Heel Hooking at the Bat Cave, La Foixarda, Montjuic, Barcelona, 2021
A Caveat
What I am about to list are sources of information that have been useful to me personally. They may or may not be useful to you.
Also, this is not to say that these sources are infallible and definitive. Ideas and techniques evolve with time and some of what you find at these sources may change with time. So, don’t go out and try anything new without first getting some current confirming advice from an expert–an AMGA certified guide being a great place to start.
Alternatively, there are rock climbing courses offered throughout the country/world by all kinds of clubs and organizations, although be aware that the quality of the instruction can vary widely (i.e., you often get what you pay for, though there are exceptions).
You can also learn and practice these skills the old fashioned way: by finding an experienced mentor. Careful, though. When you start out, you don’t know what you don’t know, so take great care in choosing said mentor. There are climbers out there who climb very difficult grades, so may appear to be quite impressive “experts”, but they may not be very well-versed in the basics of a proper Grigri belay or have any self-rescue skills.
Then there are the old guys (my generation!?–yikes!) who “have always done it that way” and have not updated their methods since back in “ought-six” and so, therefore, continue to teach outdated techniques.
BOTTOM LINE: I am in no way responsible if you go out and hurt yourself after learning something through any of these sources if you haven’t first gotten the proper instruction from a qualified, certified, card-carrying, real, honest-to-God, expert.
My Bias
One last thing before you proceed. Understand that my bias tends toward multi-pitch trad climbing, although I enjoy the gym and single-pitch sport as well. I am also a huge fan of knowing as much as possible about anchors, belays, knots, self-rescue techniques, as well as climbing technique/movement itself. Thus, these sources I list below often tend to emphasize these things.
My favorite online video/website sources:
This may be my #1 go-to place to pick up some quick “rock learnin'”.
You’ll find a really great collection of tips, tricks, hacks, and myth buster articles for both beginners and experts alike–all in digestible essays or short videos. The website is run by John Godino, from Portland, Oregon and, although he is not a certified guide, he is obviously quite knowledgeable and curates his sources carefully (usually certified guides or very reputable climbing organizations). In addition, he will often comment and opine about the advantages/disadvantages/what-ifs/alternatives, and so on.
On his site, I tend to gravitate to the “Get Skilled” tab and choose a topic from there. Or…
…alternatively, for moving pictures, go direct to the “Videos” tab and select a clip from under such headings as Knots, Snow skills, Rock skills (beginner, intermediate), Rock rescue, Anchors, Gear placement, Mechanical advantage, Big wall/aid, etc.
Some samples:
–Article with multiple photos/diagrams, and two videos: A closer look at the American Death Triangle, October 24, 2021 (The conclusions may surprise you!)
–A 15-minute video: Ways to use bolted anchors, March 31, 2020, by AMGA-certified Guide Cody Bradford. (Cody isn’t the most dynamic speaker, but the info is great!)
This site has rapidly gained a major following throughout the climbing, caving, and slacklining worlds (closing in on 80,000 subscribers as I write). So what’s it all about?
Well, Ryan and Bobby quite literally break things (unscientifically, as they themselves will freely admit) on their awesome hydraulic testing bench, measuring the forces involved. They have just recently also set up a drop tower (2021), so it looks like a slew of new and interesting tests might be on the way. This is really fascinating stuff–and Ryan always looks like he is about to burst out laughing… while Bobby seems always the calm and collected one.
