New to Anniston (Alabama) area - How to learn how to top rope / trad climb

Hello, All

Just moved to Alabama recently from the flatlands of Central Florida. Thought this belonged on this forum because it's more of an area thing, seems like I'm just a tad out of the way of hotspots like Birmingham and Huntsville. Not that I'm not willing to go there every once in a while, I'm just interested if there are any closer spots near Anniston.

I was into indoor bouldering and then top roping for a short while and I'm looking to learn outdoor climbing. What's the best way to go about it in my area? Or is it likely I'll have to go a out of the way for some learning and experience?

Sand rock (Cherokee Rock Village) is just about an hour from you and would be your best local spot.  Lots of climbing variety there with plenty of easy toprope options alongside trad and sport.  It gets a lot of traffic there so you shouldn't have any issues meeting people and learning stuff.

Thanks Bryan. I was aware of Sand Rock. I'm new to the outdoor rock climbing community so wasn't sure if I could just walk in and start hitting up groups there. I was thinking about taking some guided classes first but it would be a great to start gathering experience ASAP.

I would say it would be best to start off climbing with someone who knows what they are doing so you have a baseline for best practices and can evaluate the safety of other groups after that.  If you don't know much and join with some random group who is open to you climbing with them, there is potential that they could be doing some sketchy stuff and you wouldn't be able to assess that.  Hiring a guide is definitely the best option and is worth the money spent to learn best practices as a basis for your skills learned later.  I started climbing outside and learned from two awesome guides in a class and was super happy to have done that.  I learned most everything else on my own through watching videos and practicing with partners, but it's really good to learn the basics from people who you can trust.  Aside from even just safety info, they'll give you good guidance for outdoor ethics and best behavior at crags.

Climbing in a gym to start is a solid plan too.

I think Birmingham has a gym or two.

In the meantime buy a mountain bike, cold water mountain is one of the best areas In The region; you’re lucky to live there!!

Bomb dog is the bomb 💣 

Yes I am loving the area here and I've been addicted the outdoors even more. I don't mountain bike but I do a lot of 1-3 day backpacking in the area also training for some bigger expeditions out west. Gonna definitely camp this weekend since the fireflies have been starting to show up. 

I've been indoor climbing for a while and I do hit the gym in Birmingham and Atlanta/Kennesaw but the outdoor climbing is just a different beast in a good way. I'd really love to get outdoor under my tool belt I like the concept of earning sights that may be difficult for others to see haha.

For now, I might just go about looking for a guide to get started. Maybe camp in Sand Rock to scope things out - and bring my harness just in case. Appreciate the advice guys

The Insightwrote:

Yes I am loving the area here and I've been addicted the outdoors even more. I don't mountain bike but I do a lot of 1-3 day backpacking in the area also training for some bigger expeditions out west. Gonna definitely camp this weekend since the fireflies have been starting to show up. 

I've been indoor climbing for a while and I do hit the gym in Birmingham and Atlanta/Kennesaw but the outdoor climbing is just a different beast in a good way. I'd really love to get outdoor under my tool belt I like the concept of earning sights that may be difficult for others to see haha.

For now, I might just go about looking for a guide to get started. Maybe camp in Sand Rock to scope things out - and bring my harness just in case. Appreciate the advice guys

Hello! I guide for Pisgah Climbing School in Alabama and northwest Georgia and would be happy to talk to you about getting into outdoor climbing. DM me and I’ll shoot you my number.  As others have said, going with a guide is a terrific option.  Hope to hear from you soon!

Steve Colegrove

http://pisgahclimbingachool.com

You are in a good spot for exploring deep south outdoor climbing.  If you participate in social media, check out the Facebook groups Alabama Rock Climbing (kind of sleepy), Southeast Rock Climbing (a little less sleepy), North Georgia Rock Climbing.  There may also be others that provide some insight into the rock climbing communities in this part of the US.  

Spend some time getting familar with the areas accounted for in the area inventory on this site. Learn where they are and and their general character (short vs tall, predominately bouldering, predominately difficult sport climbing, predominately trad, mixed bag, good to visit soon after rain, shady vs sunny/hot, good rock vs bad rock, emerging route development, classic routes, ease/difficulty of access, etc, etc). Begin to size up crag locations and driving/approach hike times for those, so you can know how to best fit trips into however much time you have on any given day, weekend, etc.

