Whilst there are many similarities between climbing indoors and outdoors, there are a lot of differences too, and it's worth being aware of these before you head out onto real rock for the first time.
There's a whole myriad of things to take into account such as route reading, safety, spotting and ethics. This doesn't have to be overwhelming though, and our handy guide will show you what to expect when you get out of the gym.
When you're looking to boulder outside for the first time, it can be a little different to the controlled, warm environment everyone's used to at the gym; there are no colour-coded warm-ups, no gym equipment, and certainly no coffee mac...
Looking after the crags we climb on is more important than ever. In recent times, access has been removed from several crags and areas, it's therefore crucial that we preserve and improve the ones we have left. In this video, Rob Greenwood...
There's an old saying in bouldering that 'all you need is a pair of shoes.' You might get away with that indoors but when you head outside, things are a little different. Rob Greenwood runs us through the absolute essentials you'll need for...
Comments
On the whole, a good video. Perhaps, given some of the recent issues around access, it maybe have touched on some of the other aspects of enjoying the outdoors - respect for the environment, parking, car sharing, access issues etc? Or maybe than can be the next video?
We've got a few videos coming out in this series and most of (if not all) the issues you've outlined are covered within them :-)
Nice one Rob, good work!
As a general aside to this series, it's worth mentioning that we proactively integrated its message within our recent destination guides to bouldering at Cratcliffe/Robin Hood's Stride, Llanberis Pass, Carrock Fell and Almscliff.
We didn't want go overboard within those and make them outright instructional, because the primary aim was to make them fun and watchable; however, we did want to interweave best practise within them (e.g. drying/cleaning shoes, brushing off chalk + tick marks) so that good etiquette was demonstrated throughout.
I think a balanced approach, using inspirational content such as that with instructional content such as this is key, as is venturing off UKC and onto other platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, because that way the message gets out to an entirely different audience.
I'm not saying for one minute that this will solve the problem, but I thought I'd give a bit of background into our thoughts behind how we're trying to address it.
Here's to hoping it makes a difference...
I'm gobsmacked that this video even exists. What ever happened to just going out climbing and using some common sense? If you need to be told to "look out for that rock" then maybe you shouldn't be there in the first place.