Hi everyone, I have been climbing for approx. 1 week 😆 My husband boulders and I have tagged along to watch him climb indoor/outdoor before. We both have careers so we don’t have a lot of time to spend together and this is something that’s really important to him, so I finally gave it a try after a year of him going. It’s been great to spend more time together and I can even see myself coming without him now too. My main issue is that I am hyper mobile and lack upper body strength. When you’re hyper mobile, you dislocate easily and the best way to “fix” this is strengthening the muscles around the joints. I wanted to see if anyone else has this as well and what you do to prevent injuries? I had an injury the very first time I tried like months ago, but I think that was mostly due to improper form lol. I dislocated my shoulder (popped it right back into place, but I was sore like a mf). Regular workouts are hard for me to maintain because I also have TMJ, which you wouldn’t think would be affected, but all muscles are connected and when I go too hard, I get majorly locked up in my face. My solution right now is to work on auto belaying mostly so that I can train my upper body muscles without doing too much twisting and turning like I would be bouldering. I’m doing about a 5.8, and it’s doable yet challenging which I enjoy. Sidenote, I am also the “biggest” girl at the gym and I’m so self conscious. Everyone is like 100 lbs soaking wet, doing crazy climbs, and I’m over here 150, struggling to do baby climbs. I know it doesn’t matter and I wouldn’t judge anyone else if it was reversed, but it’s still an insecurity I have. Any advice on these things is appreciated ❤️

Hi everyone! I'll be in the US from mid-May to mid-June for the summer break and I'm hoping to outdoor climb in California/Colorado/Utah.

I've climbed outdoors before and I'm very comfortable with leading and belaying, but I'm not very experienced with outdoor climbs so I'll definitely need a guide and/or an experienced climber with me. I am also a student so it's pretty financially unfeasible for me to hire a guide, especially because I'm intend to climb pretty regularly (maybe every weekend or so!) over that month.

I was hoping to join a group/club that hosts outdoor trips at relatively low prices, perhaps something like a university climbing/alpine club. I understand that you don't need to be affiliated to the university to apply as a member for many university climbing clubs, but I'm not too sure how the application process would go as I've already missed the membership + fee payment deadline for the semester. Plus, I've heard that many clubs don't organise trips for summer / beyond the semester.

Does anyone have any insights on navigating this? Any good university climbing clubs to reccommend, or perhaps other groups or platforms I could consider? Any advice would be super appreciated!

I love watching climbing YouTube like Magnus Mitbœ, Catalyst climbing, Emil Abrahamsson ect. the list goes on, I feel like I watch it all. But what I really (I mean really!) miss are some top rope or leadaction. Everyone just boulders. I do understand it makes it easier to interact with the camera.

However I wonder if anyone can recommend some good YouTube channel with main focus not been bouldering? Preferably English speaking and indoors. Doesn't matter if it's educational or just "come climb with me"

Greetings gals,

I started bouldering 3 months ago with a lovely group and am having a great time and building strength. It's a mixed group of co-eds and I've casually been "out sick" once per month on our climbing meet-ups.

This isn't sustainable. I don't want to miss out on climbing once a month. My cycle is unfortunately so accurate it's to the exact day/hour of when it gets heavy on the day of our climbing meet-ups.

For those with heavy flows, do you just tampon it and try not to let it bother you?

I'm just nervous about climbing while on the heaviest day of my period, but I am curious to hear if women simply choose not to climb.

TYIA 🥹

P.S. I've scoured here for similar posts and no one seems to take a day off but just use a diva cup..? 🤔

Edit - that was SO fast and so encouraging. Im lazy, so i'll do a general thank you and write individually later. Growing up, I played field hockey, danced, and did Tae Kwon Do all on my period. Now, in my 30s, I've found a new hobby, but my flow is even heavier than in my teens (wth). I've yet to rock climb while on my period because it seemed daunting to my paranoid self haha.

Tonight I'll climb without shame and take it easy when I need to :)))

I just took the intro to lead climbing class at my gym. They covered climbing, clipping, belaying, and all the hard “no”s. (Back clipping, z clipping, back stepping.)

For the falling and catching portion of the class we only practiced planned, and announced falls with the climbing stopping at a specified point - pausing - and waiting from the go ahead from belayer before taking a fall.

When someone asked the instructor how to handle unplanned falls - they said it’s not covered in this class because the gym wants you to take the intermediate class as well.

This feels like a safety issue to me. We can take and pass our lead test to be certified to climb at our gym. Isn’t real falling an essential thing to be prepared for as a belayer?

It feels icky to me that’s not part of the class seemingly for an upsell to another class.

Thoughts? Is this the same at other gyms? I go to a chain in the US.

I don’t really want to pay for another class to learn this but learning from online resources and practicing with my partner doesn’t feel right.

