1.
Free solo climbing
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Unlike in bouldering, free soloists typically climb above safe heights, where a fall would always result in serious injury or death. In ordinary free climbing, safety gear is used to protect from falls, other reasons given are the intense concentration required and, for some, the adrenaline rush. The practice is confined to routes familiar to the climber. However, inherent risks such as rocks or sudden change in weather are always present. The sport has produced a number of practitioners, made famous by photos of a climber totally alone. Two of the most famous free soloists, Alain Robert, and Dan Goodwin, have also scaled dozens of skyscrapers around the world — a sport known as buildering —, there are few climbers who have free solo climbed in the 5.14 range. This list does not include highball boulder ascents because the climbers here did not use any padding or spotters, there is some debate on the blurred line between highball bouldering and short free solo climbs. 5. 14b - Darwin Dixit - Margalef, Spain - Dave MacLeod,5. 14a - Kommunist - Tyrol, Austria - Alexander Huber,2004. Paul Preuss died during an attempt to make the first ascent of the North Ridge of the Mandlkogel free solo, tobin Sorenson died from a fall during a solo attempt of the Mount Albertas North Face. Jimmy Jewell fell to his death from Poor Mans Peuterey at Tremadog, ironically, he was using the route as a shortcut from a local pub to his climbing club hut, the route was well below his usual grade and capability. Derek Hersey died in an accident while soloing the Steck-Salathé Route free solo, dwight Bishop fell climbing alone and unroped, Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park, The Grand Traverse. Jimmy Ray Forester fell while free-soloing in El Potrero Chico, Mexico, Forester, an experienced, talented climber, failed to return to camp after setting out on The Scariest Ride in the Park, a 40-pitch 5.9 ridge route known for loose rock. He was found the day at the base of the wall. George Gardner fell to his death while free soloing in Grand Teton National Park, John Bachar died in a free solo accident at Dike Wall near Mammoth Lakes, California. Akihira Tawara died while free climbing the Directissima 5.8 route on Yamnuska. Michael Ybarra died climbing solo on The Matterhorn Peak in Californias Sierra Nevada Mountains, brad Parker fell about 300 feet to his death while attempting to climb Matthes Crest Traverse in Yosemite, CA. Andrew Barnes died falling 50 ft free solo climbing in New Yorks Shawangunk Mountains. Angus Moloney died falling 100 ft free-solo climbing from the Fifth Pinnacle above the Gregory Canyon Trail, Boulders Open Space, alternatives to free soloing include, Free climbing with the use of ropes to prevent a fall. Bouldering, climbing at heights low enough that a fall would normally be safe, deep water soloing, climbing over a body of water
2.
Climbing
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Climbing is the activity of using ones hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep object. It is done recreationally, competitively, in trades that rely on it and it is done indoors and out, on natural and manmade structures. Climbing activities include, Bouldering, Ascending boulders or small outcrops, often with climbing shoes, canyoneering, Climbing along canyons for sport or recreation. Chalk climbing, Ascending chalk cliffs uses some of the techniques as ice climbing. Competition Climbing, A formal, competitive sport of recent origins, competition Climbing has three major disciplines, Lead, Bouldering and Speed. Ice climbing, Ascending ice or hard snow formations using special equipment, usually ice axes, techniques of protecting the climber are similar to those of rock climbing, with protective devices adapted to frozen conditions. Indoor climbing, Top roping, lead climbing, and bouldering artificial walls with bolted holds in a climbing gym, mountaineering, Ascending mountains for sport or recreation. It often involves rock and/or ice climbing, pole climbing, Climbing poles and masts without equipment. Lumberjack tree-trimming and competitive tree-trunk or pole climbing for speed using spikes, rock climbing, Ascending rock formations, often using climbing shoes and a chalk bag. Equipment such as ropes, bolts, nuts, hexes and camming devices are normally employed, rope access, Industrial climbing, usually abseiling, as an alternative to scaffolding for short works on exposed structures. Rope climbing, Climbing a short, thick rope for speed, not to be confused with roped climbing, as in rock or ice climbing. Scrambling which includes rock climbing, and is considered part of hillwalking. Sport climbing is a form of climbing that relies on permanent anchors fixed to the rock. Top roping, Ascending a rock climbing route protected by a rope anchored at the top and protected by a belayer below Traditional climbing is a form of climbing without fixed anchors and bolts. Climbers place removable protection such as camming devices, nuts, free solo climbing, Climbing without ropes or protection. Tree climbing, Recreationally ascending trees using ropes and other protective equipment, a tower climber is a professional who climbs broadcasting or telecommunication towers or masts for maintenance or repair. Rock, ice and tree climbing all usually use ropes for safety or aid, pole climbing and rope climbing were among the first exercises to be included in the origins of modern gymnastics in the late 18th century and early 19th century
3.
