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Safety whilst climbing

How do you look after equipment? Lean how to stay safe once your feet leave the ground.

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You’ll need

  • Pens or pencils
  • Scrap paper
  • Tables
  • Access to a computer
  • Access to the internet
  • Projector (optional)
  • Dynamic climbing ropes (a selection of sizes is best)
  • Static climbing ropes (a selection of sizes is best)
  • Climbing helmets
  • Climbing harnesses
  • Metalwork such as a belay device or nuts, cams, or hexes

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 three areas (but leave some room for everyone to gather together too). If you want to name them, you could go with ‘equipment’, ‘ropes’, and ‘rules’.
  • 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.

Safety specifications

  1. Explain that this activity’s all about being safe when climbing.

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. Have a chat with everyone about what they think safety means in climbing. Why is it important? What might it involve?
  2. Make sure that everyone understands the importance of safety. They should take some time to cover things like knots, harnesses, helmets, belaying, and other equipment.
  3. Split everyone into three groups. Each group should go to a different area and get stuck in to the activities.
  4. After between 15 and 20 minutes, the person leading the activity should tell everyone to move to the next area and give it a go.
  5. Between 15 and 20 minutes later, everyone should move to the final area and learn about the final aspect of staying safe.
  6. When everyone is done, make sure all equipment is tidied up and put away correctly and thank any visitors that came along.

This area’s all about caring for equipment and knowing when equipment’s nearing the end of its life.

  1. Explain what it means when equipment nears the end of its life. They should also talk about how they care for equipment.
  2. Everyone should look at the web pages. What do they say about caring for equipment and knowing when it’s reaching the end of its life?
  3. Everyone should use their new knowledge to check the equipment in the area. Is it all OK and safe to use?

You will need

This area’s all about the different rope types used for rock climbing.

  1. Explain the different types of rope on the table and what they’re used for.
  2. Everyone should pass the ropes around so they can look at them closely and feel how they’re different in weight and flexibility.
  3. Everyone should look at the web page to see what else they can find out about ropes in rock climbing.

You will need

This area’s all about what people need to do to keep themselves safe when climbing indoors and outdoors.

  1. Explain why rules are important. They may give one or two examples of rules.
  2. Everyone should use the pens and paper to create two lists of rules – one for outdoor climbing and one for indoor climbing. Some rules may belong on both lists.
  3. Make sure that the lists have all the essential rules on. They should remind everyone that indoor rules vary at different centres, so it’s always important to check the exact rules before you begin.

You will need

Reflection

This activity was about trying new things. Has anyone tried climbing before? Some people may have tried climbing without being responsible for the safety of the equipment, for example, if they went to a centre where instructors did all of the maintenance. 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?

This activity was also about developing skills. When might it be useful to know how to check if equipment is safe to use? What should people do if they’re unsure whether something’s safe? They should always ask a professional. When else might it be important to check equipment before you use it? People might think about everyday things they do without even thinking about, such as checking a chair’s not broken before sitting down, or they might think about deliberately checking a car before driving it.

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.

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Climber Activity Badge

Now’s the perfect time to visit a climbing centre and put what you’ve learned into practice. Remember, every centre will have its own exact rules and guidelines, so check what they are before you begin.

People could do their own research about an aspect of climbing safety that interests them.