Rock Climbing has become a major sport or leisure activity for thousands of outdoor sports enthusiasts. Climbing is an act of going up a mountain, hill, any steep terrain, or artificial wall and it is considered as a sport or as a form of recreation. The benefits acquired while doing this sport are: is a great way to stay in shape and it's a social activity so you get to have fun and meet people while you are working out; climbing to the top of a 40 foot wall for the first time is an amazing experience and gives a great mental strength and this can give a person a sense of self accomplishment that can lift one's spirits and a sense of calm and peace.
Climbing comes in many types, each having its own features and methods and it can vary based on the area you are climbing. So its types include: Mountaineering or mountain climbing, Ice Climbing, Bouldering, Indoor Climbing, and Rock Climbing. It is a balance of strength and brains so people excel in different ways depending on their equilibrium of the two. One of the great things about rock climbing is that there are climbs that a total beginner can do near climbs that will challenge the most advanced climbers. Climbing can also be great for people with physical and emotional disabilities.
The gear you need is pretty simple. A pair of climbing shoes is essential to help keep your feet on the wall and help you stay on those tiny holds when you are half way up the wall. You will need a harness for top roping and belaying. Belaying is the technique used in climbing to exert force on the climbing rope to prevent the climber from falling very far. A chalk bag comes in handy when climbing and bouldering especially for those of us with sweaty hands. That is the most basic gear you will need to get started. When you become more advanced you will begin to buy things like ropes, quick draws, slings, and eventually a trad rack but let's get you on the walls first.
There are several different types of climbing, each with a slightly different level of difficulty and requiring different gear. Top rope climbing is the name for climbing on rock or ice when the rope has already been set up for you (it's already at the "top"). This accounts for the majority of indoor rock climbing. Sport climbing is the most common type of outdoor climbing. When climbing outside there are no ropes already set up for you so the first person needs to climb from the ground up and take the rope with them.
The biggest difference between trad and sport is that there are no bolts attached to the rock to clip into so the leader takes up equipment call "pro" that they have to place in cracks in the rock and then they will attach or clip into the pro. Bouldering is a style of rock climbing undertaken with out a rope and is usually limited to very short climbs over some protection called a crash pad so that any fall will not result in serious injury. As the term suggests, instead of climbing up a rock face you climb up a inclined ice formation.