I was lead climbing today outdoors, and took a huge ass whipper and I’ve fucked my ankle. For the second time….🥲 last time was belaying my boyfriend and he fell quite far and when I jumped onto the rock I sprained my other ankle…. I want to make sure this doesn’t keep happening… I didn’t fall awkwardly today or anything, it just seems to be the impact? Do any of you do things to make sure you have strong / flexible ankles? 🙃

I've been trying to lead more in the gym and my boyfriend's belaying isn't helping. For context I've been climbing for over 15 years, and while I'm not very strong or bold, I think I'm a very good lead belayer. My boyfriend isn't new to climbing either but there have been issues.

I went to take a practice fall below a bolt and fell much further than I expected. Then I went back up and fell right at the bolt and got a rock hard catch. I lowered and we talked about it but it has happened again twice in the same way. He also has not been paying enough attention to realize that I'm trying to climb again after taking. That always freaks me out and I can't keep leading after that. I shouted "climbing" but he didn't hear me.

I'm kind of stuck. If we weren't dating I would stop letting him belay me. He genuinely wants to do better and make me comfortable but I don't know what else to ask for. I wanted a tighter belay and softer catches but it seems like it's one or the other. I'm also not watching him belay so I can't really tell what he's doing wrong. I see so much bad technique out there it's hard to say his is unacceptable, but it isn't working for me.

I'm considering doing a private lesson with an instructor I know just to get us on the same page, but that seems like a cop out. As in I had to hire a man to get my boyfriend to listen to me.

Edit: Thank you for all your very reasonable advice. I wrote this at 1am when I couldn't sleep. Yes he's using belay glasses, but only after I asked him to. He's actually about 5-10lbs lighter than me, but I'm still getting hard or inconsistent catches. This wasn't a one time thing. It's been over a few weeks since we started gym climbing again. I do actually stare at my climber the whole time they're climbing/hanging/resting. I'm ready to belay them up the second they start climbing again. He failed up to hear me in a pretty quiet gym while I shouted "climbing" and then tried to pull on the rope to get his attention twice. I didn't shout at him and make eye contact because I thought he would be paying attention.

I'm going to call the instructor I know and watch some videos. Thanks again!

As the title suggests, I have a pair of brand new Drago LV that I’m looking to sell or trade. The shoes are brand new unworn, still have the tags on them. Size is 40.5

Looking to sell for $180 OBO or trade for instinct LV size 40.5

I’m located in NJ/NY so any locals I’m willing to meet up.

Hi friends, going on a guided climbing trip. I only top rope and the guide manager said it would open up a lot more routes if I can get some practice lead belaying. The guide would be able to climb up more routes to set up ropes (these would be super comfortable climbs for them). At my gym, I think you can only practice if you take a full lead course. I don't plan on lead climbing right now because the falling part scares me. The lead class costs over $100 and its recommended that you're able to onsight 11As. I can top rope most 11As at my gym but it might take me a few tries to cleanly do them, depending on the route. So i dont want to put pressure on myself or risk doing something I am not mentally prepared for. However, I think practicing giving out slack would be doable for me. Any advice?

I just got a seasonal job at an adventure park in CO for the summer. There are zip lines, climbing walls, vertical playpens, etc. I have a level 1 cert in belaying.

I want to know how to stop rope burn on my hands when dropping a much bigger person. For example, i’ll anchor myself to a tree and have the climber jump off the element, which usually is perfectly fine. however, I had a bigger climber jump, and as I was lowering them, my hands were getting burned SO much. Is this normal? Am i doing something wrong?

EDIT: I used an ATC as my belay device. The element was a “leap of faith” - a platform where you jump off and try to catch the bar. To lower, I have one hand behind my back to act as a break, and the other by my hip on the rope. and a shuffle the rope through my hands. I’m 5’2”, 110lbs, and the person was probably at least 6’2”, 185lbs.

Hey everyone! Long time lurker and first time poster here. I've recently gotten back into climbing seriously and I was looking to implement some strength training with a focus on lower body strength and mobility. I was thinking of alternating 3 climbing days and 3 lifting days with 1 full rest day in the middle. Alternatively I could also do a 4 day climbing/ 2 day lifting split.

How feasible do you think that is ? Does anyone follow a similar training plan, if so what are your impressions ? I should also add that I work a fairly physical job which has me walking long distances daily.

Thx in advance :)

5 months after I started indoor bouldering, I slipped from the top of the wall and landed on my bent right foot. I sprained my ankle pretty badly and couldn’t walk for a month. Worst physical pain I ever felt in my life..

I took a 3 month break, and now I’m back doing easy grades… but now I find myself trembling when I’m on the wall because I really don’t want to fall. I want to go back to climbing so bad but I can’t even imagine falling or jumping down, I have to climb down every time.

I’ve become hyperaware that one wrong fall can cause me to sprain myself in the same spot. I now have a hard time trusting myself with falling properly.

Has this happened to anyone else here? I would really appreciate tips on practicing falling, how to avoid further injury, etc. Tysm in advance.

