How long did it take you to transition from Gym to Outdoors?

CCase wrote:Depends what you are trying to do outdoors... if you can lead on bolts indoors and the closet crag to you is sport then it will be a pretty easy transition. If the closet area requires you to learn how to build anchors and/or lead trad in order to top rope, then it might take a little bit more time. One of my friends passed me along to this blog which has a good article on the progression for learning how to lead trad. Not 100% percent applicable to what you were asking, but has some info you might find useful... seekingexposure.com/climbin…

Thank you!

I climbed in a gym for over a year before doing anything outdoors. I still climb outdoors very little, only 4 or 5 times last year; with a non-climbing family and a full time job, it's a lot easier to do a 3 hour gym session than to go to a crag and climb there.

As a result, I suck climbing outside. My current gym has no artificial cracks to practice on, so even a 5.8 crack is really hard for me. Outdoor climbs that don't need skills like that are still hard for me, I can't figure out where the handholds and footholds are. For reference, I've completed 5.12- projects in the gym, but outdoors never done more than 5.10. The gym grades are softer than outdoors, but even taking that into account it's clear that I still haven't successfully transitioned to outdoor climbing!

Them westerners mus' be powerful ugly, 'cause there's plenty of women climbers back East. So, sorry, not much of a "unicorn effect" back here. You'll find plenty of women and men to climb with and learn from.

There is no need to start in a gym, and you shouldn't think of it as something you have to do first. If you wanted to get started hiking, you could begin by going to a gym and walking on a treadmill, and that would make you fitter for hiking, but really, if you want to hike you have to get outside and climbing is almost the same. (I say almost, because there does seem to be a group of people who never leave the gym.)

You're about an hour and a half from the Gunks. That's probably where you should try to get to. But of course, you can't just go up there and start climbing, you have to go with someone with a decent amount of experience (and some sensitivity to what it is like to be starting out). The trouble is, you have no way to judge those things. So I'd say, if you can swing the bucks, that starting out with a guide in the Gunks is the way to go. The guides and guide services that are authorized to climb in the Mohonk Preserve, where most of the climbing is, are listed on the Preserve web page at mohonkpreserve.org/climbing… . Rates seem to run from $260 to $295 for a private day, less (proportionately) if you go with more people (typically not more than 3 however).

There are guide services working much more locally, for example at Allamuchy SP. One such is northeastmountainguiding.co…. But honestly, I'd be wary of them because they don't seem to have acquired any of the organizational guiding certifications and most of their guides, with a few exceptions, are minimally certified if at all. Some folks have not been pleased with them; see mountainproject.com/v/north…. The owner posts as NEGuiding on MP and if he sees this will no doubt respond.

Another option, and I think close to you as well, are the rock climbing workshops offered by the Appalachian Mountain Club's Mohican Outdoor Center. Call (908) 362-5670. The AMC offers a more substantial workshop for beginning climbers in the early spring (it has already happened), but registration for that is sometime in the winter, so not until next year...

If you can't go the guide route, you'll probably want to try to meet experienced climbers at the gym. This is a less certain way of assuring expertise, but it works well enough most of the time. The only recommendation one can give is to trust you gut: if anything doesn't seem right in the gym it isn't going to be right outdoors. Things you might chat about that give hints are how long a person has been climbing, what types of climbing they regularly do, and how geographically extensive their experience is.

Best of luck on the beginning of a long and fulfilling adventure!

My girlfriend is a bad ass female climber and she loves Steph Davis' blog. Steph is a professional climber and base jumper, who besides blogging about those sports also covers food, camping, women's life, dogs, all kinds of stuff. She is definitely worth following. She even has a entry right now called "How to Start Climbing."

highinfatuation.com/blog/

adrianna melody wrote: Im just starting in a gym this week..hoping for next season or this fall i could be outside.

Skip the gym all together... Spend your weekends in the Gunks. You'll be much happier. If you have to get a fix during the week and there is no easily accessible after work climbing outdoors, then go to the gym...

Stagg54 wrote: Skip the gym all together... Spend your weekends in the Gunks. You'll be much happier. If you have to get a fix during the week and there is no easily accessible after work climbing outdoors, then go to the gym...

I just would have no idea where to start if I went to the gunks!

