It takes concentration, technique and mental and physical strength.
Luckily for local climbers Sian Moffitt, Aiyana Grigsby and Matai Lockwood, they've got all that.
The local climbers will be calling on every ounce of their preparation and training when they head to Noumea, New Caledonia in mid-September for the Youth World Rock Climbing Championships. They are part of the 13-strong New Zealand youth climbing team.
For Moffitt, a Year 12 student at Tauhara College in Taupo, it will not be her first overseas competition. She also competed in the World Youth Rock Climbing Championships in Singapore in 2012 and last year in Noumea at the Oceania Sport Climbing Championships.
Moffitt will be climbing in the under-18 grade and will be lead climbing, where climbers clip the rope into hanging carabiners, known as quickdraws, as they ascend.