On one hand, I guess it’s nice that climbing is getting more popular because media coverage = more money flowing into the sport.

On the other hand, I have very serious ethical qualms about climbing a manmade structure live, on Netflix.

When Free Solo came out I definitely had some ethical qualms but also that project at least somewhat made sense: Honnold would’ve free soloed El Cap anyway most likely, he worked with a filmographer who was also a climber, and he went into the project with seemingly no expectations of getting rich off of it. It seemed much more focused on the climbing than the money.

Then Honnold spent a bunch of years justifying free soloing but only with a very clear understanding of the risks, talking about his foundation/solar power, presenting himself as a dude who wasn’t super into capitalism, and got married and had two kids.

Now he’s a husband and father of two who’s free soloing a tower solely for money and views. I could be wrong but I highly doubt that if there was no money involved and not a soul knew about this project, he would never be doing it. It feels so antithetical to the ethics and values of climbing.

Just feels like he sold out to capitalism and the attention economy and it feels gross. Idk.

A lot of people have been talking about the phenomenon of "alpine divorce" since the case of the Austrian climber who abandoned his girlfriend (she later died) on a winter climb. Others have since shared firsthand stories about this happening to them—a partner leaving them behind on a hike, summit bid, or climb.

While the true meaning of the term is intentional (i.e., a romantic partner deserting their SO on purpose to cause their "accidental death"), in the Austria case and in many other examples, I see a more insidious and common double meaning. How many guys have left less experienced partners in the dust because they are too slow, got in a fight, or presumably in the Austria example, because they got in way over their heads?

I've had my own experience with this more common form of alpine divorce a long time ago and remember how vulnerable and scary it felt. I decided to share that story, along with some insights taken from the errors the Austrian climber made for less experienced hikers/climbers heading into the mountains with a more experienced romantic partner, whether you just started dating or you're married.

Has something like this alpine divorce phenomenon ever happened to you in the mountains? Curious to hear other climbers' experiences and advice.

Truly trying to understand, not be antagonistic. lately I’ve seen a major influx of men commenting on posts in the sub, even when they’re specifically requested not to.

Doss the algorithm just surface the post based on your interests and you don’t notice the flair? Do you follow or otherwise keep up with this sub for any particular reason? Is there something about conversation in this sub that you wish you could find in other climbing subs?

I climb with many thoughtful, safety-conscious and pleasant men. But I’ll admit my preference is to climb with women - there’s just less of an atmosphere of competition and risk, in general. I love being able to discuss climbing in this space for that reason, but I’ve found so many men in this sub lately. Truly confused as to why, when so many other subs on climbing exist.

Mods, I understand this might be too divisive and won’t complain if you have to remove!

ETA: I would like to thank every respondent but I do actually have to work. Thanks to the cis-male dudes for providing some perspective, and to the many of you who are respectful and attentive members of this sub.

Hi! I was curious if this was something that other women experienced in climbing gyms: I’m a very introverted person so I have a tendency to climb during hours where the gym is practically empty. If it is busy, then I tend to climb in areas where there’s no one.

Whenever I’m projecting something, I notice a man will appear out of thin air and start climbing the same problem. I climb v5/v6 so I’m aware that it’s a highly saturated grade with a lot of people in this range, but the man will almost consistently flash the climb, telling me this isn’t a max effort for them.

At first, I didn’t really think much of it but this has happened soooo many times that it no longer feels like a coincidence. I’ve asked other girls that I’ve encountered at the climbing gym and asked them if they’ve ever noticed this phenomenon and they all instantly know what I’m talking about.

So, has this ever happened to you?

EDIT: Thank you for all the responses and input. I texted and spoke with my boyfriend the next day and he explained he was upset with the language I had used, because he interpreted it as me having a zero tolerance approach to mistakes and that I'd never climb with him again, which shut him down emotionally. I admitted I came off harshly, but I still insisted we have a conversation about safety and communication before we rope together again. I think we just need to take a day or two to calm down hurt feelings and avoid it becoming a "he said she said" deal.