Golden age of alpinism
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With its beginning slightly predating the formation of the Alpine Club in London in 1857, the golden age was dominated by British alpinists and their Swiss and French guides. Well-known guides of the era include Christian Almer, Jakob Anderegg, Melchior Anderegg, Johann Joseph Benet, Peter Bohren, Jean-Antoine Carrel, Michel Croz, Ulrich Kaufmann and Johannes Zumtaugwald. Walkers sister Lucy also attained some notable firsts during the period, including the first ascent of the Balmhorn, in the early years of the golden age, scientific pursuits were intermixed with the sport. More often than not, the mountaineers carried a variety of instruments up the mountain with them to be used for scientific observations, the physicist John Tyndall was the most prominent of the scientists. Among the non-scientist mountaineers, the literary critic Leslie Stephen was the most prominent, in the later years of the golden age, the non-scientist pure sportsmen came to dominate the London-based Alpine Club and alpine mountaineering overall. Trevor Braham, When the Alps Cast Their Spell, Mountaineers of the Golden Age of Alpinism Ronald Clark, John Tyndall, Hours of Exercise in the Alps
4.
History of rock climbing
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Rock climbing evolved gradually from an alpine necessity to an athletic sport in its own right, making it imprudent to cite a primogenitor of the latter in each of these three locales. An early benchmark approaching modern levels of difficulty was the ascent, by O. G. Jones, Jones was attracted to the new sport by a photo of the Needle in a shop window in the early 1890s. By the end of the Victorian era as many as 60 enthusiasts at a time would gather at the Wastwater Hotel in the Lake District during vacation periods, by the 1930s there were over 200 small climbing clubs represented in the area. The solo first ascent of Die Vajolettürme in 1887 by the 17-year-old Munich high school student, Georg Winkler, encouraged the acceptance, as rock climbing matured, a variety of grading systems were created in order to more accurately compare relative difficulties of climbs. Over the years both climbing techniques and the equipment climbers use to advance the sport have evolved in a steady fashion,1492, Antoine de Ville ascends Mont Inaccessible, Mont Aiguille, a 300-meter rock tower south of Grenoble, France. Under orders from his king, he used the techniques developed for sieging castles to attain an otherwise unreachable summit, the ascent is described by François Rabelais in his Quart Livre. 1695, Martin Martin describes the practice of fowling by climbing with the use of ropes in the Hebrides of Scotland. 1786, The first ascent of Mont Blanc is often referred to as the start of mountaineering’s “modern era” and it took another century before history documents the use of devices similar to today’s fixed anchors, pitons, bolts and rappel slings. By the 19th century, climbing was developing as a recreational pastime, equipment in the early 19th century began with an alpenstock, a primitive form of three-point instep crampon, and a woodcutters axe. These were the tools of the shepherd, who was shortly to move from guiding sheep to guiding men. With time the alpenstock and the axe were combined into one tool, add a large, thick rope, to help the client climb, and guide and novice were off to the mountains. 1869, John Muir, famed naturalist and climber, wearing hiking boots, makes the first ascent of Cathedral Peak in Tuolumne Meadows as an on-sight,1875, Half Dome in Yosemite National Park was climbed by George Anderson. He used eye bolts in drilled holes as hand and toe holds and he used a fixed rope to return to his high point each day. 1880s, The Sport of Rock Climbing begins in the Lake District and Wales in Great Britain, Saxony near Dresden, and the Dolomites. W. P. Haskett Smith is frequently called the Father of Rock Climbing in the British Isles,1886, W. P. Haskett Smith makes the first ascent of the 70 foot Napes Needle, in the Lake District of England. The resulting publicity introduces the general British public to the new sport of rock climbing,1887, Georg Winkler, at the age of 17, makes the first ascent - solo - of Die Vajolettürme in the Dolomites, initiating the sport of rock climbing in that area. 1892, Oscar Eckenstein, a British climber and early bouldering advocate, conducts a competition, with cash prizes. 1893, Devils Tower is first summited by ranchers William Rogers and Willard Ripley through the use of wooden spike pounded into a crack, after 6 weeks they summited on the Fourth of July
5.
