1. Take a course

Safety is the most important thing when climbing – after all, you are hanging several meters above the ground each time and are mainly held by your partner’s counterweight. In a climbing course, you will learn which knots you have to master, what you have to pay attention to when belaying, leading, and lowering off.

Gyms, mountain schools, and alpine clubs offer great courses that will teach you the basics, you need to know to stay safe.

Important: Once you have successfully completed your course, you should get on it straight away – and not just drive to the Algarve for four weeks of surf and sun: After a month you will probably not remember much about double boulin knots or how to use your Grigri. Thus: Do a course and go climbing!

2. Find your perfect partner

In most cases, climbing is only possible as a team of two. If you already have a partner who knows how to belay or has taken a course with you – awesome. If not, you can find like-minded people in a climbing course, in forums, or on the (virtual) notice board of your gym. When choosing your partner, make sure that your body weight is not too far apart. The DAV (German Alpine Club) advises keeping the difference below 10 kilograms. If this is not possible, the lighter partner can use a sandbag (usually supplied at the gym) or just get hold off an Ohm: The small device is clipped into the first intermediate hanger when lead climbing and increases the friction. This allows for weight differences of up to 40 kilograms to be safely handled.

3. Choose the right gear

Luckily the gear for climbing down at the wall does not cost the world:

• Belay device: the DAV (German Alpine Club) recommends the use of semi-automatic devices, for example, the Grigri by Petzl, which locks off automatically and thus increases the climber’s safety in the event of a fall or when being lowered off. For any belay device, you still need a carabiner. The safest are Trilock gates with anti-twist protection. Please note that not every carabiner can be matched with any belay device. You can get information about this from your trusted retailer.
• Climbing harness: here it really does not have to be the ultra-performance harness. If you are a beginner, a cheaper model will just do fine. These are often available for as little as 60 Euros. Make sure that the harness fits you well, i.e. that it sits right on your hips and that the leg loops are not too wide.
• Chalk bags with content: in the Chalk bag, you keep magnesia; the stuff that keeps your hands dry while climbing. Chalk bags work best when you tie them around your waist with an extra cord. You can also attach the chalk bag to the back of the climbing harness, but then the magnesia bags often hangs a bit too low.
• Climbing shoes: Again, they do not have to be the most expensive ones. The important thing is that they are tight and that you are not in agony when you are wearing them.
• Rope: Climbing ropes exist in a dime a dozen. For the gym, you need a 50-meter rope with a diameter of about 10 millimeters. There are also special indoor climbing ropes that have a slightly thicker sheath, and wear out more slowly.
• Optional: Edelrid Ohm; Edelrid’s Ohm is a unique device to date: It is hung in the rope and attached to the first point of protection. It increases the friction of the rope and thus enables two climbers of different weight to climb together without any danger.
• Optional: Belay glasses; Are you tired of constantly having to look upwards to see your partner? Do you maybe even get problems with your neck? Then belay glasses are the right thing for you: They are fitted with prisms and allow you to follow your partners every move without straining your neck.
• Clothing: Don’t worry, you don’t have to get into full climbing apparel right away, a pair of comfortable joggers and a T-shirt are perfectly sufficient for the beginning. It is important that you have enough freedom of movement and do not sweat. Unfortunately, you can’t climb with your gear forever: All safety-relevant textile materials are subject to ageing, wear, and tear. If you climb keenly, you may even have to change your harness and rope every year. Your retailer or the manufacturer will tell you when you ought to replace your gear. Tip: Although the shoes are not safety-relevant, their rubber does wear out. Don’t forget, you can have them re-soled.

4. Stay focused

You have already got your fair share gym climbing routes under your belt and handling your gear has become second nature to you? Great! Nevertheless, please always stay vigilant: Climbing is dangerous, and even on the 200,000 climbs or belay you simply can’t afford to make any mistake.