To get a taste of what they do, try scratching the surface of their massive 300+ YouTube video cache with these fine examples:
—Climbing anchor shock loads are a myth – human testing in Yosemite, 18:48, April 22, 2020
—Break testing OLD climbing gear on Slacksnap – slings, dogbones, and ropes, 16:40, January 22, 2020
—Tri loaded carabiners, 13:20, June 23, 2021
—Are micro-fractures a myth in climbing carabiners? 18:04, April 8, 2020
These folks are apparently guides who work mostly out of Joshua Tree National Park in the USA, certified guide Roddy McCalley being the main voice. They have a collection of some 100 fairly short (generally two to 12 minutes) videos with excellent content. I really, really like their clear, concise, and detailed explanations. They also constantly sprinkle many wonderful and useful tips, tricks, and hacks throughout their videos. Some sample topics:
Knots and hitches, rapelling, anchors of all kinds, escaping the belay, self-rescue, belay transitions, lowering in guide mode, using the Grigri for top belay, 3:1 and 6:1 haul systems, crack climbing techniques, and much more.
This is definitely one for the top of your list.
The above is a link to the YouTube channel. If you prefer visiting them via their website, try THIS LINK. And for a link to a slick 30-second YouTube video describing all of their video content, GO HERE.
American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA)
On this website, under the “Tech Videos” tab, you’ll find a handful of free videos, with more videos accessible, once you are a member. You can be pretty certain if something is taught here, it is considered the proper way to do something–although you may want to consider that these are techniques used by guides working with clients, so your personal climbing needs may differ somewhat.
I also list this one in case you are looking to hire a guide–or if you actually want to be one someday.
This website is so packed with information it could be called a nearly complete rock climbing course all by itself–naturally, you’ll need to get all the required competent instruction in the real outdoors at some point, but there is plenty here to study at home for both the beginner and the expert… hundreds of pictures along with very complete text explanations.
Credit David Coley and Andy Kirkpatrick for putting this together and send a few dollars their way to support what they do… AND buy the Kindle ebook version for a mere $9.00 (scroll down on the main page linked above).
Sample chapters: Multipitch 101, Gear, Leading and Cleaning, The Belay, Multipitch Physics, Communication, Climbing as three or more, Getting out of trouble, and so on.
LOTS of content!
JB (and his faithful bear-like canine companion), is a certified mountain guide living in North Wales (UK) and he has a wonderfully relaxed and patient manner in his videos. Someday I would love to hire him to take me up some spectacular sea stack on the UK coast. He may go a bit long at times, but I personally enjoy his fireside chat style and so do a few others, apparently, as he is now at nearly 16,000 YouTube subscribers. I also like that he almost always points out the pros and cons of the many techniques he demonstrates.
For a taste of what JB does in his videos, try these out for starters:
—Using a Cordelette Climbing Belay in 2021. Is there any point? 15:43, January 12, 2021
—Climbing How To: Multi-pitch bolted anchor belay setups, 13:05, May 19, 2020
Ben, from Lithuania, is the very entertaining and accented guy in these videos. His personality is fun and engaging, and he covers a lot of tips, techniques, myths, equipment explanations, etc. and is now up to 120,000 subscribers. Among other topics, he and his girlfriend have a series of videos on this channel on how to push your sport grade that might be of interest to many.
–To donate, and help Ben continue to create more content, go to the Hard Is Easy website at hardiseasy.com .
–An especially notable video, and mandatory viewing for all you bad Grigri belayers out there: Ep. 7 GriGri – What happens if you don’t hold the rope… Would this lock during a whip? 14:54, September 8, 2021
–And for those who thought they knew the Figure-8 knot, plus a sample of Ben’s humor: Why figure-8 knot is NOT hard to untie! 17:37, August 29, 2020
Lots of good basic info from certified guides… some sample titles, include: How to belay from the top with a Grigri, How to improve your slab technique, How to do a belay escape, Friction hitch comparison, 5 ways to belay, and so on. These are short clips, ranging from about two minutes to maybe 10 minutes.
–One 2-minute example: How to rappel with a Munter Hitch, 2:19, October 4, 2017
Obsession Climbing is a clothing, equipment and content climbing brand dedicated to supporting the UK climbing community. Their YouTube channel offers lots of mostly under-five minute videos covering product/equipment reviews, knots, belays, anchors, training tips, injuries, and so on.
