Picture yourself if you will about 40 feet in the air, holding on to a weird assortment of handholds while your feet are mounted on a small foot placement. You glance around you feeling accomplished as your partner is telling you “good job”, as he or she starts to belay you down the climbing wall to try a different route up. Sounds thrilling don’t it? You’re up there hands sweaty, heart racing, yet you feel so good because you made it up after several attempts. Indoor rock climbing is a safe and fun activity as well as workout that offers a good time to hang with friends or even bond with significant other. But before you go there are some things you should know to help you learn.
So in order to get into this very exciting hobby/sport you need to find a gym. Check out the site, World Wide Rock Climbing which has a directory of a lot of gyms around the world, you can go to their site and just find your location. Simple and easy to do, now there may be several, so go to each website and check out their facility and rates. Climbing can be a pretty inexpensive thing to do considering there are so many more expensive hobbies. So now that you found a gym that you would like to go to now let’s talk about different styles of climbing.
You may be thinking that there is one type of climbing, the one where a rope is attached to you and fed through a bar at the top and a partner holds the other end so you don’t fall–wrong. There are about three types of climbing that can be done inside a rock gym. The one described above is known as top-rope climbing. This is the most known kind of climbing. It’s also the simplest, if you’re not afraid of heights. Most indoor gyms average around forty foot walls! So this type of climbing needs a few things. The first is a partner; it’s very hard to top-rope with no belayer. A belayer is someone who keeps the rope tight as you go up so there is no slack, and someone who uses a belay device to slowly and safely bring you down from the top. Granted you have a partner, you need harnesses. Now there are few options but the most recommended one is that you rent one from the gym. Now after you gain experience you may want to go out and buy your own, that’s great but don’t spend the money until you know you’re really going to keep going. Most gyms rent them out fairly cheap so it’s not too bad. Lastly you need a decent pair of climbing shoes, they may not seem needed but they are very good when your sneakers are sliding down the wall. Specified rock climbing shoes are layered in a rubber that helps you grip the wall a lot better. They also have a point in the front to allow you to grip a small foothold a lot better, so you don’t fall. Luckily, most gyms rent those as well. So that is a description of top-rope climbing and what’s needed to get into it.
The second type of climbing done in a gym is very close to top-rope but instead of the rope going to the top of the wall, you carry it up and attach to it anchors as you go up. This is challenging because you need to follow the route of anchors and it allows a greater distance of falling. This type of climbing is called lead-climbing. You lead the rope up that is attached to your harness and when you get to the top your partner belays you down. The two types of climbing are a lot alike as well is the equipment needed.
So let’s say you don’t have a partner to bring, you’re not out of luck! The third type of climbing is called bouldering. It is the climbing done without ropes, but you don’t climb nearly as high; you climb maybe half as high but the climbs are a lot more technical and the wall is normally at an overhang in some spots. Bouldering is done with just your body, while bouldering a good pair of climbing shoes helps a lot. The routes when you boulder are called “problems” and they range in difficulty from V0 to V16; V0 being the easiest problem and it gradually gets harder up to V16. It takes years of practice to be able to climb a V16. Since there is no rope there is no need of a harness, making bouldering the least expensive kind of climbing. Bouldering is more of a sole climb because you don’t depend on anyone else, making it good when you hit the gym alone.
So the three main types of climbing done in a gym are top-rope, lead-climbing, and bouldering. They all are different in their own ways and similar in others. They all present their challenges and they all make for amazing workouts, especially in the forearms. After your first day of climbing your whole body will be sore, but once you get the hang of it you, no pun intended, you will get stronger and stronger. Climbing is a good sport to cross train with since it is an all body workout it helps you get into shape as well as burn the extra calories. So go check out your local climbing gym, get climbing, make some good friends, and have fun!
