Not your average, everyday, ordinary sport.

Written for Climber's Rock by Chris Danielson | Professional Routesetter & Climbing Gym Consultant

Never been climbing? Looking for an adventure? Want to conquer your fears?

Or maybe you're a recreational rock scrambler? Trad junkie? Professional pebble-wrestler? Regardless of your experience with the sport, climbing offers something for everyone, and Climber's Rock is a new state-of-the-art gym designed to meet anyone's climbing needs.

For beginners, let's start with the most obvious questions...

What is climbing? Why do we do it? How do you start?

Rock climbing, put simply, is an adventure. Fun and exciting, challenging but accessible, it is an inspiring exercise of the body and mind. Climbing combines the unique excitement of conquering the physical challenge of a vertical plane with the mental stimulation of problem-solving, discipline, and motivation.

For fitness fanatics, climbing is a great alternative to the redundant activities of your average gym, and provides a full-body workout unlike any other. Climbing can help you develop strength, balance, agility, core power, and also build motivation and confidence.

Why Climb Indoors?

Climbing outdoors is an amazing experience that can inspire a great appreciation of our environment, but it is also a more complicated and intimidating challenge. While outdoor climbing requires planning considerations, more elaborate safety instruction, practice, and equipment - indoor rock climbing is a safe and accessible introduction to the sport. Whether as a fun activity for an afternoon; a fulfilling fitness workout; or an advanced skill to develop, indoor climbing at Climber's Rock is an excellent way to develop safety training, movement skills, and competency in a new sport.

Getting off the Ground

If you've seen or heard about climbing but never tried, you may be asking:

  • What is belaying?
  • What is a Figure 8 knot?
  • What is a route?
  • What about bouldering?
  • Do I need special shoes or equipment?

Climber's Rock offers various types of climbing activities. From top rope to top out, whether you are an absolute beginner or hard-core athlete; this amazing indoor climbing terrain will inspire you...

The Basics - Safety First!

Knowledge of proper climbing techniques and the use of specialized climbing equipment is crucial to the safe enjoyment of the sport. The most commonly practiced type of climbing is top-roping. Top-Roping is the most basic form of roped climbing, involving one individual doing the climbing (the Climber - of course!), and one individual controlling the safety line, protecting the climber in the event of a fall. This person is called the Belayer, and they use basic safety techniques to protect the climber as they advance higher on the wall. Belaying is one of the most important climbing skills you will learn and the first to master in the indoor climbing gym. The rope links both the climber and the belayer together in a safety partnership, allowing the climber to fall, after practice, without any fear at all.

Here's how it works: As the climber moves up, the belayer's job is to take up the slack in the rope, which slides freely over an anchor point at the top of the climb. Using a "belay device," the belayer always keeps a hand holding the rope ready to "brake," or lock the rope, so that in the event the climber falls, they drop only a short distance and are "caught" comfortably by the rope, which is tied securely into their harness with a knot called a Figure 8.

Getting Vertical

When actually climbing up the wall, the climber typically follows a certain designated path of their choice, using modular handholds placed strategically up the wall. The paths followed are called "routes," and are marked clearly by colored tape. A route will start on one or two handholds (also called grips), each marked with a "V" of tape placed just underneath the hold, and the idea is to follow the route using only those holds marked with that color tape, for hands and feet. Beginner climbers may want to try getting up the wall using any grips they can reach the first time, or perhaps by grabbing the taped holds of one color route with their hands, but using holds marked by any color with their feet. After you have tried a few times, you will see that the fun of climbing, and the challenge, lies in following the colored route paths and you can quickly learn the basics of the grading system as well, called the Yosemite Decimal System. Beginner routes typically fall in the range of 5.5 to 5.8.

Climbing Further

Once you've learned top-roping, you might be inspired to try the next level of roped climbing at Climber's Rock, called Lead Climbing. If top-roping is like cruising around town with a compact car, lead climbing is like driving an indy car on a speedy track - more adrenaline, quicker reflexes, and a higher degree of safety concerns inherent. Often just referred to as "Sport-Climbing," leading involves different rope safety mechanics than that of top-roping. Rather than using a rope that moves over an anchor at the top of the climb, the climber and belayer begin with a rope on the ground. After tying the rope into their harness the same way as if top-roping, the climber moves up the wall and "clips" the rope into permanent anchor points, called "draws," along the way. The belayer practices a similar technique to that used while top-roping, but must also feed rope out to the climber as they clip and be even more attentive to the movement of the climber and the slack in the rope itself.

And what about Bouldering...

Well, bouldering might be more like off-roading. Bouldering is low-to-the-ground climbing without climbing gear, does not require many of the safety concerns of climbing high with a rope, allows a different kind of freedom of movement, but also still involves a great deal of skill and attention. Like driving off road, in bouldering you might find more dynamic, exciting movement, but you also may find that the difficulty is often in figuring how to get through each individual move, rather than speeding to the finish. And you might be more likely to tip! Without ropes, as soon as you're off the ground, you may fall back down to it, so when bouldering, you need to be very aware of your immediate surroundings, have a spotter who can help protect your fall, and be ready for a couple bumps and bruises. Though it often seems a bit more challenging, and may require more strength to get to the top than on the roped walls, many consider bouldering the heart of climbing movement, and even for beginners, it is great way to learn the movements of climbing and get a feel for the sport and the challenge. Whereas top-roping and leading involve two partners, bouldering allows more freedom to climb in different environments. Whether you like to practice by yourself, or alternatively, if you'd rather be in a big group with a bunch of friends for a more social activity, bouldering may be for you.

Learn More!

If you want to learn more about Climber's Rock give us a call, or come by the gym! We'll happily provide you with a tour of the facility and give you info on how to learn the basics.

Most people find coming in with a friend for a first visit the best way to learn and have fun at the same time. Anyone can try climbing, and better still, anyone can learn and practice the sport. In order to learn the ropes, literally, you can schedule an Introduction to Indoor Climbing lesson. Whether with a friend or just on your own, you can also come in at anytime to just try bouldering!