EDIT: thank you so much for everyone who took the time to reply. The people around me just said “it will heal in a month”, not even thinking how severe my injury and pain level was. I brushed my injury off as bad luck and just waited to heal without even getting checked up with a PT or orthopedic. It’s been almost 4 months and I’m still not fully healed. So hearing from others who experienced the same thing is so encouraging and validating. I read everyone’s replies and they are all so helpful. It also pushed me to get a proper checkup soon. Thank you.

I've been mostly bouldering on and off for the last 2 years! I finally got my top rope card and will be mixing both much more often 😃

So glad I'm taking this much more serious now!

Am I wrong for being scared of going to the gym? I posted on my gym’s partner board and a man reached out about lead climbing (Jan. 3) I randomly receive this from him.

Hi! I’m interested in heading down to Bishop for a month around March/April. I’ve never climbed in the area. I like trad the most but also sport climbing. I have a van that I live in. Where do you recommend climbing at that time, staying, eating, cool things to check out? I’m also checking out the town as a place to potentially move next year so any advice just about the area in general would be amazing! Thank you!

Hi!! I have a quick question, I bought this new chalk but man it hurts my hands so bad after an hour of climbing. This didn’t happen with other chalks, but it dries them out really bad to the point that if some air blows it hurts. Is it normal? Crappy chalk?

This is probably long shot but I figured it’s worth a try! I am in Tokyo until Feb. 4th and wondering if there is anyone in the area who may want to meet at a gym? I’m here with my partner but his training schedule can be really intense and it’s more fun to have a buddy to climb with while he’s doing his thing!

Ok so I finally got climbing shoes and although they make it easier to climb, it also feels kinda weird cuz I'm not used to wearing these shoes (while climbing). And also my normal shoe size is 37 (in my country) so I'm supposed to be a 39 in climbing shoes, but when I wore the size 39 it was really uncomfortable so I bought the size 40. BUT IT STILL HURTS MY TOES! And yes, ik that you get used to it but wth 😭

Finding a sports bra was hard before, but has anyone found a good nursing sports bra that has enough support to withstand bouldering falls? Thought I'd ask if anyone has found this unicorn before settling for my old navy one that's a bit too tight on the lats.

Trying to take the little one on a bouldering trip and it'll be a bit cold to be taking layers off for a normal sports bra. I was small-chested before and needing lots of support is definitely new to me!

Hi all, I’m going to be signing up for my first competition and I wanted some advice. Should I sign up for the grade I’m constantly flashing or should I sign up for the grade that’s higher, that I can do, but I just don’t flash?

So unlike a lot of women who, very understandably, are not interested in men at the gym, I am tired of dating apps and would actually love to meet a guy through climbing. There’s one who I see frequently at the gym at the same time as me and we keep making eye contact, but I just don’t know how to actually chat with him. I only do ropes which I feel like is a little less social and makes it tougher to chat especially if we aren’t climbing near each other. I’m not one to just walk up and say hi out of the blue - any ideas for climbing related questions that would be a good excuse to talk?

I see him hangboarding a lot before climbing, so I thought of going over there and asking for tips on what to do (I legitimately don’t know anything about hangboarding and am interested). But that only works if we get to the gym around the same time and it just hasn’t happened.

TLDR - Need ideas for a climbing related question as an excuse to talk to and introduce myself to a cute guy at the gym!

https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/s/Suqg65wbOy

So ursa-responsible

Pre pregnancy my endurance was good in terms of fitness, I definitely needed to improve the skills involved for longer routes (learning how and when to rest, when to grip and relax grip to be more efficient etc) and so I know that these need work... but I definitely took my base level of endurance for granted.

The problem I'm having is that I am now (at 5 months pp, 4 months back training but sadly just once a week) is that I can't really climb any of the circuits in my gym for more than half a lap. My stamina is so shot that they're more like boulder problems and no matter what I do my endurance doesn't seem to be improving. These are the easiest routes (around 6a all on a 20 degree wall).

I've definitely got stronger since coming back but my stamina hasn't improved a jot. I'd love to climb more but it's not an option so I'd like to just get as much of a base back as I can and just focus on endurance for the time being.

What can I do at the gym or at home?

I've been climbing for about 2.5 years and I absolutely love it. Mostly gym, but for the last 6 months, I've been making it a goal to get outside.

I've been failing at finding outdoor partners since August. I have one indoor buddy. We took an anchor and lead class together, but whenever I mention getting outside or taking a lead test, he says he's not ready.

I met a woman on Facebook, we got outside today once, but she was very rude when I didn't know how to do certain things.

A month ago, I met a man who has been awesome. We've been outside once, he's teaching me a lot, and he makes plans for upcoming climbing excursion. Problem: I'm happily married and he told me he's very attracted/into me. So I have to break that off.

I'm feeling very discouraged. People say "find a partner on Mount project", but it's all male dominated, because of my last partner, I'm nervous now.

I've talked to my climbing gym multiple times, and they're no help. They took down the "find a partner" board three months ago and never put it back up.

I want to give up on my climbing outside dreams. I'm so discouraged.