a question for recreational climbers.

Daryl Allan wrote:Explain to your significant other than if you don't get out regularly, you get irritable and then start being a royal pain around the house. The trick is to be really upbeat and chipper when you get back from climbing then start tapering off into being an ass again toward the end of the week. A few weeks of that routine and she'll be packing your lunch before your outings.

Ha funny that is exactly how it works for me alanatural no pretending required. Post a day climbing i am Freaking joy for like 48 hours. After that i turn back into a moody bitch till i get out again.

The resolution is climbing three days a week and running cycling or swimming the others..

Mitch Zimmerman wrote: I don't think its gonna work :)

try telling her that without regular climbing you'll turn into a giant fat-ass couch potato.

forgot to mention, the lack of opportunity to climb as much as I like translates into increased motivation on the hang board. hey, it's something...

We bring our little man to the crag with us (along with a sitter and/or a third climber we know WELL!),and typically have a mellow day alternating between doing routes and playing with Wyatt. Make a day out of it, have a good time climbing low-stress routes, and don't get miffed if you only get a couple of pitches in. Parenthood does not come with a guarantee.

rogerbenton wrote: try telling her that without regular climbing you'll turn into a giant fat-ass couch potato. forgot to mention, the lack of opportunity to climb as much as I like translates into increased motivation on the hang board. hey, it's something...

She is not that superficial ha I don't know if its good or bad

johnL wrote: That took me a second. I thought you wrote that you couldn't decide whether to have another or get rid of one.

Haha, that was my same first reaction also.

When that was my situation w a young baby daughter best case scenario was: one weeknight at gym and one weekend day..Plenty enough to stay strong.

Road trips? Good luck, maybe 3x a year?

I've got an 11 month old daughter.

Right now I usually get out 3x per week. Gym 2 nights a week, then one day on the weekend. My wife also climbs so sometimes we get a babysitter and get out together. She and I will swap nights going to the gym to climb as well. One night I go and climb while she stays with the baby, and I do the same for her another night.

Pretty good split right now. We will see if it can keep up when we add more kid(s).

Spri wrote:I've got an 11 month old daughter.

I was wondering when you were going to speak up.

Spri and Mrs Spri seem to have a great system going. Other friends of mine have similar systems that allow them to stay after it.

2 kids, divorced and have my kids every other week.

That being said, 6 or 7 months out of the year (north Eastener and I don't do ice), I get out pretty much every week. On the weeks I have my kids, we go cragging (my son is 14 and is a great belayer and climber). My little princess watches and gives it a go once in a while (she's 8). She also sometimes tries belaying (obviously with me as a backup).

On the weeks I don't have the kids, I still get out there with my son although he's not as keen as he used to be, (growing up, it's tough to get him away from his other teenage stuff) In those weekends if he doesn't want to join me, I end up alone (having developed no network of partners because I spend most of my time with my son). In those cases, I'll usually solo TR, or go climb a big 3rd or 4th class slide in the Adirondacks.

This summer, I'll be taking up silent partnering on multi-pitch (again, having no network of people to climb with).

I have three kids, a wife, and travel 4 days a week for business. I climb almost every weekend and work out 1.5 - 2 hours a day. I have the luxury of being close to a major climbing area but I still do 2-3 day trips once a month and longer trips a few times a year.

I hear all the time from friends about how they don't have time to work out or to do this/that. Its just nonsense. You can and will find time for the things that are important to you.

How important is climbing to you (or any activity for that matter) and what are you willing to sacrifice to make time? I sacrifice sleep and conventional entertainment. While traveling I work during the day, exercise at night, and more work until midnight'ish. When I'm home I work during the day, do homework with the kids in the evening, and exercise plus more work at night.

I involve my wife and kids in climbing too. Fortunately my wife is understanding since she grew up with a mountaineer for a father.

I work 65-70 hr/wk and travel quite a bit, but I'm married to my climbing partner and our kids are grown, plus our son climbs and our daughter does some too. So, even with all the time pressure I do get to the climbing gym twice most weeks, and in season climb real rock once or twice a month. My other sports (mountain biking and whitewater kayaking) compete for time, but fortunately both tend to be found where there is good climbing. Now if only I could find a way to live in West Virginia... It's the driving that's the limiting factor, in climbing and paddling.

I make it out to climb about as much as I'd like to, and that's the important thing. I climb less than I did prior to the birth of my young son, but that's because I love spending time with the little guy. At 16 months, he's only been to the crags with me a couple times; my wife doesn't climb, so she is happy to have him to herself when I'm climbing.