Aid climbing
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Aid climbing is a style of climbing in which standing on or pulling oneself up via devices attached to fixed or placed protection is used to make upward progress. In general, aid techniques are reserved for pitches where free climbing is difficult to impossible, while aid climbing places less emphasis on athletic fitness and raw strength than free climbing, the physical demands of hard aid climbing should not be underestimated. Aid climbing has its own ranking system, using a scale from A0 through A5. Just as in climbing, the usual aid technique involves two climbers, a leader and a belayer. The leader is connected by a rope to the belayer, who remains at the station while the leader moves up. As the leader advances, the rope is let out by the belayer, if the leader falls, the belayer locks off the rope and, assuming the protection doesnt pull out, catches the leaders fall on the rope. When the leader, moving up, reaches the end of the rope, or a convenient stopping point, he or she builds an anchor, hangs on it and this then becomes the next belay station. The belayer then ascends the rope using mechanical ascenders, retrieving the protection that was placed by the leader. Many variations on this technique are possible, including solo aid climbing and climbing with a team of three or more. Until the 1940s protection was provided by the piton, driven into a crack in the rock with a hammer, today, aid climbing uses a considerably larger array of hardware than the pitons used by the first climbers although the primary technique of ascension has not much evolved. The typical gear of an aid climber includes pitons, hooks, copperheads, nuts, camming devices, ascenders, hauling pulleys, aiders, daisy chains, the hardest aid routes are poorly protected requiring the climber to make long sequences of moves using hooks or tenuous placements. On these routes, a climber may have to commit to moving up onto the most marginal of placements risking long and sometimes dangerous falls. By contrast, the vast majority of aid ascents are done on popular free climbs which are too difficult for the aid party to free, but offer excellent gear placements. Since aid climbing is extremely slow compared to climbing, this can lead to some conflicts between aid climbers and free climbers waiting to climb a route. There is additional tension caused by the damage that aid climbing often does to routes, hooks frequently break or otherwise damage holds that human hands and feet do not. Until the 1960s or so, aid climbing was normal practice in most climbing areas, reinhold Messner wrote, Rock faces are no longer overcome by climbing skill, but are humbled, pitch by pitch, by methodical manual labour … Who has polluted the pure spring of mountaineering. Free climbing is now the mainstream of climbing, the solution is often a compromise in which an absolute minimum of bolts is added to allow safe protection for free climbers, while not totally destroying the challenge of the route as an aid climb. However, as with most compromises, this is not a solution that satisfies everyone, the A grading scale incorporates difficulty of placing protection, and the danger associated with falling
6.
