The history of rock climbing started with the early mountaineers in 1798 with the ascent of Mont Blanc ("Climb on Rock Climbing History" 1). The desire to climb these steep high mountains gave way to the sport of trad climbing. Trad climbing, as quoted from the article Climb on Rock Climbing History, “was the starting point for all modern climbers” (1).  Trad climbing consists of using a rope and finding safety along the ascent of the face of the mountain. This kind of climbing consisted of using pitons along the cracks and holes on the sides of the mountain. Modern climbing today tries to stop using the pitons, which were holds in the sides of mountains that laid out previous routes, so that we can preserve the mountains. Most climbing today is moving toward free climbing. Before the idea of trad climbing, the rock climbing community consisted of sport climbing. Sport climbing, as quoted from the Climb on Rock Climbing History, “is also known as leading, whereby the climber ‘leads’ the rope up the rock face clipping into permanent protection that has been bolted into the rocks”(1).

Throughout the years many different types of rock climbing have evolved from just the standard rope climbing technique. Soloing is the act of climbing up a mountain with no gear whatsoever. This is a very dangerous type of rock climbing that only professional rock climbers should attempt. Even then solo rock climbing can potentially prove lethal to even the best athletes. Within solo rock climbing there is also bouldering, free-soloing, and deep water soloing. Bouldering is climbing up boulders with no gear instead of a traditional mountain. Free-soloing is climbing up a mountain without the use of any rock climbing equipment. Finally, deep water soloing is a type of solo climbing but over a body of water. Deep water soloing can still prove very dangerous if a climber falls into the water at the wrong angle or when they dislodge a rock and it hit them. Another type of rock climbing is top-roping. Top-roping consists of a single rope anchored at the top and has permanent anchors along the way to guide you up to the top. This kind of rock climbing is taught at all indoor rock climbing gyms and is the safest by far. Lead climbing is another type of rock climbing that uses a rope to catch the climbers in case they make a mistake. Lead climbing is again broken down into trad climbing which uses the natural rock features to plant its safety equipment while sport climbing is the use of permanent anchors that are built into the side of the mountain. Aid climbing is another form of climbing that uses gear when there is no natural features left to continue climbing higher up the mountain. Ice climbing is yet another type of climbing, very similar to lead climbing, but on icy slopes, frozen water falls, and snowy rock faces. Finally, the last form of rock climbing is mountaineer climbing where most of the time the climber hikes the way up the mountain, but in an event where it becomes too step to hike the climber may use their rock climbing skills to continue towards the top of the mountain.

History