We Met Rockclimbing, But We Now Have Young Children

How we keep enjoying this hobbie with littles?

Rock climbing with little kids…. Image created with Adobe Express.

My husband and I met rock climbing. We now have children. It is not easy, but possible. This is how we make it work.

Our local climbing club was organizing a trip to the Shanangunks in New York State.

We had never met, but we both signed up for the trip. We were supposed to partner up before the trip, so they created a spreadsheet for us to coordinate.

That’s right, we met through a spreadsheet. We coordinated a gym climb to get to know each other before the trip.

We then scheduled an outdoor climbing date in West Virginia, also before the trip.

By the time we were driving back from New York State a week later, we were already a couple.

Our first two years together were AMAZING! We pretty much did outdoor climbing every weekend and vacation.

And then I got (intentionally) pregnant (twice).

I kept climbing all my pregnancy but at a slower pace and risk.

And all of a sudden, we were two and a baby. We used to do multi-pitch climbs, which is when you don’t touch the ground for multiple hours at a time. That wasn't something we couldn’t do anymore.

But we kept outdoor climbing. How did we do it?

FIRST:

We had to become very flexible with our definition of outdoor climbing.

Instead of multi-pitch trad, we switched to sport climbing or even bouldering.

SECOND:

Unless we were bouldering, family-only climbing trips weren’t an option.

We had to rely on having other climbing partners join us to be able to get out and about.

This way, one of us could be climbing, while the other stayed with the baby/child and addressed their needs.

THIRD:

We had to invest in proper baby and toddler carriers that also allowed us to store some stuff in them.

Diapers, wipes, and snacks are now sharing a space with harnesses, climbing shoes, and chalk bags.

FOURTH:

We had to carry stuff to help them breastfeed and take naps.

Some climbing areas allow hanging hammocks, some don’t. So we invested in a foldable camping chair, and paddled seat.

FIFTH:

We had to start planning the climbs ahead of time.

Most guides have a section, that we used to ignore, talking about whether a crag is dog and/or child-friendly.

We used to love finding the most remote yet exceptional climbs.

We are now learning to share the crag with other climbers and (sometimes) families.

SIXTH:

We had to lower our expectations of what a good climbing day looked like.

Before, less than 5 routes looked like a waste of time.

Now, climbing one route is considered a success.

We used to aim for 5.11s.

Now, completing a 5.9 sounds like a great accomplishment.

SEVENTH:

We are now making sure we sleep in more child-friendly places if we do overnight trips.

EIGHTH:

Sometimes, one of us has to sacrifice our chance at enjoying a climbing day and let the other go by themself with a friend.

Of course, we’d love it if nothing had changed from those first two years together. But our children are, little by little, getting more and more comfortable at the crag, and before we realize it, they may be sending our projects.

Or we may change our lifestyle to accommodate their weekend activities, and we’ll have to wait until they are old enough for us to go by ourselves.

For now, we keep training with the hopes that, one day, we’ll be back to the full experience we love so much.

Rock climbing with little kids. Image Created with Adobe Express