Rock Climbing with Kids? Outdoor Climbing Tips for Climbing Safety and Climbing Fun with the Family
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There is so much that goes into having a good day out rock climbing with young kids. As the video touches on, there is the equipment and its proper use: what anchor material should I use? There are the technical aspects: what kind of anchor should I build? There are the objectives: how hard do we want to climb, today? There are the locations: where should we go? There are hazard considerations: is this a new crag that is still shedding rock?
For those of you interested in the equipment we use for the kids, here it is:
Trango Junior Climbing Harness
La Sportiva Stickit Climbing Shoes
But equipment is only as good as its use. So, I’m thankful that I’ve had instructors and guides and mentors who have taught me about training progressions and evaluating risk and situational awareness about objective hazards. And I have had years to put these into practice. And these same people have taught me the technical skills I need to set up these systems - with all of their inherent tradeoffs - to keep my kids safe. But, and maybe more importantly, I’ve been taught why a system works and what its strengths and weaknesses are. Why am I specifically thankful for this? Because I need to understand how to apply systems to situations that are nuanced and can be unique. Just as a simple example, there are lots of ways to build a top rope anchor for my kids. Why should I choose one anchor build over another given the specifics of the route, the anchor location, and conditions? It’s the ability to take a system and apply it in a new way that allows me the freedom to confront the inevitably uncontrollable nature of the outdoors. It’s this knowledge that gives me a degree of psychological and emotional safety.
And that’s the dirty little secret, right? To do something bold, we need to feel safe enough in the surrounding aspects to bush that boldness. And climbing requires boldness. So I think the psychological and emotional considerations become paramount to a safe and enjoyable day. Climbing is stressful. And for many of us, we do it because of the stress; we like the process of pushing comfort zones to the point where an activity - like a climb - is no longer acutely fear inducing. We seek the “bad” stress and transform it to “good” stress.
And, I think, after years (or a lifetime, for some of us) of climbing, it is easy to forget what it is like to be lost in a sea of granite for the first time. We forget the trepidation of hanging on a rope and trusting your life to this system of ropes and friction that you didn’t set up. We forget that backing over a cliff to rappel isn’t a “natural” act and it can be stomach turning when it’s a new experience. We can forget that, when it is all new, you haven’t had the repetitions you need to normalize the stress and turn it from “bad” to “good.”
That’s what our kids are experiencing. It’s all new. There’s a mechanical and human system keeping them alive, and which they may not really understand. As small as the rock can make us feel when we wander on a big route, our kids are actually, proportionally smaller.
I need to make the aspects surrounding the physical climbing as stress free and worry free for them as possible. That’s why I really believe in having a “safe place” that they can come off the wall to. I believe in helping the kids understand the systems, so that they can build a comfort through accumulated knowledge. I believe in keeping stuff organized so that we don’t feel the stress of lost equipment. For all of the uncontrollable reality of climbing outdoors, there is a lot I can do to control the surrounding environment through many of the means I talked about in the video.
The old saying of control what you can, let go of what you can’t, and have the wisdom to know the difference…? Well, I know that I can’t control the objective hazards; I can only mitigate or avoid. But I also know that I can stack some other things in our collective favor, and create an emotionally and psychologically safe space for us to try hard.
There are lots of days that we don’t climb our best, don’t push the next climbing grade, or just feel off. But that doesn’t have to make those days a negative experience. What keeps even the “poor performing days” positive is that we were emotionally and psychologically nourished. And that nourishment is what keeps us coming back.