Rock climbers on Valkyrie at The Roaches in Staffordshire, England.

A competitor in a rope climbing event, at Lyon's Part-Dieu shopping centre.

An ice climber using ice axes and crampons.

Climbing is the activity of using one's hands and feet (or indeed any other part of the body) to ascend a steep object. It is done both for recreation (to reach an inaccessible place, or for its own enjoyment) and professionally, as part of activities such as maintenance of a structure, or military operations.

Climbing activities include:

• Bouldering: Ascending boulders or small outcrops, often with climbing shoes and a chalk bag or bucket. Usually, instead of using a safety rope from above, injury is avoided using a crash pad and a human spotter (to direct a falling climber on to the pad).
• Buildering: Climbing urban structures - usually without equipment - avoiding normal means of ascent, like stairs, escalators, and elevators. Aspects of buildering can be seen in the art of movement known as Parkour.
• Canyoning: Climbing along canyons for sport or recreation.
• Chalk climbing: cliffs of chalk may (with difficulty) be climbed using some of the same techniques as ice climbing [1].
• Competition Climbing: A formal, competitive sport of recent origins, normally practiced on artificial walls that resemble natural rock formations. The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is the official organization governing competition climbing worldwide and is recognized by the IOC and GAISF and is a member of the International World Games Association (IWGA). Competition Climbing has three major disciplines: Lead, Bouldering and Speed.
• Ice climbing: Ascending ice or hard snow formations using special equipment designed for the purpose, usually ice axes and crampons. Techniques of protecting the climber are similar to those of rock climbing, although the protective devices themselves are different (ice screws, snow wedges).
• Sport Climbing: a specific sub-category of climbing in which the climber uses quickdraws to clip onto permanment bolts in the rock, and thus clips the rope into each quickdraw as she or he climbs up. A quickdraw consists of two caribiners attached on each end of a piece of webbing. One caribiner holds the rope and the other caribiner clips into the fixed bolts in the rock or gym wall. Quickdraw caribiners come with a variety of features including straight gate, bent gate, and wire gate. The carabiners are quickdraws never lock. Quickdraws may be attached to the gear loops on the waist of one's harness while climbing.
• Mountain climbing (Mountaineering): Ascending mountains for sport or recreation. It often involves rock and/or ice climbing.
• Net climbing: Climbing net structures. The climbing structures consist of multiple interconnected steel reinforced ropes attached to the ground and steel poles. Climbing nets are usually installed on playgrounds to assist children in developing their balancing and climbing skills.
• Pole climbing (gymnastic): Climbing poles and masts without equipment.
• Lumberjack tree-trimming and competitive tree-trunk or pole climbing for speed using spikes and belts.
• Rock climbing: Ascending rock formations, often using climbing shoes and a chalk bag. Equipment such as ropes, bolts, nuts, hexes and camming devices are normally employed, either as a safeguard or for artificial aid.
• Rope access: Industrial climbing, usually abseiling, as an alternative to scaffolding for short works on exposed structures.
• Rope climbing: Climbing a short, thick rope for speed. Not to be confused with roped climbing, as in rock or ice climbing.
• Scrambling which includes easy rock climbing, and is considered part of hillwalking.
• Tree climbing: Ascending trees without the intention of harming them, using ropes and other equipment. This is a less competitive activity than rock climbing.

Rock, ice and tree climbing all usually use ropes for safety or aid. Pole climbing and rope climbing were among the first exercises to be included in the origins of modern gymnastics in the late 18th century and early 19th century.

See also[link]

• Fall factor
• Arboreal locomotion
• Climbing clubs
• Climbing equipment
• Climbing organisations
• List of climbers - Notable rock and ice climbers
• List of climbing areas
• List of climbing topics
• Glossary of climbing terms
• Glossary of knots common in climbing
• Outdoor education
• Outdoor activity
• Rock climbing
• Parkour - French technique of passing obstacles efficiently
• Scrambling

References[link]

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010)

External links[link]

• Climbing at the Open Directory Project

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Climbing

Sonnie Trotter (born November 15, 1979 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian professional climber, known for his strength in many rock climbing disciplines, contributing to hundreds of first ascents around the world. Trotter began climbing in 1997 at age 16, and soon became the first Canadian to climb 5.14c the third North American to have established a 5.14d route. In more recent years, Trotter has gained notoriety for his support of clean trad routes over bolted routes, and his first ascent of the Cobra Crack in Squamish, British Columbia.

Sonnie also made Squamish history in 2006 when he and his climbing partner Matt Segal connected The Shadow 5.13b, The Grand Wall 5.13b and The Black Dyke 5.13b on the Stawamus Chief all free in a single 12 hour push.

