Introduction
Rock climbing is the sport of
climbing steep rock surfaces to the summit. Rock climbers like to climb on any elevated land.
It is good exercise. National
and international competitions involving speed and difficulty are held many
places. You can rock climb in almost
every state! There are almost 400
indoor climbing gyms in the
In technical
rock climbing, there is a lead climber, who climbs first, and a belayer, who
climbs second. These people climb on
mountains wearing special harnesses connected by a rope. The
difficulty of a climb depends upon its' rating.
Indoor climbers
climb on artificial surfaces in special gyms but some rock climbing walls are
even portable! The climber goes up
holding onto handholds or the climber wears a harness which is attached to a
safety rope kept tight so he doesn’t fall.
Another type of
rock climbing is free climbing. In
free climbing, you don’t use any equipment.
You use your hand to hold onto the rock.
Free climbing is great for beginners!
Bouldering is
the sport of climbing up small cliffs or rocks without a rope.
Bouldering helps beginners learn to balance themselves on handholds and footholds. Most rock climbers enjoy bouldering because there are easy routes and
it is fairly safe.
