and index side by side and the middle finger either above or below, to make a triangular stack of fingertips."

A person's Center of Gravity (C.o.G.) is basically the middle point of their body. However, if for example you put your arms out to one side, it will move to one side.

How does this affect us? Well, where you put your C.o.G. can decide whether your weight is on your arms or your legs.

Hence, the simple rule about keeping your body close to the climbing wall: if you do this your weight is on your feet but if you lean out your weight is on your arms

Note: a simple way of staying close to the wall, especially on overhangs, is called 'frogging', as shown in the picture. It does require a bit of flexibility though! If your weight is on your legs, you can move your hands from one hold to the next slowly and calmly, without having to grab for the hold (and probably miss). This is called being in balance. It's good. It will work wonders for your style, energy and grade.

This is a move where having your center of gravity in the right place makes all the difference. Swinging a leg that you are not using to a different position can move your center of gravity, perhaps to somewhere much better. Find some suitable holds and try this out. The secret to learning a technique like this is to get to know the feel of it... do it over and over again until you have developed 'muscle memory'. That will give you the confidence to use it when you feel off balance.

Switching feet to balance yourself: Having just introduced the center of gravity, I'm going to say that those techniques shouldn't be used at every possible opportunity. As one emailer reminded me, "flagging should only be necessary when you can't easily get the *proper* foot on the hold".

What does that mean? It means that you can sometimes get into balance by switching feet, not flagging. This is preferable because flagging can 1. reduce your upwards reach and 2. is a contrived position

Switching feet to reach another hold: If the next foothold you need is way off to the left, and you are already standing on your left foot, you have two choices:

The actual act of switching feet: Here is a simple way to change feet on a foothold. Say your left foot is on a foothold, but you want your right foot there so you want to stretch your left foot for that little ledge on your left side. Put only the tip of your left foot on the foothold. Put the tip of your right foot over your left foot's big toe. Slowly rotate your left foot as you slowly pull it backwards until it frees itself from the foothold and gently lets your right foot's tip settle on the foothold, sliding on your ever retrieving left big toe. It's effortless, simple, and more elegant than switching feet while quickly using only your arms' strength to support this move!

Manipulating your center of gravity as described above frees your hands to move slowly and in control, without you falling off the wall. Sometimes though, you can't move your center of gravity, because your feet are too far apart for instance. The next best thing is to PUSH on a handhold to shift your weight from one foot to the other.

I said earlier that the center of gravity principle meant that you should keep as close to the wall as possible. This generally implies turning your feet outward and using the inside edges of your boots.

However, a much greater reach can be achieved in certain cases if you use the outside of the boot and stand on tiptoe. It takes a while to get used to doing this, but it is worth it. The point you use on the outside of the foot is further forward than where you would normally stand on the inside.

You will all be familiar with the 'lock', even if you do not know what it is called. It's when you do a pull-up on a hold, and then hold yourself in the pull-up position - tiring as I am sure you will all agree. The twist lock takes this just a little further. Approach the handhold from the side, and then lean over it as much as you can. If possible, rest your shoulder right on top of your hand. This brings the center of gravity of the body surprisingly close to the handhold, which makes it a lot less tiring to hold on to.

Reading the title of this section tells you almost all you need to know. Basically, if you bend your arms your weight is on your muscles and if you straighten your arms your weight is on your bones. Oddly enough, the latter doesn't tire you out nearly so much.

The last C.o.G. section mentioned keeping your center of gravity above your foot. But this is the opposite: there are situations where putting it out to one side can help considerably. Basically, instead of trying to pull up with the left hand and left foot, the climber changes feet and uses the right foot.
The left leg is then stuck out to the left, and its weight rotates the body anticlockwise, brining the right hand high enough to reach the next hold. Problem solved.

WARNING: WHEN DOING THIS, MAKE SURE THE ROPE IS BETWEEN YOU AND THE WALL AS A FALL WITH IT ANYWHERE ELSE COULD SET YOU INTO A PAINFUL SPIN!!!

So what if you are on an overhang, with two good handholds, and want to reach higher with the right hand? How is it done? There are several alternatives.

Dog-scratching (as Tony calls it) is where you try and pull inwards with your right foot to stop your right hand side swinging out when you move your right hand. If it's possible on the hold you are using (especially if it's a jam), great! If not, well, try something else.

Switching Feet (there's some general confusion on what this is actually called). It may work, it may not. Put the right foot where the left one was. Use the now free left foot to stick out to the left, as a counter-weight, like with cross-hooking. If your right hand side still comes away from the wall, PUSH on the wall with the left foot to stop the body rotating.

Flagging is described earlier in this document and just might work. If not, however, try the 'counter-balance push' which is the same as flagging but you actually push on the wall with the leg crossed over behind you, to stop yourself rotating:

There are probably a lot of ways to ascend chimneys, but here are some suggestions. These all assume that you have no decent hand- or footholds, but the walls have quite a lot of friction

There comes a point when the next hold is too far away to reach. Or when the in-between holds would be too tiring to use. So here's the next section: Dynos.

The technique is harder, and takes confidence. The easy way to learn is on an indoor bouldering wall with large handholds and a big, soft mat to land on.

This move is useful for extending your reach if you can't quite get something, because

When you are climbing next to an arête, using it might be the best way to get through (also works with cracks). To do this, shift your body, so one shoulder is against the wall and the other, well towards the void. Grab the arête with both hands. Find nice footholds along the arête (or stick your feet in the crack sideways), and use them. As you put your weight back, straightening your arms, your center of gravity will act as a pivot, sticking your feet to the footholds. Such opposing forces will secure you in place and usually let you rest your muscles, as usually your skeleton will do most of the supporting work.

