How to Rock Climb

How to Rock Climb takes a climber from tying in at the gym to a first trad lead outdoors.

Climbing gyms have made the sport easy to start. Outdoors the stakes change, and there is no required course. This book is written to go with hands-on instruction and to stay useful long after the first seminar. You come back to it as the questions come up at the crag.

The sixth edition has 588 color photos by Bob Gaines and covers:

• Knots, ropes, belay devices, carabiners, slings, and quickdraws
• Face climbing and crack climbing technique
• Primary anchors and anchor systems
• Belaying, toproping, rappelling, and rope ascending
• Sport climbing, trad climbing, and multipitch climbing
• Risk management and Leave No Trace

John Long and Bob Gaines write for the beginner who knows nothing and for the experienced climber who wants the fine points settled. The safety system is taught on one principle, simplicity and security. A short history of the sport runs from its origins in 1492 to today's gyms. Readers who want an exhaustive study of the roped safety system can go on to the companion volume, Rock Climbing: The Art of Safe Ascent. This one stays on the essentials of safety and movement.

Long has written more than forty books. Gaines has guided since 1983 and is an AMGA Certified Rock Instructor. More than 500,000 copies sold. Part of Falcon's How To Climb series.