hi, i am 14 years old and...

Question
hi, i am 14 years old and i am starting to really get into indoor
climbing, and for an upcoming speech tournament, i have
picked rock climbing, i was just wondering, what are so
interesting facts about rock climbing that is not very well known
to people?  

Answer
Dear Anne,

Facts about climbing are pretty basic.  Climbing anecdotes, however, are endlessly interesting.  I suggest you visit the website below:

http://www.camp4.com/

If you click on climbing news archives, you'll find all manner of interesting tales.  The members' submissions, too, might prove fruitful.  Let me give you some names to Google, too:  Royal Robbins, Yvon Chouinard, Tom Frost, Warren Harding.  You might try some famous cliffs: El Capitan, Half Dome, Eiger Northface, Trango Tower.

The most interesting fact I can think of is that climbing is a curiously gentle sport.  Appreciation of partners, both their strengths and weaknesses, and communication with them enable long-time practitioners of the sport to both climb challenging cliffs and grow as human beings.  Also, women and men perform equally well on rock, albeit differently.  A woman's balance and flexibility often triumph over a man's upper body strength.

I hope some of this helps.

Yours,

Robert Walton