My wife and me climbed outdoors two months after we started in the gym. For those two months in the gym we bought an 8ft section of 9mm static rope to practice tieing knots with. After that we got 50ft of 8mm static rope to practice making anchors at home (which is now used to make real anchors with). As soon as we got our 70m dynamic rope we went climbing that weekend. The first time outdoors it was a bit intimidating but thats also what made it pretty exciting.

The following month we got 12 quick draws and started leading sport climbs. Which I drastically under estimated how scary a lead fall would be!!!

Its pretty easy for us to go climb whenever because we don't need to worry about a reliable partner. You'll need to find some experienced friends who'll be available to go out and climb when you are. In the mean time brush up on your rope/knot skills like we did and buy some books to read. Keep climbing in the gym but don't over do it! It takes time for tendons to strengthen for climbing.

If I were you I would climb outdoors as much as possible and take every opportunity you can to get more experience and learn. The gym is not a prerequisite to climbing outside and I think overall your are going to get a lot more out of outdoor climbing. With that said the gym serves many purposes; It is a great place to get reps in, especially during the week, when you are short on time, or when it rains. It also is a great place to meet other climbers. I don't think you need a mentor, but if you can get a network of people to climb with it will greatly speed up your progress and give you more opportunities to climb. I'm a little confused about the unicorn thing because about half of my climbing partners are female, but I've found it is very easy to meet people at the gym (bouldering wall is a good social spot) and by going on climbing trips with those people you'll make many more climbing friends. I think in general meeting people to climb with at the gym or while climbing is much better then online, or other social situations. You will have a better gage of their level and how safe they are by watching them belay and climb then you would cold. Any how, when you do have partners, take opportunities to follow harder routes, and learn to lead asap. I learned in my first few weeks and I think it really helps with getting over a fear of falling.

Learn to be a good belayer. No matter how good or bad your climbing ability is everyone can be a good belayer and that will help being invited back by your partner.

For me the first time I ever new climbing was a thing, was last year, when I went on a trip to rifle canyon with a handful of friends. I got hooked. Although, I was awful at the beginning, I took every opportunity I had to climb more and learn from other people. After working on it for a year, this month, I have learned to lead moderate trad climbs and sport into the 12's.

I think the traditional method was reading the book "freedom of the hills" and finding a mentor who would teach you the world of climbing. Now a days, we have many options, youtube, books, and the gym has all been very useful aides in helping me progress.

I know I already said this, but I think it is in your best interest to get outside asap, because with the brutal east coast winters, you will primarily be gym climbing then, so why waste the summer indoors?

adrianna melody wrote: I just would have no idea where to start if I went to the gunks!

Get a partner who knows their stuff, head out, get on something easy and let them trash you the ropes, both literal and hypothetical. Most importantly have fun and stay safe.

Skip the GYM (if you can) and start climb outdoors right out of the gate.

I meet gym climbers who have been climbing 6 months and never climbed out doors and it leaves me dumbfounded. (in other words they have never ROCK climbed anything ever)

You will learn more, understand more, and have a greater appreciation for the entire act of climbing if you start outside. If you love hiking and being outside then climbing in a gym would take away a huge aspect of why climbing is so special. The gym should be your last resort if you have a beautiful place to climb outdoors, and its easy to find people to tag along with.

I was only climbing in a gym for about a month before i started going outdoors. It just took me that long to buy some shoes, and I went out there with my shoes and a roll of carpet and just looked for stuff that looked climbable.

I've resorted to the gym from time to time when it rains or when my day light gets taken up by work and stuff, but I don't see myself ever having a membership ever again.

rgold wrote:Them westerners mus' be powerful ugly, 'cause there's plenty of women climbers back East. So, sorry, not much of a "unicorn effect" back here. You'll find plenty of women and men to climb with and learn from.

Makes sense. I mean, if you only have a 50 foot wide section of cliff and have to charge $20
a day to use it, no wonder there's plenty of gals waiting to watch a group gangbang a route. It's like a Veblen good, which I hear is a big part of east coast livin'. GTL all day bro.

Zero time. I started climbing outdoors with the Cliffhangers, the climbing club at the University of Arizona. I was hooked immediately and signed up at the gym to train the next week.

Rgold,
Can you post a link here to that thread you started a few months back about things to do to be a helpful new second? I thought it was great, meant to say so in the thread... It could be helpful to the OP if she gets someone to mentor her.