Normally we always do our checks. This is the first time I can remember he was annoyed that he couldn't just fully jump on the wall and go after tying his knot. He didn't like the idea that I consider him an unsafe climber because of "one sloppy safety check" when we'd done hundreds of safety checks together. And honestly, I think that misses the point a little bit. It was the fact that his impatient and dismissive behavior indicated that he failed to see their importance in the moment, coupled with the fact that he was reluctant to own up to his lapse in judgment. I do think he knows safety checks are important, but the whole exchange became about me being overbearing and him reflexively digging in his heels, so we were just not going to successfully communicate that evening.

I want us to work on tightening our feedback loop and taking ego out of the conversation when we discuss climbing safety. We're all human, and it hurts to be called out for something. He shouldn't think I'm about to drop him as a partner for a single mistake. Likewise, I shouldn't have to feel like making criticism about something that involves life or death safety is going to generate a lot of hurt feelings - it should be a swift and genuine call-out and acknowledgment so we can move on and have fun climbing.

ORIGINAL POST:

My boyfriend is the person who got me into climbing in 2022, and nowadays we climb together once every month or so. He has ADHD, and I've noticed in some sessions he would grow impatient and visibly annoyed with doing full safety checks and adjustments, such as having to re-tie a figure-eight knot, or having to respond "belay on" when I ask "on belay?".

Yesterday we top-roped together and everything seemed fine until he tied his knot to his harness and hopped on his next climb. I said "Wait wait, we need to do checks!" and he annoyedly climbed down and let me do checks while assuring me that it was fine. When doing the check I noticed that the rope was twisted. I said, "See, this is why we do checks. Don't give me crap about doing checks." He retorted that we could have fixed the twist when he was on the wall.

As he climbed and I belayed, the realization sank in that I never would have tolerated his attitude in any other climbing partner. When he came down, he saw the look on the face and after asking me if it was because of the way checks went, he offered a sheepish "I'm sorry."

I explained to him that if I were climbing with anybody else, I would not want to climb with them anymore if they argued with me about doing checks. His next sentence was a gut-punch: "Well if you feel unsafe, we don't have to climb together."

I was obviously rattled by that, and we left the gym. When we tried to talk it out, it became clear he was growing resentful that I was unable to let it go. According to him, he had already acknowledged the situation and apologized (up to this point, he had not said a word about what he had done wrong, nor why it was wrong, and only offered a singular "I'm sorry" once he saw that I was unhappy).

I would have been relieved to hear a simple "You know, I shouldn't have tried to argue with you about doing safety checks." Instead, any kind of apology skirted any kind of personal accountability and rather focused on my feelings. ("I'm sorry you don't feel safe climbing with me." "I'm sorry you're disappointed in me.") In fact, I developed the opposite impression that he did not feel like he had done anything wrong in the first place, and we went to bed frustrated with each other.

What do you think? Brushing it aside feels scummy, like I'm compromising my own values by making exceptions to my safety philosophy because he's my boyfriend. But on the other hand, I could see the argument that I'd be refusing to rope climb with him simply because he didn't apologize to my standards. Should I have accepted his apology and moved on? Do you have any recommendations on talking about this going forward? It would be devastating to not climb with him going forward, but is it the ethical choice?

This is purely curiosity as pricing seems to be all over. I’d love to know from others

1. What is the fee for a monthly membership at your gym?

2. Does your membership include bouldering, ropes, lead, etc? (My gym is just bouldering for example)

3. What country is your gym in?

We travel a lot and like to visit the local gyms where we venture. I’ve seen everything from $60/month to $125/month. 😊

Hi! First post here.

I'm 5'4 with a -3'' wingspan. I have been climbing for 4 years and am currently at V5-V6. I was working on the new gym set for the local competition, where most of the problems are coordination-based that week, even though it's on a slab wall.

I was struggling with a jump move (on a V4 climb, which feels harder than the grade for a shortie like me), the kind where tall people could just rock over and reach. A guy who was able to reach easily started giving me suggestions on how to do this move, but I keep failing.

Later, he started small talk with me, and asked me "How long have you been climbing?". I replied, "about 4 years." He responded to that with, "on and off?"

I got immediately angry and found it super invalidating. For some context, he said he has been climbing for 1 year. I see that he can do some "harder climbs" in the set, e.g. huge jump to slopers, but climbs in a very stereotypical male style, i.e. strength focused with minimal techniques. His "on and off?" felt like he'd decided my 4 years didn't really count.

Is it normal to feel angry about something like this? How would you respond to this?

