How To Get Started: Rock Climbing, Part 3
Hello AkshunKat fans!
Welcome back to the blog that is dedicated to helping you expand your horizons and experience some cool new adventures.
In Parts 1 and 2, I went over the first few steps in delving into the intimidating (but totally worth it!) world of Rock Climbing. We started out with Bouldering and then Top-Roping, which are generally nice and safe ways for newcomers to get into the sport. They're safe because it's very easy to limit the danger and make sure that you don't take a serious fall.
Of course, with both of those kinds of climbing, you still have to be smart. While Bouldering, you need to make sure that you don't climb so high that a fall would be dangerous, and you need to pay attention to your landing zone. If at any time you can't just jump down safely, then you've put yourself into a situation where you might get hurt. In Top-Roping, your most important piece of safety gear is a smart, responsible and attentive partner who knows how to belay you properly. If you are outside of the relatively safe confines of your local climbing gym, then you need to make sure that you have set up your anchor (at the top of the cliff) properly so that it will support your weight.
In this blog entry, let's talk about taking that next step, launching into the first stage of what is called "the sharp end" - Sport Climbing. This is where you start to "lead," which means that you are starting with the whole rope at the bottom of the cliff (or the gym's wall).
Remember, in Top-Roping, the rope runs from the bottom of the cliff, up through the anchor, and then back down. The only way to do that is for someone to actually build or install an anchor at the top of the cliff and run the rope through it before you ever show up. For example, if you go to your local cliff, you'll start at the top - not at the bottom. You'll build your anchor, thread the rope through it, then throw both ends down to the bottom. At that point, you can either walk down or rappel down to the bottom of the cliff and then start climbing.
Lead climbing, on the other hand, requires you to start at the BOTTOM. You and your partner will both arrive at the bottom of the cliff, with the whole rope, and you start up from there. There might be an anchor up at the top of the wall - like at the gym - but the rope is not running through it yet. One of you will have to bring it up there! One of you will have to LEAD!
Now you're getting into real climbing. One of you will have to put on your big boy or big girl pants and start "leading," with the second person remaining on the ground and belaying.
This is also where we can split the forms of lead climbing into two categories (for simplicity): Sport Climbing and Traditional (or "trad") Climbing.
Trad Climbing is where the Lead Climber will bring various items called "pieces of protection," and insert them into the rock. I'll explain how that works in Part 4.
Sport Climbing is when somebody has already drilled bolts into the rock at certain intervals - maybe every 6 to 10 feet or so - and the Lead Climber will clip into them as they progress upwards.
The gear is the same for Top-Roping (rope, shoes, harness, chalk, belay device and carabiner) with the addition of more carabiners and some "slings. A sling is a length of strong nylon webbing with which you will use two carabiners, one for each end. An alternative to a sling is a "quickdraw," which is really the same thing as a sling, except the nylon is sewn into tight loops on each end so that the carabiners are "captured" and held firmly in place so they'll be much easier and faster to manipulate with your tired (and possibly terrified) fingers. Obviously, quickdraws are usually more expensive than just regular old slings.
The process is simple: The Lead Climber climbs up, tied into the end of the rope. The Belayer pays out the rope through the belay device as the Leader goes up. Now, as the Leader gets higher, the risk of a dangerous fall increases. For example, if the Leader is 10 feet off the ground, if he can't hold on anymore and falls, he'll fall 10 feet and possibly get hurt. This is where the bolts come in.
Bolts are essentially stainless steel rods that have been hammered into drilled holes in the rock, and then fitted with a steel loop, called a "hangar." It's basically a permanent, sturdy anchor point that has been installed into the rock by somebody who came before you. The Lead Climber will clip one carabiner from one end of each sling - or quickdraw - into the bolt's hangar, then clip the other carabiner into the rope. Now, the rope is running from the Belayer's belay device, up through that carabiner and to the Leader's tie-in point on his harness.
This means that the Leader is now safe from a fall. If the Leader falls, the Belayer will engage the belay device, lock off the rope, and the Leader will only fall as much as the rope stretches.
At this point, the Leader can start up to the next bolt, but keep in mind that the risk of falling increases as the Leader goes above that bolt. For example, if the Leader finds himself 5 feet above that bolt, then if he falls, he'll fall 10 feet. The fall will always be double the distance from the last bolt, because the rope is running from the Belayer's belay device, up 10 feet to the first bolt, through the carabiner on the sling that is clipped to that bolt, then in this case up 5 more feet from there to the Lead Climber's harness.
