A test to check the fit is to stand on a a low edge in your shoes and let your feet slide off - the shoes should stick with your foot as they drop away from the edge.CLOTHINGGreen E9 Rondo Pants, £54.99; Gunmetal Prana Canyon Shorts, £34.99; E9 Seria A T-shirt, £20. "If you've never climbed, you'll be surprised how tight your climbing shoes feel," says Neatham. The Black Diamond ATC, £13.99, and DMM Lynx HMS screwgate, £10.99, are recommended.SHOESLa Sportiva Barracuda, £74.99. The harness is the most important piece of hardware: "Though they're padded and have plenty of adjustment built in," says Neatham, "try on as many as you can and find a comfortable one - we let customers hang from a rope in a harness to find the right fit." You'll also need a belay device and carabiner (not shown).
These are essential attachments to the harness: the belay device is used by the person paying out rope to the climber to protect him or her in the event of a fall, and also to assist in lowering the climber down the wall; the carabiner is the device the climber uses to tie the rope on to the harness. "There are no weather issues or muddy holds to battle with, unlike a week's outdoor course in Wales. It's also very sociable."There are two pieces of essential kit that you'll need for your first assault on an indoor climbing wall: a harness and climbing shoes. Both of these can be hired at most climbing walls, along with rope, but if you've about £200 to spend, you can buy shoes, harness and some climbing-specific clothing, as above.HARNESSBlack Diamond Blizzard, £59.99.
Hence the boom in the UK of indoor climbing walls, where many would-be climbers clip on to a rope for the first time."You're learning in a very safe environment for a start," says Simon Neatham of Urban Rock, the climbing-gear retail outlet with branches at two London walls. £1.80 an hour on main wall.France: Antrebloc, 5 Rue Henri-Barbuse, 94800 Villejuif, Paris (00 33 1 47 26 52 44, www.antrebloc ).Germany: Kletterzentrum M?en, Thalkirchener Strasse 211, M?en D-81371 (00 49 89 2907 0915, www.kletterzentrum-muenchen.de.Get a grip on the right kit for undercover operationsBy Mike HigginsThe British Isles are a bit of a geological disappointment for climbers - or, to put it another way, there isn't much good rock here. Season's pass costs £98.50.Belgium: New Top Rock, Chauss?de Watermael 136, Brussels 1160 (00 32 2 660 9533/675 1760, www.newtoprock ).Czech Republic: Ruzyne Climbing Centre, Drnovska 19, Praha 6, Ruzyne, Prague 160 000 (00 420 235 319 096, www.stena-ruzyne ). An annual pass costs £325.The Bristol Climbing Centre, St Werburgh's Church, Mina Road, Bristol BS2 9YH (0117 941 3489, www.undercover-rock ) charges £10 for a one-hour taster session Beginners' courses (41/2 hours over two sessions) from £39.
