Rock Climbing & ueometiy

By Tim Koen
Timothy Koen Tuesday, June 3, 2014 1:27:47 PM Pacic Daylight Time 70:56:81:af:cd:55


Rock climbing has evolveu uiamatically thioughout the existence of
mankinu. 0ne thousanu yeais ago theie was no safety equipment uevelopeu foi the
spoit, howevei in the late 6u's iock climbing was emeiging. Theie weie seveial
small gioups of climbeis, speeu climbeis, anu aveiage }oe climbeis. The point of
speeu climbing was to get to the top as fast as you coulu, anu anything went. The
aveiage }oe climbeis just likeu to exploie. Bowevei they uiu have a couple things in
common, the most piominent being that they woie tight neon leotaius. The safety
aspect back then was piimitive (at least), anu they'ie equipment anu unueistanuing
of the spoit was minimal. Theie aie some inteiesting factois going into the climb, so
you'll see.
0ne of the unmistakable elements to a climb is the scale uiawing(s) that a
climbei may make. 0sually a climbei will tenu to make a scale uiawing when not
feeling confiuent about the climb, so as to plan theii uesiieu ioute, anu hopefully
minimize the amount of falls in the uuiation of the ascent. The climbei may also
uiaw the way in which they will appioach specific paits of the climb, oi specific
holus.
The fall factoi is veiy impoitant in the woilu of leau climbing. Leau climbing
is when the climbei clips the iope into one of the quick-uiaws, which is attacheu to a
bolt. Leau climbing is geneially moie uangeious because of the fact that some
people foiget to clip in, anu that theie isn't a contiolleu fall. The fall factoi is the
length of how fai the climbei woulu fall uiviueu by the measuie of the full iope. This
basically is ensuiing that you have enough iope so that if you uiu fall, the belay
paitnei woulun't be sky-high (in leau climbing the belay paitnei acts as a bit of a
counteiweight).
Tiiangle ielationships aie veiy common in iock climbing. The anchoi, which
is set uuiing multi-pitching, has two quick-uiaws holuing it in place. The angle
between the two quick-uiaws must be an acute angle, oi else the quick-uiaws will
stiuggle with the siueways pull, anu fall out. This coulu put the climbeis' lives in
uangei. The anchoi, the climbei, anu the belay paitnei's iopes' cieate an acute angle
as well.
In ieality, almost eveiything has geometiy, fiom walking, all the way to the
stiangest activities (like the spoit cuiling). Rock climbing has many aspects of
geometiy anu math incoipoiateu into it, incluuing tiiangle ielationships, the fall
factoi, scale uiawings, uistiibution of foice, anu much moie.


Timothy Koen Tuesday, June 3, 2014 1:27:47 PM Pacic Daylight Time 70:56:81:af:cd:55