So, if the Leader falls, he will fall twice that distance - 10 feet. He'll fall 5 feet down to the bolt, then another 5 feet down until the rope comes tight and catches him. When he comes to rest, he'll be dangling 5 feet below the bolt - plus whatever the rope has stretched.
This is why Lead Climbing is more dangerous than Top-Roping. A lot can happen in a fall like that: you can scrape your knees, catch an ankle, get snagged by the rope and flip yourself upside down, hit your head - who knows. And it's much more of a test of your Belayer's role as well. If your Belayer wasn't paying attention or doesn't really know what he's doing, he might not catch you at all and you'll fall all the way to the ground (which is bad.)
So it's a good idea to start off leading on climbs that are well within your abilities, and try to always climb in control. You should constantly communicate with your partner - your Belayer - and let him or her know how things are going. If you are scared, tired or about to fall, a good warning can let your Belayer prepare to catch you, instead of reaching for something to drink or talking to somebody else.
(After you both get better and gain more experience, falling will just be part of the process. You might fall several times a day. You'll learn how to fall without hurting yourself, and learn how to react quickly as a Belayer. You will also learn to climb back down before you fall, to shorten the length of the fall. Like anything, the more you do it, the better you'll get.)
But let's get back on the wall.
As you go up, the risk increases as you approach that next bolt, because the maximum fall distance will be right AT the bolt. If, say, the second bolt is 6 feet above that first bolt, then as you approach that second bolt, you're looking at a 12 foot fall. Plus, you'll probably have to pull up a little slack in order to make your clips, which will increase the length of the potential fall even more. If you pull up an extra 2 feet of slack to make the clip, then you are now looking at a 16 foot fall!
To calm you somewhat, most lead walls in most gyms have bolts that are pretty close together, so you'll rarely be looking at a long and terrifying fall; but the potential is still there to get hurt. The other nice thing about gyms is that most of them already have the quickdraws in place, so you won't need to bring any of your own (they'll usually also supply you with a rope). That also means that you'll only need to make one clip at each bolt - you don't have to worry about clipping the quickdraw into the bolt, because they've already done that for you, so you only have to worry about clipping the quickdraw's lower carabiner into your rope.
If you have the nerve to continue up, then you will clip each bolt as you come to it, which means that - if you are outside and NOT in a gym - you'll need a sling or a quickdraw for each bolt that you come to.
Generally, routes that have bolts drilled into them will have a double anchor point at the top of the route. When you reach it, you can either run the rope through it and have your Belayer lower you to the ground (in which case your Belayer can then "Top-Rope" the route), or you can re-rig the rope through the anchor and rappel down (which also allows your Belayer to Top-Rope the route), or you can anchor yourself off and belay your Belayer up to you.
If the route keeps going (if it is a "multi-pitch" climb), then you two can progress upwards as a team.
["Pitch" is a term that basically means "section". It's usually determined by the length of the typical climbing rope, which is 200 feet or 60 meters. So, if a cliff is 300 feet high, to get to the top of it you would need to break it up into 2 "pitches." The first could be 200 feet and the second would be 100 feet, or it could be broken up into two 150 foot pitches. There might be a really nice ledge 120 feet up, which is a great spot to stop and belay, so that first pitch would be 120 feet to the ledge, then the second pitch would be 180 feet to the top. It just depends. I'll go into more of that in Part 4 when I get into Trad Climbing.]
Once again, let me emphasize that you should get some real instruction from an experienced climber before you try Sport Climbing. It's really not that complicated, but if you make any mistakes the results can be disastrous. This is another reason why gyms are a great place to learn. They're much safer than outside, with pre-placed quickdraws, pre-installed top anchors, and padded landing areas that make falls more forgiving.
Once you go outside into the real world, it will be much more challenging and will require you to have both the gear and the skills to succeed. Of course, I always encourage you to get outside and experience all that natural climbing areas have to offer, but you should make sure that you are prepared before you do so.
There's so much more to talk about, but this entry is getting a little long, so I'll stop here. In Part 4, I'll continue into Traditional, or Trad Climbing, and try to clear up any questions that I may have left unanswered so far.
Until then, climb on!