Lately, I've been getting out to climb once every week or two. As for trips, I went on two overnighters last year & hope to have the wife & kid accompany me on a couple weekend trips this year.

I'll be turning 40 in the Spring & my awesome wife is flying me to join a roadtripping friend for a week! In 20 years of climbing, I've confined myself to local crags & weekend destinations, so I'm excited- but I'll miss the family & wouldn't wish to be away any longer than that (he's growing & changing so rapidly).

While my happiness has never quite been contingent on being able to get out & climb, I do appreciate my outdoor time for its therapeutic value. I've taken the little guy on a few hikes to explore some of the more obscure rocks in my area, but also enjoy just going to the playground.

Your priorities are your own; hope you find a balance- climbing enough to suit your needs, without making it at the expense of your family.

No kids, just a wife. The limiting factors in how much I get out are weather, partners, and choosing to not use a car. London isn't friendly for any of those things.

I'm getting out one weekend a month at the moment, but with the amount of paid holiday I get, I end up doing 4 to 14 days trips at least once every 10 weeks.

I've chosen to live w/o a car at the moment and I really like doing so. I bike everywhere and my carbon footprint is probably lower now than it ever has been. This choice certainly affects my time outdoors, but it hasn't seemed to effect my climibng ability.

I'm more focused now - training hard in the gym for specific trips that are close enough together to keep me motivated and long enough to actually enjoy.

Having a car would mean more one and two day trips at the spur of the moment, but would change my budget enough that I might not be able to take off to Spain every other month... dunno if I'm ready to make that trade off just yet.

I have a full time job and a girlfriend that I spend pretty much every waking moment with (which I absolutely LOVE!) and climb 4+ times a week, usually 5.

I gym 2-3 days and go outside 2-3 days a week depending on the situation. My gf was not a climber when we met 8 months ago but she picked it up pretty quickly and loves it now(or atleast she says she does :P)

I will say I have a unique situation. I work from 6ish-3ish tuesday through saturday so I still have plenty of day light once I am off work if I wanna go wrassle som' rocks. I live 25 minutes from a premier boulder field with many other splendid local areas about the same distance away and if I'm in a hurry but wanna boulder there is a little known spot of a good sized field no more than 10 minutes away depending on how many red lights you get caught at. There are some AWESOME crags around here with a few just off the side of the road which is premier when wanting to just hop out and climb. Being off on mondays allows me to get out to the more popular places on the weekend without all the hassle of the crowd.

Also there are 2 terrific gyms within a short drive and the main one I goto is on my way home from work so I typically swing by there and get a good sesh and train a bit.

I'm one blessed fella when it comes to my second love!

I didn't realize we were counting gym sessions as climbing.

I live three miles from a world class gym, and my work is inbetween the gym and the house. I am on my bike to the gym pretty much every morning before work in winter and every other day when the weather is nice.

Ryan Williams wrote:I didn't realize we were counting gym sessions as climbing. I live three miles from a world class gym, and my work is inbetween the gym and the house. I am on my bike to the gym pretty much every morning before work in winter and every other day when the weather is nice.

I didn't either, in my mind, climbing means outside, the gym is just for training.

/derailed

I agree with both of you for the most part but you have to realize that some of the best climbers in the world stick just to the gym (which is totally their loss). Take Patxi Usobyiga or whatever I am sure everyone remembers him from progression and how he trained inside for a year just to compete, I don't think anyone is going to argue that he isn't a climber or never climbs when he climbed more moves in a day then I'll make in 3 months or what about when climbing is introduced into the Olympics, that'll be on plastic and indoors but should they distinguish that specific activity as 'Competitive Climbing'? I guess we could take the Sharma look and consider all indoor as training but that takes away from all of the climbers out there that don't have access to outdoor climbing regularly.

I'm just being controversial

but in my opinion both are climbing even though the outdoor variety definitely trumps the indoor.

You can climb indoors... it's just not rock climbing. It's fun but it sucks at the same time. If I hadn't learned to climb outdoors, I don't think I ever would have thought about whether or not climbing gyms even existed.

I am certainly not trying to be an elitist or anything, as I spend loads more time in the gym now than I do out doors these days. After years of doing nothing but climbing, I am paying for it now by working in a city that just isn't good for a climber.

But I can't say that I ever go to the climbing gym just to have fun. I enjoy my time there, but the motivation for going is to get strong - for when I actually get to go rock climbing.

PS, Patxi climbs outside too...