SPORT GRADE: This system, which began in France, is the internationally recognized system for grading sport climbs (climbs which have fixed protection at regular intervals). The grade is an overall measure of how hard the route is. This can throw up anomalies since route with short hard sections can get the same grade as routes which are longer and more sustained but with much easier moves. However since the 'safety aspect' of the route is irrelevant, the system doesn't suffer from all the wider variations of the British Trad grade which have to cater for the safety level of the route.

USA: The American system, which is used over the whole of North, Central and South America, starts with a 5.something. Grades 1 to 4 refer to walks of increasing difficulty, by the time you reach 5 you are assumed to be scrambling over rocks which equates to about 5.0. Above that things increase into the higher grades where usually the 5 is dropped when you discuss grades i.e..' 5.11d' is usually said to be '11d'. This system is also a single grade system and works in a similar way to the Sport Grade, giving the overall difficulty of the route without taking any of the safety aspects into consideration (see note above about 'X' and 'C' suffixes)

1) Physical, Psychological or technical?
Are you failing on routes because you are genuinely unfit or weak or is it a fault in your climbing style which is causing you to expend unnecessary energy, thus causing you to 'think' that you lack strength or fitness? Alternatively, are you failing to put into practice the things which you can do at ground level or on a top rope because you can't get your head together for leading? Give yourself a general overall score for each of these three basic variables.

2) Surface angle
Do you find that your grade is consistent for slabby, vertical, gently overhanging rock and roofs? I doubt it. If so could this be a technique thing, or is it because you lack either the foot and leg strength for the slabbier stuff or the finger and upper body strength for the steeper stuff? Score yourself for the four options and suggest a reason why.

3) Rock or surface type
Do you find yourself being drawn more towards certain crags and cowering away from others. I know the feeling and, if so, score yourself out of five for the following: Grit, Volcanic trad', limestone trad', Limestone sport, Sandstone, Slate (and any others which I've left out).

4) Climbing style (technique breakdown)
Can you only get by if it's a basic 'pull-down-on-an-obvious-hold' indoor style of climbing or can you cope equally well with so called 'features', i.e.: cracks, arêtes, bridging corners and gnarly chimneys? If there is a technical fault, is it more to do with a general inability to use spatial awareness to interpret the rock, or is a specific aspect of technique to blame such as control of posture, coordination, balance, or facility (the ability top use your flexibility). Pick out the ones which you would score as low as 1 or 2 and add any additional technique weaknesses which you can think of.

5) Intensity (energy systems breakdown)
The intensity of climbing is the relationship between the difficulty of individual moves and the number of those moves. Different intensities of climbing tax different physiological energy systems within our bodies. Understanding which of these systems are under or over- developed within ourselves is one of the most important concepts in physical training for climbing. Short powerful boulder problems or mini-routes which involve no more than 10-12 very hard moves and which take less than approximately 50 seconds to complete require predominantly strength and power. Middle distance routes with between 12 and 25 sustained hard moves and which take 1-3 minutes to complete require predominantly anaerobic endurance. Routes which are longer than 30 moves and which take anything in excess of 3 minutes to complete usually require a blend of aerobic and an aerobically produced energy and the ability to tolerate copious amounts of lactic acid; this is called stamina by most climbers. However, a very long and easy climb will require predominantly aerobic energy or S.A.C.C (Specific aerobic capacity and capillarity) as it is correctly known. Which of the four intensities and their appropriate energy systems is best developed for you?

5.1) Strength & Power breakdown
Within the area of high intensity climbing, various sub-divisions can be made to isolate more specific aspects of performance.

5.2) Anaerobic endurance and stamina breakdown
You can attempt to analyze anaerobic endurance and stamina according to most of the criteria which are given above for strength & power. Ask yourself questions such as 'is your stamina better on steep juggy routes or lower angled fingery routes?' and so on.

With stamina routes, do you perform better on the ones which have hard moves interspersed with easier sections or good shakes on which to recover, or are you more suited to routes of a more even and sustained intensity?

5.3) Session endurance and recovery
Some climbers find that their level of performance tapers off quickly during the course of a climbing session whereas others find that they can sustain quality activity for longer. Similarly some climbers feel they can only perform well if they have massive rests between efforts whilst others can make do with only the briefest rest intervals. Which of these applies to you?

6) Psychological breakdown
If your head isn't together for routes then why? The first step is to decide whether you are experiencing fear of falling or fear of failing? If it's fear of falling and it's on a Gogarth 'chop-route' then it's probably a healthy thing, but if you lose it as soon as you move above a bolt at Malham then clearly your 'bottle' needs some more work. If it's fear of failing then you should look more deeply into methods of coping with anxiety and experiment with relaxation and concentration techniques such as meditation and focusing. The overriding factor is motivation; do you have too much so you get psyched out, or not enough so you can't get psyched up. Use these basic variables along with the scoring system to write your own psychological profile for climbing.

The Figure Eight
I can't say enough good things about this knot because it is secure and easy to tie. It is also easily apparent when it is tied incorrectly. In addition to the diagram, follow these instructions:

The Double Bowline
Despite its wonderful quality of being easy to untie after hanging and falling, it consequently has been known to loosen on its own when unattended, such as on a big wall. It is also not as easy to recognize if tied incorrectly. However, with proper supervision, and a secure back-up knot, it can also be used as a knot for climbing.

What climbing is

Who can climb

UIAA rating system

YDS (Yosemite Decimal System - North America)

What you need to climb indoors