Rock Climbing as a Sport

Like other kinds of sporting activity, the history of climbing is not that old. There was a time when people were forced to climb steep rocks as there was no other way out, but today they do these things for the sheer thrill of it. Rock climbing and bringing down stranded people was part of the Alpine mountaineering. Climbing came to existence as a sport during late 19th century and originated from three particular areas of Europe. The first was in Germany in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains in the South-eastern part of the country near the Czech border. By 1903, there were almost 500 climbers active in this region and climbing clubs were being formed.

In England at this time rock climbing was looked at as a sporting activity. Some of the climbers at this time invited attention as they soared some difficult cliffs all by themselves. Ratings of different levels of difficulty in climbing various types of cliff formations started here. While the official climbing clubs were taking their own time to get formed, the climbers would meet unofficially and share their individual climbing experiences.

In the Dolomite Mountains of northern Italy, a 17 year old student from Munich, Germany, made a daring solo climb and this led to this area being the third great European hotbed of rock climbing. While the United States, rock climbing was treated similarly, it was only from the '50s that it had a separate sports identity. Still much of the techniques used in were developed as a part of mountain climbing.

In recent times, rock climbing has evolved drastically with new and improved styles and equipment being introduced every day. Climbing is now viewed more as a lifestyle by rock climbers than just a sport. In the urban areas, the new addition to the trend is indoor climbing. Here many actual rock formations are duplicated in design with artificial rock faces. The modern safety equipment used in these indoor areas take away all the risk of rock climbing keeping the thrill and excitement of outdoor rock climbing.

Though there are plenty of safety equipment and new technologies which have come into force, rock climbing can never be with out its usual risks and requires a lot of strength and stamina. In recent history mankind had enough challenges for his strength and stamina to face in just day-to-day living. Climbing was done as a necessity and not for fun or adventure. The growing fondness of rock climbing as an activity shows the way our society is changing its choices. There is something in human nature that always seeks a challenge and this is just another sport that came into existence because of that basic drive.