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Here’s The Truth About Rock Climbing You Don’t Hear In The Media
It’s proven safer than many sports and it’s a healthy lifestyle for all ages, not just an outlet for thrillseekers.
I just did a Google search for ‘rock climbing’ and look at the top 2 news articles:
Young boy falls 10 metres down rock-climbing wall in Gosford
Boy injured in fall at Central Coast Clip N’Climb
In the year that rock climbing will make its debut in an Olympics, there’s a need to take a deeper look into the sport. Because it’s only when you gain a more thorough understanding of what’s really involved in rock climbing that you’ll be less sucked into the media’s proven affliction for negative, gloomy news.
You see, mainstream media give the public a perception that rock climbing is just exercise or for adrenalin junkies, risk-takers. Sure it seems like that when the media chooses to highlight accidents to an audience without bothering to balance out their gloom.
In this article, I share with you a look into rock climbing safety, comparative sport injury statistics, and the perspective of a young rock-climbing family. Am I biased? Perhaps. I am a passionate, regular rock climber. Yet I have a 7-year old myself and I wouldn’t let her anywhere near a wall if I had doubts about her safety. I also wouldn’t endanger myself and leave her without a parent.
What do you know about rock climbing?
Over the past few years, several rock climbers have released movies documenting their epic rock climbing feats. You may have heard of Alex Honnold’s Free Solo attempt of El Capitan in Yosemite, California. Or Kevin Jorgeson’s and Tommy Caldwell's ascent of The Dawn Wall (captured in the movie The Dawn Wall).
To those who aren’t climbers, these efforts seem incredible… and dangerous. As a climber, I don’t see the point of climbing without ropes as Alex Honnold did. Was it dangerous? Yes. Even his filming crew had to seriously think about whether they…
