How to get Started Climbing
My personal journey of learning the ropes
Early Exposure
Growing up, I had very little exposure to climbing. My first experiences with it were at summer camps and carnivals that brought in walls with auto-belay systems. Then, in middle school, I went with my Boy Scout troop to Joshua Tree to work on a climbing merit badge, top-roping on small rocks and learning to repel. I enjoyed those experiences, but never saw it leading to a hobby.
That was, until I reached my Senior year of High School. Abruptly, it seemed, a number of my friends were climbing at a local gym and even going outdoors. I was intrigued, but it wasn’t until I climbed at Point Dume in Malibu that I started to understand.
Living in Utah
That summer, I bought my first pair of shoes. They were used, from an REI garage sale, but I was officially invested. There was no going back. Arriving to college at University of Utah in Fall 2019, I began climbing regularly at the school gym and could see myself improve. While I enjoyed bouldering indoors, I always wanted to learn how to climb outdoors; that’s where the “real” climbers were. Winter came too soon, so I continued training and waiting for warm weather to begin.
Before I got that opportunity, COVID-19 shut down our campus and we were all sent home. All of a sudden, the sport I was enjoying so much seemed so inaccessible: gyms were closed and I had no knowledge of outdoor climbing. On top of that, California had also restricted many outdoor recreation areas where climbing was popular. After waiting for things to change and realizing they wouldn’t for a while, I connected with some high school friends and we decided to buy our own gear and teach ourselves.
Learning the Ropes
We invested in all the gear we thought we needed: crash pad, helmets, harness es, a 60m rope, rock locks, carabiners, belay devices, and cord. Then, we started to research. Mountain Project was a huge help once we discovered it. We decided Mystery Science Theater was the perfect place for us to start. The routes were only 20–30ft, we could approach the anchor point from the back, it wasn’t closed by the California Government, it was a simple approach, and the routes ranged from 5.6–5.10. Our first time there, we sat at the top of a route, searching on YouTube how to set up an anchor.
It truly was the best spot. Consequently, I gained a fear of rattlesnakes this summer, but I wouldn’t trade it. We spent hours at a time climbing several times a week, blasting a shared Spotify playlist, baking in the sun, and slowly learning and becoming comfortable with what we were doing. Soon, we bought quickdraws and even started to learn how to lead climb. Magically, as the summer progressed, more recreation areas opened up. We started to explore places like Malibu Creek, Point Dume, Echo Cliffs, and Stoney Point, building more confidence and knowledge of what we were doing.
End of an Era
That summer came to an end as universities re-opened and we returned to campuses. Summer 2020 was the perfect intro to climbing for me. I returned to Utah and my friends there where I finally got to climb outdoors there. While this maybe wasn’t the most safe or conventional journey into climbing, I enjoyed every part of it and have no regrets about jumping into the unknown.
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