These questions might seem kind of odd considering I'm a member on summitpost, but what the hey.

I've never done technical rock climbing, although I do scramble, and I've wanted to start rock climbing but have no idea what kind of gear and such I need, and how many of each thing , and what everything does. I obviously will take a course before I actually climb, but can someone type up a brief glossary of climbing gear I would need for sport climbing? Also, I have another question that's been bothering me, when you're trad climbing how do you get bolts and such into the rock, because I can't imagine there'd be a nice, conviently located crack in the rock right where you want to put a bolt.

Questions from a noob. Thanks.

See this thread for your first question.

As to the bolts, in trad climbing you seldom clip bolts. Removable protection like nuts and cams often goes in cracks, but also sometimes in other features like small pockets in the rock. If no such features are available, it gets more interesting: you may change itinerary, run it out, or drill a hole and put in a bolt. This explanation is way oversimplified, but I hope it gives you the general idea.

brenta wrote:See this thread for your first question.

As to the bolts, in trad climbing you seldom clip bolts. Removable protection like nuts and cams often goes in cracks, but also sometimes in other features like small pockets in the rock. If no such features are available, it gets more interesting: you may change itinerary, run it out, or drill a hole and put in a bolt. This explanation is way oversimplified, but I hope it gives you the general idea.

Yep, that helps. Thanks. I also thought of another noobish question, how do you remove cams and carabiners from a route after a climb, since I know a lot of climbers descend a different way they came up. I've heard of leaving gear on a route, but you couldn't do that every time, you'd go broke...

Tangeman wrote:I also thought of another noobish question, how do you remove cams and carabiners from a route after a climb, since I know a lot of climbers descend a different way they came up. I've heard of leaving gear on a route, but you couldn't do that every time, you'd go broke...

Roped climbing is usually done by a team of two climbers. The first places the gear and the second "cleans" it on his/her way up. In roped solo climbing, you normally go up once, fix the rope to the top of the pitch, descend and clean on your second ascent. There are variations, but these are the basic patterns. Occasionally, some gear will be left behind, but not very often, and mostly during the descent.

Alright, thanks a ton. Answered many a question.