How to Down Climb a Rock Wall

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Bill with Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com we are here today at a Chapel Ledges at Ashfield, Massachusetts and in this series I'm going to be talking about the basics of moving on rock. Down climbing is something that I like to avoid but it is a necessary evil once you get up somewhere you might need to get down, you may not have a rope, you may not want to lower on the rope for some reason. So somethings to keep in mind if you need to down climb. As oppose to going up you need to be thinking about everything moving below you so before I move my feet I want to get my hands set up so that I'm ready to go down and still have a hand hold. I might need to change my grip on that hold as I go once I'm set up to move, I'm going to carefully find a foot hole down here so I can get establish again. It is hard to see them because they are so far down there so take it slow move one foot at a time, make sure you hand holds are going to be able to support you if you don't like the foot hold. If it doesn't work come back up look for something else. Once I am established and I like it again hands down pushing like this using my arm bones to hold my weight, help out because that gives me more of opportunity to support my weight without out committing to that foot hold until I decided that I like it. So down climbing I like to avoid of it if I can but if I got to do it I want to do it slowly, carefully, move your hands low, step down, make sure you like that foot hold before you commit to it, once you are there wait start the process again. Down climbing."