Climber here. I’ve got a few other notes that weren’t included in the video. It’s highly probable that your climbing gym will stress most if not all of these points, but they can’t be overstated.

Edit: It ended up being more than “a few” but these are things that I see happening at my gym ALL THE TIME and they really shouldn’t.

I don’t want to scare people but climbing is inherently dangerous. However, being diligent and speaking up when something is (or even if it just feels) wrong is the best way to make sure that you and your friends can keep climbing. It’s way better to spend the extra time to double check everything than it is to spend extra time in the hospital. Most climbing accidents happen when people (especially experienced climbers!) skimp out of safety.

Number 1: NEVER EVER let go of the rope if you are belaying a climber. I don’t care what’s happening, you don’t let go. If your climber is about to kick you in the face, let them. Just don’t let go of the rope. Do not drop your climber.

Number 1: NEVER CLIMB UNDER SOMEONE ELSE, EVEN IF YOU’RE ON A DIFFERENT ROUTE THAN THEM. You never know when the person above you might fall. I yell at people climbing below me to GTFO the wall. It’s embarrassing AF but at least I didn’t break you in a fall.

Number 1: NEVER WALK OR STAND UNDERNEATH SOMEONE WHO’S CLIMBING. Same reason as above. I will also yell at you.

Number 1: Even if you’re SUPER tired or scared, NEVER EVER EVER EVER DO THIS:

Grabbing the carabiner on a quickdraw is a fast and easy way to deglove your hand (Google “degloving injury” if you don’t know, definitely NSFW and PG13+) or lose a finger. I can believe that included that clip in the video. *giant facepalm*

Number 1: Always do your safety checks and check your partner, too. This applies to gear (harness, helmet, whatnot) and man-made protection (knots, properly securing your harness).

Number 1: Never spend more time actuating the cam of an assisted braking belay device (GriGri, etc) than you have to. That’s how people get dropped.

These were all Number 1 because safety ALWAYS come first.

Be safe, have fun, and climb whatever you want to even if it looks like it’s too hard for you (you never know what you’re capable of until you try!).



Climb on!