Many significant rock outcrops exist on private land. Some people within the rock climbing community have been guilty of trespassing in many cases, often after land ownership transfers and previous access permission is withdrawn.

In the U.S. the climbing community responded to access closures by forming the Access Fund. This is an “advocacy organization that keeps U.S. climbing areas open and conserves the climbing environment.

Five core programs support the mission on national and local levels: public policy, stewardship and conservation (including grants), grassroots activism, climber education and land acquisition.” In the U.K. the British Mountaineering Council represents climbers and their interest of public access to crack, cliffs and boulders.

Although many climbers adhere to “minimal impact” and “leave no trace” practices, rock climbing is sometimes damaging to the environment. Common environmental damages include: soil erosion, chalk accumulation, litter, abandoned bolts and ropes, human excrement, introduction of foreign plants through seeds on shoes and clothing and damage to native plant species, especially those growing in cracks and on ledges as these are often intentionally removed during new route development through a process commonly referred to as cleaning.

Clean climbing is a style of rock climbing which seeks to minimize some of the aesthetically damaging side effects of some techniques used in trad climbing and more often, aid climbing by avoiding using equipment such as pitons, which damage rock.

Climbing can also interfere with raptor nesting, since the two activities often take place on the same precipitous cliffs. Many climbing area land managers institute nesting season closures of cliffs known to be used by protected birds of prey like eagles, falcons and osprey.

Many non-climbers also object to the appearance of climbing chalk marks, anchors, bolts and slings on visible cliffs. Since these features are small, visual impacts can be mitigated through the selection of neutral, rock-matching colors for bolt hangers, webbing and chalk.

Free climbing is a type of rock climbing in which the climber uses only hands, feet and other parts of the body to ascend, employing ropes and forms of climbing protection to prevent falls only.

In contrast, free soloing uses no aids of any kind for protection or ascent while aid climbing employs ropes, protection, and direct aids to pull or stand upon such as jumars to make upward progress on extremely sheer vertical surfaces.

Used as an umbrella term, “free climbing” spans four subsets of climbing styles: traditional, sport, free soloing and bouldering.

Methods and Techniques

The method involves a “leader” climbing a route from the ground up. To protect him/herself, the climber trails a rope which is managed by a belayer who remains on the ground or at an established anchor. As the leader climbs, he/she can either clip the trailed rope through pieces of traditional gear (cams, stoppers), this piece of protection holds.

The belayer feeds rope to the lead climber through a belay device. The leader climbs, occasionally placing protection or clipping preplaced bolted hangers, until the top is reached. The belayer is ready to “lock off” the rope in case the leader falls.

Both climber and belayer attach the rope to their climbing harness. The rope is tied into the climber’s harness with a figure-of-eight loop or double bowline knot. The leader either places his own protection or clips into permanent protection already attached to the rock. In traditional climbing, the protection generally is removable. However, many significant first ascents in the U.S. done with a combination of crack gear and bolts placed on lead were termed “traditional” at the time (see below discussion). Usually nuts or spring-loaded camming devices (often referred to as “cams” or “friends”) are set in cracks in the rock (although pitons are sometimes used). In sport climbing the protection is metal loops called hangers. Hangers are secured to the rock with either expanding masonry bolts taken from the construction industry, or by placing glue-in bolt systems. In ice climbing the protection is made-up of ice screws or similar devices hammered or screwed into the ice by the leader, and removed by the second climber.

The lead climber typically connects the rope to the protection with carabiners or quickdraws. If the lead climber falls, they will fall twice the length of the rope from the last protection point, plus rope stretch (typically 5% to 8% of the rope out), plus slack. If any of the gear breaks or pulls out of the rock or if the belayer fails to lock off the belay device immediately, the fall will be significantly longer. Thus if a climber is 2 meters above the last protection they will fall 2 meters to the protection, 2 meters below the protection, plus slack and rope stretch, for a total fall of over 4 meters.

