The Basics of Climbing Safety
Hi, my name is Jason Montecalvo with Sport Rock Climbing centers, I’m a certified American Mountain Guide, Top Rope Site manager and I’ve been teaching climbing for over 6 years, I also hold a degree Outdoor Parks and Recreation, and today I’m going to teach you how to safely climb, the form of climbing that we’re going to be learning how to do today is called Top Rope Climbing, which is the safest form of climbing where the climber’s tied into one end of the rope, the rope goes up over an anchor point and back down to the Belayer. This main task is to catch the climber if they were to fall. Essentially what we’ll be learning how to do today is how a climber puts on a harness, how a climber ties into a harness utilizing various knots, the figure 8, the figure 8 follow through, and the back-up knot and how to Belay properly using a tubular style of Belay device with a locking Carabiner. We will also be learning how to ground anchor to the floor. There’s a series of 10 safety checks that we will soon go over, 4 on the Climber, 4 on the Belayer and 2 on the Ground Anchor to ensure our safety before we climb. Really you don’t need much to start climbing, a Climbing Harness, a Climbing Rope; a couple of Carabiners and a Belay device will get you started. You want to remember that Rock Climbing is inherently a dangerous activity and requires you to seek professional help by certified Climbing Instructors prior to engaging in this activity. The first thing we want to do is learn about the climbing Gear, so let’s get started.