In the world of rock climbing, there are many different styles. You’re most likely already familiar with roped climbing and bouldering. But have you begun to venture into the world of lead climbing and seen arguments about trad vs sport climbing? Within roped climbing, there are a few more styles of rock climbing. Top roping …
Tying a one handed clove hitch is a good party trick for your next multi pitch anchor party. The clove hitch climbing technique is one of the simplest ways we can connect ourselves to our anchors. Without it, we would have to buy another piece of gear, like a personal anchor system, to secure ourselves …
Climbing nuts are one of the first pieces of trad protection climbers will purchase. Placing nuts are intuitive, they are inexpensive, and will last you a long time. But if you’re new to trad climbing, how do you make sure that you’re getting the best climbing nuts? With climbing experience, you build your own personal …
ATC stands for air traffic controller! If you just started climbing, chances are that you’ve seen, heard about, or used a Black Diamond tube-style belay device, but it’s been referred to as an ATC. How often have you heard someone say, “belay me with your air traffic controller”? I never have, but I have often wondered …
Route reading is a critical skill for rock climbing. If you’ve watched elite level climbers at competitions or the Olympics, then you’ve seen them performing what looks like air karate before they step up to send the route. What they’re doing is called “route reading”. They are miming out the hand and foot sequence for …
Yes, you can climb too much as a beginner. An overuse injury will be incredibly detrimental to your climbing progression. I remember when I first started climbing it was all I wanted to do. I wanted to go every single day. And on the days I forced myself to take a rest day I was …
Top roping is a form of rock climbing where the climber is secured to a rope that is anchored above them at the top of the climb. This is different from lead climbing where the climber is protected by a rope that they trail behind them and is clipped into protection points as they ascend. …
One of my favorite outdoor climbing destinations near Washington, DC is Elizabeth Furnace. Elizabeth Furnace rock climbing, which isn’t too far from Front Royal, is an excellent day trip destination for climbers in the DC metro area and it also poses a wide variety of sport and trad climbs. There are endless opportunities for adventure …
Have some of your climbing friends been talking about their ape index? The jargon in climbing seems to be endless, and now suddenly we’re talking about apes? What is Ape Index? Ape Index is a term that describes your arm span (wingspan) in relation to your height. The ape index can be expressed as either …
Are you trying to get a psyche loan from the best climbing documentaries on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu? We got you covered. The rack you’ll need for this send is simple. A computer, internet, and an extra-large bucket of popcorn. We here at Outdoor Rack Builder took a look through all the climbing movies …