–A 3-minute sample: Climbing anchors – Webolette, February 16, 2018
–A 3 1/2-minute sample: Bachmann knot – ascending the rope, September 22, 2015
Miyar Adventures, based out of Seattle, offers all kinds of guiding services and instruction for beginners to more advanced, and even expedition-minded folks with emphasis on multi-pitch, alpine, ski touring, and mountaineering. On YouTube, they have posted up a number of good videos, some directed at the beginner, and others focused more on the intermediate/advanced climber. Video duration is anywhere from a couple of minutes to 15-20+ minutes.
Check out these two example videos:
—Rappel 70m with a 60m rope, 6:58, April 5, 2021
—Ascend while on rappel, 5:38, December 4, 2021
Cody, a certified climbing guide (RIP, 2022), only has a handful of videos posted, but they are all very short (most under a minute!) and to the point. Very much worth checking out despite his somewhat serious and bland delivery (or, maybe you could call it, his “professional” delivery voice!) He was apparently a wonderful person and will be missed in the climbing community.
A trio to sample:
—How to clean and lower on a sport climb, 52 seconds, May 11, 2021
—Improvised rappel device, 50 seconds, September 17, 2019
–A longer one on a necessary topic: Guide explains “Redundancy”, 10:51, April 10, 2020
A Great (the BEST!?) Climbing Anchor Video… currently at 1/4 million views!
If you are one-stop shopping for a super-excellent video on belay anchors, try the following. In just over one hour, Rob Busack covers myriad different anchors in a very clear, thorough, and systematic way, including advantages/disadvantages of each. In the video’s Table of Contents section you can find time tags if you want to jump to a specific type of anchor–but I highly recommend you watch the whole thing when you have time as Rob gives out all kinds of useful information between each anchor setup.
Sources for climbing movement info:
rockentry – Oswaldo puts together some really nice videos (mostly gym boulders, but outside as well). I especially appreciate his very calm, unassuming, and gentle manner, as well as his split-screen video comparisons of the “right way” vs. the “wrong way” to climb certain sequences.
Mani the Monkey – Lots of technique and training tips for the more advanced boulderer or sport climber… but beginners/intermediate folks can also still get a lot out of his observations and advice.
Movement for Climbers – Lots of videos on climbing technique–mostly gym and bouldering–from beginner tips to the more advanced.
Anthony Johnson – On this YouTube channel, especially check out the six-video series on crack climbing technique, ranging from fingers to chimneys. An excellent, concentrated, crash course in jamming.
Magnus is a former competitive climber (9b, his highest red point grade), so what could he possibly record on video that I like?
Well, I suppose I might classify Magnus’s film clips as lessons in climbing movement, thus I have listed him in this section–after all, the action usually take place in the gym on boulders or on the lead wall, and he banters informally about his thought processes as he tries/fails/succeeds on various problems.
What I especially like about his videos, though, is his fun and playful approach to climbing. He comes up with some really imaginative and friendly competitions with other elite climbers and other elite athletes–weight lifters, gymnasts, a Norwegian Army battalion–and so on. He even tries climbing in winter gloves and gym rental shoes in one film!
Lately, his girlfriend has joined him, adding another welcome “every man/woman” dimension, that is, the non-elite, but slightly above-average climber in the midst of the learning process.
Forums and online crag guides:
This is my almost daily go-to Forum. You will find everything from idiotic troll posts to extremely valuable tips by the best in the sport… so, its content requires some careful filtering.
When folks like RGold, John Gill, Mark Hudon, or Bill Lawry post up, I tend to carefully consider their wisdom. (Note that I said consider, even seriously consider, but not accept unconditionally.) Others on the Forum you may have to take with a grain of salt–or even a hefty block of it.
RGold (Rich Goldstone), especially, stands out as perhaps one of the most experienced and level-headed (non-troll!) posters, with decades of climbing wisdom that he freely shares. Other names that seem to be fairly well respected on the MP Forum, and to whom I tend to pay attention, include: Derek DeBruin, Ward Smith, Al Rubin, Gunkiemike, Lena Chita, Em Cos, Kevin DeWeese, and Mikey Schaefer. And, of course, Old Lady H deserves a very special mention here for her mature, friendly, encouraging, and moderating role on most all topics throughout the Forum.
