Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Climbing, But Were Afraid To Ask

[rydra_wong]

This is a post where you can ask all the questions you're always wanted to ask about climbing, whether you've already started or are just beginning to think about maybe possibly kind of giving this a try.

Or maybe you've been climbing for decades, and have always wondered about that one thing, and by now it would be OMG TOO EMBARASSING to admit you don't know.

No topics are off-limit, no questions too clueless, so let rip and get answers from demi-n00bs experienced climbers.

Comments

[robynbender]

"trad route" = Traditional Route? (In which case, OMG, what does a frakking NONTraditional Route look like?) [is confuzed]

[cofax7]

"Trad" climbing is climbing where as you ascend you place "protection" (little nuts & bolts & spring-loaded cams) into cracks in the rock, and clip the rope to them, so if you fall, you only fall twice the distance from your last piece of protection (assuming your belayer is paying attention and the protection holds).

This in comparison to "sport" climbing, which is climbing on routes where someone has drilled holes and placed bolts on the rock, to which the climber clips the rope. This is more invasive, considered "impure" by many, but is very popular, especially in areas where the rock doesn't have a lot of natural crannies in which to place protection.

[rydra_wong]

Adding to what cofax7 said: trad climbing can be much more dangerous (not always, but it can be) than sport climbing, if the particular configuration of the rock on a route doesn't allow for much protection or reliable protection.

So you have the separate system of grading, which factors in how exposed/dangerous/"committing" a route is (if something's "committing", it means you can't safely downclimb out of a situation if you get stuck; the only way out is up), whereas sports climbs are graded purely on physical difficulty.