How do you not fall? I know you stick things into cracks (thats what she said) but there must not always be a place to put it. How do you know the thing is going to hold if you were to fall? How do you get down? Can you just rock climb anywhere, or are there specific places?
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The leader is attached to the end of a rope, and climbs, periodically placing pieces of protection (cams, nuts, chocks, pitons, ice screws, webbing loops around features, etc.) as he/she advances. A draw (webbing loop with a carabiner at each end) is typically clipped into the newly placed piece of protection, and then the rope is clipped into the free end of the draw. The other end of the rope leads down to the second climber, or belayer, who may or may not be anchored but if not is heavy enough to arrest a leader fall. The rope feeds through a belay device which adds friction. The idea is that if the leader falls, the length of dynamic rope leading from the belayer, through all of the placed protection up to the top piece and then down to the fallen leader, is long enough to absorb the energy of the fall by the time the belayer is able to arrest it. Typically, the leader will climb to almost the extent of the rope (a “pitch”), using up the protection on his rack as he goes. When the rope is run out, the leader will establish a secure anchor at the top of the pitch, and then will act as the belayer for the second climber, who will remove and rack each piece of protection as he climbs up to the leader’s position. At that point, the climbers can switch roles, with the second becoming the new leader. Or, if the original leader is more skilled, the second may transfer all of the gear back to the leader, anchor himself, and begin belaying the leader up the next pitch. Leading is inherently more dangerous than seconding, because to lead is to free climb at least the distance above the last piece of protection that was placed before placing another, and you will periodically have excess slack in the rope when pulling it up to clip in to a piece. Seconding, conversely, is akin to “top roping”, where the rope always leads up and a fall will never be of any significant distance.
To get down, you either place a sacrificial anchor, or a recoverable anchor, and rappel on the rope using a belay / rappel device for friction / speed control. Typically this will be done either on a double length of rope with the middle at the anchor, or on a single length with a smaller recovery line attached, so that when the last climber reaches the bottom of the rappel, the rope can be pulled through and recovered, and then set up to rappel down the next pitch.
So there are two main types of climbing: top rope and sport or trad.
For a top rope you have an anchor at the top of a climb and you dangle a rope down from the anchor. One side goes to the climber. One goes to the belayer.
As the climber climbs, the belayer will take in rope so that if they fall they won’t fall far.
For the other type there is no anchor at the top.
The climber climbs from the bottom and clips the rope using a device called a quick draw into metal rings bolted into the rock.
As they climb they bolt the rope higher on the climb. They belayer is on the other end of the rope keeping you safe. If you are over a point where the role is clipped into the rock and you fall you will fall twice as far as you are above your last clip.
If you are five feet above your clip and you fall…you go down ten feet.
This is just the basics. There are other more complex ways to climb.
To add ….
We call a good gear placement “bomber”. There is a slight science to it (watch a video about how trad gear works, specifically cams) but really you learn to trust it by doing. Always give a few solid tugs to judge the quality of the placement. At the end of the day … You’re never intending to fall. Unless you’re working on a project (a route that is at the peak of your abilities). Leading can be pretty fucking scary depending on several factors. Most terrifying being long run-outs (points on a climb where there is no protection. Means you will fall way farther. We call those falls “whippers”). Sport climbing eliminates a significant amount of risk because the protection is found in the form of permanent bolts that are placed intentionally to maximize safety. It still varies quite a bit depending on where you are though. Some routes are “mixed” … You have some bolts but also are placing gear in cracks.
To get down we typically rapel. This limits the distance you can climb (half a rope length) because you use both sides of the rope in a device called an ATC. You can use two ropes to climb longer pitches. The average rope length is 60-80 meters. When top roping you simply lower, but it is best to use your own gear to avoid wearing down the anchors. Anchors are what we call the end point of a route or pitch. They can also be permanent (bolts with chains) or built temporarily using trad gear.
Technically you could climb anywhere there is good rock (respecting private property and state/national parks). We use the word “crag” to describe a location rich in good rock. When rock is loose and brittle we call that “choss”. Chossy = shitty. Worst thing that could happen is your hold will just break right off the wall (super scary!). You also want to look for a line with good protection opportunities (typically cracks). When establishing new sport routes, someone must make the first ascent and place all the hardware. This is done often by rappelling but is still done ground up in many areas. Ground up can be scary because you have to stand for long periods of time drilling/hammering in bolts. This limits the number of bolts you can place and often results in longer run outs (if there isn’t a good stance you probably won’t be placing a bolt).
For some interesting history Google Jan & Herb Conn. They used to climb together using Keds, a rope around their waist and maybe a piton here and there. CRAZY!
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