Talk:Rock climbing

Rewrite of this article (moved discussion)

Ongoing re-write of this article in User:Aszx5000/sandbox2

Moved discussion from Wikipedia:Teahouse#Merging content from a sandbox into a main article

@Aszx5000 OK - happy to do that. And another Teahouse host (Cullen328) might also be interested to comment as they also have a climbing background. Might I suggest you do put that invitation to comment on the talk page of Rock climbing and then ping me in. I would hate to constructively criticise content which I know the author is already planning to change. But, as a quick fly-past, here are some brief observations.

• I'd like to see a lot more citations to support and enable verification of factual statements and claims; the need for a clearer, simpler sentences in the start of the lead which should include the placement or use of protection before you get to mention the belayer. (The latter is irrelevant if the the former hasn't been placed - except for multi-pitch routes, of course).

• I haven't added a lot of citations yet but having re-wrote a lot of the climbing articles, I know the reference I am going to use for each statement. I am hoping to get this to GA standard and maybe FA standard. My asking the question at the teahouse wasn't because I was about to paste it in, far from it, as this will need a lot more refs.

• I would dispute your claim that climbers start with top roping. Maybe many do nowadays, but not all. Some climbers might if they don't have a lead partner to learn from. This just needs to be qualified. I also find it confusing to read in the description about climbing ether solo or in 'groups'. Surely, the emphasis should be on climbing as a pair of climbers being the norm, with soloing or bouldering as a development for skilled or more competent climbers.

• Fair points and I will adjust the draft accordingly.

• There's a typo in ...coverage from bouldering mats have not become commonplace at climbing venues. Change 'not' to 'now'.

• Thanks.

• I might suggest that your choice of the first two images could be much better. The first appears to show the lead climber pulling on their gear (hardly the idea you want to get over!) whereas it could be better used elsewhere, if well-captioned, to demonstrate the value of gear placement, fall risk and importance of a short runout. The second image of the falling leader is just weird and confusingly captioned IMHO.

• Fair point, let me come back on this when I have trawled through Commons.

• Finally, I got a sense the focus of your rewrite is very much towards understanding the top end of the rock climbing game. There's nothing wrong in covering the full extent of the sport. But, as someone who started seconding Diffs and never got much beyond leading a few HVS routes ( - and now probably couldn't do a V Diff again (LOL!), I'd welcome mention of how people actually enter and learn the sport. A mention of the evolution from/relationship to scrambling and a link to something like the BMC's First Steps guide (here) or its introductory guide to climbing outdoors (here) could be very informative to those new to the topic. But overall, well done on your work so far!

• Also a very good point and will incorporate what you say into the draft as it makes sense to me. I am trying to integrate some of the standalone route articles into this, but most are very etreme routes. My limit was about E2 5c but it is only a dream now :).

Regards,Nick Moyes (talk) 15:46, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for your encouragement and great comments Nick, and will keep you posted as I get closer to being ready, and will keep an eye here for any other comments you - or Cullen - might have. Much appreciated! Aszx5000 (talk) 09:16, 23 September 2024 (UTC)