4 safety tips for indoor climbing

To help keep you and others safe, we’ve put together four tips to keep in mind when you’re at the climbing wall.

Feb 4 2025

A person climbing a blue and white bouldering wall

Climbing is an exciting and challenging sport. It pushes you to try new things and strive to reach new goals. At the same time, climbing isn’t without its risks. To help keep you and others safe, we’ve put together four tips to keep in mind when you’re at the climbing wall.

Know your ability

When climbing, a good mindset is going to help keep you safe. It’s important to trust yourself and be sure in your abilities. Feeling nervous can be normal when you’re challenging yourself, but when you let those nerves take over, mistakes are more likely to happen. Equally, being overconfident can lead you to try things beyond your capability, which could put you and other people at risk of injury. Keep yourself safe by understanding what you can comfortably do. If you want to try something new, consider asking for advice from a more experienced climber.

At Calshot, all climbers need to pass a climbing competency test before they’re allowed to climb unsupervised, so you feel safe on the wall no matter your skill level.

A person climbing a blue and white bouldering wall

Be aware of your surroundings

It’s absolutely vital to be aware of what’s going on around you. Make sure your route doesn’t get too close to or cross over into another climber’s path. If you’re not sure how close you’ll get, it’s best to wait until the wall is clear.

While you’re resting or waiting, make sure you don’t sit or stand underneath walls that people are climbing on, and don’t walk underneath climbers either. If they fall, they might land on you!

Speak to staff and fellow climbers

Climbers are a friendly bunch who are usually more than happy to help each other out. If you have a question or needs some help, chat to someone else at the wall. More experienced climbers might know the best way to complete a route or can offer advice on technique.

If you come across something that you think puts you or other climbers at risk, speak to staff. That could involve things like loose holds, unsafe behaviour from other climbers, or damaged equipment. They can take action to ensure that the wall remains safe for all users.

An instructor in a red 'wall supervisor' shirt and helmet watching climbers at Calshot Activities Centre

Get to grips with technique

As with every sport, good technique is essential for minimising the risk of injury. Knowing how to grip and where to place your feet, as well as how to have good posture will help you reach new heights and reduce the likelihood of falling.

That said, falling is inevitable, especially if when bouldering, so it’s important to know how to fall properly. Landing badly has the potential to lead to injuries like sprains, fractures and breaks. It can also lead to longer term joint issues, particularly in the knees. It’s a good idea to practice falling from a low height in preparation of any bigger, more unexpected drops you have. This will help build confidence as well, as falling becomes less scary the more you become used to it.

Brush up on your skills or grow your confidence with a course or experience at Calshot. Our expert instructors are there to give you all the knowledge you need for safe indoor climbing. Follow Calshot on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with all the latest from the Wall. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get tips, guides and more delivered straight to your inbox.