Try partnering via those FB pages and on this site. Resolve to get out and explore on your own, if for know other reason than to become familiar with the crags, at least those nearest you. Consider outfitting yourself for solo toproping. This is helpful when partnering isn't really falling into place. Personally, i don't find it as satisfying as climbing with a partner but having no partner is not going to stop me if i want to get out. Developing some specific knowledge about various crags is helpful in this regard. How to access the top of the cliffs, the tops of routes, developing an adequate rigging kit to create safe toprope anchoring, developing some good judgement and skill in rappelling and perhaps back-placing gear to facilitate a better solo toprope experience......

Getting started on your way to a regular, satisfying rhythm or frequency of climbing, particularly when are new to an area or region, can be kind of murky at first.  If you love it, you'll just keep getting after it and soon you'll have developed familiarity with the various crags and some partnering prospects such that you don't feel like what your are doing is a waste of time.  The rock is there for you.....you just have to make the effort....in spite of what seems like a range of limitations when you're just getting started.  

Good to know, I've added those groups on my FB.

Funny you mentioned solo top roping, I did end up buying some equipment for that just in case the community finding will take some time. If nothing else, the rope experience will be handy for other things too. 

Thanks for the advice and confidence Bernard, I'll keep at it!

I would not recommend trying to start out solo toproping as your first experience outdoors ahead of doing regular climbing with a partner.  It's something you could explore later once you have experience with the all the pieces that go in to it, but not something to learn all at once as a beginner.  You have to know how to set up a proper TR anchor, set it up appropriately so that the rope is protected from any abrasion spots along the route, set up a safe self-belay system, know how to rappel, know how to switch between self-belay and rappell safely while you are on the anchor or potentially weighting the rope still, and do all of this on your own without anyone else double checking.

It's actually an interesting question. How do you gain experience at something dangerous when you lack the experience to know who's competent to teach you? In the past I would said "meet some people at the gym," but who's to say they know what they're doing? Here's a thread about a young woman who was tragically killed at Sand Rock a few years ago when her friends made what is really a subtle mistake. That said, hire a guide. It's the best assurance you can have that the person knows what they're doing. And please don't go top rope solo. This is terrible advice. Talk about possibility for subtle mistakes. If you come to Chattanooga, feel free to hit me up. Should you trust me? Probably not.

Nick Daviswrote:

It's actually an interesting question. How do you gain experience at something dangerous when you lack the experience to know who's competent to teach you? In the past I would said "meet some people at the gym," but who's to say they know what they're doing? Here's a thread about a young woman who was tragically killed at Sand Rock a few years ago when her friends made what is really a subtle mistake. That said, hire a guide. It's the best assurance you can have that the person knows what they're doing. And please don't go top rope solo. This is terrible advice. Talk about possibility for subtle mistakes. If you come to Chattanooga, feel free to hit me up. Should you trust me? Probably not.

I disagree. You should trust nick. He is solid

I hear you guys and don't worry I definitely was not planning on going TRS off the bat. I don't know much about it but what I am an expert on is knowing that it's definitely not for beginners! I don't even trust my movement fundamentals from what I learned indoors let alone self-belaying myself on devices with very real failure modes. So yeah getting a guide was strong possibility from the start. 

I got some of the devices just to play with it at home for now and also has some intersection with other stuff like crevasse rescue and hauling which I may be interested in the long future.

In addition to Pisgah Climbing School that Steve referenced above, Silvia with Get Climbing Outside is another great option. She guides at Sand Rock too. 

Everyone has their own journey into climbing but a good reasonable progression that a guide could help you with is:

- Learn about gear - pros and cons of different equipment, materials, etc.
- Learn to build anchors (using fixed gear, trad gear, natural features, etc.) and clean them
- Learn lead belaying and rappelling
- Learn to lead sport and/or trad

Learning multi-pitch requires a whole bunch of other systems; some people start there but many get their start in single-pitch terrain (like Sand Rock) and move on to bigger things. Taking self-rescue classes is a good idea at some point too, and a guide should also teach some things about crag safety and etiquette.

Sand Rock is a great place to learn! Good luck.

Here's another recommendation for hiring a guide.

There are plenty of climbers who aren't guides and have at least as much and even more knowledge and experience, but when you're starting out, it's hard to tell who those people are. I've seen a lot of people who would appear safe and experienced to a new climber who actually are quite limited, inefficient, and sometimes dangerous.

When I started out, I did a basic climbing class with a guide, and a little after that, I did an anchors course with a guide since my area was mostly toproping. That kind of path sounds like something that might be good for you.