Rock Climbing Examples
Rock climbing involves the use of a rope, belaying, and protection (natural or artificial) to protect the leader from a long fall.
Key things to identify climbing images:
- Climbing rope
- Harness
- Belayer
- Rock climbing shoes
- Climbing protection, such as quick draws, chocks, cams, and nuts
- Belay-rappel device
- Chalk bag and chalk
Applicable LCSH Terms
Rock Climbing Examples
Example Image 1: Harold Goodro rock climbing at age 74, circa 1990
This image is from the Harold Goodro Photograph Collection and courtesy of the Multimedia Archives, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah.
This is a close-up photo of Harold Goodro climbing. Harold Goodro established many climbs in the Wasatch Mountains. You can tell this is climbing, because there’s a rope, harness (around his waist/hips/upper legs), and climbing protection hanging off the harness. A few other clues are the rock face and trees below him.
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Example Image 2: Unidentified people climbing, Pete’s Rock, Utah, circa 1965
This image is from Alpine Mountain Club Photograph Collection and courtesy of the Multimedia Archives, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah.
This photo of unidentified people climbing includes both the climber and the belayer. The belayer is the person near the top and the climber is lower. On multi-pitch (a pitch is a section of a climb, normally a 1/2 rope length) climbs, two climbers take turns belaying and climbing. Most likely the belayer in this photo, first climbed to their current location. The Dawn Wall film does a nice job explaining this process.
The rope and gear round the lower climber’s hip are more indicators that this is climbing. Within the description says “Photo showing some Alpine Mountain Club members climbing on Petes Rock near Mount Olympus trailhead in Holladay, Utah; view south toward Lone Peak.” Petes Rock is a small cliff nearby, which is included on Mountain Project, a website used by climbers to locate climbs, partners, etc.
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Example Image 3: The Climber, man climbing a rock cliff near Brighton, Utah, 1931
This image is from the Wasatch Mountain Club Photograph Collection and courtesy of the Multimedia Archives, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah.
This photo is taken from farther away, compared to the two previous examples. If you look on the rock face, there’s a rope.
The previous description includes “climber scaling a steep rock face” however, this would be considered a slab face, not a steep face, for rock climbers. Slab is less than 90 degrees, whereas steep means overhanging.
View the full metadata for this image here.