Best beginner tips on how to start outdoor rock climbing

Rock climbing is very different from climbing in the local climbing gym I think that you should know before you make the transition And, will also share a few very good beginners rock climbing destinations in Europe that a thing you should consider visiting And, of course we'll also look into what specific gear you should bring.

First of all start with single pitch sport climbing This is what resembles indoor climbing the most so you can easily build up skill from there And one thing you'll soon discover is that you can't climb as hard as you do indoors.

And, there's a few really good reasons for that First of all the holes in your local climbing gym are coloured And, you don't have that luxury outdoors because it can be very hard to identify the climbing holds.

Because they all tend to look the same And, especially on easier routes say up to French 6a the amount of climbing holds are so vast that you spend a lot of time searching for even better holds and you'll consume a lot of energy on that But, as you start progressing outdoors.

you can start navigating by all the chalk marks that other climbers have left behind. And that makes things a whole lot easier Another thing is that outdoor rock climbing is a mental game Falling outdoors can be a bit scarier than falling indoors.

You will probably find that the distance between the bolts are longer than you're used to and you will take longer Falls And that takes a bit of a time to get used to So, I would recommend starting really slow.

Start a few grades below your redpoint level in your local climbing gym and then build up from there There are many great destinations for beginners around the world but if you're based in Europe I would highly recommend going to Italy Especially Arco near the Garda Lake is a fantastic place to start. Here the distance between the bolts are very short and you'll feel protected all the time And that is something you will definitely not find in Germany where there will be longer distance between the bolts and often it's only the crux sections that's actually bolted Depending on where you go rock climbing there's some special gear that I highly recommend that you bring.

First of all get a handful of maillons also referred to as bail biners. if you find yourself on a route that is too tough then you can place one of these maillons and get lowered off of that instead of having to leave one of your quickdraws behind because in the long run that becomes pretty expensive.

And, you would never want to be lowered off directly on the bolts because this can really significantly damage the climbing rope. And, speaking of climbing ropes I would highly recommend getting at least a 60 meter climbing rope or even a 70 meter climbing rope. Because the routes outdoors are often longer in your local climbing gym.

I would also recommend getting a rope that has rock protection that would protect it against dust sand sand. This significantly increases the durability and the lifespan of your climbing rope and it's definitely worth the investment You should check out brands like Mummut or Edelrid who makes some really excellent outdoor climbing ropes.

You should also consider getting a rope bag for your climbing rope With a rope bag you can easily carry the rope around at the crag and a rope bag will also help protect against sand and dust There are many different options out there and I owned the Petzl Kliff which I find is a really good rope bag that can contain both my rope, and my harness my shoes, and some water and some snacks. But if you're on a budget then one of those blue IKEA bags actually gets the job done quite well.

As there are no quickdraws already pre-attached to the bolts outdoors you need to bring your own. There are loads of different options here too and there lot of different kinds that you can select from but we'll cover that in a later video. But, for a first set of quickdraws I would probably go for something like the Petzl Spirit Express or maybe the Black Diamond Positron. These are quite cheap and really durable And in terms of selecting quickdraws you should get a good variation of different lengths because climbing routes doesn't necessarily go in a straight line and you would really like to avoid rope drag especially on longer routes. Personally, I carry the DMM Phantom which is a really lightweight quickdraw that comes in three different sizes.

Depending on where you go climbing you should obviously get a guidebook for the area. A guidebook help you get an overview of the different climbs for that particular area that you're visiting.