Big wall climbing
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Big wall climbing is a type of rock climbing where a climber ascends a long multi-pitch route, normally requiring more than a single day to complete the climb. Big wall routes require the team to live on the route often using portaledges. It is practiced on tall or more vertical faces with few ledges, in the early 20th century, climbers were scaling big rock faces in the Dolomites and the European Alps employing free- and aid- climbing tactics to create bold ascents. Yet, the walls were waiting to be climbed by future generation with better tools. In addition many nations in the early 1900s had specialized units that had developed wall climbing skills for gaining surprise entry into enemy fortifications by wall climbing. In the late 1950s big wall climbing finally started, in Yosemite, the northwest face of Half Dome was climbed in 1957 and the southeast buttress of El Capitan in 1958. With the invention of hard iron pitons, jumars and hammocks, following those pioneering achievements, parties began routinely setting off prepared for days and days of un-interrupted climbing on very long, hard, steep routes. The food, water, hardware and shelter necessary for such a climb could easily weigh well into the hundreds of pounds, hauling systems were developed for managing these large loads. In the last few decades, techniques for big wall climbing have evolved, due to employment of free-climbing. The routes that used to take days can be climbed in under 24 hours. Nevertheless, many still do make multi-day ascents of classic trade routes which have recently gone mostly free. In order to haul portaledges and other such as ropes, food, and water up a rock face. There are many different mechanically advantageous systems that are utilized to make pulling up the haul bag easier than simply dragging it up the face, there are several available methods but most tend to employ a counterweight system or a hauling system. Gear is usually spread over many haul bags in order to maximize efficiency, the hauling system usually consists of a self-locking pulley in order to capture the motion and prevent the bag from descending once hauling stops. Next, an ascender clamped to the rope is used to pull the haul line through the pulley
7.
Bouldering
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Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed without the use of ropes or harnesses. While it can be done without any equipment whatsoever, most climbers use climbing shoes to help secure footholds, chalk to keep their hands dry, unlike free solo climbing, which is also performed without ropes, bouldering problems are usually less than 6 meters tall. Artificial climbing walls allow boulderers to train indoors in areas without natural boulders, Bouldering competitions, which employ a variety of formats, take place in both indoor and outdoor settings. The sport originated as a method of training for roped climbs, Bouldering enabled climbers to practice specific moves at a safe distance from the ground. Additionally, the served to build stamina and increase finger strength. Throughout the 1900s, bouldering evolved into a separate discipline, individual problems are assigned ratings based on their difficulty. There have been many different rating systems used throughout the history of the sport, the growing popularity of the sport has caused several environmental concerns, including soil erosion and trampled vegetation as climbers hike off-trail to reach bouldering sites. This has caused some landowners to access or prohibit bouldering altogether. Unlike top rope climbing and lead climbing, no ropes are used to protect or aid the climber, Bouldering routes or problems require the climber to reach the top of a boulder, usually from a specified start position. Some boulder problems, known as traverses, require the climber to climb horizontally from one position to another, the characteristics of boulder problems depend largely on the type of rock being climbed. Granite, for example, often features long cracks and slabs, sandstone rocks are known for their steep overhangs and frequent horizontal breaks. Other common bouldering rocks include limestone and volcanic rock, there are many prominent bouldering areas throughout the United States, including Hueco Tanks in Texas, Mount Evans in Colorado, and The Buttermilks in Bishop, California. Squamish, British Columbia is one of the most popular bouldering areas in Canada, Europe also hosts a number of bouldering sites, such as Fontainebleau in France, Albarracín in Spain, and various mountains throughout Switzerland. Artificial climbing walls are used to simulate boulder problems in an indoor environment and these walls are constructed with wooden panels, polymer cement panels, concrete shells, or precast molds of actual rock walls. Holds, usually made of plastic, are bolted onto the wall to create problems. The walls often feature steep overhanging surfaces, forcing the climber to employ highly technical movements while supporting much of their weight with their body strength. Climbing gyms often feature multiple problems within the section of wall. Across much of the rest of the problems and grades are usually designated by using a set color of plastic hold to indicate a particular problem
8.
