Rock Climbing Information

Climbing actually covers a wide range of different activities. Everything from bouldering, to free soloing, to sport, trad (traditional), aid and even alpine or ice climbing is enjoyed by those who all call themselves climbers.

Bouldering Rock Climbing

Bouldering is one level of climbing. While requiring less gear and, to a degree, less training, bouldering may be relatively simple, but simple does not mean easy! Participants scramble over a large rounded rock with no more equipment than perhaps a crash pad to protect against falls.

Crash pads are layered composites of foam that provide a cushion in the case of accidental falls. Often they are supplemented by a spotter who can move a falling body onto the pad in mid-air. Even that simple job is not exactly risk free.

Bouldering is often done with traditional rock climbing shoes. But those shoes, as the name suggests, are more often used for actual rock climbing, this is rising up the face of a more or less vertical rock face.

Rock Climbing Information On Free Soloing Rock Climbing

Even within rock climbing there are many sub-divisions and styles. Free soloing is popular, but dangerous. Little or no equipment is used for protection or assistance during the ascent or descent. As the name suggests, it is sometimes done entirely alone, which as most instructors will tell you is unwise to say the least.

Rock Climbing Information On Traditional Rock Climbing

But rock climbing also merges into trad climbing with the incorporation of a standard rack. A rack is the set of gear a climber brings along to use in making a climb. Ropes, harnesses, pro are all part of a rack. They are used in two different ways.

In traditional trad climbing, to be redundant, the gear is used almost entirely only for protection against falling. A cam or nut is inserted into a crack, connected to a rope by a carabiner and the climber works up the rock face almost entirely under his or her own power. The pro is strictly used in case of a slip or fall.

Rock Climbing Information On Aid Rock Climbing

In aid climbing, by contrast, the gear is actually used to aid in the climb, hence the name. Far from being a compromise, the circumstances in which the gear is used make it essential. Those circumstances often are among the most extreme. In vertical climbs up a sheer face with virtually no hand or toe holds, the only way to get to the top is by using gear.

Portable ledges and hammocks, often used to sleep overnight on and in, ropes and slings tied to pitons, and other gear represent the only possible means of ascent. But tremendous skill, experience and strength - not to mention chutzpah - is required for aid climbing.

Rock Climbing Information On Alpine Rock Climbing

Alpine or ice climbing is in a category all its own. Involving a commitment to large expense, the severest conditions and days or weeks of enduring them, this is true mountain climbing. The highest skill is required to tackle something like K-2 or Everest and many of the lesser known mountains of Peru or China. At some point in the climb, that mountain becomes ice covered.

Rock Information On Rock Climbing Lessons

For more rock climbing information, get a lesson! Everyone has to begin somewhere. Joining a climbing gym and taking classes is a great way to get started. You will get a much better idea about what kind of climbing appeals to you most.



Rock Climbing Information On The Risks That Come With Climbing

The popular image of the risk involved in something as dangerous as mountain or rock climbing is that of falling. But, in fact, because of superb gear and long experience, falling is actually among the least likely events. They do happen, but many other injuries involved with rising are much more common.

Rock Climbing Information On Getting Yourself In Shape

Pulling your body up against gravity requires considerable strength and endurance. Doing so in situations of extreme heat or cold, over hard and jagged surfaces introduces yet more risks. The most common injuries result from these factors.

Rock Climbing Information On Injuries

Several different kinds of overuse injury are common among climbers.

Collateral ligament strain in the fingers is typical. Ligaments are thick tissues that connect bones. But they are not very elastic (unlike, say, muscles). When stretched under tension, they can tear or come loose from a bone. Even less extensive damage results in pain and limited function. Repeated use or excessive strain while using a finger or two to support the body against gravity is a leading cause of injury to ligaments.

Tendons are similarly at risk. Tendons attach muscles to bones and they are, like ligaments, relatively inelastic. That results in a number of possible problems.

Lateral Epicondylitis is an inflammation of the outer tendons that attach the forearm muscles to the elbow bone. They form part of the system that allows the arm to straighten. But a common finger grab on a ledge with the arm bent can produce stress on that area. Repetition or exceeding strain limits can lead to the injury.

Other tendon related problems are equally common. Cubital Fossa occurs when excess pressure on the brachialis - a muscle in the upper arm. This leads to strain on the connective tissue in the elbow. That happens when pulling the body up with the arms, with too little assistance from the leg muscles. Inflammation is a common result.

Climber's Finger is another tendon-oriented problem, this time in the Flexor Tendon Pulleys that wrap around the finger joints. This is another injury resulting from relying too heavily on fingers to support the body.

About 25% of climbers have some degree of Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, which results from repetitive pressure on the medial nerve running through the wrist. The result is wrist soreness and a burning sensation that sometimes reaches up toward the elbow as well.

But the risk of overuse of ligaments, tendons and other body parts is only one (albeit very common) type of risk in climbing. External factors are omnipresent, even when falling is unlikely.

Rock Climbing 101...Falling Rocks!

Loose rocks are a typical hazard of climbing. A lead climber will sometimes, as much as they try to avoid it, brush rocks down on to climbers below. Just as often, they may loosen rocks above them by grabbing a hand hold that is inadequately secure. That brings debris down on their own head and shoulders.

Larger scale hazards are far from unknown. When climbing in snowy, icy areas, avalanches are an ever present threat. That is especially likely in the change between seasons when winter-frozen material is beginning to thaw with the arrival of Spring.

And, last, but far from least, falls can and do occur. They are more likely when climbers are fatigued, dehydrated or exposed to excessive sunlight. Eye-hand coordination suffers, muscles become less able to get a solid grip, and judgment is sometimes impaired leading to poor gear placement and use.

There is no magic solution to all these risks. The best you can do is be aware of them and always climb with at least one (and preferably more than one) experienced climber, and never reach too far outside your capacity. Assessing the risks correctly and acting wisely are the best guarantees of minimizing any potentially harmful results.

And One Last Thing...Never Drink And Climb!

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