Make no mistake, rock climbing is a serious business. You will almost certainly die at some point.
There are two ways to learn how to rock climb. The wrong way, the right way and the other ways that are not covered in this text. In keeping with the British tradition I shall concentrate on outlining the wrong way to allow the reader to infer his own right way.
1) Never go to an indoor wall. Cranking out F7a plastic is no preparation for the rigors of a Hard Severe chimney. Equipped plywood with adjacent car parking will raise an unjustified expectation of how many metres of climbing can be achieved in an average day.
2) Unless you already know a competent VS (HVS on a good day) climber the whole notion of learning to climb is laughable and you had might as well stop reading now and consider five-a-side football for your adrenaline fix.
3) If you do know such a VS leader, your luck is in. He. They're all hes, no shes. He will almost certainly be able to lead Severe and will be only too willing to school you on the rigors of Vdiff climbing. One can expect to be seconding Mods by the end of the first days training - if you are lucky with the weather that is.
4) Any talk of E1 climbing is just that - talk. No-one can expect to just take up climbing and climb E1. E stands for Extreme you are not extreme you are average. These hypothetical E grades have all been made up by RockFax to sell their glossy guide books. You only need get hold of a photocopy of the 1954 definitive pamphlet for your local crag.
5) There is no point in visiting anything other than your local crag. The change in rock type, angle or style of climbing will render the venture to another crag both dangerous and impractical unless you know another VS leader from that area who has the crag's '54 pamphlet.
Next week I will consider the use of chalk and camming devices and the how the very fabric of the universe will dissolve if these becomes wide spread in the UK.
Post edited at 16:52