Buildering
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Buildering describes the act of climbing on the outside of buildings and other artificial structures. The word buildering is a portmanteau, combining the word building with the climbing term bouldering, if done without ropes or protection far off the ground, buildering may be dangerous. It is often practiced outside legal bounds, and is thus mostly undertaken at night, Night climbing is a particular branch of buildering which has been practiced for many years in a variety of locations such as the University of Cambridge, England. Night climbing, as distinct from buildering, is performed mainly by undergraduates under cover of darkness, the term night climbing has replaced the older term roof climbing. Adepts of buildering who are climbing on buildings without authorization are regularly met by police forces upon completing their exploit. Spectacular acts of buildering, such as free soloing skyscrapers, are accomplished by lone, experienced climbers, sometimes attracting large crowds of passers-by. Buildering can also take a form more akin to bouldering, which tends towards ascending or traversing shorter sections of buildings and structures. While still generally frowned upon by property owners, some, such as the University of Colorado at Boulder and Tufts University, although often practised as a solo sport, buildering has also become a popular group activity. As in more traditional rock climbing, routes are established and graded for difficulty, in 1895, the great alpinist Geoffrey Winthrop Young, started to climb the roofs of Cambridge University, England. Students had been scrambling up the university architecture for years, and he wrote and published a buildering guide to Trinity College. Then in 1905, while a master at Eton College, Young produced another small volume on buildering, spoofing mountaineering, in 1905, Harry H. Gardiner began buildering. He successfully climbed over 700 buildings in Europe and North America, usually wearing street clothes. In 1910, George Polley started his career when the owner of a clothing store promised him a suit if he would climb to the roof of the building. He succeeded, and went on to climb over 2,000 buildings, during the years from 1915 to 1920, buildering in New York City reached its peak. Before 1915, there were few skyscrapers in New York City, and after 1920, during this golden era, a number of daredevils climbed the tall buildings, but several of them fell to their deaths in the attempt. In 1921, a group of undergraduates from St Johns College, Cambridge, in 1930, John Hurst wrote the second edition of Geoffrey Winthrop Youngs buildering guide to Trinity. In 1937, a comprehensive and lighthearted account of Cambridge night climbing appeared in print, written by Noël Howard Symington. In 1947, John Ciampa scaled the exterior of the Astor Hotel in New York City, in 1960, Richard Williams wrote the third edition of the Trinity buildering guide
9.
Climbing competition
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A climbing competition, sometimes shortened to comp, is usually held indoors on purpose built climbing walls. There are three types of climbing competition, lead, speed, and bouldering. In lead climbing, the start at the bottom of a route and must climb within a certain time frame. Speed climbing can either be an individual or team event, the person or team that can climb a route the fastest is the winner. Bouldering competitions consist of climbing short problems with the emphasis on number of problems completed, in the United States, the American Bouldering Series organizes regional and national events. Sport climbing will be in the Olympic Games for the first time in 2020, Lead is the most common type of sport climbing. Competitors climb a long, difficult route designed and set by the route setter, all standard Lead competitions consist of three rounds, qualifications, semifinals, and finals. In the qualification round competitors climb 2 similar routes flash, meaning there is no isolation and their rank will then be calculated as the square root of their rank on either route multiplied by each other. In the case of ties, the rank from the previous round is taken into account. In the Finals, and if the tie is not broken using the countback process, in lead, climbers are belayed from below, and are required to clip quickdraws along the route. The route must be climbed within a time limit, usually 6 minutes. 26 athletes qualify for the Semifinal,8 proceed to the Final, Speed is the only factor that counts in the Speed Climbing event. Competitors climb a slightly overhanging IFSC certified vertical piste with belaying from the top, since 2007 the IFSC has created a standard wall for the world record. The climbing time is determined by mechanical-electric timing but manual timing is also possible, when mechanical-electric timing is used, the climbing time shall be measured with an accuracy of 0.01 second. As of 12.09.2014, Ukrainian climber Danyl Boldyrev holds the mens 15 meter speed world record,5.60 seconds, iuliia Kaplina from Russia holds the womens 15-meter speed record at 7.53 seconds. The new Team Speed discipline was introduced as a showcase for the 2011 World Championship. It is a competition with teams of three. The teams are made up of 3 athletes of the same sex, before the 2012 set of rules was introduced, the teams had to be mixed sexes
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