Where is the climbing community?

I hear all about how amazing the "climbing community" is but I'm also a little confused how to get into it. Pretty much I'm a lost college student who loves the outdoors more than anything in life but can never seem to find people to enjoy it with. I'm pretty outgoing and have plenty of non adventurous friends, and have no trouble making friends in other places, but when I try to find outdoorsy friends it seems like they just arent there. I tried to find a community of people at college but found only a few friends, I contact people on the partner forums on mountain project and they dont respond, and I would make a club if I could but I dont know how to find other like minded people!

Any given weekend I'll want to go up to the mountains to climb, ski, camp, swim, hike, etc. but inevitably end up having no friends who want to go and just stay around home and boulder in the gym. Do I just say f*ck it and buy a van and move to jackson or yosemite or something? 

Just another guy wrote:Do I just say f*ck it and buy a van and move to jackson or yosemite or something? 

Well actually yes

No. Mostly because you can’t live in either of those places In a van.

What you do is drive your ass to Oregon and find Logan Hugmeyer.  You guys can frolic in the woods for days together.

Best of luck. Have fun and be safe. 

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/117103888/does-anybody-actually-like-to-go-climbing

Just another guy wrote: I hear all about how amazing the "climbing community" is but I'm also a little confused how to get into it. Pretty much I'm a lost college student who loves the outdoors more than anything in life but can never seem to find people to enjoy it with.

You are not alone. When you figure it out, post back.  :)

A name of just a other guy, with no bio and tick marks isnt getting me off the hangboard.
No background or info forget it.
Also. Outdoorsy people dont use the term "outdoorsy". Stop doing that immediately.

Take a class. Go to reelrock screenings. Go to the gym. Use the forums, go solo on trips and to boulder, or learn to rope solo. Or fuck it... go solo.
Also, the climbing commjnity tends to be more eccentric than your average college student.... and your cohort might not be chock full of people who get after it... most will be into school. Chasing grades, pleasing perents, chasing tail, or getting drunk. (Not that climbers dont do all those things... or none...)
but i guarantee your town has outdoors, adventure. Ymca, youth groups or some other clubs that do something "outdoorsy"... tyou may not be best friends with the people you initially meet... but they all have friends who might be cool...
Figure it out. Pitterpatter.

P.s. lost in college is not unique... your not alone... youll realize that later.

Climbing community is not a single entity, it’s not a monolith. Even in the old day when the climbing community was much, much smaller, it was just a loose conglomerate of many different circles of friends.

It is just more so now. The casual gym climbers don’t have much contact with  outdoor climbers, the bouldering area is situated away from the ropes, so people don’t interact...

You basically need to find your circle of friends, and there is your community. 

CO Climber wrote: 0/10

10/10

Just another guy wrote: Where is the climbing community?

In El Cap Meadow, duking it out.

Just another guy wrote: I hear all about how amazing the "climbing community" is but I'm also a little confused how to get into it. Pretty much I'm a lost college student who loves the outdoors more than anything in life but can never seem to find people to enjoy it with. I'm pretty outgoing and have plenty of non adventurous friends, and have no trouble making friends in other places, but when I try to find outdoorsy friends it seems like they just arent there. I tried to find a community of people at college but found only a few friends, I contact people on the partner forums on mountain project and they dont respond, and I would make a club if I could but I dont know how to find other like minded people!

Any given weekend I'll want to go up to the mountains to climb, ski, camp, swim, hike, etc. but inevitably end up having no friends who want to go and just stay around home and boulder in the gym. Do I just say f*ck it and buy a van and move to jackson or yosemite or something? 

Agree with the other poster about no bio or any other info on your MP account. Not even a location. The people you contacted on the partner forums don't respond because of that.

On MP, maybe:
1. Get a recognizable username or use your real name
2. Use a picture of yourself being a real person
3. Show your location
4. Comment on threads so people get to know you
5. Frequent the forum so you get to know who is active and climbs around you
6. Ask them out

Huh, MP partner finder worked for me.  I'm in a place with tons of climbers though.  Surely you have Facebook or Meetup groups wherever you are?  Or a campus climbing/outdoors group?  Those are usually good for finding new partners.  If you have lead partners in the gym, you can try dragging some of them outside, but not everyone is super stoked about every form of climbing.

You do need to be patient, unfortunately, finding reliable partners is the real 5.15d of climbing.  If you really want to take charge, put flyers up around campus and start your own student club, though I realize organizing things like that isn't for everyone.

The community is right here, bruh! If you don't post daily on MP, you aren't taking your climbing seriously, and will likely never send the gnar.   

Kyle Elliott wrote: The community is right here, bruh! If you don't post HOURLY on MP, you aren't taking your climbing seriously, and will likely never send the gnar.   

Fixed that for you.

I have found that if you troll the shit out of mountain project people fucking love it and will contact you to climb.

Godspeed.

Tradiban wrote: I have found that if you troll the shit out of mountain project people fucking love it and will contact you to climb.

Godspeed.

Interestingly enough whenever I mention reading MP forums to someone your name comes up. 

CO Climber wrote: 0/10

Why do MP folks instantly assume that every new member is trolling?

bruno-cx wrote: You could ask REI overlords of this site what happend to it.  They seem to use the "Ban Hammer" without prejudice on anyone that disagrees with them or anyone that could harm the quarterly  profits.  I suggest heading on over to Reddit and participating in one of the many useful subreddits for climbing. I find that there is less trolling and more sense of an intentional community over there.  REI's best move for this online property would be to extract the route information into a printed guide book and then shut it down.

Marc801 C wrote: As has been mentioned in numerous threads, the site is run by the "MP Team" - predominantly Nick Wilder - and that REI has taken a hands off approach.

If you're at all concerned about the "community", you should be directing your ire at the toxic personalities here.

I thought I saw a post where nick said that he does not work for/on MP anymore?

mediocre wrote:

I thought I saw a post where nick said that he does not work for/on MP anymore?

He does not. He still an admin but not moderator. Bet he's glad to, it's a thankless job to babysit this crowd.

Just another guy wrote:.....Any given weekend I'll want to go up to the mountains to climb, ski, camp, swim, hike, etc. but inevitably end up having no friends who want to go and just stay around home and boulder in the gym .........

Get out and start doing that stuff, even if you have to do it solo. You will eventually meet people doing the same, if you frequent outdoor environments. Or at least this has been my experience. I initially knew no one when I moved to CA, met my partner in the backcountry, and met most of my friends through outdoor activities and associated connections. Build your skill and enthusiasm levels and you will end up finding people who want to climb and do other things with you.

Drew L wrote:

Interestingly enough whenever I mention reading MP forums to someone your name comes up. 

Glad to hear about those Tradifans!