In This Guide
Rock Climbing Sites, Magazines, and General Information
Basics of Rock Climbing: Instruction, Gyms, and Communities
Buying Rock Climbing Equipment
Improving Your Climbing Technique
Where to Climb: Climbing Maps, Tips, and Tricks
Climbing Stories and Interviews with Rock Climbers
Rock Climbing Organizations and Governing Bodies
Rock Climbing: Hit Your Peak Online
Once relegated to the obscure bastion of an extreme sport, rock climbing has become so popular that you'll now find men, women, and children of all ages and levels of fitness at the gym or out on the rock, alongside lithe and limber experts. Advances in equipment, safety, and instruction have opened up the world of climbing to just about anyone. With the help of the Internet, you can begin to learn about, or perfect, your climbing experience right from your own home.
Expand All Guide SectionsRock Climbing Sites, Magazines, and General Information
Climbing is varied and multifaceted, and trying to get an understanding of what it is can be a bit daunting in the beginning. After all, there's climbing indoors, climbing outdoors with protected, pre-set routes, or outdoors with "protection" you set up yourself. The Internet has a variety of resources that can help you familiarize yourself with (and eventually immerse yourself in) the rock climbing world. There are only a handful of climbing magazines in print, but there are plenty of sites where you can glean much about technique, gear, locations, and exciting breakthroughs, as climbers continue to push past previously known limits.
Dulcinea's Insight
- Be prepared to feel a bit intimidated as you see feats of athletic prowess online that aren't easily duplicated unless you commit to climbing full time. Rock climbing is a world unto itself, with its own lingo, gear, and passionate, conflicting views on do's and don'ts. Not to worry. Jump in, look around, and climbing will soon begin to make sense.
- As you research, you may come across terms you don't know. To expedite your acclamation to the world of rock climbing, refer to RockClimbing.com's "Climbing Dictionary" early and often.
- One reason climbing is accessible to most everyone is the fact that you're supposed to be primarily using your legs. Climbers will remind each other, over and over again, "Find your feet!" while a climber struggles to find hand-holds that give them a false sense of security. Our leg muscles comprise some of the largest muscles in our body. You'll have more success if you think of the sport as using your formidable leg muscles to step your way up, along with balance, agility, and a calm mind.
- The online resources listed below are particularly useful for overviews and introductions to climbing, as well as articles and pictures. Additionally, we've included online versions of print magazines, which are also valuable sources of information, especially as you immerse yourself in the rock climbing culture.
Dulcinea's Picks
For online-only resources ...
Rock Climbing
is your portal to all things climbing, featuring the latest news, a guide for beginners gear reviews, classifieds, and forums. Alongside Summit Post, it has one of the largest collections of route information online. Articles and videos are grouped by type, and if you're looking for photos, there are tens of thousands. You can also use the site to find a potential climbing partner.
A-B-C of Rock Climbing
is one of the best sites for a beginner, with lengthy sections on basics, background, equipment, techniques, and safety. It also offers travel and services for climbers, and an active forum.
Summit Post
will spur you to consider climbing around the world, with its endless route profiles and trip reports. Users rate all articles, route reports, and photos. The site has inspiring photos and up to 35,000 registered members. A master list of new articles and route information is updated every five minutes!
Indoor Climbing
's name belies the breadth of information on this somewhat busily laid-out, but incredibly useful site. It's another great site for beginners. Here, you'll find lots of in-depth tips on training plans, technique, nutrition, competition listings, and plenty of links for further exploration (they don't mind linking to competitors either).
Spadout
has a simple, visually appealing design. There is a straightforward site menu that organizes the site into major categories, articles, tools, gear, and gyms. Notable training articles, especially on combining yoga/climbing for best performance, and some unique comparison tools for shopping, make this a site to visit.
Big Wall Climbing
is the homepage of aid climber John Middendorf, who's been going at it for decades. The site features a long list of articles, photos, and an ancient, but classic how-to for mastering these behemoths.
For magazines ...
Alpinist
, billing itself as a "coffee table online journal for climbers, boulders and mountaineers around the globe," is a beautifully laid-out site based on an archival-quality, five-year-old magazine out of Wyoming. It's content-rich and absolutely brimming with well-written essays, stunning photos, and engaging journals from some of the world's best climbers. The online version includes many full articles from the most current issue and a moderately active forum.
Climbing
is geared more toward the everyday climber. It has lots of stories, profiles of classic climbs, regular columns (Tall Tales, Off the Wall), and an exclusive slideshow/essay series, "The Dirtbag Diaries." It's got pro blogs, photos, a nice collection of videos, and climbing wallpaper. Handy catalog ordering pages let you order bunches in one fell swoop.
Rock and Ice
is one of the most popular, well-written climbing magazines. It's slick, glossy, and pretty to look at. The site is much the same, but you won't find a lot of actual content here. Look through archives for a helpful collection of "Ask Gear Guy" questions and field-tested products. However, forums are not that active, and photos and video offerings are comparatively sparse.
Gripped
is a Canadian-based magazine. The site is fairly lean, but does offer comprehensive information on climbing in Canada, a handy link list, and updated climbing news.
Who knew?
Gorp
is a travel and outdoor site, which has this entertaining and informative article on climbing with children.
Body Results
offers comprehensive training programs (see the "How can I improve my climbing?" section below). Here's an intriguing article on climbing while pregnant.
Basics of Rock Climbing: Instruction, Gyms, and Communities
The first thing you'll need to figure out is where to climb. One of the best places to start is ... read more »
Buying Rock Climbing Equipment
Climbing equipment sites make it easier than ever to shop for gear online by collecting different ... read more »
Improving Your Climbing Technique
After mastering the basics, you're bound to start wondering how you can better your climbing. Learn ... read more »
Where to Climb: Climbing Maps, Tips, and Tricks
Look at a geographical feature map of the United States and it will become apparent that there are ... read more »
Climbing Stories and Interviews with Rock Climbers
Sure, folks are doing things out there on the rock that only contortionists or Olympic athletes ... read more »
Rock Climbing Organizations and Governing Bodies
Regulatory and developmental bodies are a fairly recent phenomenon for the field of climbing, but ... read more »
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