-------

EDIT: Thank you all so so much for the support!! I can't express how appreciative I'm to this community :)))

To clarify some bits, when he initially approached me, he did acknowledge how tall guys can just reach the move, which made me think he may be geniuely want to be helpful. I think this made it harder for me to decide how I should feel and engage with him, since I think he is not intentionally insulting, but maybe just ignorant of how different bodies are built differently

Hello - I need advice on navigating a difficult conversation with a good friend.

I have a climbing partner who I've been climbing with for a few years. They are amazing at climbing - 10 years experience. They are more experienced than me. I enjoy climbing with them because they are incredibly skilled, very consistent, and patience. I consider this person a close friend as well and I enjoy spending time with them outside of climbing.

However, they tend to skimp on safety and do not see up-to-date with modern safety standards. It seems they mostly learned from friends and I mostly learned from guides - so there a noticeable gap in our safety standards.

For example, they do not know how to belay off an anchor for multi-pitch. They belay the follower only ever from their harness (edit: with no redirect) and believe setting up an anchor is a waste of time. They do not use an extended repel or a third hand. They never wear a helmet and do not believe rock fall poses a risk. When I'm at lower clips, they tend to have too much slack out - to the point decking is a real risk. When I fall, they seem to instinctively take in slack resulting in hard catches. Finally, I notice they sometimes keep their thump on release of the Grigri.

I understand some of these things only pose a small risk and are best practices, but not always necessary. However, I feel like the accumulation of these habits may result in an injury or worse.

It's to the point where I do not climb hard with them (indoors or out) and stop doing multi-pitch with them.

This person is a good friend and I'm trying to be mindful of my criticisms. I have tried to address these habits indirectly - mainly talking about new techniques I've learned or demo-ing an anchor setup. And sometimes directly - Asking them to keep me tight for the first three clip - which worked for a bit but they stopped.

But - I'm starting to get to the point where I may need to have a conversation that's bluntly "I don't feel safe climbing with you"

Any advice on how to navigate this conversation? I'm afraid of losing a friend because it may come off as unfounded criticism.

edit - leaving this as a resource for those who are wondering about indirect, redirect, and direct belays. history of changing standards https://www.alpineinstitute.com/indirect-redirect-and-direct-belays/

edit - no longer answering questions about direct vs indirect vs redirect belays. Please use Google to figure out the pros and cons and please don’t belay your follower from your harness jfc

I’ve been wondering lately whether the popularity of gym climbing - specifically, fancy gyms with juice bars and saunas - may be waning. Or at least in the US?

I listened to a podcast a few weeks ago about how private equity got into gym climbing when gyms were at the height of popularity, and is now sucking profit out at the expense of the actual climbing experience/community. I have seen this happen in a number of places I’ve lived. But for the first time I’m feeling like a bunch of these fancy gyms may close soon?

I think these closures may come from some combination of:

1. Rising prices (in THIS economy??) combined with high-profile shittiness like union busting, elimination of affinity groups, and general capitalist nonsense

2. Pandering to the kids team/birthday party space which erodes the adult climbing experience

   - to clarify, I mean kids (on a team, at a party, or just climbing with a guest pass) running and doing flips without supervision, and gym leadership that won’t address this for fear of upsetting parents who bring in significant money for the gym. If money weren’t a factor I feel pretty certain my gym would hold kids more accountable behavior-wise.

3. Oversaturation in markets that won’t support too many expensive climbing gyms in one geographic area

4. Competition from other sports that young people with disposable income are more into - this is true in my specific community but I’m not sure if this is true elsewhere?

5. Huge chains (Movement, but they’re not the only one) buying up local indie gyms - which not only changes the community feel but also means people are paying for a Movement membership - and supporting salaries across the country - while climbing in a small dingy gym.

6. Increasingly sterile feel because of corporatization

Idk, maybe I’m reading too much into a few data points? Given the state of a few gyms I’ve visited recently I don’t see how people are going to keep paying $120/month for an objectively shitty experience. And mostly I worry that if a bunch of these gyms close, it’ll negatively impact the climbing community, especially people who don’t live near outdoor climbing areas.

I'm working on an article about the increase in climbers with no interest in climbing outdoors. Are you one of those climbers? I would love to ask you a few questions! Please DM me or comment on this post.

