Climbing is one of the most beautiful outdoor activities in the mountains, the basis of balance and movement, it is now inseparable from mountaineering training.
From the climbing school for beginners to the big rock races on cams for experienced climbers in the Mont-Blanc Massif it is necessary to be regular and attentive to your practice so as not to lose the good reflexes of the belay and evolve safely.
Soon an Olympic discipline, climbing or rock climbing is also a way of discovering verticality, walls, competition or just having a good time between climbers.

How to start climbing?

The best is to start in not too vertical rock or in the room (structure or artificial wall in a gymnasium) it is an activity supervised by a professional (High mountain guide or climbing instructor) at the beginning, this one will teach you safety basics during a climbing course: ensure with the rope, ensure a partner, climb, descend in a roping or first rope, use the carabiners, the harness etc. … and especially the use of climbing shoes.
After several climbing schools, you will be able to climb at the top in climbing routes at your level, you will be almost autonomous and ready to discover other mountain climbing sites, but before you will have to use it correctly of all climbing gear.
Please note the passage from an indoor practice to natural sites requires a little time to adapt and to be initiate, climb with climbing holds, it is not the same thing as free climbing on rock natural.
When you start you will be tired after barely half a day, the more you progress and the more stamina you have in your arms.

And then the improvement?

Like all sports, the idea is to progress, if you want to go on the main tracks you will have to orient yourself towards a training course in climbing. It’s a bit like climbing a mountain but doing several lengths. Your guide will teach you how to do a relay in a long way so that you can secure your partner from the top, then you start at the top, and so on to the top of the track.
All the information is recorded in what is called a Topo climbing, it is a small book which summarizes all the technical information that the climber needs before embarking on the ascent of his route: height of the cliff, number of quickdraws required, length of rope required, abseiling, specific equipment (friends, cams, pitons etc.) it also indicates whether certain passages are crossed in artificial climbing but that is another story.
The best way to progress is to sign up for a climbing course or training on safety rules.

On the way to the summits!

Once you are well autonomous on the main road and that you apply the safety instructions to the letter, you will have the pleasure of being able to discover another form of ascent: the adventure field where you have to ask points progress and insurance alone, climbing in the high mountains or the “Big Wall” of Yosemite in the USA which are walls that you climb in artificial climbing and free, but over several days by installing a bivouac or a Portaledge, a sort of small tent hanging in the middle of a void where you can spend a pleasant night on the cliff.

Where to climb in a natural environment?

In France we have thousands of natural and equipped sites for the practice of sport climbing.
Just in Haute-Savoie in the country of Mont Blanc, there are many schools in both granite rock and limestone: The Gaillands in Chamonix are very well known for the preparation of mountaineers who stay in the Chamonix or Argentière valley.
Around Annecy or in the Massif des Aravis you will find many limestone sites such as Le Biclope, Les Vuardes, Ablon, or the Col de la Colombiére …
In the South of France, the Gorges du Verdon, the Gorges du Tarn, the Ardèche and even Céüse are legendary cliff climbing spots.