Winging it

A glance at the vertical world, by Mark Banham

"Never climb up something you can't climb down" - It's a pretty simple concept, and one that most kids learn after they fall out of their first set of monkey bars.

But as a climber it's generally the sort of thing that comes into your mind as a subconscious 'told ya so!' just as you've climbed high above your last ledge, made a few bold moves in the hope there'll be some good holds further up the wall, but found only blank disappointment.

It's about now that you're looking at taking the fast way down, otherwise known as peeling, taking a whipper, a screamer, logging some flight-time - however you describe it you're about to get intimately acquainted with the laws of physics.

In the early days of climbing, at this point your odds of living to tell the tale were slim. The adage then was 'the leader mustn't fall', and made pretty good sense - anchors were few and far between, and unreliable at best, plus your kit was likely to be home made from hemp, leather and mild steel - which, when taking a big fall, would have been about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.

Thankfully these days your average climber is armed with equipment that weighs next to nothing and is strong enough to hold a couple of tons… or a climber at near terminal velocity.

While the trusty power drill along with a modern adhesives and metals have allowed the development of bolt anchors, removing the need to find cracks in the rock in which to place protection, and allowing routes to be put up on cliffs previously thought to be un-protectable.

The last 15 years or so has seen a new era altogether in climbing - the climbing gym. No longer do you have to seek out real live rock to get a vertical fix. Clean, well-lit adrenalin temples are now where the average climber learns and practices their craft.

This has been a real boost for the sport as a whole, allowing people to have a go without going through the rigmarole of learning outdoors, however experienced climbers are concerned that gym-climbers are heading out onto real rock physically able to climb tough routes without having developed the real-world skills to stay out of trouble. Thankfully however these concerns have not yet played out.

Despite the naysayers in the early days, climbing gyms are now widely regarded as the best place to learn the vertical craft. Removed from the arduous approach hikes and natural hazards that used to put so many off the sport before they'd even tied into a rope, climbing is now starting to gravitate towards the inner circle of mainstream sports.

Of course there are some that will claim that with this move towards the mainstream, the sport will loose its soul… No doubt there were a few similar complaints when we moved on from hemp rope and pitons.