5 Things You’re Tired of Explaining as a Rock Climber
It seems that every conversation you have with someone who isn’t a climber is exactly the same. Things that seem so simple and straightforward to you require more explaining than you would’ve thought is necessary.
To be fair, the sport we love so dearly is nuanced, complicated, and can be difficult to learn. So here are 5 of the questions you’ve answered or things you’ve explained over and over as a climber.
1. ‘Have you seen Free Solo?’
Rock climbing is growing and changing; it’s becoming more widely acknowledged and understood among the masses. A large reason for this is Alex Honnold and his recent movie, Free Solo. This feature length film documents Honnold completing arguably the greatest ever achievement in sports. Free Solo is geared toward a more general audience than climbing films of years past, and thus it exposes people who hardly know what rock climbing is, to the venerable (or foolish, depending on who you talk too) practice of free solo climbing. If you meet or chat with someone who doesn’t climb but has seen the movie, you’ve been asked this question.
2. The difference between ‘free climbing’ and ‘free soloing’
In that same conversation, right after you’ve answered ‘yes’ to the previous question, you’ll likely get asked ‘do you free solo?’, or ‘why does he do that?’. And as the conversation flows along, you probably have mentioned that there are many different disciplines of climbing. One of them is free soloing, but a majority of climbers are “free climbers”.
To the person you’re chatting with, these sound like the exact same thing.
So you explain that before people used only their body to pull themselves up the wall, they would do what’s called “aid climb”, or put their body weight on gear to get assistance up the wall. Therefore a distinction needs to be made between the different types of climbing.
However for some people, this will go straight over their head. They either aren’t paying attention or just don’t care. They think you free solo. They think you’re just insane.
3. ‘How do you get the rope up there?’
This is a very common question when you’re climbing at an area that’s popular for people other than climbers. You explain that you bring the rope up with you as you climb, and then they ask the inevitable ‘what if you fall?’, ‘Well, then I fall!’, they gasp.
4. The Yosemite Decimal System
Even to people who do climb, the YDS can seem daunting. I’m not even going to bother explaining it here because it’s original premise, history, and evolution are a whole other article itself. Basically, 5.6–5.8 is where new climbers start, 5.9–5.11 is for moderate climbers, 5.12–5.13 is for very serious and strong climbers, and 5.14–5.15 is world class. It was only ever meant to go to 5.9. The old aid climbers who established the system never thought people would be free climbing like they are today.
5. Crack climbing
Most people discover face climbing before crack climbing, and even to someone who has been climbing for a year or so, crack climbing can seem insane. The basic premise of putting your body parts into a crack and contorting them in a way so you can pull yourself up — without actually grasping anything — seems insane and painful.
The truth is, crack climbing isn’t insane, and with the right technique it doesn’t have to hurt much (unless you’re climbing tiny fingers or off-width).
You’ve answered these questions before, and you will DEFINITELY answer them again. Try not to get too frustrated with those gumbies, it’s not their fault.
