Skip to main content

The DIfference Between Top Rope Climbing, Lead Climbing and Bouldering

By Anonymous
Top Rope Climbing
Recently I had the opportunity to try both top rope climbing and bouldering at EVO in Portland. I also learned about lead climbing.

Rock Climbing is the most basic of all of these three methods. This is when you climb up a fairly tall rock wall and you are tethered to the top of the wall and to a belayer. This is the safest of these methods when done correctly.




Lead Climbing

Lead Climbing is when you are climbing up a rock wall but are not tethered to the top of the wall. As you climb you clip your rope into different carabiners on the rock wall. You are also tethered to a belayer on the ground. When you are lead climbing if you fall, you will generally fall from 6 to 20 feet (Twice the distance from you to your last tie-off point). You generally want a belayer who is heavier than you so that when you fall they don't fly into the air.







Bouldering
Bouldering is when you climb up a wall that is about 16 feet tall without being strapped/harnessed to anything. The top of the wall is generally rounded to simulate the top of a mountain climb. Once you get to the top of a bouldering wall there is generally some stairs going to ground level, a ladder, or an easy way to climb down. As you can probably see in the picture the person who is bouldering has a spotter, someone who helps them if they fall. The spotter does not catch the boulderer, but helps guide them to the ground so they don't hit their head on the ground. In many rock gyms with bouldering sections there is padded flooring so falls don't hurt as much.

Photo citation are under the citations tab

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2017 at 10:18 AM

    Cool! This sounds super fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2017 at 10:20 AM

    https://www.evorock.com/portland-me/

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2017 at 10:21 AM

    Awesome! I have been there and it rocks (pun intended)!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2017 at 10:22 AM

    Wow! I bet this rocks your world!

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2017 at 9:34 PM

    Isn't rock climbing a general term for all of those things? I think what you described as rock climbing is called topline climbing. When I was at a rock gym I saw someone fall when lead climbing, and their belayer went at least 15 feet up in the air! Good post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2017 at 10:00 AM

      Thanks for the correction! I changed it!

      Delete
    2. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2017 at 4:14 PM

      15 is more than 10 feet!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Origins of the Bycycle

By Anonymous
In 1869,  Eugène Meyer of Paris invented the high-wheeler (aka. the "penny farthing") and the wire-spoke tension wheel. This was one of the earliest predecessors to the modern bicycle. With front wheels up to 60 inches in diameter and a direct drive system, they were hard to mount and painful to crash because of the height and hard to ride because of the high center of gravity. Despite all that, the penny farthing took off in popularity.  Next came the manufacturing of a rear-wheel, chain-drive  bicycle with similarly sized wheels and pneumatic tires. These inventions made the bike even more popular because the idea of riding a bicycle with symmetrical wheels wrapped in tires filled with air was a lot more fun than bouncing around high above the street on solid tires. An effect of the huge popularity of bicycles was that cities and municipalities began paving roads to accommodate the flood of cyclists. That's right. Roads were built for bikes. Remember th...
3 comments
Read more

Petzl Adjama Harness Review

By Anonymous
     I recently purchased this harness and used it at EVO Rock and Fitness. This harness is meant for mountaineering and ice climbing but it works fine when sport climbing as well. While I was using the harness, I climbed a few top-rope climbing routes with grades from 5.6 to 5.11 and boulder problems* from VO to V4. The harness was less constricting and allowed for a wider range of motion than all of the other harnesses I have used in the past. Even though people usually remove their harness before bouldering, I decided that because this harness did not restrict my range of movement that I would leave it on. There was no difference between bouldering with this harness on and bouldering with this harness off. There are also many other cool features on this harness. The gear loops for hanging climbing gear (Quickdraws, carabiners, slings, cams, bolts, extra rope, etc.) are filled with hard plastic in the front of the harness so that it is easy to reach your climbing gear. ...
9 comments
Read more