So for context (not that you really care but I can’t stop myself) there are several different kinds of rock climbing.
One: Bouldering.
This is closer to the ground so you don’t use ropes, you do generally use crash pads or soft mats to fall on because the ground is hard and when I say “closer to the ground” I mean this relatively. Sometimes you go quite high. Sometimes you try and do stupid hard things and it doesn’t matter how close to the ground you are, falling on it still sucks.
Two: Top roping.
This is dependent on being able to get access to the top of something to set up a rope, and then go to the bottom and climb back up. Repeat as desired.
Three: Sport Lead Climbing.
This requires a rock face to be “bolted” literally meaning that bolts are permanently placed into the rock and you start at the bottom and bring a rope with you to clip into the bolts as you go. This sort of climbing was pretty frowned on for a while because of the damage it does to the rock but it seems like it’s sort of being accepted as “ok”. There are several areas being developed for this type of climbing.
Four: Lead Climbing. Or Traditional Lead Climbing or Trad Lead Climbing or Trad Climbing.
This type of climbing developed (in the United States, anyway) mostly in Yosemite Valley in the 1970s. At that time they realized that hammering metal bits into the rock was quickly destroying it and started to adopt non-destructive ways of “safely” climbing a wall from the bottom to the top. I use “safely” with heavy air quotes because the early days of this involved using nuts and bolts pulled from junk yards and attached to wires that were then jammed into cracks and expected to hold your body weight. It’s come a long way since then but this is still a risky way to do things and requires a lot of hours of practice and experience to do it actually “safely”. Less heavy-duty air quotes here.
I got my start on my hours of practice this weekend with an Intro to Lead class with Alpine Endeavors in the Gunks. I learned a ton in the class but it was still barely dipping a toe into the water of all the things I need to learn. In the meantime I’ll stick with my top rope while I try to master the art of placing metal bits into the cracks of rock and wondering if it is good enough to hold me up if I fall.