Climbing facts for kids

Climber on Monte Fitz Roy in Argentina.

Rock climbers on Valkyrie at The Roaches in Staffordshire, England.

A competitor in a rope climbing event.

An ice climber using special tools.

Climbing is an exciting activity where you use your hands, feet, and body to go up steep places. People climb for fun, for sports, or even for jobs like rescue missions. You can climb indoors on special walls or outdoors on mountains and buildings.

Expert guides, like those from the IFMGA, have helped make climbing popular and safe in nature.

Climbing became an official sport at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. This was the first time it was included in the Olympic Games.

Types of Climbing Activities

There are many different ways to climb. Each type uses special skills and sometimes different equipment:

• Bouldering: This is climbing on large rocks or short walls, usually without ropes. Climbers use special shoes and a chalk bag to keep their hands dry. To stay safe, they use soft crash pads on the ground and friends to "spot" them (help guide a fall onto the pad).
• Buildering: This is climbing on the outside of buildings. It's often done without safety gear.
• Canyoneering: This involves traveling through canyons. It often includes climbing, hiking, and sometimes swimming.
• Competition climbing: This is a formal sport where climbers compete on artificial walls. The IFSC organizes these events worldwide. Competition climbing has three main types:
  • Lead climbing: Climbers try to go as high as possible on a long route.
  • Bouldering: Climbers solve short, tricky "problems" on low walls.
  • Speed climbing: Two climbers race to the top of the same route.
• Free climbing: In this type of rock climbing, climbers use ropes and gear only for safety, not to help them move up. They rely on their own strength and skill.
• Ice climbing: This is climbing on frozen waterfalls or icy slopes. Climbers use ice axes and crampons (spikes on their boots) to grip the ice.
• Indoor climbing: This happens inside on artificial walls with special handholds. You can do top roping, lead climbing, or bouldering at a climbing gym.
• Ladder climbing: This can be a form of exercise, like climbing up and down a ladder or along "monkey bars."
• Mallakhamba: An ancient Indian sport where people climb a pole or rope and perform amazing yoga and gymnastics moves in the air.
• Mountaineering: This is climbing mountains for fun. It often includes both rock and ice climbing, especially in the Alps.
• Pole climbing: This is climbing poles or masts without any equipment.
• Rock climbing: This is climbing on natural rock formations. Climbers often use special shoes and chalk. Ropes and other gear are used for safety or to help with difficult sections.
• Rope access: This is a type of industrial climbing. Workers use ropes to reach high places on buildings or structures for short jobs, instead of using scaffolding.
• Rope climbing: This is a sport where you climb a short, thick rope as fast as you can. It's different from roped climbing in rock or ice climbing.
• Scrambling: This is a mix of hiking and easy rock climbing, often found on hills.
• Solo climbing: This is when a climber goes up alone. If they are "free soloing," they don't use any ropes or safety systems, which is very dangerous. Sometimes, solo climbers use self-belay systems to reduce the risk.
• Sport climbing: A type of rock climbing where permanent safety anchors are already fixed to the rock. This is different from traditional climbing.
• Top roping: A safe way to climb where the rope is anchored at the top of the route. A person on the ground (called a belayer) controls the rope, keeping the climber safe.
• Traditional climbing: Also called "Trad climbing," this is a type of climbing where there are no fixed anchors. Climbers place their own removable safety gear as they go up.
• Tree climbing: This is climbing trees for fun, often using ropes and other safety gear.
• Tower climber: A professional who climbs tall broadcasting or telecommunication towers to do maintenance or repairs.

Rock, ice, and tree climbing usually use ropes for safety. Pole climbing and rope climbing were some of the first exercises in modern gymnastics.

Films About Climbing

Climbing has been featured in many movies and documentaries. Some famous ones include Touching the Void, Everest, and Free Solo.

Images for kids

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  Bouldering at an indoor climbing center in Pasila, Helsinki, Finland.

See also

In Spanish: Escalada para niños