Trotter has been featured in 3 award winning films. "The Cobra Crack", won best short film at the BIMFF in 2006. "If you're not falling" won Best Short Film at BIMFF in 2008 and "First Ascent" is the winner of multiple awards.

Sonnie Trotter is also a writer, photographer and public speaker.^{[citation needed]} He is also certified as an assistant Rock Climbing Guide through the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides.

Notable Ascents[link]

• Superman (5.14c, FA in 2002) Link up of Cheakamus Canyon's Pulse (5.14a), Captain America (5.14b) and Gom Jabbar (5.13b) continuing through the crux of Patience (5.14a)
• Forever Expired (5.14d, FA in 2004) Ontario's hardest route to date
• East Face of Monkey Face (5.13d R, FGA in 2004) Original established by Smith Rock pioneer Alan Watts, Trotter red pointed the East Face on trad lead
• Cobra Crack (5.14, FA in June, 2006) Considered one of the world's hardest crack climbs
• Rhapsody (5.14b/c R, second ascent in June 2008) World's first E11
• Necessary Evil (5.14c)
• Just Do It (5.14c)
• The Path (5.14a) Trad lead
• "sugar daddy" (soft 5.14a Trad) first ascent in May 2010 at nightmare rock in squamish BC.

External links[link]

• Sonnie Trotter's Personal Site
• Patagonia Ambassador Site
• Association of Canadian Mountain Guides Site

Catherine Monique Suzanne Destivelle (born 24 July 1960) is an Algerian-born French rock climber and mountaineer.^[1] In 1992 she became the first woman to complete a solo ascent of the Eiger's north face.^[2] She completed the climb in winter in 15 hours. Her other notable climbs include the Bonatti Route on the north face of the Matterhorn and the southwest pillar of the Aiguille du Dru (the Bonatti Pillar).^[3] Destivelle has been the subject of several documentaries,^[4] including French director Rémy Tezier's, Beyond the Summits (Au-delà des cimes), which won the award for best feature-length mountain film at the 2009 Banff Mountain Film Festival.^[5]

Biography[link]

Catherine Destivelle was born in Oran, Algeria, to French parents, Serge and Annie Destivelle. When Destivelle was a young teenager, the family moved to France where she attended the Lycée Corot in Savigny-sur-Orge. She then studied physiotherapy at the Ecole de kinésithérapie de Paris, and worked as a physiotherapist from 1981 to 1985.^[1] While still a teenager, she had already made several challenging ascents in the Freÿr massif and the Dolomites, but did not take up a full-time professional career in rock and mountain climbing until 1985. The following year, she and her compatriot Patrick Edlinger won the combined final ranking of the Arco and Bardonecchia climbing championships.^[6] In 1990, together with Christine Janin, she participated at the ski mountaineering event Pierra Menta. They placed third.^[7]

With her fellow alpinist, Érik Decamp, Destivelle climbed the southwest face of Shishapangma in Tibet in 1994 as well as the icefall near Namche Bazaar, Nepal. During their 1996 expedition to Antarctica, they made the first ascent of "Peak 4111" in the Ellsworth Mountains before the expedition was cut short after Destivelle fell 20 meters (66 ft) while descending from the summit and received a compound fracture of her leg.^[8] The couple married in 1996 and their son, Victor, was born the following year.^[9] She began to cut back on solo climbs in the late 1990s and developed an active career as a lecturer and writer.^[10]

Notable ascents[link]

Destivelle was the first woman to complete the following solo ascents:^[1]

• 1987 – Bandiagara Escarpment in Mali
• 1990 – Bonatti Pillar of the Aiguille du Dru
• 1991 – new route up the Aiguille du Dru. The "Destivelle Route" was the first rock face to be named after a woman.^[11]
• 1992 – north face of the Eiger
• 1993 – Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses
• 1994 – Bonatti Route on the north face of the Matterhorn
• 1999 – north face direct of the Cima Grande di Lavaredo

Publications[link]

Destivelle is the author of the following books:

• Danseuse de roc, Paris: Denoël, 1987
• Rocs nature (with photos by Gérard Kosicki), Paris: Denoël, 1991
• Annapurna: Duo pour un 8000 (with Érik Decamp), Paris: Arthaud, 1994
• L'apprenti alpiniste: L'escalade, l'alpinisme et la montagne expliqués aux enfants (with Érik Decamp and Gianni Bersezio), Paris: Hachette Jeunesse, 1996
• Ascensions, Paris: Arthaud, 2003

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Catherine Destivelle on WorldCat

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)

The Walls are an Irish rock band. They were formed in 1998 by two ex-members of The Stunning.

