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new to maryland, looking for other climbing moms (& dads) or kid-friendly climbing partners

Original Post
Gabrielle Jankauskas · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 0

My family and I just relocated to Maryland from Arizona. We are new to climbing, my husband and I are both climbing 5.9 or 5.10a. We have only climbed indoors so far, but would really like to get outside. Our baby will be coming along with us, as we don't have any friends or family in town to watch her. We would love to find another climbing family or kid-friendly climbers to get together with on the weekends.

pmorinelli · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 0

Hi. Climbing dad here just getting back into it after 2 kids. Where about in MD are you?

Peter BrownWhale · · Randallstown, MD · Joined Aug 2014 · Points: 21

New to outdoors climbers distracted by screaming baby sounds like a poor idea, not to mention ruining everybody else's day

Gabrielle Jankauskas · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 0
pbrownw wrote:New to outdoors climbers distracted by screaming baby sounds like a poor idea, not to mention ruining everybody else's day
Sure, it isn't the easiest thing to go climbing with a baby. To be honest, it isn't easy to do anything with a baby. But just because we have a little girl doesn't mean we shouldn't try to get outdoors, if this is what we want to do. This is why we are searching for other families with young children that are understanding of the issues that tend to arise from bringing young children along. Definitely not looking for climbing partners that allow their day to be ruined by a "screaming" baby :)
Gabrielle Jankauskas · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 0
pmorinelli wrote:Hi. Climbing dad here just getting back into it after 2 kids. Where about in MD are you?
We are located in Annapolis. We are climbing at Earth Treks in Columbia right now. Where are you located?
Peter BrownWhale · · Randallstown, MD · Joined Aug 2014 · Points: 21

But your actions affect more than just your climbing partners. Anybody else who showed up at that crag to climb that day has to deal with it as well.

Linnaeus · · ID · Joined Aug 2011 · Points: 0
pbrownw wrote:But your actions affect more than just your climbing partners. Anybody else who showed up at that crag to climb that day has to deal with it as well.
I hope your mother didn't leave the house when you were an infant or toddler!

If folks want to avoid people/noise/dogs/babies/etc when they go cragging, then they should choose their crags wisely. Safe Harbor/Carderock/Great Falls/etc are not the Wind Rivers/Bugaboos/alpine etc.
Nathan Flaim · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2013 · Points: 0

Gabrielle,

Welcome to MD! I fear you'll be underwhelmed with the local crags after living in Arizona, but there are a few good outcroppings to keep you busy if you're dedicated.

My wife and I have two children, ages 3 and 1. I am an avid climber, and my wife a hobby climber, and I'd like to share a few observations I've made over the last 3 years of attempting to be a climber with children.

I have yet to have a fulfilling day of climbing while taking the kids with me. We've tried about everything. We've chosen crags with the easiest approaches, best bases (flat,shady, and as safe as can be expected). We've tried climbing with other parents, we've taken extra people along to help watch the kiddos, we've tried climbing in large groups so that there will be an excess of supervision.

Although we've had the occasional ok time, the problem is that climbing requires such a commitment on your time and attention that you'll have to sacrifice at some point the needs of your child, or the enjoyment of your climbing. It's too hot, or its snack time, or the diaper needs changed again, or somebody can only be soothed by mommy, or a dog just ate the dirty diaper. You catch my drift?
Honestly our best climbing days occur when we commit to leaving the kids with a sitter or a trusted family member for a designated amount of time (4-6 hours) and get as much climbing in as possible during our "break".

When we do take the kids, we've resigned ourselves to very short outings, sometimes involving only a single climb, and we tend to make it more about the kids than about us. Lots of breaks, lots of just being in nature as a family.

Having said all this, I'd love to get together for an outing. I figure, the more exposure the kids get while here young, the better off they'll be as they grow up. Feel free to PM me some contact info and let us know what outings you've got planned

