A little bit of side note for those reading this blog who aren't climbers, I've realised that I'm using a fair few technical terms and describing things from a climbers viewpoint so it might not make much sense - sorry about that! The idea of the blog is to give both climbers and non-climbers an idea of what it takes to improve in climbing, what it feels like to succeed and fail, and how you move on from these points. Although all these ideas are wrapped up in a climbing framework I know they can be applied to any aspect of our lives and will give some success!
So before I go any further a few things I should probably explain.
Trad (traditional climbing): This type of climbing involves at least two climbers - leader and second. The leader will be the climber who attempts to climb the route/pitch first, the second will belay the leader (feed rope out, hold a fall, shout encouragement, moan that it's taking the leader too long and they are getting cold,...) then follow after the leader has got to the top. In order to make the climb safe, the leader has to place protection (bits of metal generally) into the rock, using the natural shape and features (such as cracks) of the rock. Should the leader then fall at any point, the last piece of protection will protect him against falling to ground (hopefully). Once the leader has got to the top of the climb, the second will come up the route (the leader now belays the second), taking out the protection.The second is protected by virtue of having a rope above them. This process can then be repeated numerous times to finish a climb. The length between two belays is known as a pitch and repeating this process many times up a wall or face is known as a multi-pitch.
The routes are then graded based on the following: the amount of protection, how good that protection is (likely hood of holding a fall or stopping you hitting the floor) and the difficultly of the hardest move/set of moves. The grades have two parts in British trad climbing. The adjectival grade (overall danger of the climb) and the technical grade (difficulty of the hardest move, or sequence of moves without consideration of the danger or the stamina needed if there are several such sequences in a row).
The technical grades are open ended but generally only start at 3c/4a. These go 3c, 4a, 4b, 4c, 5a,.....7b.
The adjectival grades are:
- Easy (rarely used)
- Moderate (M, or "Mod")
- Difficult (D, or "Diff")
- Hard Difficult (HD, or "Hard Diff" - sometimes omitted)
- Very Difficult (VD, or "V Diff")
- Hard Very Difficult (HVD, or "Hard V Diff" - sometimes omitted)
- Mild Severe (MS)
- Severe (S)
- Hard Severe (HS)
- Mild Very Severe (MVS)
- Very Severe (VS)
- Hard Very Severe (HVS)
- Extremely Severe (E1, E2, E3, ...E11)
Sport climbing: In this type of rock climbing the climber is not required to place protection. The protection comes in the form of large expansion bolts, or ring bolts, which the climber places a quickdraw in. Although this type of climbing is seen as 'safe' there are still some dangers, but these are greatly reduced when compared to trad. Sport climbs in the UK are graded using the French grading system. This grade, often prefixed with the letter F, gives the overall technical difficulty and strenuousness of a particular route. The grading system starts at 1 and currently goes up to 9b+. Most climbs in in the UK start around 4 and continue as such: 4+, 5, 5+, 6a, 6a+, 6b....8c+/9a.
There are numerous grading systems for other climbing areas around the world and other aspects of climbing (e.g bouldering, big wall or aid). Some idea of how they compare can be taken from the Rock Fax guide
Trad vs Sport. Trad climbing is very demanding mentally, it requires a calm approach in order to rationalise the danger that the climber is faced with. Usually the climber knows that small sections of the climb will be hard (crux sections) but will be interspersed with easier sections having larger holds (jugs) where some form of rest can be gained. Sport climbing on the other hand is very physical, routes tend not to have so many easy sections and are physically demanding from the bottom to the top. The mental aspect comes from staying focused on a redpoint attempt and not get frustrated if you fail or cannot work out a sequence (easier said than done).
The grades given to a trad climb are for the onsight style of ascent. There are varying styles of ascent for any given climb these are:
Onsight: climber has no prior knowledge of the climb other than the guidebook description (gives a description of the climb and the grade of the climb) and what can be seen from the bottom.
Ground up: A climber attempts the onsight but fails. They return to the ground and pull the rope through (so they are no longer protected by their previous highest point of protection). They then start again, reclipping any protection.
Flash/Beta-flash: If a climber has prior knowledge of the route (Beata: moves, sequence, protection) and then climbs the route. This information may be due to seeing someone else climb the route or having been given beta about the route, but not having themselves climbed the route before.
Redpoint: In sport climbing a climber may work a route with aid of top rope (see the image below). This allows the climber to practice the moves and sequence of the route until they know them very well. Once the sequence of moves has been determined and memorised, they will attempt the route from the ground clipping in the quickdraws as they go without the aid of a top rope.
Here we see a climber climbing a route using a top rope. The rope is attached to the top of the climbing, using a carabiner, and the climber attaches themselves to the one end. The other end is attached to a belayer. They then use a 'belay device' to pull the rope through the attachment point at the top of the climb. This allows the climber to practice without the risk of falling very far.
Head-pointing: a mix of trad climbing and sport climbing techniques. The climber will work (practice) the moves on a trad climb in order to determine the sequence of moves. Once all the moves have been practiced and done in one consecutive go from the bottom (linked), then the climber attempts to climb the route without the aid of a top rope. Climbers may wish to place protection either before leading the route with the aid of top rope, or place the protection whilst on the lead.
The protection for sport routes is shown below. The climber places the quick draw through the bolt, these have been drilled in to the wall and glued in, and then clips the rope through the quickdraw.
Hopefully that will clear up some of the technical stuff I talk about. I'll try and add some more posts about various aspects of climbing, training techniques, and the hold types which I talk about along with pictures or videos. They do say a picture paints a thousand words! I'll also add a post about belaying as this is an important part of any climbing team.
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