Members[link]

• Steve Wall
• Joe Wall
• Carl Harms (Guitar/Keyboards) (left February 2004)
• Rory Doyle (Drums)
• Jon O'Connell (Bass) (joined February 2004)

Biography[link]

1998–2000[link]

Brothers Steve and Joe Wall (previously of The Stunning) returned to Ireland after a two-year failed label stint in London. Their Camden housemate Carl Harms joined the band on guitar and keyboard duties. Drummer Rory Doyle joined soon afterwards. They set up their own label, Earshot Records (later changing it to Dirtbird Records) and recorded and released a string of singles. A remix of one of the album tracks, "Bone Deep", clicked with radio and became a nationwide hit. Many of the songs have featured on a number of TV series and feature films such as Bachelors Walk, Dead Bodies, Goldfish Memory and On the Edge (starring Cillian Murphy).

2001–2004[link]

The Walls heard rumour of a second Slane Castle date for U2 (as the first concert had sold out in hours). They sent four copies of their album to the band. Bono loved it and offered The Walls a support slot. That day the band played to their biggest crowd to date – around 80,000 people. "To the Bright and Shining Sun" was their next single. That June they supported Red Hot Chili Peppers. They spent the next year gigging while building their own studio in Dublin.

In February 2004, original member Carl Harms decided to leave the band to make his own record. They recruited bassist Jon O’Connell, who had just 2 weeks to learn all the songs before a two week tour of the new EU accession states: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. "To the Bright and Shining Sun" also featured on the EA Sports soundtrack for the UEFA Euro 2004 official licenced game.

2004 - 2006[link]

For the next album, the band went to Studio Black Box in France to record with producer and ex-The Frames guitarist David Odlum. Originally scheduled for a release date in September 2004, The Walls decided to hold their album until the new year. U2 were releasing How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb that autumn and according to Steve "we thought that it would be a fair and gentlemanly gesture to stand back and give them a fair crack of the whip, so to speak".^{[citation needed]}

In October 2004, they released a taster - "Drowning Pool" - a blistering, spleen-venting, blues explosion, 2min 52sec long. It took people by surprise and divided opinion - exactly what the band wanted. They supported Bob Dylan to a capacity crowd in Galway that summer and played a storming set that showed there were changes afoot in The Walls sound. They christened the album New Dawn Breaking after the final track on the record. It went straight into the Irish charts at No. 5 in its first week of release in June 2005 and has produced four hit singles: "To the Bright and Shining Sun", "Passing Through", "Drowning Pool" and "Black and Blue".

2007[link]

The band kicked off 2007 with a gig in Dubai and are presently negotiating gig offers in France, Italy, the Czech Republic and China. They also supported Crowded House on their Australian comeback tour before retreating into their studio to work on album number three.

2010 - 2012[link]

In 2010, the double A-side "Carrying The Fire"/"Phantom Power" was released. Following this, in March 2011, the "Bird In A Cage" EP was released, of which the title track was revealed to also be on the bands forthcoming album "Stop The Lights", which is to be released in 2012. Following this announcement, the band's new single "Stop The Lights" was released in January 2012. The band are currently using the innovative "Fund It" in order to finish their third album. The welcome newcomer Kevin Crowley from Newcastle West playing the spoons.

Discography[link]

	"To the Bright and Shining Sun" (2002) noicon From the 2005 album " New Dawn Breaking".
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Studio albums[link]

• Hi-Lo (released May 2000).
• New Dawn Breaking (released June 2005) (reached No. 5 in Irish charts)
• Stop The Lights (released 2012)

Singles and albums[link]

• "The Night I Called It A Day" (Single, released Feb 1999)
• "Broken Boy" (Single, released Sept 1999)
• "Something's Wrong" (Single, released Apr 2000)
• Hi-Lo (Album, released May 2000). A remix of one of the album tracks, Bone Deep, was popular in Ireland. Some songs featured on TV series and feature films: Bachelors Walk, Dead Bodies, Goldfish Memory and On the Edge (starring Cillian Murphy).

• "To the Bright and Shining Sun" (Single, released 2002) reached No. 11 in the Irish charts.
• "Drowning Pool" (single, released 2004)
• New Dawn Breaking (Album, released June 2005) reached No. 5 in Irish charts and has produced four hit singles: "To the Bright and Shining Sun", "Passing Through", "Drowning Pool" and "Black and Blue".

• "Carrying the Fire" / "Phantom Power" (double-A sided single, released Jun 2010)
• "Bird In A Cage EP" (4 Track EP, released Mar 2011)

Cover versions[link]

• Cover version of Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 1
• Cover version of Natasha Bedingfield's "These Words" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 2
• Cover version of U2's "With or without you" on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 3

Career highlights[link]

• Supported U2 at Slane Castle, 2001
• Supported Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2002
• Supported Bob Dylan, Galway, 2005
• Supported Crowded House, Australia, 2007

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official band website, contains free MP3s; gig info, photos, Walls shop, press releases etc.
• The Walls at MySpace, contains some sample MP3s.