Rock Climbing Basics

Hello! My name is Chance Sands, and I am here to teach you how to rock climb, and how to get better at the fantastic sport that Rock Climbing is!

The first step to understanding, and getting involved in climbing is to get the basic supplies. You can get whatever gadgets you need, but the main staples for climbing are the following:

Climbing Shoes, Chalk Bag w/ Chalk, Tape, and Tweezers

These all provide a fantastic and safe experience, and will propel you towards your climbing career. They will be explained below.

Climbing Shoes: These shoes are extremely 'grippy' on rocks, because of the 100% rubber bottoms. They also have a very sharp tip, so that they can cling onto very small footholds. Shoes are an essential piece to rock climbing.

Chalk and Chalk Bag: The chalk helps with firmly gripping the rocks. Normally when you are working out, your hands get sweaty, which is why chalk is essential for rock climbing. It takes away the sweat on your hand so you can keep climbing. The bag is there to hold it for you, and, with an easy to use belt, you can access it whenever you want to use it.

Tweezers: When rock climbing, it produces hangnails. Tweezers can help you cope with the pain, rather than waiting to go home to get rid of them.

Tape: When blisters get torn, or if your hands aren't feeling good, tape comes to the rescue.

Now that you have the gear, and know what they are used for, it is time to get into where to climb:

A great place to learn climbing is a climbing gym. This is a gym where there are many climbs for all stages of climbing. The best way to start is by "Bouldering". This is when instead of climbing up 100 feet, you climb short climbs, that you can jump from. "Bouldering is the supreme method for developing sport-specific strength, but it's even more effective for learning climbing skills and acquiring new schemas."(74, Hörst) 

The following are pictures of a rock climbing gym, and of me bouldering:

Now that you are at a climbing gym and have started climbing, you need to learn and master skills. There are many skills and moves to learn.The following are examples of these:

Heel Hook- "Heel hooks are major go-to move when you're turning the lip of a roof, topping out on a boulder problem, or copping a quick shakeout while on steep terrain." (68, Hörst) All of these are essential once you start climbing. A heel hook, is when you jam, or put your foot in/on a hold, so that you can achieve better balance, or to give your arms a break.

Open Hand-Hold- "This grip is most effective on rounded or sloping holds."(132, Hörst) This grip can be shown in the picture provided below. As you can see I can keep my hand open, and not have to tense it to hold down.

Full Crimp Hand-Hold: "The hallmark of the full crimp is the hyper extension of the first joint of each finger and the sharp flexion of the second finger joint."(132, Hörst) 

Half-Crimp Hand-Hold- "This reduces slightly the aggressive angles on the first and second joints of the finger, thus making the grip a bit more ergonomic."(132, Hörst)  It is when you keep your finger slightly less crimped, and un-flex your joints less. 

Pinch Hold: "Vital for latching on to protruding holds such as pebbles, tuffas, and opposing edges." (132, Hörst) This hold looks just as it sounds. You use your hands to pinch a rock to give you leverage to get up that rock.


Now using all of these skills and gear, go out to the gym or the wall you want to climb, and use these skills to get up the wall, and do it again and again!! You can do it! These are the basics and should give you something to start out with, although it is not everything. There will be more posts to teach you these things, but this is what you need for now. So go out and SEND IT!!

The next post will be about "Training for Climbing"!!

Resources used: 
Hörst, Eric J. Training for Climbing: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Climbing Performance. Guilford, CT: Falcon, 2003. Print.

Book Picture Below:


After seeing this would you ever rock climb?