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Climbing essentials

Helmet, harness, ropes: practice your climbing skills before heading out on an adventure.

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You’ll need

  • Tables
  • Access to the internet
  • Access to a computer
  • Climbing harnesses
  • Climbing helmets
  • Static climbing rope
  • Dynamic climbing rope

Before you begin

  • The person leading the activity should know the Scouts’ rules and regulations for managing climbing. They should have a detailed understanding of climbing safety – ideally, they should hold a Scout Climbing Permit, or the Mountain Leader Training Single Pitch or Climbing Wall Award.
  • If you can, contact anyone in your group, District, or County who has climbing experience. You could also reach out to an activity centre, or a climbing centre. Invite them along to the session to share their knowledge and help everyone learn the right methods and techniques. Make sure you explain what exactly you’d like them to do, and ask if they have any equipment they could bring along too.
  • You could also run the activity at a local climbing or activity centre.

Set up the space

  • Split the space into four areas (but leave some room for everyone to gather together too). If you want to name them, you could go with ‘helmets’, ‘harnesses’, ‘tying in’, and ‘coiling’.
  • Each area will need a laptop or tablet – make sure the web pages are loaded and ready to go. If you don’t have the tech, you could also print out the information from the web pages we’ve linked to.
  • Set out the extra equipment each area needs – we’ve included lists below.

Technical know-how

  1. Explain to everyone that this activity’s all about using the equipment that keeps climbers safe.

If any guests have come along to help, now’s a great time to introduce them, explain why they’re here, and make sure they feel welcome.

  1. Split everyone into four groups. Each group should go to a different area and get stuck in to the activities.
  2. After between 15 and 20 minutes, tell everyone to move to the next area and give it a go. Everyone should move to the next area every 15 to 20 minutes, until they’ve visited all of the areas.

Learn about climbing calls

  1. Call everyone back together and see what people know about climbing calls. Do they know any? Why may they be important on a wall?
  2. Explain the basic calls that are used in climbing. They make sure everyone’s ready and prepared to climb or be lowered down; they also help others to know if someone’s in trouble.

There’s more information on the basic climbing calls used in the UK here.

  1. Find two people who are happy to demonstrate being the climber and belayer using the climbing calls.

We’ve included a script below in case you need it.

  1. Get everyone into pairs and have a go at being climbers and belayers to practice.

They should spread out across all of the space available – are there other rooms they could use, or could they head outside? Two pairs could use one ropes if each pair takes one end. You could use other (non-climbing) ropes if you need to, since no one’s feet will be leaving the ground.

  1. Everyone should swap roles and give it another go.
  2. When everyone is done, make sure all equipment is tidied up and put away correctly and thank any visitors that came along.
  1. Explain how to fit a helmet correctly.
  2. Everyone should practice fitting a helmet on themselves. Then, they should practice fitting a helmet on someone else.
  3. Have a quick chat about why helmets are used and why it’s important to fit them correctly.

You will need

  1. Explain how to fit a harness correctly.
  2. Everyone should practice fitting a harness on themselves. Then, they should practice fitting a harness on someone else.
  3. Have a quick chat about why harnesses are used and why it’s important to fit them correctly.

You will need

  1. Explain and demonstrate how to tie in correctly. They should show everyone how to make a figure eight knot, thread it through the harness, re-thread the knot, and finish with a stopper knot.
  2. Everyone should practice tying in. If anyone’s struggling, they could copy the video a few times until they’re ready to try it on their own.
  3. Have a quick chat about why it’s important to tie in correctly, and why this is a good method to use.

You will need

  1. Explain how to coil a rope.
  2. Everyone should practice at least one method of coiling the rope. If anyone’s struggling, they could copy the video a few times until they’re ready to try it on their own.
  3. Have a quick chat about why it’s important to coil rope each time.

You will need

The climber should hold one end of the rope, the belayer should hold the rope about five metres further down. They should be holding the rope with their hands – it shouldn’t be wrapped around their hands or wrists. The pair should show how to do some safety checks of the equipment.

  1. Climber: “Take in.”
  2. The belayer should pull the rope through the belay until it’s tight on the climber.
  3. Climber: “That’s me.”
  4. Belayer: “On belay. Climb when ready.”
  5. Climber: “Climbing.”
  6. Belayer: “OK.”
  7. The climber should walk away from the belayer. The belayer should let the rope through their hands slowly.
  8. Climber: “Take.”
  9. The belayer should take all the slack from the rope and hold it tight with both of their hands.
  10. Belayer: “OK.”
  11. Climber: “Lower.”
  12. Belayer: “Lowering.”
  13. The belayer should start feeding the rope back through their hands and the climber should walk backwards like they’re being lowered down the wall, until they reach the ‘floor’ again.
  14. Climber: “Safe.”
  15. The belayer should remove the rope from their belay device.
  16. Belayer: “Off belay.”

You will need

  • Lengths of rope

Reflection

This activity was about trying new things. Has anyone tried climbing before? Some people may have tried climbing without being responsible for things like tying themselves on, for example, if they went to a centre where instructors did it for them. How do people feel about learning how to keep themselves safe? Why might people want to do something new and take responsibility for more aspects of an adventure?

It was also about developing skills. Climbing is a technical sport – to keep everyone safe, the people involved need to fit things correctly and talk to each other too. How will the skills people learned in this activity keep them safe when they’re climbing? Did anyone have to adapt their communication, for example, because there were lots of other people practising their climbing calls at the same time? Did people find any of the skills trickier than others? Perhaps some people found the knots really tricky, but the climbing calls easy to remember – others may have found the opposite.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Any more experienced climbers in the group could help the people leading the areas to explain and demonstrate. They could also demonstrate the climbing calls.

People can work in pairs in most of the areas – especially if they find some of the fiddly tasks tricky. People may find it easier to fit things like helmets on other people than on themselves.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Climber Activity Badge

Why not visit a local climbing wall to put your new skills to the test? Remember, even with your newfound knowledge you’ll need an instructor who has their Scout Permit (or a suitable external qualification) with you at all times to keep you safe.