Rock-climbing has emerged as one of the adventure sport and outdoor activity among the adventure lovers across the world. An integral part of mountaineering , rock-climbing is also a popular discipline of mountain climbing . As a whole, rock-climbing refers to the process of climbing an inclined rock surface with or without any artificial support. Rock-climbing is considered to be one of the most challenging adventure sports practiced by the masses. Rock-climbing evolved as a sport during the later half of the nineteenth century. Since then the sport has been much developed and advanced.
With the advancement of rock-climbing , grading system was introduced for marking the rock slopes on the basis of difficulty to climb that. Generally rock-climbing is regarded to be an outdoor activity . However, in some places, indoor arena for rock-climbing has been set up, which are equally challenging as the natural outdoor counterpart. Various techniques are used for rock-climbing . Ropes and harnesses are almost always used as protective gears. However, expert lead climbers can ascend without any protection. Belaying is the most common technique used during rock-climbing , in which working in pair, one climber ascends the surface while other one supplies rope to the climber through a belay device.
There are various types of rock-climbing exercised by people all over the world. Rock-climbing done without any support is considered to be free climbing . On the other hand, climbing with artificial support is called aided climbing . The other types of rock-climbing are bouldering, top rope climbing, sport lead climbing, solo free climbing and others. The equipments used during rock-climbing include rope, carabiners, harness, helmet, ascenders, belay devices, pitons, hammer, nuts, slings or lines and tapes. Climbers can learn the use of all the equipments required for the sport at various organizations, which offer rock-climbing training programs. Apart from using the gears, climbers also have to know various types of knots, which are used during the sport.
Rock-climbing is an extreme outdoor activity, which demands both physical and mental strength. For this reason, people opting for the sport have to be properly trained and physically fit to face the challenges of the activity.