If the leader falls, the belayer must arrest the rope to stop the fall. To achieve this the rope is run through a belay device attached to the belayer’s harness. The belay device runs the rope through a series of sharp curves that, when operated properly, greatly increases friction and stops the rope from running. Some of the more popular types of belay devices are the ATC Belay Device, the Figure 8 and various auto-locking belay devices such as the Petzl Gri-Gri.

If the route being climbed is a multi-pitch route the leader sets up a secure anchor system at the top of the pitch, also called a belay, from where s/he can belay as his/her partner climbs. As the second climber climbs, he/she removes the gear from the rock in case of traditional climbing or removes the quickdraws from the bolts in the case of sport climbing. Both climbers are now at the top of the pitch with all their equipment. Note that the second climber is protected from above while climbing, but the lead climber is not, so being the lead climber is more challenging and dangerous. After completing the climb, and with both climbers at the top of the pitch, both climbers must rappel or descend the climb in order to return to their starting point. All climbs do not necessarily require the lead climber to belay the second climber from the top. The belayer could lower the lead climber down after he/she has completed a single pitch route.

Climbing Style

There are no rules per se to free climbing, beyond showing respect for the rock and for other climbers.

Over the years, as climbing has become more popular and climbers more skilled, an entire generation of aficionados has been spawned from and with the ethics of climbing gyms and sport climbing. These climbers now share the rocks in some places with traditionally-trained adherents.

In the newer generation as in previous ones, certain new conventions have emerged as the state of the art changes. Conventions aren’t universal: in fact, many older and/or more traditionally oriented climbers may ignore or actively disdain certain newer conventions, and the reverse is true as well: The more traditional values may be regarded as irrelevant, antique or “un-fun” by those who have different experience, goals and cultural identity.

While sport climbers are more likely than traditional climbers to frequently attempt routes which are too hard to successfully ascend on the first try, and repeat until successful, both cultures value positively:

Climbing a given route on the first try without any advance firsthand knowledge of it (so-called on-sighting).

Making a flawless ascent, perhaps repeating a route which has previously been climbed in “poor style”

Advancing the state of the art, perhaps by developing a new route, or by climbing an established route in a creative, novel way

As matters of style, any of the following are likely to be regarded similarly by most free climbers across the various cultures. Generally, the following diminish the perception of “good style”:

Pre-climb inspections (to learn the nuances of a route rather than assessing the route from a safety point of view)

Resting on gear or rope (hangdogging)

Pre-placing gear (pinkpointing)

Pulling or weighting gear Aid-style (french free)

Prior top roping (headpointing) before sending on lead

Practice through falling (generally more relevant in sport climbing than traditional)

Common Misunderstandings of the Term

While clear in its contrast to aid climbing, the term free climbing is nonetheless prone to misunderstanding and misuse.

The two most common errors are:

Confusing free climbing with its subset free soloing, a willfully risk-taking endeavor involving climbing with just one’s hands, feet, and body without any rope or protective equipment

Conflating soloing a free climb with free soloing, “soloing” alone meaning merely to climb with no partner, which depending on the difficulty of the route can be done safely using any of a number of self-belaying systems.

Some areas that are popular for climbing, for example in the US and Australia, are also sacred places for indigenous peoples. Many such indigenous people would prefer that climbers not climb these sacred places and have made this information well-known to climbers. A well known example is the rock formation that Americans have named Devils Tower National Monument. Native American cultural concerns also led to complete climbing closures at Cave Rock at Lake Tahoe, Monument Valley, Shiprock and Canyon de Chelly.

Climbing activities can sometimes encroach on rock art sites created by various Native American cultures and early European explorers and settlers. The potential threat to these resources has led to climbing restrictions and closures in places like Hueco Tanks, Texas, and portions of City of Rocks National Reserve, Idaho.

In Australia, the monolith Uluru (Ayers Rock) is sacred to local indigenous communities and climbing is banned on anything but the established ascent route (and even then climbing is discouraged).

