Choosing A Rock Climb

"Hi, I'm Bill with Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com. We're here today at Chapel Ledges in Ashfield, Massachusetts, Trustees of the Reservations Property and in this series I'm going to be talking about preparing to climb. So how do you choose a rock climb? Well your guidebook is going to help with the rating and the discussing of the character of the climb, but knowing a little bit about your preferences and what each kind of climbing might entail is going to help you too. So I want to point out a few differences of what you might encounter. Climbs in the corner is going to offer two different surfaces of rock to use for holds or working between them and techniques known as stemming that I'll explain later. Crack climbing in a vertical crack is going to offer opportunities typically for jamming or lay backing, techniques I'll mention later, but will give you a straight roof that you're going to head up the cliff on. Climbing on over hangs can be strenuous, but exciting and face climbing either a low angle face or steeper is probably more technical and gives you lots of opportunity to root find, because you're looking at a whole bunch of opportunities in front of you. Those are some different options you might encounter on any given climb in any combination, knowing what you like and what works for you will help you choose the right climb."