Five reasons not to fear your local climbing wall

Photo Credit: Nick Croken

Three years after first trying it, climbing has become a passion for Dallas Mix, '14 BEd. As program co-ordinator at the new Wilson Climbing Centre on UAlberta's north campus, he has ready access to some of the highest indoor routes in the country, as well as the chance to share his passion with others. Mix took a break from 30 hours of setting routes for a competition to explain a bit about the sport and how he blazes those colourful trails.

1. Not just for superheroes
When you walk into the climbing centre and look up - waaaay up - at the walls towering 14.5 metres above, it's easy to think they're made for tall, sinewy superheroes who can clamber up like Spider-Man. Not true.

Mix, who helps design and regularly remake the climbing routes at UAlberta's climbing centre, says they're deliberately designed for all abilities. And there's a broad range of body types that excel at climbing. While some climbs are easier for the long-limbed, other routes reward smaller bodies.

Photo Credit: Nick Croken

2. Climbers are a friendly bunch
Attitudes, be gone. Most climbing centres, UAlberta's included, strive to create a welcoming environment for newcomers who want to (ahem) learn the ropes. The public can rent equipment, sign up for adult and children's classes and enroll in summer camps for kids (see sidebar).

Mix recalls, when he was a relative newcomer to climbing, falling repeatedly while trying a tricky bouldering route. "This guy came up and said, 'Oh, hey, try flipping your hand like this.' A couple of months later, I realized he's one of the strongest climbers in the city." Mix says this sort of generosity from fellow climbers is common.

3. It's not all about up
Climbing facilities typically offer three types of climbing. "Bouldering" involves moving both vertically and horizontally along a three- to five-metre wall without a rope. It's a good place to start for beginners. "Top-roping" is done with a partner, or belayer, who holds one end of a rope that is passed through an anchor at the top of the wall and attached to the climber's harness; the belayer keeps the rope taut during the climb so the climber can't fall far. "Lead climbing" is for experienced climbers. The rope trails behind the climber, who passes it through "quick draws" anchored in the wall as he or she climbs. It's trickier and can mean longer falls.

Photo Credit: Dawn Graves

4. How to read a climbing wall
It may look random, but the colourful holds scattered across a wall are anything but. They're placed deliberately to create routes of varying difficulties. Bouldering routes are rated using the Hueco scale, which starts at V0 for very easy and ends (unless you really are a superhero) at V16. (High walls use a different grading system, which we won't get into here.) The grading takes into account whether the wall is overhanging, the size of the holds, how far apart they are and where they are (i.e., a route with no footholds will be rated harder than one with footholds). Routes are colour-coded by route difficulty: red is easiest, followed by black, green, blue and yellow, the hardest. Coloured tape is used to mark routes on many walls but the new generation of climbing gyms, including the Wilson centre, uses coloured holds.

5. Blazing the trails
Bouldering routes are called "problems" and there's a reason for that: solving them is as much about smarts as it is about strength. Sometimes, the person who creates the route is trying to get climbers to perform a particular move or challenging them to use a specific hold in an unconventional way. It's almost like choreographing the climbers' movements.

Mix says when he sets a route he's inspired by many things, such as the features of the wall or a hold that enables a "really cool movement." Mainly, he says, his goal "is to ensure everyone has the best experience possible."

Photo Credit: Nick Croken