Indigenous peoples are not the only cultures that object to climbing on certain rock formations. Professional climber Dean Potter kicked off a major controversy when he ignored long-accepted convention to scale Delicate Arch in 2006, resulting in strict new climbing regulation in Arches National Park.

At its most basic, rock climbing involves climbing a route with one’s own hands and feet and little more than a cushioned bouldering pad in the way of protection. This style of climbing is referred to as bouldering, since the relevant routes are usually found on boulders no more than 10 to 15 feet tall.

As routes get higher off the ground, the increased risk of life-threatening injuries necessitates additional safety measures. A variety of specialized climbing techniques and climbing equipment exists to provide that safety. Climbers will usually work in pairs and utilize a system of ropes and anchors designed to catch falls. Ropes and anchors can be configured differently to suit many styles of climbing, and roped climbing is thus divided into further sub-types that vary based on how their belay systems are set up. The different styles are described in more detail below, but, generally speaking, beginners will start with top roping and/or easy bouldering and work their way up to lead climbing and beyond.

Top-Roping

In top-roping, an anchor is set up at the summit of a route prior to the start of a climb. Rope is run through the anchor; one end attaches to the climber and the other to the belayer, who keeps the rope taut during the climb and prevents long falls. This type of climbing is widely regarded as the safest type of climbing, with the lowest chance of injury.

Lead Climbing

In lead climbing, one person, called the “leader”, will climb from the ground up with rope directly attached to his or her harness (and not through a top anchor) while the other, called the “second”, “belays” the leader by feeding out enough rope to allow upward progression without undue slack. As the leader progresses, he clips the rope through intermediate points of protection such as active cams, or passive protection such as nuts; this limits the length of a potential fall. The leader also may clip into pre-drilled bolts.

Because the climbing rope is of a fixed length, the leader can only climb a certain distance. Thus longer routes are broken up into several “pitches”; this is called “multi-pitching”. At the top of a pitch, the “leader” sets up an anchor and then belays the “second” up to the anchor; as the “second” follows the route taken by the “leader” she removes the equipment placed along the way in order to use it again on the next “pitch.” Once both are at the anchor, the “leader” begins climbing the next pitch and so on until the top is reached.

In either case, upon completion of a route, climbers can walk back down (if an alternate descent path exists) or rappel (abseil) down with the rope.

Grading Systems

Climbing communities in many countries and regions have developed their own rating systems for routes. Ratings (or “grades”) record and communicate consensus appraisals of difficulty. (Hence, there may be occasional disagreements arising from physiological or stylistic differences among climbers.) The ratings take into account multiple factors affecting a route, such as the slope of the ascent, the quantity and quality of available handholds, the distance between holds, ease of placing protection and whether advanced technical maneuvers are required. Whilst height of a route is generally not considered a factor, a long series of sustained hard moves will often merit a higher grade than a single move of the same technical difficulty. The typical rating system for top-roping and lead climbing is from 5.2-5.15b. There can be debate on the difficulty rating. Typically the rating for the hardest move on the wall will be the rating for the whole climb, although sometimes climbs are rated for endurance factor. For example, a climb can have multiple 5.11 moves with no rests and thus be rated 5.12. The most commonly used rating systems in the US are the Yosemite Decimal System and the “V” bouldering grade.

Climbing Environments

Climbs can occur either outdoors on varying types of rock or indoors on specialized climbing walls. Outdoors, climbs usually take place on sunny days when the holds are dry and provide the best grip, but climbers can also attempt to climb at night or in adverse weather conditions if they have the proper training and equipment. However, night climbing or climbing in adverse weather conditions will increase the difficulty and danger on any climbing route.

Rock climbing is a physically and mentally demanding sport, one that often tests a climber’s strength, endurance, agility and balance along with his mental control. It can be a dangerous sport and knowledge of proper climbing techniques and usage of specialized climbing equipment is crucial for the safe completion of routes. Because of the wide range and variety of rock formations around the world, rock climbing has been separated into several different styles and sub-disciplines. While not an Olympic event, rock climbing is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a sport.