2. FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CLIMBING
These are the five main types of rock climbing, arranged from the least to the most dangerous:
Full-safety climbing
Free climbing
Bouldering
Aid (or artificial) climbing
Soloing
Full-safety climbing
Full-safety climbing is the safest way to climb, but it's also the least exciting. With full-safety climbing, you are tied to all kinds of ropes and you climb up a surface by grabbing onto pre-installed grips. Furthermore, someone on the ground will be pulling on the rope to help you haul your body up the surface, just in case you're not strong enough to do it yourself. Basically, it's just like rock climbing on one of those walls in the mall. You can do it, but it's not nearly as fun.
Free climbing
Free climbing is the most common type of rock climbing out there, and is considered to be the "essence" of the sport. Equipment is used only for safety, not for creating holds (the places where you grip the rock). When you see amazing pictures of psychos hanging off of rocks with one hand (with nothing but a rope around their waist), that's free climbing. Your first climbing experience will consist of quite a bit more safety, but this will still most likely be the type of rock climbing that you will do as a first-timer.
Bouldering
Another popular first-time climbing option is bouldering, or a short climb unaided by equipment. This style is used on a low, freestanding rock or at the base of a larger rock (where falls aren't very steep or dangerous). Nevertheless, a spotter should always be present.
Aid (or artificial) climbing
This should be left to pros. Used mainly when free climbing becomes impossible, aid climbing uses equipment (like hand-held suction cup thingies) to create artificial holds in the rock. Complicated and scary.
Soloing
Soloing should be left to those with a death wish. It is a longer climb unaided by safety equipment. This style is very dangerous, and even many professionals refuse to do it.
Within these types of climbing, there are other safety features you can use. A very popular safety feature is belaying: when two people climb together while hooked up to each other. Used in free and aid climbing, belaying prevents long falls (undoubtedly a good thing). The "leader" climbs first, and the "second" follows. While one is climbing, the other belays him/her -- that is, releases enough rope for him/her to climb. The rope is anchored to some fixed point on the rock (like a crack or a tree) while the belayer stays steady at that point to attend to the rope. Should you fall, you will only fall as far as the amount of rope that has been anchored. Don't worry about the details of belaying yet just realize that it is another safety feature which exists.
