Does the first climber do it bit by bit until those behind have a decent distance to climb? In my head they’re climbing using a rope that’s anchored 20 feet above them. If so, how does it get there?
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There are three different methods. Top-roping is one where you can actually hike to the top and tie a rope off to a bolt, tree or boulder, then you hike back down. When you go to a gym it is already top roped for you. The rope is routed differently in this method than it is in the following two methods. It goes from the climber, to the top, then back down to the belayer on the ground. As they climb, the slack is removed so they can’t fall far.
A bolted route has already had anchors installed periodically up the route. The lead climber connects to each one as they’re encountered. The rope goes straight down from them to the belayer. If they fall, the belayer on the ground handles the other end of the rope and locks off the rope and the lead climber will fall two times the distance to the last bolt that was connected to.
The third form is Trad- it works a lot like bolted except there is no pre- installed anchor. The lead climber carries a specialized rack of wedges and cams that can connect securely to different rock features like cracks. They then use this hardware to anchor their rope to. The rope is connected to the person below them belaying.
Climb On!
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