The most important pointers for belayers:

• Think of the partner check
• Take up the safest position at the base of the climb
• Do not give out too much slack
• Never let go of the breaking rope
• Focus on your partner, even if the noise level is loud within the gym
• Do not let others distract you

For climbers:

• Think of the partner check
• Tie in the proper way
• Do not clip from overstretched positions
• Clip all runners
• Clip the lower offs in the correct fashion
• Keep climbers beneath and next to you in mind

5. Talk about mistakes

Not every climber belays as experienced and attentive as you might do. Some climbers make big mistakes, for example, letting go of the belay rope or giving too much slack. In this case, talk to the climbers, they will (hopefully) thank you. But avoid treating people from above in a derogatory way. Here you can find the guidelines of the German Alpine Club.

6. Avoid injuries

Climbing is possible until old age – and if you keep at it, you will get better and better. But this only applies if you do not hurt yourself (permanently)! Here are some important tips for staying fit as long as possible:

• Warm-up – this applies, particularly to the fingers, arms, and shoulders! Do some light stretching exercises first, and then get on routes that are easy for you.
• Be careful with dynamic moves and crimps, they put more strain on your body than other climbing moves.
• Do not climb until you have any strength left: Then your muscles can no longer maintain the necessary support, which puts more strain on your cartilage and joints
• Take climbing breaks – especially if you are in pain.
• As a beginner, keep your hands off Hangboards & Co. (see point 9)
• Do compensatory exercises: If you don’t stretch enough and strengthen the antagonists while climbing, you can soon develop problems with your shoulders, fingers, or elbows.
• And most important: Have fun and listen to your body!

7. Focus on your technique

Even though climbing is a natural way of moving, the right technique plays a huge role – much more than mere strength. There are top climbers who can hardly manage a pull-up. Why are they still able to perform? Because they use the correct technique and have a lot of experience. Therefore, especially at the beginning, you should take a lot of time for the correct body positioning, footwork, and grip technique. Watching good climbers, but also technical training in the gym, YouTube videos, or books can give you some pointers: basic movement patterns are presented and explained step-by-step.

8. Fight your fear

Fear of falling, fear of heights, fear of being exposed: climbing on a rope offers many opportunities to be afraid. Some climbers are able to focus on the task at hand unhindered by fear, others find solace in top-roping.

If you want to fight your fear, there are several possibilities:

• Books, online articles and videos offer great pointers for fighting your fear of climbing
• Practising falling: “Falling is not so bad” will be the result of your fall training. Tip: Practice in overhangs, very close to the runner (danger of ground fall), when there is no other climber near you and with an experienced belay partner. How do you proceed? Best bit by bit: first only a few decimetres above the runner and then you move further and further up the wall. Important: There are also limits to your fall training! At the latest, when you could clip the next draw, you should stop. And: Ground falls remain a possibility up to 6 draws up! Regular practice will help you to overcome your fear.

9. The best training for beginners? Climb!

It is only natural that after your first successes in climbing you want to get better quickly. In the gym, you will also be offered an array of possibilities: System boards in all colors and shapes, fingerboards, rings, pull up bars, and dumbbells. So it’s only logical to hang on after the climbing session and do a few pull-ups, right? Wrong! Unlike many other training methods, hang boards allow you to hang your entire weight on ten very weak body parts: your fingers. And you don’t train them as fast as the muscles in your calves or biceps – the joints, cartilage, and tendons take a while to get used to climbing.

The most important training tip is, thus: Do not train on a hang board before having honed your climbing skills up to a certain level. Why? a) Because as a beginner you will damage your fingers permanently and b) Because your weak point is definitely not in your biceps but in your head (climbing technique)! If you feel like training, there are still a few possibilities:

• Stimulate your antagonists (e.g. the chest muscles) in a targeted manner, this prevents postural deformities and injuries
• Core exercises help you to build up the necessary body tension for overhanging climbing, and precise, effective footwork.
• Yoga improves your active and passive mobility and helps you, for example, to step up higher on smaller footholds.
• Otherwise, just: Climb, climb, climb

10. Come outside, get on some real rock

Climbing was not invented indoors, climbing stems from outside, from the rocks around the world. And there it is – believe it or not – even more beautiful movements than in the gym. Rock just offers infinite possibilities, you are in nature… and the experience will be even more rewarding. Trust us!