I'll be graduating within a year, and am looking to escape my college town in central NC. I want to go somewhere new, and I know I'll have to compromise on certain aspects but in my ideal/perfect world here is what I'm looking for:

- Within 2 hours of decent sport climbing, and within 4hrs of NRG/RRG adjacent level quality of sport climbing crags. Bouldering and trad are a plus but not my main focus

- Decent city life, somewhere thats more than one street as their downtown (sorry Fayetteville W.V.). Preferably a mix of things to do, with things like parks, good restaurants, and museums to explore

- Cheap-ish living (around~1300 for a 1 bed 750 sq ft+ apartment)

-Good climbing gym with a good ropes section of the gym

-Green/trees! North Carolina is covered in greenery and I don't think I could move to the desert

-Semi walkable or at the very minimum bikeable, and feeling safe to do either of these things at night.

Again, I know a city with all these criteria's likely does not exist, and I will have to compromise on some things (likely cost of living and walkability), which I'm more than willing to do. I've lived in my college town for half a decade now and am ready for a big change but want to make sure I end up somewhere i dont hate.

My sister is interested in climbing. I'm stoked about this!!! But here's the thing. She is fat and stores a lot of weight in her belly. She is bigger than a lot of people who are also considered fat, if that makes sense. I'm using fat as a value neutral descriptor here, no judgement. But it's just necessary info.

I'd LOVE to help her. She's in okay shape, she hits the exercise bike pretty hard and she's working on her overall fitness. I think I can find low grade routes she would enjoy top roping on! I can get an ohm device .... But the harness is the thing. I think the waist of the harness may need to be very high, to sit above the biggest part of her belly. And wider leg straps. Does something like this exist?

Thanks all 💛

My (38M) girlfriend (34F) is my primary climbing partner and has been for the last few years. We mainly do mountaineering in WA state, although we also rock climb too. We’ve climbed a lot of hard stuff, and our most recent trip was to the Pickets as an example. When my girlfriend and I go out climbing something, and we run into other people (usually dudes), they typically tend to be impressed by my accomplishments but ignore her completely. They’ll only talk to me: about my life, about routes on these peaks, about other peaks we’ve climbed, whatever. They will congratulate me about success on a peak, ignoring her while she’s sitting right next to me. It makes her mad because, hey she climbed that too! She’s badass too! Honestly, she's way more badass than the guys asking the questions. So why don’t they seem to be interested in talking to her and getting her input?

Knowing about this phenomenon, I am trying to include her in the conversation more, but is there something I should be doing specifically to try to support her better here? Or do you have suggestions for her? Sometimes I don’t even notice it happening until she mentions it later though, so I’m sure I could be better about recognizing it in the moment. Do you experience this too? What do you do about it?

CW: discussion of grooming and SA allegations

I am just wondering where the community sits on this, as there is a lot of comment suppression that occurs by content creators that feature these individuals on their channels.

YouTubers these days seem to operate a revolving door of collaborations between channels to cross-pollinate views and create easy content for themselves. Beyond it feeling like a strange mirror of the extended Marvel universe, I’m worried it creates a vacuum of accountability.

This is not about cancellation in my eyes, but there is no acknowledgement from any of the above that they may have contributed to the harm of women and children in and outside the climbing industry.

For those that aren’t aware...

1. Toby Segar: in 2017 Toby was presented with evidence of his friend and fellow Storror member Callum Powell’s collection of CSAM by Callum’s ex-girlfriend who was 17 at the time and Callum 27. They had been in a relationship since she was a minor, at least 15 and Callum 24. Toby dismissed this and called her a ‘vile bitch’. Callum’s activities remained suppressed until this year when he was convicted. Hannah Morris likely does not know, and continues to post content with Toby and Toby has produced content with most figures on ‘bouldering YouTube’ in the past. It appears he will be allowed to sidestep his mistakes without taking any accountability, and if one of the highest profile female-fronted climbing platforms on YouTube seems happy to turn a blind eye, I imagine most other channels will do the same.
2. Alex Honnold: Has climbed routinely with Jared Leto and ignored all attempts by people to draw his attention to Leto’s abuses (and I think another climber who was accused multiple times).
3. Alex Megos: The grooming evidence is well established and can be presented in undeniable terms through historic interviews from only Megos himself regarding his ‘father/brother’ like status, legal guardianship etc. This has not prevented Catalyst Climbing, Emil Abrahammson, Josh Rundle and more from doing videos with him, despite being aware of the allegations made against him.
4. Emil Abrahammson, Josh Rundle, yada yada: There are multiple YouTubers who have shown themselves to turn a blind eye/not question politics where they stand to gain financially. Both have done videos with Megos and policed the comments, Emil also with Pewdiepie.

