7 Things I Learned My First Time Climbing Outdoors
This past summer I got to experience rock climbing outdoors for the first time. I had an absolutely amazing experience and wanted to share with anyone who is excitedly getting ready to go from the indoor climbing gym to climbing outside 7 Things I learned My First Time Climbing Outdoors.
Quick Side Note. This blog post is intended for outdoor climbing beginners. I am a relatively new climber myself and I am just sharing helpful tips and advice I have learned from my Gym to Crag outdoor class and first outdoor climbing experience.
1) You really have to feel around and find the best hand holds.
At the gym, all the holds are clearly marked with bright colors. It's hard to miss that bright red, orange, green, blue, purple, pink, yellow or other obvious emphasized hand or footholds. When Climbing outdoors the hand and footholds are much tougher to spot. When stuck puzzling over what could possibly be the next sequence of moves, I often found that by paying attention to chalk marks where previous climbers had placed their hands helped me spot a crucial handhold I may have otherwise missed. If no clearly marked chalked up handholds are visible, I found that finding a good hold and reaching up and feeling your way by touch can reveal holds that your eyes may have missed. By feeling around a bit I felt some small indents with the tips of my fingers that I never would have guessed were actually great holds just by looks alone.
2) Be aware of the fact that injuries are more likely to happen
When climbing outdoors you are no longer in a controlled environment. In the gym, the holds are not sharp jagged rocks that can slice your hand or crumble away under pressure. By the end of my first day climbing outdoors I had definitely ripped the skin off my fingertips and cut the palm of my hand while grabbing onto a sharp jagged rock. Slamming into hard rock when you fall also hurts a hell of a lot more than hitting the wall at the indoor gym. I had several nasty bruises from banging my knee, hip, and elbow into unforgiving granite. All these minor injuries were from one day of outdoor climbing, so I expect there to be many more injuries from outdoor climbing in my future. But every cut and bruise was 100% worth that exhilarating feeling of climbing on real rock.
3) Prepare for Weather Conditions
My first time climbing outdoors, it was almost 90 degrees in direct sunshine. I was grateful our instructors advised us to all bring plenty of water, chapstick, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Despite applying generous amounts of sunscreen, I still got burned. Preparing ahead of time for the weather is essential for climbing outdoors. Check the weather forecast for where you will be climbing and ask yourself, is it going to be cold, hot, windy, rainy? Having weather-appropriate clothing and gear will make for a much better climbing adventure.
4) Climbing Outside is Way Harder!
Prior to my first outdoor rock climbing experience, I had been climbing at an indoor gym twice a week for about 7 months. In that 7-month time span, I had gone from struggling to climb 5.7 to climbing 5.10’s (indoors). I knew from online research that outdoor climbing was going to more difficult than indoor climbing, but I did not anticipate how much of a jump it would be.
When on my outdoor Gym to Crag climbing class, for the entirety of the day I was struggling on this one rock face. This chunk of rough granite was unquestionably kicking my butt. I felt so accomplished when I finally made it to the top of this 30-foot wall of pain. I figured a rock this challenging had to be at least 5.10 which I had been climbing consistently indoors. My friends and I asked our guides out of curiosity what grade of a route we were climbing, and to our extreme frustration they would reply “grades don’t matter and aren’t exact anyway.” That answer was extremely confusing to us. “What did they mean by outdoor grades are subjective?” We sort of understood when they went into the process of how outdoor grades were set and the history behind grading outdoor climbs and how the whole process is highly subjective. Despite the history lesson we still really wanted to know. Approximately what climbing grade were we climbing?
In search of answers, I thus began my Google quest for answers. After hours of online research and downloading the mountain project app, to my complete shock, I found out that the outdoor rock face my friends and I were struggling with was rated 5.8! So yeah, that was an eye-opener on how much of a gap there is between indoor grades and outdoor grades. Definitely good to know to start at lower grades when going rock climbing outside.
5) You will feel fear
For some reason, I had never felt fear while climbing indoors. I trust my belay partner 100% and there’s just something about the indoor climbing environment that doesn’t raise any danger warning bells off in my head. When climbing outdoors this is a different story. When you fall while outdoor climbing instead of hitting the gym wall you are slamming into hard rock. There are sharp edges and it is far more intimidating than the indoor gym. There is loose rock that can give way when you grab hold and sometimes you are sticking your hand into holes and hoping there's nothing inside that will bite you.
6. Climb with someone who has more experience
Climbing with someone who has more experience than you is critical for outdoor rock climbing. Before taking the Gym to Crag course, I figured how much harder could it be to climb outdoors? My friend and I thought that with one class on how to climb outdoors we would be able to just buy some rope and be off to climb outside on our own. Looking back it is laughable at how naive we were, thinking that we could learn everything we needed to know to go climb outdoors just from one class. What we did learn is how much we didn’t know and what we need to learn. We went over how to set up and clean sport climbing anchors, different knots, and outdoor climbing safety. The guides were absolutely amazing and we learned so much but unless you have a perfect photographic memory, there was too much information to retain. Cleaning anchors is highly dangerous and after taking this class I do not wish to do this without a guide until I have practiced this skill repeatedly and it becomes second nature.
7. Climbing outside is extremely addicting
Once you start, you are corrupted for life. No, seriously its extremely addicting. Outdoor climbing, despite being more difficult than indoor rock climbing, is absolutely exhilarating. After my first day of climbing outdoors, I couldn't wait to go back. It was an amazing experience. There's just something about climbing out in nature. The feel of real rock under your hands, the scenic views and that total sense of accomplishment when you finally make it to the top. Then there are the amazing people you meet. Rock climbing involves a lot of teamwork, from carrying the gear from the van up the trail to where you are going to climb, to encouraging each person as they go for the send, or work on a new knot or climbing related skill. Every group of climbers that we passed on the trail were all extremely friendly and would stop to chat with our group and guides. It was just such a fun positive atmosphere where everyone isn't on their cellphones but all talking with one another and enjoying nature together. Climbing outside, you become a part of an amazing community of fun down-to-earth people who inspire, encourage, and are living adventure filled lives.
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