Climbing

It essential to gather the correct equipment before you go climbing. You need a harness, a helmet, ropes, appropriate shoes, carabena clips and hooks/pins. A harness is used to attach you to the rope and prevent you from falling off. A helmet is very important gear because if you fall or make contact with somethiing hard then it will keep your head safe. Ropes are needed to secure you to the rock and give you something to hold onto while you are abseiling down. Appropriate shoes are needed and should be flexible to allow you to fit your foot into holds and have grips to stop you sliding off the rocks.
Safety is very important and all your gear should be done up securely and correctly. You put your harness on by slipping your legs through the loops and tightening them with the buckles. Make sure it is tight enough by seeing if you can slip your hand through, if you can then it is not tight enough. Your helmet must also sit comfortably on your head and must be done up securely. Belaying must be done correctly to insure safety. You have to feed the rope through a carabena clip and secure it with a special knot.
Before you start climbing the instructor must set up the ropes. They do this by attaching a double rope to the top of a cliff, the rope being held by a pin.
The climbing is done by looking for a hand or foot hold and holding on to it with one hand, you then repeat this with the other hand, pull yourself up and find somewhere to rest your feet. You carry this on to the top. When you have finished climbing you can abseil down. To do this you lean gently back onto the rope, using your feet to guide you slowly down.



Yu Jing P7c 1/11/06