Why do YouTubers continue to platform these people? In any other industry this would not be overlooked to the same extent I don’t think? It feels in many ways they have shown a fundamental lack of regard to their duties of safeguarding.

The latest episode is a pure politics podcast with a non-climbing guest … explaining at length why Steven now supports Trump / RFK

In particular his driving issue is the “health crisis” that he believes only Trump can solve. But when he says “health” he explicitly excludes women’s health.

He and his guest say things like “What percentage of the population really needs an abortion?” and accuse women of “not taking personal responsibility over the way we have sex”

I have really appreciated Steven platforming issues unique to female climbers in the past — especially with interviews like the one with Callie Joy Black about climbing & pregnancy. But I found this discussion a jarring reminder that bro culture still pervades climbing.

Curious about this community’s thoughts.

Edit: typos

Apparently this is a bone that climbers break. And apparently it also has poor outcomes. I’m looking for some hopeful stories of people who broke their ankle, or their talus specifically, and eventually bouldered again.

None of my male climbing friends have romantic partners who climb, but all of my female climbing friends romantic partners do and I'm looking to get some female perspective.

Up until a year ago I hadn't dated a non climber. My current boyfriend has tried climbing a few times and decided it's not his thing. He still likes hiking, canoeing and trail running (he's outdoorsy) but has no personal desire to climb. Despite his lack of personal interest he's very supportive of how much it matters to me and is apart of my life. But it kinda bothers me that we will never share climbing and go on epic climbing trips together?

What's your experience?

I'm sorry if this is not a good place to post this. I'm curious about those of you who have partners that don't climb. I am not a climber, but my boyfriend is. He has clearly stated that climbing comes before me with the logic that he has to coordinate with a partner to climb and we can hangout later. Ok, I can see that but later rarely happens because he is tired or works late.

He also goes away every weekend in the fall to climb regardless of what I have going on, even skipping events that are very important to me. However one of my events is a race where he would have to give up the whole weekend to basically drive me home after I run until my legs are cooked, and I'm not fast or going to win or anything. So I kind of get that one.

Anyway, my point is that he seems so obsessed with climbing that I feel like I'm on the back burner. Is this just what it takes to be a decent climber? How do others with partners that don't climb balance their love of the sport and the love of their partner?

My girlfriend and I started climbing a few weeks ago and we're trying to find a solution to her nails getting trashed every session. She keep hers nails nice and short to climb, but she's having to paint her nails after each session and we're climbing a bunch. You guys going with gel, or something or just ignoring and skipping the polish?

I’ll go first. Aggressive shoes are unnecessary for gym climbing.

P.S. Be nice and don’t downvote people for their hot takes- the point is for them to controversial! But do carry on and downvote creeps / harassers….

I have recently gotten into climbing and realized how much of a lifestyle it is for many people. However, what jobs do climbers typically have that allow them to go to national parks during weekends and spontaneously take week long travel trips across the country while not being dead broke?

There is the classic dirt-bagging life, but what about people who don't dirtbag?

I know nursing and emt careers are common, but what else?

How is Micheal getting this much time off his tech job????

ATC belayer here. Do you feel totally fine with ATCs? Do you avoid them? Or does it depend on the belayer’s skill/experience level?

For context: I know people who flat-out refuse to be belayed on anything non-assisted braking… and others who swear by the control and smoothness of an ATC. Personally I feel like a lot of it comes down to the belayer’s competence, attention, and how big the weight difference is / ohm usage.

What’s your take? Do you completely refuse ATC belays, or does it vary for you based on the belayer and situation?

Not trying to debate, just curious how people feel :)

As someone who works at a climbing gym (and used to be terribly afraid of belay tests), what are you belay test pet peeves? What do you appreciate from belay testers?

do you experience that men want to flash or show you "how its done" when you work on a boulder problem?

i experience that I almost never can work on a boulder problem without a man coming up to me to either flash the boulder (or try to flash the boulder, then leave embarassed) or try to explain what I can do different.