Introduction
The standard disclaimers about how dangerous climbing is and how unreliable anything is you read anywhere apply here as well. This site is far from definitive (and probably far from accurate). It is here for the amusement of myself and friends and possibly to shed some light, though I don't mind a little obfuscation now and again either. Various parts have been adapted and pilfered from sources found hither and yon, though I have tried to make all entries mostly original. So please read, but remember that responsibility for safe climbing is your own.
I have created this set of pages as an attempt to give my friends a basic background in some of the basics about climbing, so, if they do glaze over during a period where I am talking about my main interest, they can at least do so convincingly. The idea is to give the total punter an idea of what climbing is, the different types, and also what they would need if they wished to get into it themselves. I'm hopefully going to start at the beginning, work my way through the middle and finish at the end. If I do get out of sequence then let me know.
What I consider climbing is going upwards by your own strength and skill on a rockface. What is not covered is:
1. Going down by your own strength and skill in a cave. (Caving/Pot Holing). I have had little interest in this since someone I knew died in fairly unpleasant circumstances, not because of the injury received, but because it took so long for the emergency services to get to him.
2. Going for a long walk up a high mountain. (Mountaineering). I again have no interest because of the risk involved. You twist you ankle a long way up a mountain then you are pretty much dead.