Gabrielle Jankauskas · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 0
Nathan Flaim wrote:Gabrielle, Welcome to MD! I fear you'll be underwhelmed with the local crags after living in Arizona, but there are a few good outcroppings to keep you busy if you're dedicated. My wife and I have two children, ages 3 and 1. I am an avid climber, and my wife a hobby climber, and I'd like to share a few observations I've made over the last 3 years of attempting to be a climber with children. I have yet to have a fulfilling day of climbing while taking the kids with me. We've tried about everything. We've chosen crags with the easiest approaches, best bases (flat,shady, and as safe as can be expected). We've tried climbing with other parents, we've taken extra people along to help watch the kiddos, we've tried climbing in large groups so that there will be an excess of supervision. Although we've had the occasional ok time, the problem is that climbing requires such a commitment on your time and attention that you'll have to sacrifice at some point the needs of your child, or the enjoyment of your climbing. It's too hot, or its snack time, or the diaper needs changed again, or somebody can only be soothed by mommy, or a dog just ate the dirty diaper. You catch my drift? Honestly our best climbing days occur when we commit to leaving the kids with a sitter or a trusted family member for a designated amount of time (4-6 hours) and get as much climbing in as possible during our "break". When we do take the kids, we've resigned ourselves to very short outings, sometimes involving only a single climb, and we tend to make it more about the kids than about us. Lots of breaks, lots of just being in nature as a family. Having said all this, I'd love to get together for an outing. I figure, the more exposure the kids get while here young, the better off they'll be as they grow up. Feel free to PM me some contact info and let us know what outings you've got planned
Hi Nathan,

Thank you so much for your advice! From all the of blogs and threads I have read, all climbing parents seem to feel the same way as you do. We are actually still pretty new to climbing, and so far we have only gone climbing indoors. We take her with us to the climbing gym right now, and just bring along her small play pen. Sometimes we get in several hours of climbing before she gets fussy, but several times we have only gotten in one climb. At that point we just trade off bouldering/holding the baby. But as you said, if we went outdoors it would definitely be more about being out in nature as a family, while possibly being able to get in a couple of climbs. We have taken our baby backpacking a few times, and yes it takes us a LOT longer to get where we are going, and we often have to stop at the most inconvenient times… but the more she’s outside experiencing hiking/climbing, the more she will get used to it. We would love to be able to leave her with a sitter sometimes to be able to focus 100% on climbing, but since we just moved here we don’t know anyone yet to watch her. Hopefully that will change soon!

What I’m really hoping to do is organize a camping trip with a few climbing families so that the kiddos can stay back at the camp while parents rotate going out for climbs. I’m sure you would know better than me if this sounds like a good idea or not. Even if we are both unable to climb, we would be happy just to meet other outdoor families in MD with young kids.

I will send you a PM shortly. Thank you so much for reaching out

Best,

Gabrielle
Gabrielle Jankauskas · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 0
pbrownw wrote:But your actions affect more than just your climbing partners. Anybody else who showed up at that crag to climb that day has to deal with it as well.
Trust me, if my baby was being fussy I would be the first person to want to go home :) Or at least on a walk until she fell asleep. I'm not sure if any other parents actually just let their babies scream while they climb, but I could most definitely never do that.

I do hope that you try to be more understanding of parents with babies that are continuing to get outdoors. Staying home 24/7 with a baby is by far the "easiest" thing to do, but that isn't beneficial for the parent's metal health or the brain development of a baby. We are all just trying to do our best :)
unalrupist · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2016 · Points: 0

Hey, so I'm totally down. Live in Columbia and climb at ET Columbia during the week, but I try to get outside at least once every weekend. My wife also likes climbing but we tried taking our 18 m/o with us by ourselves and it just wasn't worth it, so now she just lets me go trad climbing with my buddies while she does something else with our son. But, if we could climb as two sets of couples and have at least one person playing with the kids while the rest climbed it would be soooooo much better. My wife climbs in the mid-10s and I climb a bit better, I have a full trad/sport rack and also a bunch of static line to set up top ropes. Let me know if you're interested in trying it out one day.

Gabrielle Jankauskas · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 0
unalrupist wrote:Hey, so I'm totally down. Live in Columbia and climb at ET Columbia during the week, but I try to get outside at least once every weekend. My wife also likes climbing but we tried taking our 18 m/o with us by ourselves and it just wasn't worth it, so now she just lets me go trad climbing with my buddies while she does something else with our son. But, if we could climb as two sets of couples and have at least one person playing with the kids while the rest climbed it would be soooooo much better. My wife climbs in the mid-10s and I climb a bit better, I have a full trad/sport rack and also a bunch of static line to set up top ropes. Let me know if you're interested in trying it out one day.
Yes! Sounds perfect. We haven't climbed outdoors before, so as long as you don't mind showing us the ropes I think that it could work out really well with us all being able to trade off with watching babies/climbing. I'm going to send you my email address in a PM right now!
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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