Rock Climbing



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Rock Climbing History
A sport is defined as an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature (Dictionary.com). So while rock climbing may not fall into one of the usual categories it is in fact a sport. Rock climbing began as a way to get up a steep cliff or over rocks during the ascension of a mountain, and was not originally considered a sport of its own. Even as late as the 1920’s rock climbing was still considered as a part of mountaineering, and finishing a climb was considered trivial to summiting the mountain. It was not until the 1950’s that rock climbing began to be seen as a sport of its own. During the 1960’s and 70’s the United States led the way in rock climbing with the Yosemite Climbers. Asthe sportofrockclimbing matured standards were developed to judge the difficulty of a climb (Rock Climbing for Life). Today there are manydifferent types of climbing, and ways to compete while climbing. However, unlike most sports the participant's life may be dependent on the equipment that they use.