You maybe have been climbing indoors at the gym, possibly have done some bouldering outdoors, but now you want to scale granite & lime walls and learn the skills it takes to climb them in a safe and fun manner. You could read a book about it, definitely should go to a course for it, but in the meanwhile these superb videos will teach you the basics of rock climbing in an illustrative manner that will give you a head start in your rock climbing career!
Disclaimer: Climbing is immense fun. It’s a great exercise for the body and mind, and a superb reason to go and see new places and climb there. Sure, you could fall down, break a leg, or die. But that can happen just as well in the city. So go out and climb!
Books, the old media, are still a great way to learn about climbing, to deepen you knowledge, and use as a reference. There’s plenty of good books and some more. I also find magazines very inspirational - less maybe for techniques, but more so for destinations and stories, and can highly recommend you to subscribe to Alpinist, Rock & Ice and Climb. But what they lack is the possibility to show you in a fluid motion how to for example set up an anchor, use a rappel device correctly and many more things, which are just easier to understand when seen in motion.
Now you always should try to meet local climbers who could teach you, join your local climbing club, or visit a course at your gym so that an expert can show you all those very important things. In Finland for example SKIL will help you find these people, while in Germany the DAV will be the best source to gain information.
But until you’re able to visit a rock climbing course, there happily is the internet. More specifically, Vimeo and Youtube. Besides a whole host of inspirational videos of gorgeous places, interviews and product demonstrations there’s also a very good selection of technique videos. Underneath you will find a very good selection of these videos - from Beginner to Advanced, you surely will learn something from these even if you have been climbing for years!
Rock Climbing Basics 1: Tying in with a Figure 8
Rock Climbing Basics 2: Top rope belaying
Rock Climbing Basics 4: Tying a Figure 8 ‘on the bight’ and Clove hitch
Rock Climbing Basics 5: Clipping a quickdraw
Rock Climbing Basics 6: How to place and remove nuts
Rock Climbing Basics 7: Cleaning a Sport Anchor
Rock Climbing Basics 8: Placing and cleaning Friends
Rock Climbing Basics 9: Extending a Rappel
Rock Climbing Basics 10: Stick Clipping
Rock Climbing Basics 11: How to coil a rope
Rock Climbing Basics 12: Knots for Rappelling
Crack School - Episode 2 - Hand Cracks
Crack School - Episode 3 - Fist Cracks
Crack School - Episode 4 - Offwidth Cracks
Crack School - Episode 5 - Gear and Gear Placement
Crack School - Episode 6 - Taping
Crack School - Episode 7 - Advanced Fingers
Crack School - Episode 8 - Advanced Hands
Fingerboard Basics
Advanced Fingerboarding
Steep Board Training - Part 1 - Basics
Steep Board Training - Part 2 - Advanced
Stamina Training On Circuit Boards
‘Learning to Lead’ Part 1 - Gear Placement
‘Learning to Lead’ Part 2 - Setting Up A Belay
‘Learning to Lead’ Part 3 - Top Rope Leading
‘Learning to Lead’ Part 4 - Lead belaying
‘Learning to Lead Part 5 - First Lead
The Essentials of Climbing: How To Use Climbing Chalk
The Essentials of Climbing: Let’s Talk About Smearing
The Essentials of Climbing: Edging
Know more videos? Share them in the comments!
Climbing gear? First try the gear at your rock climbing course or ask your climbing mates, then get your own at Bergzeit, Backcountry.com, Bergfreunde, Camu.fi, REI.com and CampSaver.com.