MadClouds

Indoor Rock Climbing – Part 1

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 | General

John Theide and I have been going rock climbing now for about 4 months solid and its starting to show.  We try to go at least every other day, and take the weekends off for surfing.  At the beginning we started off doing “top rope” climbing.  This is where the belayer has a rope that goes from their belay device to a bar or carabiner attached to the ceiling and then back down to the climber.  Top roping provides the largest amount of protection by offering continuous upward support while traversing towards the ceiling.  After learning some proper technique and practicing every top rope route offered at our original gym ( Vertical Hold ) we decided to take a “lead climbing” class to open up more climbing possibilities.  Since then we have climbed most (if not all) of the lead routes offered at Vertical Hold and have now moved our memberships over to Solid Rock Gym.  After completing their lead test we are now free to climb any part of the gym we’d like.  We really enjoy lead climbing because it takes a lot more control and skill then top rope climbing did.  In lead climbing the climber must carry the rope up and clip in along the way.  John and I have both taken a few good falls but that only fuels our desire to get back on the wall.  I plan to post more on our adventures in the future and maybe get some video!

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