Beginner Fantasizing about EPC (or any other site in MX)

18 months of gym climbing experience. Lead climb/belay certified but never climbed outdoors. I can top rope 5.11s and lead 5.10b in the gym.

Is it a bad idea to venture out on a week long climbing trip to EPC or any other MX destination for xmas (was also looking at Oaxaca)? I want to travel to a warmer place and also do some outdoor climbing.

If you're a real person and not a bot (do bots tick climbs?) the answer is that wouldn't be wise. You could hire a guide in EPC, but you have a lot of skills you'd need to learn to be safely climbing independently outdoors. If you're willing to spend money on classes we might be able to help you find good ones near you that would get you the requisite knowledge and experience before hand, but going with your current knowledge would be very unsafe. 

Thanks for your response Ricky. I am a real person. Forgot to mention in my orig post - I was thinking of hiring a local guide once I got there. 

But I hear you - I should get outdoor experience locally first before venturing out to another destination.

Burak Uzmanwrote:

Thanks for your response Ricky. I am a real person. Forgot to mention in my orig post - I was thinking of hiring a local guide once I got there. 

But I hear you - I should get outdoor experience locally first before venturing out to another destination.

Are there any guides that offer classes near you? Obviously I am unaware of your financial situation-- hiring a guide is the best option if money is not an obstacle, but taking classes from a guide is a pretty close second and offers a good education for a lot less money. See if there are gym to crag courses or any other such courses for outdoor climbing near you. 

I took 4 courses maybe 7 years ago or so and I still use the info I learned from those courses every time I go climbing. Best money I ever spent on climbing by a significant margin. 

Burak Uzmanwrote:

Thanks for your response Ricky. I am a real person. Forgot to mention in my orig post - I was thinking of hiring a local guide once I got there. 

But I hear you - I should get outdoor experience locally first before venturing out to another destination.

If you can get local outdoor experience first,that is great.

But hiring a guide at a destination is not a bad way to get yourself outdoors.  And EPC is a great place to do it.  You would want to make clear to the guide that, along with enjoying some fine climbing, you'd also like to build the skills you need as an outdoor climber.  Most guides should be willing to work with you on that, too.

Provided you only want to single pitch, there isn’t that much to learn.  No harm in hiring guides, but it’s entirely possible to teach yourself the basics.  Learn how to set up a sport anchor, how to clean it, and how to rappel.  You could learn all that tomorrow.  

In general though, you need partners that you can learn with.  Go outside and climb with someone who’s cool with you not knowing much.  If you start doing that regularly right now then EPC in February will just be a fun vacation.  

Calebwrote:

Provided you only want to single pitch, there isn’t that much to learn.  No harm in hiring guides, but it’s entirely possible to teach yourself the basics.  Learn how to set up a sport anchor, how to clean it, and how to rappel.  You could learn all that tomorrow.  

In general though, you need partners that you can learn with.  Go outside and climb with someone who’s cool with you not knowing much.  If you start doing that regularly right now then EPC in February will just be a fun vacation.  

I would say that EPC would be a bad place to go single pitching for your first outdoor experience. I found some of the bolt spacings can be surprisingly exciting at pretty moderate grades. 

Connor Dobsonwrote:

I would say that EPC would be a bad place to go single pitching for your first outdoor experience. I found some of the bolt spacings can be surprisingly exciting at pretty moderate grades. 

There are some run-outs on moderate climbing, yes.  So learn to use a stick clip as well.  There’s nothing hard about this and it doesn’t have to be dangerous.  Just get out there.  The adventure is the reward.  

While you can certainly “teach yourself today”, dealing with real world situations multiple times and practicing those situations in a safe situation like a gym or under guidance is the way to go.

I have some friends im supporting in their learning process that are strong climbers but constantly flub basic top cleaning protocol and need to be corrected. Repetition helps, everybody learns differently. Highly recommend a guide for a day.

Suggesting you go down and learn at the crag exposes you to more risk than necessary, but also exposes the crag to  to your learning. Nothing worse than climbing next to a belayer yelling instructions to their newbie follower, then realizing that neither the teacher nor student really know whats going on.

Hopefully somebody corrects them, hopefully they accept the spray, hopefully nobody gets defensive and hopefully they learn so we have less people yelling at the crag and everyone can communicate and be safe.

Ive seen too many instances of people doing dumb shit, and while we all start somewhere in our climbing journey, do the dumb shit at home, so you are safe and there is a little less chaos at the crag.

Poorly learning to clean at the top of a crag a thousand miles from home isnt “adventure”, its irresponsible.

PS. I find the bolting at chico to be pretty friendly in general and there is a great community of people down there.