OP, My friend and I started from scratch at a gym, paid for a staff belay, took the ladies night discount belay class, took a lead climbing/belaying class, and we climbed whenever we could -- 6 kids btw the two of us. Eventually we met some guys at the gym, went to the Gunks, bought them a bunch of craft beer. The rest is history.

My advice is to take it one day at a time. You may love climbing or not. Things will come together if you do. Be safe!

My start was different than everyone else. I hired a guide to go ice climbing for one, two then three days after we found out conditions were terrible skiing. The guide met me in the summer for a week for rock climbing. He suggested a gym was a safe way to start climbing. I climbed in the gym for about 6 months before I took a gym to crag course my gym offered. The instructor was a d"ck plus I didn't learn enough to feel comfortable setting up top ropes. I hired a private guide to teach me TR anchors and got my friends into climbing outside and the gym. After a while I hired the same guide to teach me how to lead. By then I was meeting other people to climb with. Three years later I met some climbers and are now making a big effort to climb harder.

Post up something on the Partners wanted. Ive had my share of liars, no shows and strange strangers. On the other hand I got crazy lucky meeting someone new the last time I went to the Gunks. I'm not sure how you would vet that person... Get RGold, Tradman and Bearbreeder to stamp their approval. That would make a great thread!

MelRock wrote:Rgold, Can you post a link here to that thread you started a few months back about things to do to be a helpful new second? I thought it was great, meant to say so in the thread... It could be helpful to the OP if she gets someone to mentor her.

Here's a link.
mountainproject.com/v/how-t…

It should go without saying that not everyone agrees with my "wisdom," so read the whole thread for perspective.

Perhaps I should also add that the post was addressed to people who had perhaps gone the gym route and were already somewhat experienced in indoor climbing but who had fairly little exposure to multipitch trad climbing.

Funny question to me, but relavent these days I guess. I never transitioned. There were no rock gyms when I started. And though I have climbed at gyms twice for lack of anything else available when away working, never felt much need to pursue the gym setting.

Climbing outdoors around Jersey? There were only a couple places I used to go when I was living in Southern NJ. Ralph Stover state park, Livesey (sp? Livezey?) Rock in the Wissahickon Fairmount park area near Phila, a drive to Rocks Maryland, the Gunks or Seneca. I'd think there would be more available/developed in Northern NJ in the water gap area by now, but I don't know, that was 1980.

In CA ? New to climbing; Climb with us; join the Rim of the World Rock Climbing Club in California. We're an easygoing group of men, women and families who meet up every month to climb someplace different. We have members who have climbed El Cap, Mckinley, Himalayas and have first ascents in the Sierras and local areas. We have members who have gone on to become guides. But mostly we are a good time crew who climb in places like Tuolumne Meadows, Eastside of the Sierras (Whitney Portal, Rock Creek, Owens River Gorge, Pine Creek), Joshua Tree, Tahquitz, Corte Madera, The Needles, Cochise Monument and Crags in Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead. We have 11 trips per year (and one slide show in December) to cool new spots every month. Membership is $40.00 and covers the year for camp spots and the Rendezvous. We car pool to save money and enjoy the ride. We also have informal trips on other weekends.

Our Rendezvous is June 13 and 14th where we all get together and climb, camp and put on a huge feast; come join us ! Check out the website or facebook for details.

We boulder, sport climb, trad climb and alpine climb. We have a trip every winter to Ouray and Lee Vining for ice climbing. Come and learn it all. We'll show you the ropes !

www.rowcc.com
facebook; Rim of the World Climbing Club

I replied in your other thread about NJRG.

Start coming to the gym and take the belay class and you will pick up the basics quick and you will get the bug and want to go outside.

I personally climbed in the gym for around 5 months before my first time outside climbing officially.

Now i try to get outside every weekend. just ask around the gym. some one is always going outside every weekend. whether its the gunks or some where else. just ask.

i also sometimes go to the tourne or some other spots in NNJ outside after work to get a quick outdoor session in.

-Zach

if you're headed to the Gunks, look up Silas Rossi--he's a local, one of the 100 or so internationally certified mountain guides in the US, and an awesome guy. super fun, crazy competent, showers in the morning. the whole package!

seriously, rgold is on to something...if you can swing the cash, climbing with a certified guide is worth the time...

good luck!

oh, and plenty of women climbing in boulder/denver....good scene out here! RC