Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or other parts of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders ) to small boulders . Climbing is done for locomotion, sporting recreation, for competition, and is also done in trades that rely on ascension, such as construction and military operations. Climbing is done indoors and outdoors, on natural surfaces (e.g. rock climbing and ice climbing ), and on artificial surfaces (e.g. climbing walls and climbing gyms )
14-626: The New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC), is a national climbing organisation in New Zealand. It was founded 1891 and is one of the oldest alpine clubs in the world. NZAC was one of many founding members of International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA), and still an active member. As of 2021, NZAC has over 4,000 members who are spread across twelve main sections, eleven in New Zealand and one in Australia , plus members in other countries. It runs
28-542: A national office based in Christchurch . The NZAC was founded on 28 July 1891 at Warner's Commercial Hotel in Christchurch , New Zealand. Leonard Harper (Christchurch) was voted as the inaugural chairman in absentia. Harper had left for England on 25 July, and while away, it was discovered that he had embezzled money; hence he did not return. Frederick Hutton (Christchurch), Edward Sealy ( Timaru ), Malcolm Ross ( Dunedin ), and John Holland Baker ( Wellington ) were
42-524: Is recognized by the IOC and GAISF and is a member of the International World Games Association ( IWGA ). Competition climbing has three parts: Competition ice climbing is a regulated sport of 'competitive ice climbing' that originated in the early 2000s, and which is done on outdoor or indoor climbing on artificial ice climbing walls that consist of ice and dry surfaces. The UIAA is
56-803: The Alpine Club , based in the United Kingdom , was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club . It was once described as: Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations , providing education and training courses, services for outdoorsmen, and de facto regulation of local mountaineering resources and behavior of mountaineers. Most clubs organize social events, schedule outings, and stage climbing competitions, operate alpine huts and paths, and are active in protecting
70-851: The Southern Alps which run the length of the South Island, but also include other ranges such as the Kaikōuras , Arrowsmiths and the North Island volcanoes Mount Taranaki and Mounts Ruapehu , Ngauruhoe and Tongariro . Rock climbing attracts many participants in New Zealand and the varied topography and rock types provide opportunities for rock climbing within some cities such as Auckland , Christchurch and Dunedin , and within an hours drive of most cities in New Zealand. Ice climbing , bouldering, sport climbing and trad climbing are all well established. Alpine club The first alpine club ,
84-501: The 2020 Summer Olympics ) in that format that included competition lead climbing , competition bouldering , and competition speed climbing disciplines; competition ice climbing is not yet an Olympic sport. Rock climbing can trace its origins to the late 19th-century , and has since developed into several main sub-disciplines. Single-pitch and multi-pitch (and big wall) climbing, can be performed in varying styles (including aid, sport, traditional, free solo, and top-roping), while
98-526: The alpine environment . With around 1,500,000 members the German Alpine Club is usually reckoned as the largest alpine club in the world. Climbing The sport of climbing evolved by climbers making first ascents of new types of climbing routes , using new climbing techniques , at ever-increasing grades of difficulty , with ever-improving pieces of climbing equipment . Guides and guidebooks were an important element in developing
112-489: The annual New Zealand Alpine Journal . NZAC owns 17 lodges and huts that are available for use by club members and other climbers. Most sections provide instruction courses for beginning climbers and the club also provides instruction for intermediate and advanced skills. NZAC sponsors the annual national bouldering series held during the summer at four locations, as well as other local and national competitive climbing events. The visibility of mountaineering in New Zealand
126-451: The development of competition climbing , increased the popularity of rock climbing as a sport, and led to the emergence of professional rock climbers, such as Wolfgang Güllich , Alexander Huber , Chris Sharma , Adam Ondra , Lynn Hill , Catherine Destivelle , and Janja Garnbret . Climbing became an Olympic sport for the first time in the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo (see Sport climbing at
140-574: The governing body for competition ice climbing worldwide and their events include a lead ice climbing discipline and a speed ice climbing discipline. Competition ice climbing is not as yet an Olympic Sport. Climbing has been the subject of both narrative and documentary films. Notable climbing films include Touching the Void (2003), Everest (2015), Meru (2015), The Dawn Wall (2015), Free Solo (2018), 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (2021), and The Alpinist (2021). The Reel Rock Film Tour
154-401: The inaugural vice-presidents. Arthur Paul Harper , Leonard Harper's son, was the inaugural secretary and treasurer. The club actively promotes climbing in New Zealand and overseas. It publishes guidebooks to New Zealand mountains and to selected rock climbing areas, and also makes this information accessible online. It publishes a quarterly magazine The Climber (which is also online), and
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#1732880172402168-444: The popularity of the sport in the natural environment. Early pioneers included Walter Bonatti , Riccardo Cassin , Hermann Buhl , and Gaston Rébuffat , who were followed by and Reinhold Messner and Doug Scott , and later by Mick Fowler and Marko Prezelj , and Ueli Steck . Since the 1980s, the development of the safer format of bolted sport climbing , the wider availability of artificial climbing walls and climbing gyms, and
182-419: The standalone discipline of bouldering (or boulder climbing) is by definition performed in a free solo format. Competition climbing (sometimes confusingly called "sport climbing"), is a regulated sport of 'competitive rock climbing' that originated in the 1980s, and which is done as indoor climbing on artificial climbing walls . The IFSC is the governing body for competition rock-climbing worldwide and
196-626: Was boosted by the 1953 ascent of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay . Hillary is amongst the best known and most revered New Zealanders and was a life member of the NZAC. Other NZAC members have completed first ascents in many mountain areas, including in the Himalayas, Antarctica and the Andes. New Zealand is a very mountainous country, and mountaineering has long been popular in New Zealand. The mountaineering opportunities focus particularly on
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