ROCK CLIMBING
Learning the Ropes By Michel Goulet, MultiTrek Climbing School
ROCK-CLIMBING is a thrilling outdoor activity that combines personal challenges and social camaraderie. Every year, hundreds of adventure sport enthusiasts from the Ottawa-Gatineau area fulfill their long time curiosity and sign up to introductory rockclimbing courses. Although rock-climbing offers many pleasures, it also entails certain risks inherent to the sport. Gravity and high places can be very unforgiving. Knowing how and where to climb and how to correctly use the safety gear can make the difference between enjoying and not enjoying the activity. Newcomers to the sport are therefore well advised to seek out certified instructors who will provide quality instruction. Typical introductory courses begin on level ground in a classroom setting. There, instructors will familiarize participants with rope handling skills and the proper use of technical climbing gear. Knots such as the figure 8 (see fig.1) and the butterfly (see fig. 2) will be practiced. Safe climbing procedures will be covered in detail, including anchoring methods, rigging of safety lines, communication systems and proper belaying and rappelling techniques. Belaying is the action of securing a climber with a dynamic climbing rope. The climber is tied to one end of the rope while the person belaying controls the other end. Should a fall occur, the person belaying arrests the fall by keeping the rope from feeding out from his or her position. The feeding out and taking in of the rope and the stopping of falls needs to be practiced and perfected before anyone moves out onto the vertical playgrounds. Two or three daylong outings will usually follow the ground school. During this time, participants will start to put into practice the safety procedures that they have learned. They will begin to develop their very own climbing style while gaining a greater appreciation and respect for the rock-climbing environment. 40
1
2
Novice sessions are held on cliffs that range from 15 to 30 metres in height. Organisations providing these courses will carefully select sites that offer clean and solid rock faces, which offer both easy and more difficult climbing routes. Many such sites are located along the Eardley Escarpment near Luskville, Quebec and in the Calabogie, Ontario area. For those who don’t mind longer drives, Val David north of Montreal and the Adirondack Mountains around Lake Placid N.Y offer excellent teaching cliffs. Once at the climbing site, climbers are briefed on the objective dangers
