Our indoor rock wall has been open for about 6 months, so we thought it was time to get our heads around the sport of rock climbing. For most of us, the challenge is just getting up the wall (and then getting the courage to get down once we’re at the top!) but for many, the sport of rock climbing is physically and mentally demanding, testing the climber’s strength, endurance, agility, balance and mental control.
We asked our in-house rock climbing expert, Luke, to give us some pointers on the finer details of rock climbing, so next time you come into the Centre for a climb, you can challenge yourself that little bit more.
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So, how do we know how hard a rock climb is before we start to climb it? Each climb, whether indoors or outdoors, will have a grade. In Australia, we have the ‘Ewbank’ grading system (developed in the mid 1960’s by climber John Ewbank). It’s a pretty easy system to get your head around – the higher the number, the harder the climb; 1 being the easiest, and 35 being the hardest (at present).
As the grade increases, the holds will generally get smaller and the climb will become more technically difficult with harder transitions between moves. At the moment at BALC, we have grades ranging from 5 to 26, with each grade represented by a colour.
So, come and have a go and see how hard you can climb!
To view details of rock climbing session times and pricing, click here.
