The Two Types of Indoor Rock Climbing

Video Transcript

"Hey guys! This is Danny Logan and on behalf of Expert Village, I'm here to talk about indoor rock climbing. Okay, in this clip, I'm going to be explaining the two types of rock climbing indoors. One of the most popular and most known type of climbing indoors is called top roping. Top roping, as you see right here, is when the rope is above the climber. The rope is already set above you, as it is hanging down. So you can approach the wall. You will have a belayer and he will attach this on his harness with the carabiner and the climber goes on this rope. As they both tie in (which, we'll show) as he climbs, he progressively reaches the top as the rope follows him above. So, if he falls, technically, he's not really going to fall; he's just going to hang. He might fall a couple of inches, but that's okay. This is called top roping. It's very safe. It's very fun. And the other type of climbing indoors is called leading. Now if we are lead climbing, it's a little bit different. As you take a look at the wall, you'll notice that there's carabiners on the wall, up the route, without any rope. So, in lead climbing, the climber puts on the rope through his harness and as he climbs, he places the rope in the carabiner. And he goes...continues to climb and put the rope through the next carabiner and so on up to the very top. The difference is, if he falls, he's going to fall down to the last carabiner that he placed the rope through. So, you can see how leading is going to take a lot more dedication and experience and a lot more guts to climb than top roping (which is a lot more safe). Both, of which, you get a good workout and both, of which, you are climbing. Two different preferences. Most people, after a couple years of climbing will prefer to top rope just because of it's style and it feels more like rock climbing; it's more natural to them. "