In addition, MP has a crag guide with some quarter million routes listed, most in North America, but also throughout the world. You’ll also find a partner-finding forum, a gym directory, and a number of climbing-related articles (some behind magazine firewalls, unfortunately).
I don’t really use this site much, but a whole lot of people all over the world definitely do. It started in Australia and now calls itself “the largest collaborative rock climbing and bouldering platform” with over 100,000 crags and nearly one million routes listed in its pages.
You can find gyms, crags, and routes from ’round the globe, as well as tick your climbs and monitor your progress, add info about crags and climbs, and read about the different types of climbing, ratings, equipment, and so on.
Supertopo’s tag line says, “SuperTopo – offers the world’s best rock climbing, bouldering, and big wall route info, featuring discussion, trip reports and and gear reviews for climbing …”
The site is no longer active, but is being kept alive as a read-only archive by its founder, Chris McNamara, for historical purposes and most especially because you’ll find a whole lot of history within its forum pages, written and posted by some of the bigger names in the sport.
So, I would definitely check out this site for the climbing history and anecdotes alone–some great, amusing, amazing, tragic, and hilarious stories can be found if you probe around.
Their tagline states: “UK Climbing is the definitive source for all Climbing and Mountain-related activity. We are the central source of information for climbing in the UK…”
This is sort of the Mountain Project (MP) for the UK, but it also has info about crags and climbs around the world, not just the UK areas. Also on the site you will find news articles and opinion pieces, climbing skills essays, podcasts, videos, photo galleries, news and press releases, among many other nice things. As to the UKC Forum, I personally like the general tone of it–it doesn’t ever seem to get quite as nasty as what I’ve sometimes seen on MP… maybe it’s that old British custom of simple courtesy?
Books, both Physical and Kindle!
Rock Climbing: The Art of Safe Ascent, 2021, by John Long and Bob Gaines
Toproping: Rock Climbing for the Outdoor Beginner, 2020, by Bob Gaines
Rock Climbing Anchors, 2nd Edition: A Comprehensive Guide, 2019, by Craig Luebben and Topher Donahue
Climbing Anchors, 3rd Edition, 2013, by John Long and Bob Gaines
The Trad Climber’s Bible, 2014, by John Long and Peter Croft
High – Advanced Multipitch Climbing, 2013, by David Coley and Andy Kirkpatrick
Climbing Self-Rescue: Improvising Solutions for Serious Situations, 2006, by Andy Tyson and Molly Loomis
Advanced Rock Climbing, 2018, by Bob Gaines and Peter Croft
Accidents in North American Climbing, 2021, American Alpine Club
–This last is especially important as a reminder that this sport can very easily be fatal, and often when you least expect it. Reading these accidents will, hopefully, help you keep your guard up.
And, finally, three very different bonus suggestions:
Crack Climbing: The Definitive Guide, 2019, by Pete Whittaker
–Pete, along with his partner, Tom Randall, are from the UK and started a company called Wide Boyz. Back in 2009. they made it their mission to climb the world’s hardest off-width cracks and are now considered among the world’s experts in crack climbing. Their YouTube channel has some great content as well (like climbing horizontal roof hand cracks under highway bridges!).
The Rock Warrior’s Way, 2006, by Arno Ilgner, Jeff Achey, and Tracy Martin
–Focuses on the mental aspect of climbing.
Freedom of the Hills, 2017, by The Mountaineers
–This is a huge encylopedia of collected climbing and mountaineering knowledge–perhaps a bit much for you if you are just starting out, but a classic publication nonetheless (that will very likely adorn your bookshelf at some point in your climbing career).
Shadow Over a Double Rope Belay Anchor, Montserrat, Catalunya, 2020
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